Advice About New Year’s Resolutions

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Recommit to Your New Year's Resolutions

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.” —Benjamin Franklin

In January, millions of people vowed to change their lives for the better, hoping to lose weight, quit smoking, spend more time with their families, or make other life improvements. How's your follow-through been so far? Here are some advice, resources, and inspiration that will help get you closer to fulfilling those New Year’s resolutions.

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Advice About New Year’s Resolutions

The act of making New Year’s resolutions has existed for over 4,000 years, but so has the act of breaking them before springtime. For many, the reason for this failure is not a lack of willpower but a lack of proper preparation and resources. This section provides general advice about choosing and accomplishing resolutions, and helps to keep you motivated along the way.

Dulcinea's Insight

Believe it or not, January might not actually be the best time to start fulfilling your New Year’s resolution. WebMD has an article encouraging you to wait until spring.

It's helpful to have good role models to follow when you're trying to achieve a goal. Bill and Jim Germanakos are twin brothers who starred in the third season of the reality television show The Biggest Loser. They each lost approximately half their weight, a total of 350 pounds, over the eight months of the contest. To learn how they did it, visit their Web site, Weightlosstwins.com.

To learn more about the New Year’s holiday in general, see the findingDulcinea New Year’s Web Guide.

Dulcinea's Picks

For history and facts about New Year’s resolutions …

The GoalsGuy presents a brief history of New Year’s and resolutions, along with a list of the 10 most common resolutions.

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For New Year's resolution advice and ideas …

WebMD features articles with “secrets” on how to accomplish eight of the most common New Year’s resolutions. Topics include sleeping better, reducing stress, and getting organized.

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The University of Maryland Medical Center has advice on how to follow through with your resolutions, with articles specifically for weight loss and smoking cessation.

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USA.gov is the official Web site of the U.S. government. Its New Year’s resolutions page features links to helpful government resources on more than a dozen popular resolutions.

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myDr has an article on how to set and achieve your resolutions. It says that in order to succeed, your goals must be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics has a list of resolutions specifically for children, divided into three age groups: preschoolers, ages 5–12, and teenagers.

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For inspiration to fulfill your resolutions …

43 Things offers inspiration for achieving your goals. Register an account and post the 43 things you most want to accomplish. Other users will post encouraging comments and cheer you on as you post entries about how you’re progressing. Take a look at the 43 things of other users for ideas and inspiration.

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SuperViva works the same way as 43 Things. There aren’t as many users but the layout and organization of this site is a little clearer, and it is fairly easy to find the resolution you are looking for. Using the “Explore Ideas” tab, search by “Most Popular Ideas,” by “Most Recent Ideas,” or by specific category in the “Idea Directory".

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