Keeping New Year's Resolutions

Lose 10 pounds. Get organized. Find a new career. Every year, we list our New Year's resolutions. We know we need to change. Trouble is, those same resolutions will top next year's list, too. Why are New Year's resolutions so difficult to keep?

Larry LaMotte is a life coach who helps people improve their lives. He's just as guilty as the next guy, he says. "Believe me, I've broken my share of New Year's resolutions." What gets us off track? Their supreme negativity, he tells WebMD.

"Our resolutions often are something we feel we need to do, but not what we want to do. We're starting in the hole to begin with."

Just look at the word "diet," says Brian Tuffy, of Possibility Enterprises, Inc., who is also a life coach. "Look at the first three letters. Now that's a negative. The whole concept feels negative. We can't have soda, can't eat candy. We love dessert, but we can't have it. We start out denying ourselves the things we love."

So how can you make this year truly different? Here are a few tips:

Take time to reflect.

LaMotte spent 19 years as a CNN reporter before he made a major career change and became a life coach. But that change didn't come easy, he says. "I chased news stories all day, then went home and faced other responsibilities there. I was just doing and doing and doing -- not thinking, not reflecting on who I was, where I wanted to go."

Our lives tend to be that way, regardless what job you have, he says. "We have so many responsibilities, running from one to the next. It's hard to find time for reflection." A life coach helps you stop and think about things -- "that's a life coach's real power," says LaMotte. "When I finally took time to reflect, I was amazed at what came up with."

Tune into your passions.

Lamotte's theory: "We're put on this planet to find our passions, to sail with them. Instead, we tend to notice what we're not. We're told we can do anything we put our mind to -- so if we can't do everything, we feel like failures."

For example, you know you need more exercise. But don't try to be a runner if you hate running. Trying to be what you're not is a waste of time, he says. You won't enjoy it, so you won't keep at it. "Focus on who you are, on producing a life you can enjoy," he says. "We're all given talents. Focus on those."

Pinpoint what drains your energy.

Most people say it: "There's not enough time in the day," LaMotte says. "What we're really saying is, I don't have enough energy. You reach a point in the day when you just run out of energy."