Bye 2007, Hi 2008

December 31, 2007

The clock is ticking away the last minutes of 2007. Are you ready for 2008? It’s always interesting to look back on the year and see what happened. If you want to see a funny two minute recap of what happened over the last 365 days, look at this video from JibJab.

Continuing on the humorous note, be sure to check out, The Onion, 2007 — What the Hell Just Happened? On the serious side, see The Year in Review from CNN and The Year in Review 2007 from Reuters news Service. Want to know what’s coming? Every year since 1985, the World Future Society has predicted what’s ahead. Here’s their Top Ten Forecasts for 2008 and Beyond.Of course there are the ever popular “New Year’s Resolutions.” Have you made any for 2008?

Forget it. According to productivity experts, FranklinCovey, and their third annual New Year’s Resolutions Survey, 35 percent of their survey participants fizzle out and don’t even last 30 days. They’ll break their resolutions by the end of January. Another 33 percent aren’t even committed to the resolutions they set for themselves in the first place. Hooray for the one in four people who really do fulfill their resolutions. The top three resolutions people mentioned for 2008 are: (1) get out of debt or save money, (2) lose weight, and (3) develop a healthy habit like exercise or healthy eating. EFT can be an excellent tool for addressing all of these.

Regarding resolutions, the first thing to recognize is that although you may consciously want to do something, unconsciously there’s something else going on. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to be making these resolutions, would you? You may have unconscious beliefs or counter-intentions that block you from completing your New Year’s Resolutions. EFT can help you uncover any limiting feelings or beliefs and tap them away. Use your intuition to come up with a specific EFT setup statement or start out with one of these:

Even though for some reason part of me doesn’t want to ___________, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though I want to AND I don’t want to ____________, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Here are some other tips. First, I recommend changing the word resolution to commitment. For me, the problem with the word resolution is that it implies something that you want to do or will attempt to do instead of being committed to doing. I prefer New Year’s Commitments. Also, why do them only once a year? That’s too long for most people to sustain their motivation.

Do it quarterly. And do three resolutions (commitments) at a time. Three are easy to remember. After you complete them, pick out three more. Continue along with your commitment triads. Also, you don’t have to complete them in one big leap. Do it incrementally, step by step. According to one study conducted by Elizabeth Miller, a graduate psychology student and Alan Marlatt, director of Washington State University’s Addictive Behaviors Research Center, to be successful with your new year’s resolutions, you need to do the following:

Have a strong initial commitment to make a change.
Have coping strategies to deal with problems that will come up.
Keep track of your progress. The more monitoring you do and feedback you get, the better you’ll do.

Happy 2008. What magnificent commitments do you want to create for yourself?

Posted by Ron Ball | Filed Under Family & Relationships, Health & Living, Sports & Play, Work & Money