Whatever. The failures I see are all the results of laziness, excuses, or allowing the “urgent” to take the place of the “important”.

So what to do? How to not continue failing, excusing, or ignoring your goals?

Here’s the simplest – but most powerful – solution I know of. I’ll give it to you in two simple pieces, the first piece being the explanation of what needs to happen and the second piece being how to do it.

1) You need to interrupt your routine, and eliminate the distractions. Make it so you have no excuses, no “urgent” interruptions, no phone calls…nothing on TV to stop you from doing what you really want to accomplish. Go it?

2) Do this by getting up a half-hour early. Simple, I know. But I guarantee you this: if you start to rise 30 minutes earlier it will change your life. Seriously.

The catch? None – except maybe the note that you should use the extra half-hour to work on your real goals. No answering emails, no wasting time!

• Get up
• Get some coffee
• Get something done!

That’s it! Best of luck….

So, I determined that specific resolutions won’t necessarily help me – what I really need is to change the way I approach my goals throughout the year. As a result, what I’m doing isn’t really a specific resolution – what it is, is an attempt to change my attitude and way of thinking as well as my way of approaching things throughout the year. I think I can benefit most by taking measures to not procrastinate when I decide that I want or need to do something during this upcoming year.

First, I am going to order a pinup calendar. (Yes, this is going to improve 2009 and I’ll explain why.) It doesn’t really matter what kind of calendar I use actually, but I am a vintage (1930s-1960s) pin-up buff and I admire the artwork of some of the old-timers like Gil Elvgren and especially the Louisiana-born pin-up artist George Petty. So I’ll probably get this 2009 Wall Calendar or this 2009 Mini Wall Calendar.

Second, I am going to write down at least twelve things must do in 2009. I have a few already, but I want to spread some do-able goals through the whole year. Some are easy while others are a bit more challenging. For instance, I have one goal which is simply “finish installing flooring” because I have a half-finished job to do in my house. Not too hard, really. But it’s a goal – and I want to set a date for it and mark it on my calendar. However I have another goal which will require a bit more discipline, planning, and time – “Pay off credit card”. This goal is set for the end of 2009, and there are smaller steps (sub-goals) that lead up to it. Another large goal I have is to send a book manuscript to an an agent, because I wrote a book and never quite did anything with it. So, for each of the things I really want to accomplish or I have thus far procrastinated on doing – I will put them on the list along with dates on which they must be complete.

Third, I will go through the calendar and mark the calendar dates of each goal. If I get the mini calendar, I will probably have to write small. But it won’t matter too much since I know what my goals are for the year. If I get the larger wall calendar, I can write each goal a bit larger.

Fourth, I will place the calendar where I will see it daily. I want to be reminded of my goals, often. So I will probably hang the calendar somewhere where I do work daily – or above the coffee-maker. I haven’t decided yet. But I want to see the date on the calendar each and every day, so I can see the pinup and so I can read my goal and know what must be done by which date during that month.

Fifth, I will set reminders on my phone to pop up throughout the year. Since we have so many tools at our disposal in this ago of technology, why not use them? The calendar is one that I can glance at and use as a daily reminder, but for it to be more effective I am setting a few reminders to pop up on my cell phone. All these are for is to remind me of the goals on my calendar. My Razr can be set with alarms or reminders, so I can use this feature to “annoy” myself and prevent myself from forgetting the upcoming things that must be finished.

So, while I’m not classifying any of my goals as a “resolution”, maybe they are. But resolutions often fail – and I don’t want that, so I refuse to use the word “resolution”. Whatever you wanna call my system – the Pinup Calendar System, the Incremental Resolution Reminder System, the DIY Dollars Goal System – it doesn’t matter too much to me. As long as it stops procrastination from stopping me in 2009.

Now, excuse me – I have a calendar to order from Amazon.

Update – Instead, I ended up getting a very cool blues calendar…check it out…