Resolutions give food for thought

NOW here's a test: how many of you made a New Year's resolution this year?

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And the followup question is the obvious one ... how many of you have already broken your pledge?

Experience tells me that it is probably best not to make New Year's resolutions (plural).

If you are to stand any chance of being successful, then it is best to keep your resolution to the singular.

My pal, fellow columnist Phil Evans (he's on this page on Wednesdays, by the way) is of the view that “a New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other”.

Oscar Wilde had a cynical view - “Good resolutions are simply cheques that men draw on a bank where they have no account.”

In my corner, I'm more inclined to the Benjamin Franklin view - “Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New Year find you a better man.”

Today being January 9, it is a reasonable assumption that many of you will have already cast your New Year resolution aside, a pledge dumped unceremoniously in the black plastic bin-bag of life, like the Christmas wrapping paper.

Happily, I can report that my resolution is still intact.

I have, of course, adopted the S.M.A.R.T. mnemonic acronym so beloved by the performance management gurus.

Yes, my resolution is Smart, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

It is, simply, to eat better!