The end of the year has always been a good time to reflect. A time to look back on the past year but also to look forward to the New Year and years to come. A new year means new opportunities, a new chance to make changes and work on various aspects of your life that you feel could use some improvement.

Of course there are the standard new year's resolutions: stop smoking, drink less, eat healthier, make more money, spend less, save more, invest wiser, be nicer, spend more time on the people you love. This short list probably takes care of well over 90% of all New Year's resolutions. Unfortunately most people don't get much further than that. And to make matters worse most of their resolutions will have been forgotten before January has passed.

If you're a success oriented person however your list will probably be very different. And your resolutions probably last a bit longer than January too. Some of your resolutions may have already worked wonders and your new year did indeed turn out to be your best year ever. Yet for others the New Year may have been more of the same. Nothing much changed. You had some good ideas, a number of goals and the intention to do something about them, but when you got going life just seemed to get in the way of you sticking to your commitments and good intentions... again.

Chances are you have even found yourself re-setting some new year's resolutions year after year. You might ask: "Why?" Fair question, quite simple too. Fortunately the answer is almost just as simple. You simply lacked the necessary leverage to persist. It would appear that what you set out for wasn't important enough for you. Although probably painful to admit, there is certainly a lot of truth to this.

It doesn't quite tell the whole story however. It's critically important to realize that reflecting, getting inspired and setting goals is one thing but actually moving into sustained action is quite another. Especially when your goals take you in a different direction than the one in which you're currently headed.

So how and why does this happen time and time again? You're a motivated person. You've set goals that you went on to achieve in the past. How come you get all fired up and excited thinking about the opportunities before you and making the necessary changes to make it all happen for you, yet before you know it most of your excitement has dwindled and you're stuck in your old daily routine once again? How does this happen? The answer again is simple: Things do indeed get in the way. Or better yet, and closer to the truth, you have allowed things to get in the way. You have allowed old habits to sneak back in. You have allowed people in your environment to sway or discourage you. Bottom line is: you have allowed it to happen.

When you think about whatever it is that got in the way, you'll find that in most cases many of these circumstances and factors would have been quite easy to predict. Think about the things that have gotten in your way in the past. People that had a pull on you in the wrong direction. Old patterns that prevented you from making lasting changes.
Wouldn't it be safe to say that these factors will come into play when you set some new goals or decide on some new changes? Of course they will. Your peer group, your relative, your habits and everything else remain pretty much the same. Their influence on your life doesn't automatically change much either just because you set some goals.

The point is that you need to become aware of the influence they have on you. Once you have done that then you can come up with ways to counter their negative effects. Whenever you set some new goals or decide on some new commitments take a couple of minutes to think about what may prevent you from following through on it. Make a list of those things that are likely to get in your way. Sometimes just having identified this will help you catch yourself. You may realize that you get back into one of those habits that you wanted to break away from.

For example you may have decided to do some quality reading every night before going to sleep. An excellent decision and one that has changed the lives of many people in a positive way. Since the mind dwells on the thoughts you feed it, it's a great idea to feed you mind some ideas from a good book before dozing off. Somehow you never really get to it because when you actually go to bed you're just too tired to read. The book may be next to your pillow, but it remains unopened for months. You could make it a point to read more next. You have to get to bed just a little bit earlier. Perhaps this means skipping the late show that always starts around 23.00. Perhaps it's something else.

Whatever it is try to identify it. Find out what is keeping you up and then think of a way to change this. We all know the late show can be very interesting, but think about what would ultimately be more valuable: watching the late show or reading a good book that could give you some new and powerful insights to advance your life.

Obviously a good book would do more than the entertaining garbage that most late shows give us. Because you gave this some thought, the next time you hear the tune of that late show coming on, the question of what would be more valuable will probably pop up. That will make it a lot easier for you to turn off the TV and pick up your reading material. Of course this is just a simple example, but in many cases you will find that the obstacles keeping you from sticking to your resolutions are quite simple. The big problem is that they tend to sneak up on you. They're often habitual and that's exactly why it can be so hard to break away from your old patterns.

Some of you might say: "Hey, but what about the law of attraction?" You get what you focus on. You become that which you think about most of the time. Wouldn't I be focusing on the wrong things if I think about the obstacles?" All are valid questions of course. Make sure you don't spend too much of your time there. You should by no means obsess yourself with obstacles and distractions. It does however make sense to be aware of them. How else can you tackle them if you're oblivious to their existence and their effect on you? Spend no more time than necessary identifying them and then focus most of your efforts on finding ways to eliminate them.

Whenever you come up with any resolution, especially one you've had before, it will be helpful to ask yourself: "What could prevent me from implementing this in my day to day life?" See what you can come up with. Make sure you at least become aware of the things that have stopped you in the past. Then go a little further to find effective ways to counter them so when you go back to your day to day activities you will be much better prepared. This little exercise will greatly improve your chances of successfully making the changes you desire and really making next year your best year ever!