As a life coach, I love this time of year - the first few days of January. This is the time when everyone is excited about the possibilities of a brand new year; a year of growth, fulfillment and unlimited possibilities. I love to walk up to people and ask about their plans for the year and watch their eyes light up as they tell me how this is going to be the year that they get a promotion, find a mate, write a book, run a marathon or what have you. It's just a shame that most of these New Years' resolutions are really New Years' delusions.

Now, don't get me wrong. I truly believe that most people make New Years' resolutions with every intention of keeping them. The problem is that they pursue an insane strategy for getting it done - the strategy they tried last year.

Yet, as crazy as it sounds, you see people doing it all of the time. They want to lose a few pounds, so they hop right back on the diet they failed at last year. That's insane. They plan to get up an hour early each morning to work on their novel, but they continue staying up just as late as they did last year. That's insane. They plan on moving into the top 10% of the company's sales force, but they call on the same prospects with the same pitch as they did last year. That's insane.

Well, 2005 is the year that you stop the insanity. And you can do so by simply deciding what you will do differently this year to make your dreams a reality. If you want to increase the level of love, intimacy and passion in your relationship, then you must ask yourself, "What do I need to do differently?" Likewise, if you want to become more involved in your community, then you need to ask yourself, "How can I arrange my schedule differently so that I can make time for this new activity?" Remember, if you always do what you've always done, you will get what you've always gotten.

Stop the Insanity (Part II)

And perhaps, even worse, you won't have much fun in the process. As I repeatedly remind you, life is short. You only have a limited number of years on this planet. Please don't waste any of them by reliving past years. Sadly, this is exactly what many people do. In the span of a decade, they don't live ten years. Instead, they live the same year ten times. They go on vacation to the same place with the same people every year. They golf with the same people on the same course every week. They go to the same job for the same company and perform the same function in the same way every weekday.

Now, please understand don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting that there is something wrong with stability. You don't need to sell your home, quit your job and divorce your spouse to make 2005 a new year. You simply need to make a few small changes to your daily routine. Attend a networking breakfast one morning each month. Enroll in a class that meets once a week at your local community college. Volunteer one hour of your time each week at your church, temple or local community center. Take your family to Disney World instead of Disneyland, or vice versa.

By themselves, each of these things seems small but they'll produce big results during the New Year. Each event will bring you into contact with new ideas and new people. And it's these new ideas and new people that are going to make all of the difference between you making your dreams come true in 2005 or simply reliving 2004 again.