Rewards, not resolutions.

This New Year, instead of making resolutions that you won't be able to keep, why not set yourself targets, objective milestones to aim for, and reward yourself for achieving them? So instead of a resolution to get fitter, why not get a pedometer or Nike Plus and set yourself some targets.

A friend of mine who is trying to complete writing a PhD thesis is rewarding himself every 1000 words with an episode of The Wire.