New Year's Resolutions

Well, I have to admit that I failed pretty miserably with my 2011 Resolutions.  Of those five resolutions, I only succeeded with one.  I kept my promise to keep political commentary off Facebook.  The other four I bombed.  I didn't write any books.  I didn't write any academic articles.  Of the five books I said that I would read, I only got around to the Federalist Papers (and I didn't even read these in their entirety).  And I did not do one lick of work on the "display" room.  I know, I know ... pretty pathetic.  Even still, I'm not too down on myself for these failures.  I did accomplish a lot this year in other areas.  But I do think that I need to be less ambitious for 2012.  That said, I am only going to put forward just one New Year's resolution for 2012 -- and I'm going to incentivize it following my blogging "self-nudge" model.

Here's the resolution: I resolve to drop my weight to 170 lbs by the end of 2012.

That's going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of a 30-35 lb weight loss.  I will be weighing myself tomorrow and will use that weight figure as my starting point.  If I fail in my resolution, I commit myself to contributing $120 to one of the following three causes: (1) SarahPac; (2) The RNC; or (3) The David Vitter re-election campaign.

Here are some strategic sub-goals I will be setting for myself to help me keep my main resolution:

1. To lose at least 3 lbs per month.  If I lose more than 3 lbs in one month, I can carry over the excess into future months.
2. To post a weekly tally on my blog along with a photograph of myself so that I have a visual public record of my progress and so that there is some measure of visual accountability.  I'll try to do this on Sundays.

Again, the main goal is to drop to 170 lbs.  As long as I reach this weight by December 31, 2012, I will have fulfilled my commitment, even if I have only erratically adhered to my strategic sub-goals.

Wish me luck!  And in the meantime, I wish you luck with your New Year's resolutions for 2012 and hope you have a great year.