2015: The Year To Kill Of The New Year`s Resolution

2014 was the year you would actually fulfil your New Year's Resolution - or so you told yourself. This ceremonial thought has played out year after year like an annual Groundhog Moment. Some approach it with conviction, others more playfully. The result is invariably the same. I got off to a good start but I lasted... (insert number of days/weeks).

I present to you an excerpt from an article in The Guardian by Richard wiseman: A few years ago I tracked over 3,000 people attempting to achieve a range of new year's resolutions, including losing weight, exercising more, stopping smoking and drinking less. At the start of the study, 52% of participants were confident of success. One year later, only 12% had actually achieved their goal.(January, 2015)

The problem is, the New Year's Resolution is a gimmick that is holding you back - do away with it.

Those of us serious about making real changes need to let go of the soft, cuddly NY Resolution for three reasons: 1) It has been reduced to the status of gimmick and 'conversation-flower'. It has become something we tell our friends (and anyone who will listen) that we are semi-committing to and 'will see how it goes'. Real change does not come from seeing how things will go.

2) It lulls us into a false sense of change. The only thing worse than not evolving is the illusion of evolving. A set of NY Resolutions is normally enough to make us feel more positive about the following year. As a result, we don't feel it necessary to work on ourselves in any other way. If the Resolutions don't work out - at least we tried, right?

3) The NY Resolution focuses on the goal itself and neglects the prerequisites of successfully achieving goals - this accounts for why it is such a futile attempt at change.

The prerequisites for achieving your goals need adequate attention for you to make 2015 your year. 1) Have a burning desire for change: do not make it a half-hearted endeavour. Desire.

2) Think about what you want: do not make snapshot judgments. Think.

3) Believe in your ability to make changes: do not be riddled with doubt. Believe.

4) Visualise achievement of the goal: do not leave it as an obscure thought in the back of your mind. Visualise. 5) Commit immediately to the goals you want to achieve: do not wait. Commit.

True and lasting change is born out of these 5 principles.

If history had taught us anything, it is that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. You can live the life you have dreamed of just as men and women have before you. Do not allow laziness to be an obstacle when people have overcome unspeakable horrors, disabilities, poverty and prejudice to achieve their dreams.

I am talking about the Helen Kellers, the Nelson Mandelas and the Henry Fords. Their successes are within all of us in the form of potential - remember that when you set your goals and dream BIG.

Change your life in 2015, kill off the New Year's Resolution like a character from Game of Thrones.