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Each year there are at least two significant dates when people contemplate about changing something of their lives they don't like. One is the birthday and the other one is obviously the New Year. Although, you should not feel obligated to wait till your birthday or the New Year in order to act on improving your life, it is not a bad idea to start a new commitment on an important date. On the one hand, it gives you a deadline to prepare and plan your actions toward achieving the goals you are setting and on the other hand it is easier to keep track of your progress when you visibly remember the starting date.

Every year around 70 percent of the people make some kinds of New Year resolutions. Unfortunately, an overwhelming majority of these people forget about their resolutions within first several weeks of the New Year. If you are one of them, this year you might think what is the point of making resolutions when any way I can't keep them. Don't be frustrated! A recent study showed that people who make resolutions are ten times more successful in changing their lives than those who don't. This means, if you really want to achieve something in your life you ought to make resolutions.

So, how should you make resolutions and keep them?

A resolution normally is nothing else than a short term goal spanning a year or so. While making resolutions you should use the same tactics as setting goals. We often fail to realize that as a human our ultimate goal is to achieve peace of mind. That's why when we reach our goal of making the first million dollars, becoming the best tennis player in town, building the dream house, etc., we feel something is still missing ' as it did not bring the satisfaction we expected to get from the achievement.

You can have ultimate peace of mind only if you are completely satisfied with every aspect of your life. In order to bring contentment in main areas of life and create fertile ground for peace of mind you are to have a balanced approach towards life. This means you need to work on achieving success in all key areas: Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Material. In this article we will look into the physical area of life which is a primary concern for many of us.

People do understand the importance of physical fitness in their life. A WebMD survey shows that starting workout is the top health related goal for coming year. Considering 55 percent of Americans suffer from obesity of various levels, no wonder health indeed should be a priority. The following resolutions will help you in bringing balance in this key area of life:

Regular workout: You need to do exercises minimum 3 hours each week. The maximum time you should spend on each session should be no longer than 90 minutes. After that your muscles get exhausted. You should exercise at least twice in a week. You don't need to do exercises every day. Study shows that doing exercises daily and on alternate days bring similar result.

Diet: Balanced diet is absolutely important if you want to stay fit! Eat more of vegetables, fresh fruits, yoghurts, etc. Avoid eating fatty food and reduce the intake of red meat. Bring fish to your ration. Eat fish minimum two times in a week. Instead of eating three heavy meals try eating in small portions several times through out the day. Stop consuming food two hours before going to bed. Drink lots of fresh juice. Your body needs fluid. Take more tea and less coffee. If you are over 35, start taking vitamins. Reduce alcohol consumption. If you are a smoker, resolve to stop smoking! If you are unable to find a compelling reason to do it for your own sake think about all these poor second hand smokers who are forced to inhale deadly tar and other toxic elements just because your are enjoying yourself!

Medical check-up: At least once in a year do a thorough and complete medical check-up. Like in any machine early detection of malfunction in your body system will help you preventing many possible maladies.

Stress: Severe mental stress is a cause for many physical and mental problems. If you end up in a stressful situation, instead of worrying about it take immediate action. Attack the cause of the problem. Try every possible way to eradicate the cause. If nothing helps and the cause is out of your influence, take the loss and just walk out of it. If the stress is due to something serious like loss of loved ones, accept the reality. When you encounter a situation of serious anxiety ask yourself, are you going to remember about this predicament after five years, after ten years. If not then probably this seemingly life shuttering event is nothing that serious after all! Remember: time heals. Under no circumstances allow stress to take over your life!

Leisure: Learn to take active approach to your leisure. Spend more time outdoor. Play tennis, Golf, other outdoor games. Go out for fishing, hiking. In winter go ski. Take a vacation near water once in a year.

Whatever you resolve to do this year, sticking to the following plan will help you successfully achieve your goals:

Write down your resolutions

A written resolution is more powerful than just a mental note. You will increase the chance of achieving your goals if you write your goals down.

Analyze your resolution

First on a piece of paper write down all the positive impacts the change will bring to your life if you reach the set goal. Then on another paper write all the negative impacts you will have if you don't achieve the goal.

Visualize the outcome

Imagine that you have already achieved your goal. Feel the difference. Feel the positive emotion of success. Imagine what your close ones are saying about your success.

Fix a deadline

No matter what you resolve to do, set a date for when you would like to achieve your goal. This will help keeping you in motion.

Write an action plan for each of your resolution

First write down all the obstacles you might encounter in achieving this goal. Then list everything you will need to surmount them. Create a detail and thorough action plans how you will achieve this goal.

Take action

Constantly work on achieving your goal. Once you made a list of tasks that need to be done in order to cross a significant hurdle, take action immediately, no matter how small it is.

Treat yourself

Your hurdles are your milestones. Once you overcame one of them, congratulate yourself ritually. Give yourself a treat.

Get a partner

Some goals are easier to achieve if you work together with a friend or partner. If you feel that for reaching this goal you should get a partner, do so!

Stay motivated

No matter how hard you work, once in a while you will feel disappointed, and this is the time when you will need to keep yourself motivated. Reading motivational books, listening and reading inspirational stories make wonders in difficult times.

Get a mentor

If your goal needs expert helps, don't hesitate to get one. Look around, you won't believe how many people out there are ready to help you.

Review you progress

Every once in a while read the written statements about the goal you listed when you resolved to achieve it. Add your present vision to the statements. Keeping a Blog is a great idea if you want to follow your progress.

Don't quit

The most important thing is make a pledge to yourself that you will never quit. Everything else will be useless if you give up after starting!

With the help of these simple but effective rules you will be able to achieve many of your goals and make this year a positively different one!