New Year's Resolutions

Suppose you're in a romantic relationship and your partner says "I love you."
That would probably make you feel pretty good.
Now suppose your partner says, "I love you and I want to marry you."
That would probably make you feel even better.
But suppose your partner says "I love you and I want to marry you
AND let's get married on February 24, 1998."
How does that make you feel?
All of a sudden, you are taken out of the world of romance
and emotion and into the world of reality and commitment.
It's sort of like when you say "Let's do lunch sometime."
If your friend says, "Good idea." There's no commitment there.
But if your friend takes out his or her datebook and offers,
"How about next Wednesday at 12:30 p.m." That's entirely different.
Now you're called upon to make a commitment.
It's the same with New Year's resolutions.
Are your resolutions nice "wandering generalities"
like "I want to lose weight this year," or "I want to start exercising soon,"
OR, are they "meaningful specifics" that demand a commitment like
"I am going to lose a pound a week," or
"I going to hire a personal trainer and work out every day."
No matter what area of your life you want to change
"meaningful specifics" demand commitments while wandering
generalities are usually just nice platitudes.
So if are you want to get results from your New Year's resolutions,
don't just fall in love with them . . marry them!