Several friends approached me over the past week asking for my advice on setting New Year's resolutions. In the past, I had often been supportive of making resolutions at the beginning of the calendar year. Having done periodic checks with friends over the past few years, though, I don't support the notion any more. The results of my checking progress lead me to the conclusion that the success rate for a typical New Year's resolution often lags slightly behind the batting average of a mediocre baseball player, the success rate of a TV meteorologist, and/or the accuracy of an economist. On the other hand, not succeeding in keeping resolutions has probably resulted in lots of angst for the defeated. The high failure rate has many contributors -- making resolutions with vague results, getting discouraged and giving up when there are some early setbacks, setting unrealistic expectations, not writing the resolution down and making sure it meets the criteria to which any goal should be subjected (that is, being B-SMART-- Believable-Specific-Measurable-Attainable-Realistic-Time Related). Yet, most of us want to do better from year to year...

If you must make a resolution, make sure it is structured in a B-SMART mode. If you just want to make it a better year, take your top few goals that are already set and, as the Chef Emeril Lagasse says, "kick them up a notch." On the other hand, if you have enough pressure in your life, you might resolve not to "sweat the small stuff." (and the sage tells us, "it's all small stuff.").