New Year resolutions

New year is upon us and people are busy making New Year resolution. During last week of December and first week of January we are often asked what is your new year resolutions ? However, as Alex Epstein comments in The Meaning of New Year's Resolution

Unfortunately, this ritual commitment to self-improvement is widely viewed as something of a joke--in part because New Year's resolutions go so notoriously unmet. After years of watching others--or themselves--excitedly commit to a new goal, only to abandon the quest by March, many come to conclude that New Year's resolutions are an exercise in futility that should not be taken seriously. "The silly season is upon us," writes a columnist for the Washington Post, "when people feel compelled to remake themselves with new year's resolutions."

The problem is the focus most often is on what and not on how part of the resolutions. Thus the resolutions made are often very lofty and unachievable. However, if we focus on how to achieve them keeping in mind constraints like our own ability, mental resolve, time etc we will end up making realistic and achievable ones. Moreover instead of having subjective resolutions like "Enjoy life more" make it objective ,like "go for 15 day family vacation". And then, make the list short. It's better to have a couple of them rather a daunting laundry list.

My New Year resolutions ? I did keep them personal. But in the new year I would try to blog more often.

Happy New Year to you all.

Related: 10 New Year resolutions regarding personal finance from Rediff.