Happy New Year! What? I am too late? Maybe for the calendar year. However this is the first day of the rest of your life, right? What a great reason to celebrate!

How are your New Year resolutions coming along anyway?

What? You didn’t get around to making then yet? That may actually a good thing.

New Year Resolutions

Statistics show that people who make New Year resolutions on the first of January are less likely to keep them. When you stop and think about it, waiting gives you time to let get of any disappointment with yourself of not having kept your resolutions from the year before and allows you to let go of the stresses from the holiday season. As a result, you will be much more likely to keep your resolutions throughout the rest of the year.

I am sure you know people who didn’t even manage to keep them for just one day. I have even spoken with people who make resolutions with the intention of breaking them. There is no TRY in resolution. Only do or don’t. So it’s no wonder people fail. They are trying to keep a resolution.

Many years ago, Greek generals would burn their wooden ships after arriving on the beaches of new territory they wanted to conquer. These folks were resolved to succeed and made sure of it by removing any possibility of going back. Now that was true resolution. Are you as committed to your resolutions? If not, perhaps what you are actually manifesting is the power of intention. Oh, and look at that, you didn’t actually intend to resolve anything for the whole year so you actually made it happen. Hmm, something to think about.

Did you know? You actually need only work on it for 21 consecutive days as study after study has conclusively shown that it takes 21 days to make a new habit permanent. That’s not to say that it will be permanent. After all, you could also replace that good habit with a bad one in 21 days if you practice that.

Predictions: The Power of Intention

If you are sceptical of creating resolutions, have some fun and make some predictions instead.

Simply write down or video record what you predict will happen to you in the coming year and then put that prediction away for a year.

If you are more of a visual or creative person, and even if you are not, create a vision board. Simply cut out and gluing pictures and draw words of what you want onto a piece of cardboard or poster board. Then hang your creation in a spot where you will be able to see it. Get your kids and/or your friends involved and turn it into a fun party!

The best time to make predictions for your new year is really any time. On or around the same date each year, take the time to review your old predictions, smile and pat yourself on the back for what did happen and have fun making new predictions for the next 12 months.

I like to do predictions on or around my birthday. St-Patrick’s day is coming up tomorrow, even if you aren’t Irish. Business quarters, April Fool’s Day, Groundhog Day, your friend’s birthday, any day really. And if you forget and are a few days late, don’t beat yourself up. Just go with the flow. The only wrong time is no time.

What can you predict? Since we as humans don’t actually have the power to see into the future, you can pretty much predict just about anything for yourself because the key here is to create an intention that will end up as a subconscious desire.

I once heard of someone who did this just one year and forgot about it. One day he was cleaning out his closet and found his now 10 year vision board. His jaw fell open when realized that he was now living in the very house he had glued on his vision board 10 years earlier.

The best part of all of this is that you won’t end up beating yourself up emotionally each year over having broken a resolution in a moment of weakness.