Make Your New Year’s Resolution Count: 5 Tips to Help Make your Goal a Reality

Tuesday, 12/29/2009

We’ve all been there before – the most well-intentioned resolutions fly out the window by the middle of January. But how can you make a difference this year?

We’ve compiled the tools, tips and gadgets you need to help make a difference. Dr. Mehmet Oz suggests in the New York Times that “whatever your resolution, commit to doing it for at least two weeks. ‘Two weeks is what your brain needs to reprocess the way it makes decisions.’”

Use the tools below, and Dr. Oz’s two-week rule, and we hope you will find success with your New Year’s resolution.

Resolution: Lose weight and eat healthy
Tip: Try using the FitBit Tracker system. The FitBit is a souped-up pedometer that measures your caloric expenditure, miles-walked and time-slept each day. Simply stick the device in a pocket or hook onto an undergarment, and it will track your movements and transmit them wirelessly to your computer so that you can use real data to help create and track fitness and health goals.

Resolution: Spend more time together as a family
Tip: Dr. Oz says that recent studies “from the University of Minnesota, Harvard and Rutgers have looked at the family eating habits of nearly 40,000 middle-school students and teenagers. The research has shown that children who regularly have meals with their parents eat more fruits, vegetables and calcium-rich foods, ingest more vitamins and nutrients and consume less junk food. Some of the research has shown that children who regularly sit down to a family meal are at lower risk for behaviors like smoking and drug and alcohol use.”

The natural extension of this is family movie night, or read-a-loud. Consider a Walden Media movie or book to help make family night fun.

Resolution: Volunteer in the community
Tip: Use a website like VolunteerSpot.com to find a volunteer project near you. This easy to use website lists hundreds of grass roots volunteer projects in your area. Simply sign up for the project that suits your fancy.

Also, starting in 2010, Disney is offering the “Give a Day. Get a Disney Day” program. Visit the official Disney website, and sign up for a volunteer project in your area. Upon completion of your volunteer day, you will receive a free day’s admission to Walt Disney World® or Disneyland®. What could be more fun?

Resolution: Master your Finances
Tip: The Simple Mom blog offered some great and easy tips to help set achievable goals for 2010. Her keys to success involve Dave Ramsey’s Financial Plan and baby-step program.

Resolution: Learn Something New
Tip: Try TED. The TED conference was started to bring people from three seemingly dispirit worlds together: Technology, Entertainment and Design. Today TED’s goal is to create ideas worth spreading. TED features hundreds of online video talks from experts in leadership, psychology, finance, world politics, science and more. The videos are short enough to take in during your lunch break or once the kids go to bed.

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