Very few people actually set New Year Resolutions. In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say that very few people have EVER set a New Year Resolution in their life. Sure, they set new Year Wishes and make New Year Dreams, but few can actually be called a resolution. Their New Year Resolutions are, in fact, missing this key ingredient.

If you’re like 92% of those who set any goals at all, you’re looking in the mirror right about now feeling guilty and disappointed with the person you didn’t quite become. With goal-setting odds stacked overwhelmingly against you (all but a mere 8% crash and burn somewhere between January’s excitement and December’s memory lapse), it’s easy to feel those nasty little joy-suckers of shame, disappointment and regret. But maybe you don;t have to feel that way…

What would you do if you were guaranteed success? What would you start if you knew you could not fail? What dream has been wet down and stuffed in the back of the closet because you were afraid you would never be able to reach it? Here’s the problem …

Belief is the blanket we wrap ourselves in when life seems cold and dark and harsh. It is the hope that shines in the darkened tunnels of life. It is a framework, a map and a marker on the path we choose to travel. It unlocks doors and oils hinges and greases paths. But it’s only the starting point.

As a high school teacher, I send almost 200 kids off into the world every year to try figure out where they fit in the world. But if I’ve merely taught them the finer points of the subjects I teach, I believe I’ve failed them. The following words are a more polished version of what I share with them each year on the last day of class.

Do you struggle to get things done? Do you procrastinate until it’s either too late to finish or too late to finish adequately? Well, did you know there was a simple mind trick that can magically transform your procrastinating ways into the motivation you need to finally be a productivity wizard?

Find the burning WHY that drives you and the HOW will follow. Your WHY is what burns in your soul. It is the reason behind your activity. It is the fundamental purpose and passion that animates you.

It’s often the very first step that’s the hardest. Writing the book is not always the toughest part. It’s writing the first word on the first page. Running a business is often easier than exercising the guts to start it. The first step of every journey is often the most difficult to take which is why relatively so few journeys are conscientiously taken and so few dreams fulfilled.

There is a startling power contained in the seed of Decision. When unleashed, it can be used to build an amazing life of purpose, passion and meaning, to realize a dream, end a bad habit, start a good one, influence people, improve relationships, develop a talent, learn a skill, add joy and happiness to the rush of living.

You are limited only by the limits you place on your imagination. But once you open the door to any possibility, you free yourself of self-imposed confines and restrictions.

Sometimes we need a step-by-step how-to manual of 101 Ways to live Happier Lives to get us through the vicissitudes of life. Other times, all we need is a reminder, inspiration to look anew at the old to start making changes. I invite you to begin now to become who you most want to

Today is a blank canvas waiting for you to paint your personal masterpiece onto it. It is your unfinished Sistine Chapel, your David and Mona Lisa. This very day is waiting to be fashioned and formed into something beautiful, breathtaking and sublime.

A well-known motivational guru was once challenged about the very idea of motivation. His antagonist complained that motivation doesn’t work because it doesn’t last. It wears off, so can’t be all the guru suggested it was …

Why do we wait for anniversaries to celebrate marriage? Why do we wait for birthdays to celebrate births? And why do we wait for funerals to celebrate life? Why wait for the day of the event or the end of a life to celebrate what we could be celebrating daily?

I challenge you to do something you’ve always wanted to do. Or learn something you’ve wanted to learn. Or go somewhere you yearn to go. A talent you wish you had. A skill you want to develop. A hobby you want to pursue. But don’t wait. Start today. Not next year or next week or in a couple days. Tomorrow. At the latest.

Happiness is not about trying to make you feel good all the time. It doesn’t always feel good to climb mountains over rugged terrain. Legs burn. Arms ache. Shins bloody. Feet blister. Toes bruise. Shoulders knot and backs grow weary. But that’s how you get to mountaintops. Happiness is not always in the valley. Quite often, it’s at the summit after a long climb. This is a post meant to get you climbing again.

I was recently sitting in the dentist’s chair thinking about my mouth. I don’t usually spend much time doing that, but that day, I was. And it dawned on me that personal development is really a lot like going to the dentist. Sounds strange, but not so much as you might think.

Stop living life in neutral and start living with your foot on the gas pedal. It doesn’t have to be pushed to the floor, just enough to move you forward and get the adrenaline of passion flowing a little bit. Light the flame of purposeful living. Don’t wait. Get to filling life with the meaning and passion it lacks. Every day you don’t, you delay doing what you were created to do.

Just as there are specific actions we can take and attitudes we can harbor to increase the likelihood of a successful life (in whatever aspect of life we’re seeking success), there are obviously specific actions and attitudes that can increase the likelihood of failure as well. Below are some of those steps that can lead to abject failure in life. The point is, of course, to know ahead of time exactly where the cow dung in the field is to avoid stepping in it.

So often, we look down the road of our lives through the prism of the past, projecting that past onto the unknown and unknowable future, somehow dirtying it. For some of us, all we need to empower the decision to take our foot off the brake of life is the inspiration of a powerful example, proof that it can be done, that someone as regular and normal as me with all my limitations, baggage, insecurities and emotional problems has done it before.