Keeping track of my New Year's Resolutions

We all know that these resolutions are usually doomed to failure, so this year, I've decided to put myself on the hot seat and make my resolutions stick- or, at the very least, allow myself to be held accountable.  My resolutions are fairly basic.  I haven't smoked in several years, and I quit drinking more than 20 years ago, so what else could I possibly need to change?  Believe it or not, I have a couple things I don't really like very much about myself.
1) I have to make myself more impressive to potential employers.  Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to have a job and I like what I am doing, for the most part.  Simply put, I don't feel like this is where I should be at this stage of my life.  Sort of an, "Is this as good as it gets?" feeling (thanks, Jack Nicholson). 

So what am I doing to change this? First off, I bought the book "What Color is Your Parachute." Second, and more importantly, I'm reading the book and doing to exercises in it to determine where my true passion lies, hopefully leading me to a much fuller career.  Third, I'm being more proactive in my current job; I actually ask my customers to say nice stuff about me in our online survey, I network with many of them and ask about their future plans.  Finally, I'm trying to step outside of my comfort zone in my job, continuing to learn what I can and improve the whole process in the separations division.

2) Lose weight.  This is probably the single most failed resolution in the world.  Why?  Because it isn't specific enough.  I look at myself in the mirror and I do not like what I see.  I've let myself gain too much weight over the holidays and now it's time to get rid of the pounds.  In light of this, let me say that I want to lose 30 pounds.  This year.

Losing weight is easy. I can lose 5 pounds fairly quickly.  The problem is that I seem to be losing the same 5 pounds every few months!  Gaining the weight back comes even easier than losing it.  How can I break this cycle?  Well, having a support system is a good start.  I'm not talking about someone that's going to nag me into losing weight.  That'll never work.  I'm talking about having a partner who's as invested as I am in this endeavor.  The main thing I have to do is watch what I eat.  No more eating just to be eating.  That's foolishness for a man of my age.  When I was a kid, and even as a young adult, I could eat anything and never gain weight.  I miss those days!  However, I have to be more mature about it.  I simply can't eat the way I did when I was younger.  I use this program to monitor what I eat:
myfitnesspal
It's a simple program and I even have it on my smart phone.  Exercise is an important part of weight control as well. Having a program that involves other people makes it more of a team function, and not just a 'me against the world' challenge.

3) Pay off at least one large bill this year.  I'm not nearly as bad off as some are, but there's a lot of room for improvement in this area.  We- my wife and I- really only have 4 big bills, outside of our house and the regular stuff (insurance, utilities, etc, don't factor in this).  This is a much more personal matter, but I don't mind sharing the fact that it's TIME to get started on this.  This has been very important to me for a few years now and I've decided that this is the year we are going to get the ball rolling (it's also the year I was able to get my wife committed to the idea as well- can't do it without her). 

I've been a fan of Dave Ramsey for a long time.  His ideals are well-founded and make a lot of sense.  Dave's philosophy about being debt free isn't unique, nor is it the only way to accomplish this goal, but I find it to be the simplest method for becoming debt free, and the method I plan on using. 

These are my 2012 goals.  Not overwhelming enough to be burdensome, but challenging enough to keep me on my toes. Here's to a successful 2012!!!!!!!