Those New Year's Resolutions: Where To Start

BOSTON (CBS) - Nearly half of us make New Year's Resolutions but less than 10% are successful. So why bother even to make resolutions if we never achieve them?

Because hope springs eternal. It's the beginning of a new year and so often we want to undo or redo whatever we did or didn't do last year. We want to produce a better us.

In essence we all want to be healthier, wealthier and much wiser. The media has been focusing on healthier by providing us with motivational stories about weight loss and exercise programs since the day after Christmas. The morning shows have been showing the before and after pictures of folks who have lost significant weight.

Every major weight loss program has been running ads on TV and radio as well as the newspaper and magazines. Even Oprah has been advertising the virtues of Weight Watchers, explaining why she joined.

And Weight Watchers is indeed a very successful program so much so that Oprah displayed her wisdom when she bought a 10% stake in the company which made her wealthier because the stock more than doubled the day she purchased it.

So I thought we would spend this week on getting wealthier and wiser. Oprah can help you get healthier.

Prioritize your goals and put together a plan. What's your deadline? If you want to succeed, you need to be committed to your plan.

And you need to write it down. Lip service here does not work. You will be far more committed if you actually put pen to paper. Begin to talk about it with others. Doing so makes you accountable.

Choose a goal that is attainable. Saving more and becoming rich are ambiguous goals. Break the goal down into smaller steps. Planning to save $1,000 this year is achievable. Enrolling in the 401(k) at work is attainable. Saving 3% in your retirement plan. Bringing lunch from home at least 4 days a week to save more also works. Small ways to succeed.