Getting ready for the New Year? Let these 12 New Year’s quotes help you make your resolution stick.

2009 is almost at an end. What are you resolving to do this year? Whether you desire to change or stop a bad habit, or you resolve to change a part of your personality… let these New Year’s quotes inspire you into 2010.

1. “Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to. ” ~Bill Vaughn

2. “New Year’s Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time” ~James Agate

3. “New Year’s eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights” ~Hamilton Wright Mabie

4. “Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go. ” ~Brooks Atkinson

5. “New Year’s Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual” ~Mark Twain

6. “Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account” ~ Oscar Wilde

7. “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

8. “People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas” ~Anonymous

9. “Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man” ~Benjamin Franklin

10. “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us” ~Hal Borland

11. “But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits” ~Andre Gide

12. One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things” ~John Burroughs

Celebrate 2010 in style and remember these New Year quotes as you dance your way into another year. Happy New Year!

Cheers Shelley Taylor-Smith

There is only 2 days left until the end of 2009. And I’m about to share with you how the next 2 days can literally change your life.

For the next 2 days, I want you to think about your life. Make a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly. The things you’re thankful for, and the things you’d like to improve. Good things that happened this year, and not-so-good things. And once you know where you stand, it’s time to decide where to go next.

Most people get bogged down by resolutions because they lose motivation…Because they listen to those voices in their head that say, “Why bother?” You have to keep going in order to get results.

So today, I want you to choose ONE goal for 2010. I can hear you say “What only one goal Shelley?”
But you’re not going to wait until January 1st to get started. Nope–you’re going to start TODAY.

Once you decide on your goal, I want you to make a list of 7 “baby steps” you can take toward reaching your goal.

For example, if your goal is to lose weight, here are some baby steps you can take:
1. Cut out one alcoholic or sugary drink today.
2. Replace an unhealthy snack with a healthy one, like a piece of fruit, nuts, or a vegetable.
3. Take a 20 minute walk around your neighbourhood or work building.

Once you create your 7-day plan, stick to it. And when New Year’s comes around you can give yourself a pat on the back for sticking to your goals.

But you’re not going to stop there. Now make a plan for every month of 2010. And take bigger steps toward achieving your goal.

Sticking to this plan might be a little bit harder. So the best thing you can do to ensure your success is to eliminate all those obstacles along the way.

Fortunately, there’s a simple technique that lets you get rid of the negative thoughts that are holding you back– And put a big happy check mark next to ALL your New Year’s Resolutions!

This year CAN be the year you make those dreams a reality.

Go for your Gold
And remember: If you don’t quit, you will make it!

Cheers Shelley Taylor-Smith

If NEW YEAR’S resolutions are kept beyond January, people will be getting healthier, quitting smoking and becoming more community-minded.

With less than 3 days in 2009, people are now turning their attention to setting goals and what they want to achieve in 2010 and New Year’s Resolutions.

The Top Ten Resolutions include:
•1. Stop smoking
•2. Get Fit
•3. Lose Weight
•4. Enjoy Life More
•5. Quit Drinking
•6. Get Organised
•7. Learn Something New
•8. Get Out of Debt
•9. Spend more time with the Family
•10. Help Others

Losing weight, giving up bad habits and donating to charity are top of the list for people resolving to improve themselves, and after a year of belt tightening, the business information analyst IBISWorld predicts certain industries will be counting on people’s cash as they fulfil their promises.

Increased awareness of healthy lifestyles and guilt from festive over-indulgence will see the weight-loss industry take $111.8 million in January as gyms and health clubs with at least 12 per cent growth in new members for the month.

The national fitness manager at Fitness First, Dominic dos Remedios, said January brought in influx of people.

”Unfortunately, a lot of people drop off because they set massive expectations,” he said. ”I would suggest taking their goal and breaking it into bite-size, achievable chunks.”

Holidaying from Auckland, Rebecca Mentor said her experience of losing weight had inspired her to help others do the same. ”I’d like to set up my own fat fighters movement,” she said.

Mark Long said that in his Erskineville household there was lots of yelling around the house when family members wanted to talk to one another. ”My resolution is you walk to the person you want to talk to,” he said.

January 1 is traditionally a busy day for Quitline, with smokers resolving to start the year by kicking the habit, the Cancer Institute NSW’s cancer prevention program manager, Anita Dessaix, said. ”New Year’s Day is typically one of those milestones that smokers set for quitting,” she said. ”If the motive is there, quit immediately.”

IBISWorld predicts charitable donations in January will be those that require only a small investment but still help a community, such as sponsoring a child.

The marketing and communications director of Plan Australia, Aimee Suchard-Lowe, said donating was not about feeling guilty. ”It should be about someone saying: ‘This year I want to make a difference to my life and other people’s lives’,” she said. ”It should be that positive impact.”

A study by the University of Hertfordshire, in Britain, found less than one-quarter of those who set themselves a goal for 2010 would be likely to succeed, and the remainder would feel despondent at having broken their resolutions.

Of those who fail, many would focus on the downside of not achieving the goals, suppress cravings, fantasise about being successful and rely on willpower alone.

Those who set smaller goals had an average success rate of 35 per cent, while those with strategies like keeping a diary and telling friends about their goal had a 50 per cent chance.

The best way to achieve your Resolutions and goals in 2010 is to keep it simple.

How do you keep it simple you may well ask?

Statistic: 95% of New Year’s Resolutions are never achieved.
Only 5% have the intestinal fortitude to follow through with their commitment! If you are committed, if you want it bad enough, if you are prepared to do whatever it takes and if you don’t quit….you will achieve your goal. There are no excuses only all the reasons in the world why you did not achieve your goal.

1. Identify your goals – in the 5 key areas of career, finance, health & fitness, family/relationships and personal growth

2. What benefits will I achieve reaching this goal? Eg. Losing 5kgs – increase in energy, able to keep up with the kids, able to fit into my favourite pair of jeans or that special dress
3. What are the major obstacles to overcome to reach your goal? – Eg. Cut back on junk food – 1. check your fridge & cupboards for junk food 2. go shopping on a full stomach as opposed to when you are hungry (you will be amazed at the difference of your food in your trolley and the money saved in your pocket.)
4. What skills or knowledge is required to achieve your goal? Eg. Health & Fitness – reading up on personal trainers, costs, program types, gym memberships
5. What are the individuals, groups or companies and organisations to work with to achieve your goal? Eg. Finance – clear credit card debt. Tell a friend, find a buddy who will hold you accountable and will support you with your goal. Join Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig etc.
6. Completion Date – when do wish for your goal to be achieved
7. Celebrate Success – how are you going to celebrate achieving your goal!

And remember: if you don’t quit…you will make it!