Are you making New Year’s Resolutions for 2010? Remember, New Year’s resolution statistics are not on your side, so if you really want to be successful at achieving any New Year’s goals for the year 2010, you have some hard work ahead of you.

Anyone can make a list of New Year’s resolutions, and the list may include the most popular top ten, twenty or more resolutions that are common each and every year. Trouble is, far too many people make New Year’s resolutions without actually making a real plan of sticking to or keeping the New Year’s resolutions that they’ve set for themselves.

Making New Year’s resolutions can be very beneficial for all of us, but the chances of sticking to these resolutions throughout the entire year usually doesn’t work out, unless you change the word “resolutions” to “goals”. Personally, I never make New Year’s Resolutions. Not ever.

“Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.” – Oprah Winfrey

While I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, I do set personal and professional goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound, also called SMART goals. If you’re going to make any kind of New Year’s resolution for 2010, 2011 and beyond, you’re much better off and much more likely to achieve the personal and/or professional goals you set if you have a solid action plan to help you accomplish your goals.

I don’t know why people seem to be so fascinated with funny New Year’s resolutions and silly quotes, but it seems to me that if someone has specific goals in mind of things they want to achieve in the new year, it’s time to stop laughing and get serious about what you want.

“A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other.” – Author Unknown

For the year 2010, some have made a resolution or goal to find a husband, find a wife, find a girlfriend or boyfriend, have a baby, lose 20 pounds, quit drinking and similar real life goals that really aren’t funny at all. The fact that I met my husband online, as have many other people I know personally and professionally, the opportunity to meet your future husband or wife online is a very realistic goal and doable.

If you or someone you know is looking for love in the new year, the Helen Fisher Why Him Why Her personality test is the place to start finding real love by understanding your personality type, and understanding why people are attracted to one another based on four different personality types. There’s nothing funny about finding your soul mate.

Statistically speaking, that quote about resolutions is true for many people, but it doesn’t have to be for you and I. The most popular New Year’s resolutions are the same this year as they were last year. Which of these ten are on your list of goals you want to be successful at achieving in 2010?

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions

1. Lose weight
2. Manage debt/save money
3. Get a better job
4. Spend more time with family
5. Quit smoking
6. Eat right/Get fit
7. Get a better education
8. Reduce stress
9. Going greener
10. Volunteer to help others

Out of the above top ten resolutions listed, I have already been successful at quitting smoking, and I was surprised at how easy quitting smoking can actually be for smokers. At least it was for me and can be for you too if you want to quit smoking.

“People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.” – Author Unknown

The goal of managing debt and saving money is still an ongoing process for us and many other people, but getting out of debt once for all is a goal we have set for ourselves and we are giving a full 100% of our time and energies to accomplishing our goal to be debt free. A dear friend gifted us with Dave Ramsey’s book The Total Money Makeover and the accompanying The Total Money Makeover Workbook recently, and I’m so excited to start reading through the book and workbook with my dear hubby.

While talking to one of my daughters recently about my goal to lose weight over the next few months, she told me about an amazing book called You: On A Diet: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management and the You On A Diet Workout DVD by Mehmet C Oz (Dr Oz from the Oprah Show) and Michael F. Roizen. With the help of this book and workout DVD, I now have a better understanding of how our brain, stomach, hormones, muscles, heart, genetics, and stress levels all interact biologically to determine if our body is the size of a baseball bat or the size of a baseball stadium. I will achieve my goals of losing weight and getting fit, and you can too. Oh, and the humor these two authors use in these books will make you laugh out loud, of that I’m sure.

Losing weight is always one of the top, if not the most popular, resolution people make each and every year. People often say, “I resolve to lose twenty pounds this year”, but are often clueless about how to lose weight successfully or where and how to begin a weight loss program. Fortunately, I recently heard about a book by author David Zinczenko called Eat This Not That, and it’s on its way to me now.

Did you know?
· Choosing Prime Rib over Baby Back Ribs at Outback will save you more than 2,000 calories?
· You can save nearly 500 calories and more than 20 grams of fat just by ordering a banana split at Dairy Queen instead of Baskin-Robbins?
· A Stouffer’s White Meat Chicken Pot Pie has as much saturated fat as 6 scoops of ice cream? (Choose our alternative and save more than 900 calories!)

If you didn’t know those diet facts, don’t feel bad because I didn’t either. Most diet books promise some secret formula to losing weight, or offer a mystifying scientific-sounding diet plan to melt away pounds but not Eat This, Not That. The latest, updated 2010 version of the  “diet book” from Men’s Health Editor-in-Chief David Zinczenko and Men’s Health food and nutrition editor Matt Goulding is a must-have for anyone serious about losing weight and getting healthy. The Eat This Not That! diet is not a diet in the traditional sense, but a calorie counter’s dream.

