In advance, Happy New Year.

A ritual that is common to many of us is a New Year’s resolution, a practice apparently followed in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. We resolve to stifle a bad practice (quit nagging our spouse) or begin an element of self-improvement (no more desserts to lose weight)

If you’re a pessimist, by February, you’ll read news reports that claim about 80 percent to 90 percent of people who have made New Year’s resolutions have broken them. As many of you know, I’m an optimist. If the statistic above stands tall, that means 10 percent to 20 percent have kept their resolution. Isn’t that a reason for joy? But there something fundamentally true about the remaining who might have faltered.

Even if they slipped, they thought about a goal they hoped to achieve. Falling isn’t a sin. We are all guilty of it. I would say, there’s always next year. And why wait until next year? Nothing is stopping you from restarting your goal on another milestone day … let’s say July 4th.