Sean Connery's New Year!!

I love that scene in The Untouchables where Connery has been shot all to hell and is lying on his floor bleeding to death when Kevin Costner finds him. For those of you who have seen the movie more than once you know Connery asks the question, "What are you prepared to do". Obviously he was referring to what lengths would Costner's character go to stop Al Capone. But I like the same question for New Years resolutions. What are you prepared to do?
Resolutions are a great learning tool. They show you how much you really care or don't care. Who hasn't made the declaration that this year I am getting in shape. Well I did. I am now round. That is a shape is it not? Of course to accomplish this goal I had to do another one of my perpetual resolutions. I quit smoking in August. Good for me but I had that one on the list every January 1st since 1987 so that shouldn't even count. How about spend more time with the family? I managed to do that one year and ended up divorced. I may be better in small doses.
Perhaps the answer to the question is in the question itself. Why make a promise to yourself about something unless you are prepared to follow through? Are you not worth your best effort? Of course you are. So why not be prepared to follow through this year? Rather than just put the usual crap down on your resolutions list, put down things you really want to change. And then prepare to do so. (Say it with a Scottish accent, sounds more powerful). Execution without preparation will almost always fail. In anything. So how do you prepare for resolutions?
Luckily I have the answer. First thing is to make sure that you want what you are resolving to do. Notice I said "YOU" and not your spouse, your boss, your kids or anyone else. This is a very selfish exercise and will not succeed unless it is approached that way. Second, make sure your resolution can be measured or tracked. That is the problem with the generic "spend more time...." resolution. More time than what? Last year? You already sucked at it last year so maybe the bar should be higher. Make them something you can look at in March and see if you are succeeding. If you can't track your progress you probably aren't making any. The final tip for the resolution is by far the most important. All resolutions do not succeed on the first try. If you find on February 1st that you have blown all your New Years resolutions than turn them into 2011 resolutions and start over. Notice I quit smoking in August. Not January 1st. I tried in January but didn't make it. The only time a resolution has failed is on December 31st. Speaking of that I have to go now and cross off some that I had last year. But starting tomorrow I get to try again. Happy New Year!!!(Scottish accent)