More than 80% of Americans made a New Year's resolution in 2005:

Health and fitness: 26%

Career: 13%

Organization and time management: 13%

Personal growth: 12%

Personal finance: 12%

Family and relationships: 8%

Education and training: 8%

Home improvement and real estate: 4%

Recreation and leisure: 4%

(Source: myGoals.com)

"10 million-plus Americans will pledge to get fit in 2005" said Katie Rollauer of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association.

The dominance of weight loss resolutions led one gym member to suggest that instead of making a New Year resolution, it would be more honest (and funny) to make a New REAR resolution.

So how do we go about making a good New Rear resolution?

In a recent article we discussed how to draft a SMART goal. Remember that a New Rear resolution (or any goal) must be:

a) Specific

b) Measureable

c) Achievable

d) Realistic

e) Time Bound

Now that we've all done our homework and we have our resolution in writing, let's take it one step further and break our goal down by month or even week.

You can make your resolution much more manageable if you break it down into smaller pieces. This will make your resolution much less intimidating.

For example, if you want to lose 60 pounds this year, that may seem overwhelming to you.

But how about setting smaller resolutions. Like losing 10 pounds by the end of February? How about promising to do strength training for the next 2 months every Monday, Wednesday and Friday?

Doesn't that resolution sound much more manageable?

If you keep setting smaller resolutions for yourself throughout the year, before you know it, you will have succeeded in your big resolution.

So, if we haven't done so already, let's get our New Rear resolution in writing. Let's post it on the mirror, on the 'fridge, or in the car.....anywhere we'll see it every day. At the bottom of the page let's write down our short-term resolution. Here's an example:

NEW REAR RESOLUTION: "I will lose 50 pounds of fat by the end of 2005."

SHORT-TERM RESOLUTION: "I will exercise 4 times per week until Easter with the goal of losing 1 pound per week (on average). My exercise will be at the gym each Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a 25 minute walk over the weekend."

See how much SMARTer it is to create a short-term resolution? The typical New Rear resolution is overwhelming.....lose 50 pounds of fat? Are you kidding? But the short-term resolution is manageable. We can do that! Not only can we do it, but if we do it it'll work. Losing 1 pound of fat each week x 52 weeks in a year means that we achieved our goal!

At the end of the short-term resolution (Easter in this example) all we have to do is measure our progress and write up a new short-term goal. It's that easy.

Goals and resolutions are a wonderful thing. They help us stay motivated, and they show us the light at the end of the tunnel. So let's make sure we have our own New Rear resolution in place. We can do it!