On New Year's Resolutions

I’ve always thought this tradition of making New Year’s resolutions was odd.  Every year people make decisions and set goals to begin the year doing something new or different and then a couple of months later they stop.  Setting goals is usually the easy part – accomplishing them is a whole other story.

So why do we do torture ourselves with setting unrealistic and unattainable goals?  In the words of my high school auto mechanics teacher, “You’re setting yourself up for failure.”  So, again, why do it?

There are so many resources out there that teach us how to set goals; whether it is for personal enrichment, for business, for weight loss or for pretty much everything else.  But, underneath all of the goal setting tips and tricks and motivational speeches and goal setting guidelines and processes there is one common theme…on reason why we are constantly drawn to bettering ourselves;  HOPE.

Where are we without hope?  We all want to feel like things will get better; like good times are sure to come; like the past was the worst that life could throw at us and that it’s going to get better from here on out.

I’ve never been really good at accomplishing the goals I’ve set for myself, whether it’s a New Year’s resolution or at any other time of the year.  But, I always do have hope.

So, as I sit here on the brink of a new year I hope that each and every person that reads this has, and always has, hope.

I hope you become a better father every day.  No matter what kind of a father you are there is always room for improvement.  I hope you never stop improving.  Your children hope you never stop improving.

Happy New Year!