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Filled with great hopes and emotion amidst the year-end/new-year fever, you made some solid resolutions to begin the year with and, just like last year, you vowed to make them all come true, this time for sure!

Well, we’re through with one month of this New Year already. May be the year doesn’t seem new to you anymore. If I had published this post earlier, amidst the hustle bustle on the occasion of a New Year, you would have probably taken it as yet another post on New Year’s resolutions. And there’s a strong reason why I choose this day and why I’m here today to ask you “Are you still hanging onto your New Year’s resolutions?”

“Where” are your resolutions?
How about your plan of action?
Did you dare to share it?

If these questions don’t ring any bells, then you might just be on the verge of letting go, if not having done that already! Make sure you’ve had a look at my last year’s post on New Year’s Resolutions, and hopefully you might be back on the road.

Like I wrote in my post last year, as the year unfolds and we get engrossed in the same old routine that we have been habitually accustomed to, we tend to lose sight of the our resolutions only to find out that we did not accomplish much of what we wanted to do in yet another year that’s just gone by.

Most of the times we give up by the end of the first month as a result of getting discouraged because of not having seen any progress from initial efforts or, worse still, because of not having taken the first step yet. Could it be a matter of motivation, or just a matter of self-discipline? Or is it just that the resolution is so big that we just don’t know how to go about achieving it? And last but not the least, was the resolution just a nice-to-have fantasy or was it a well-thought-of and justified need?

You say “Well, I think I’ve failed to keep up to my resolutions this year! So I think I’ll give it a try the next year and hope to do better right from the start”. Well, my dear friend, the next year is a long way away and waiting for that is going to take a precious year from you away, not to mention that just the coming of next year isn’t going to make things better in any way!

Someone said that New Year’s resolutions are about trying to get rid of habits and starting life anew every 365 days. I’d say New Year’s resolutions should be about resolving to do all that you need to, each and every one of those 365 days! I know that that might be a little far stretched for most of us, as that would demand time each and every day amidst our busy schedule. But then again, if you can do that daily, there’s nothing like it! And if that’s just not realistic for you, then at least doing that once each month should certainly be! I’d like to call this the New Month’s Resolutions Way.

The New Month’s Resolutions Way is all about doing just the thing you do with New Year’s resolutions, but twelve times a year, once every month. Revisit the resolutions you made for New Year’s this time, see what went well so far and take a hard look on what didn’t. Resolve to do better the next month. Add new resolutions if needed, drop those you think are not useful, if any, and resolve to do your best for just about the next 28 to 31 days, that’s it! The idea is that the short span of time would keep you more motivated and productive than the thought of having a whole year ahead of you. Mind you, there will be not as much motivation as what comes with the end of an year and the beginning of a new one, but that’s where you have to be self-disciplined – to take that important time each month to do due diligence to your New Month’s resolutions!

If you are really serious about making the best of your life, and not making New Year’s Resolutions just for the heck of it and then letting those disappear into thin air for the rest of the year, I’d challenge you to be a New Month’s Resolutions person! And that challenge goes out from me to myself too, because that’s something I’ve myself resolved to do this year on.

Well, how do you like the thought behind New Month’s resolutions? I’d love to hear from you. Further, if you’d dare to take on the challenge along with me, keep me posted on how the New Month’s resolutions technique works out for you. For now, it’s almost February, and it’s the time for New Month’s Resolutions. Let’s go hit it!