Many people are clueless when it comes to the calories in the foods they eat at home or at restaurants, and even when they guess, they usually underestimate the number of calories consumed. I can hardly wait to receive the Eat This Not That book because we tend to eat out at restaurants a few times a month, and being able to make good, healthy food choices is vital for anyone wanting/needing to lose weight.

“The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards; they will be dissipated, lost and perish in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.” – Marie Edgeworth

Are you making New Year’s resolutions for 2010? What goals do you want to accomplish in the coming year? Have you created a workable plan of action to help you reach your goals? Out of the top ten New Year’s resolutions listed above, what is your number one top goal and which comes in second?

Similar Posts:

• New Year’s Resolutions: In One Year, Out the Other
• Goal Setting: Setting Personal and Finance Goals for 2009
• Oprah.com/bestlife: Oprah’s Best Life Diet Series with Bob Greene
• Diet Books – Best New Weight Loss Diet Books
• Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Feliz Navidad

Merry Christmas to you and yours! Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad, or all the other ways of saying Merry Christmas in different languages that I don’t know. I’ll be taking the rest of the decade off and then start working on those New Year’s resolutions…(goals really) like everyone else.

If you’re looking for something to read during your Christmas holiday season, here are few Telling It Like It Is gems you may have missed, plus a couple of interesting articles written by online friends.

• Why Are Women So Strange and Men So Weird?
• A Child’s Ten Commandments For Parents
• Empty Nest Syndrome-Children Leaving Home, What Do I Do Now?
• Keeping The Fire Alive in Your Marriage
• Female Body Image in the Media-The Pressure to Be Thin in Society
• The Most Unbelievable Story Ever Told
• Finding Joy in December
• Why My Kids Will Drive a Piece of Crap

Are you making New Year’s Resolutions? What are your goals for 2010?

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• Empty Nest Syndrome-Children Leaving Home, What Do I Do Now?
• Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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• Happy Holidays Merry Christmas With a Capitol C
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Goal setting, setting personal goals and financial goals in 2009 is what many of us are focusing our time and energies on, as opposed to making new year resolutions that are too often forgotten and dismissed within a matter of weeks.

With the current economic recession and concerns about job layoffs, getting out of debt or managing debt, the increasing number of home foreclosures in the U.S. etc, making a goal to get smart about money and money management is a wise decision for individuals and families.

Personal Finance Blogs

“Telling It Like It Is” is not a personal finance blog per se, although I have talked at length about the Entitlement Epidemic that has been running rampant in society for many years, and the effect entitlement has had on young children, teenagers, grown adult children and parents.

I am subscribed to a generous number of personal finance blogs who offer great advice, suggestions, reviews and recommendations on setting personal goals, financial goals, being frugal and saving money, as personal finance and frugal living is of interest to me.

I’ve read numerous goal setting software reviews and ultimately decided on the goal setting software that I liked best; I’ve purchased Suze Orman’s new book, “Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan”, and am currently re-reading Suze Orman’s book, “Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny” while waiting for Suze’s Action Plan book to arrive in the mail.

My Personal Goals for 2009

I hate to admit it, but I need to lose a few pounds since I’m beginning to develop a big belly, so losing weight is just one of my personal goals this year. Losing thirty five pounds by August 2009 is quite doable in my opinion. After reading many elliptical reviews and deciding between an elliptical trainer vs. treadmill, I’m confident I will lose this weight with the help of my brand new Elliptical Trainer, the Alli Weight Loss pill and a low-calorie, low-fat diet plan.

I/we have set financial goals for 2009 as well, so I thought I’d share with you a few blog posts that I’ve been reading lately, and while you’re at it be sure to subscribe to these blogs (don’t forget to subscribe to Telling It Like It Is too) for free updates either by RSS feed or email subscriptions.

• The Keys to Financial Balance
• Personal Finance: Eliminate Credit Card Annual Fees
• Save Money on Your Cell Phone Plan
• Have Some Fun This Weekend Without Spending A Lot Of Money
• How To Keep Mindful And Committed To Goals And Resolutions
• 7 Ways Being Unbalanced Can Make You More Productive

What are your personal or financial goals for 2009? Lose weight? Get out of debt? Manage debt and/or save money? Start an emergency fund? Find a job or find a better job? Keep your house from going into foreclosure? Spend more time with your family?

Similar Posts:

• Oprah.com/download Suze Orman 2009 Action Plan Book
• New Year’s Resolutions: In One Year, Out the Other
• 2010 Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions
• Join a Gym or Workout At Home – Exercise for Beginners
• Oprah.com/bestlife: Oprah’s Best Life Diet Series with Bob Greene