It’s that time of year again. Gyms glean with flashy signs: “New Year means the New You!” Friends and family start asking, “What are your resolutions for the New Year?” It’s difficult to turn a blind eye to the pressures that abound this time of year. Whether your goals this year are to see your best friend more frequently, take yourself out for dinner, or organize your finances, the call to transform ourselves is all around us. I’ve learned that two things make whatever your resolutions are come true by the time April rolls around: prioritizing and consistency.
Prioritizing is defined by “arranging according to order of importance.”  To arrange things in order of importance, first you need to know the things that need your attention – friends, family, work, and yourself – to name a few. Then, you need to give unequal weight to these competing forces, an arduous process that takes discipline and practice. I recently read that the average human has 50,000 thoughts per day – a prioritizer’s organizational nightmare! I’ve found it’s difficult, but critical, to be thoughtful about prioritizing what and who is most important.
Consistency is the second half of what holds our New Year’ resolutions intact. Consistency is the reliability of successive results or events. Breaking bad habits, as well as sticking to good ones, requires that we keep doing something until it becomes a part of us; for me, it is dragging myself to the gym at six in the morning when it is cold and windy because I promised myself I would and because it really is what makes me happier in the end.
As the ball drops this year, I resolve to consistently evaluate and be true to my priorities. 3…2…1…Happy New Year!