Today, I celebrate 5 years of being smoke-free.

To celebrate, I bought a nice bottle of wine and decided to write this New Year’s post for all of you. You see, for many years I tried making New Year’s resolutions. And just by chance, I was going to make a resolution to quit smoking on January 1^st, 2003. The problem? A friend of mine sent me a carton of Korean cigarettes. So, I felt obligated to smoke them and said I’d quit as soon as I finished.

And I did…one week later…January 7, 2003…the last time I ever smoked. But let’s move to 2007.

2007 is over.

How was your 2007? Did you do the things you wanted to do? Achieve the things you wanted to achieve? And on New Year’s Eve, amid a vast array of booze and indecent party snacks, did you make your New Year’s resolution?

Well, if you did, my advice is to…

…take it back and resolve NOT to make any New Year’s resolutions ever again.

New Year’s resolutions hardly ever work (just ask the gym people who sell memberships right after New Year’s). And I think it’s because most people don’t know that resolution, at its root, contains the word resolve. When you resolve to do something, you are determined to do it. Nothing should stand in your way.

But how long does it take after New Year’s for your resolve to fail? And let’s not just stop at New Year’s. How often do you see the beginnings of your resolutions fail because you lost the resolve, determination, and perseverance to make it work? It’s happened to me often enough.

How often do we look for instant results instead of plodding through? Plodding is boring, but the results tend to speak for themselves. If I think about myself, I have managed to get healthier after 6 months of working out regularly at the gym. The results weren’t instant, but they last,

Maybe it’s because a lot of us feel like we don’t have time to do anything. But I’m a big believer in putting in time to get results. Without any results, you can waste time. It’s like the guy who asks a woman to marry him on the first date and when she refuses says, “Well, she must not like me because she doesn’t want to marry me.” Sounds silly, but this is exactly how many people approach self-development—marriage on the first date.

And this is why I’m telling you now…

…throw out those New Year’s resolutions.

You can make those resolutions ANY TIME YOU WANT but make them only when you have the resolve to see them through.

I’m not just telling you this because I read some stupid self-help book or watched some movie that changed my life. It’s all from my own experience. That’s how in 2006, I stopped biting my nails. And how I quit smoking. You see, movies and books (or blogs for that matter)don’t change lives …

…people do.

And the person change starts with is you. No movie or book worth its salt has ever told me anything different.

Don’t let anything hold you back…

…especially yourself.

Topics: Personal Development, Success Mindset |

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