Resolution tips

It may be my imagination but in the past week there seem to be a lot more runners out there. It could be people training for the London Marathon in April, or it could also be people who have set New Year's resolutions to get fitter.

I suspect some of them fall into the latter category because I can overtake some of them, which doesn't happen that often these days.

I gave up making New Year's resolutions a few years ago because, like most people, my resolutions rarely lasted two weeks, let alone a month.

My new technique, which I find far more effective is writing myself a letter dated a year ahead. I then write in the present tense what I have achieved in the year that hasn't yet happened, and why that was so important, and the difference that it has made to me in what I see, what I hear and what I feel.

I then keep that letter safe somewhere and get on with my life. For me, and many of my clients, this is much more effective than resolutions.

But for anyone who does have resolutions, here's a tip from Gretchen Rubin, who's book, The Happiness Project, I'm reading right now.

She suggests creating a daily chart of your resolutions and then putting a tick or a cross in the box each day, depending whether you have lived up to your resolution or not.

Sounds like a plan to me.