Dig deep to keep resolutions

This time next year we should all have fatter bank accounts and slimmer waistlines.
The most common New Year's resolutions made by Kiwis this year are to do with the financial and the fat-busting.
In a poll of 381 New Zealanders, increasing savings was the most popular resolution, while reducing debt came in at number 3.
Shaping up was the next most common goal - with increasing exercise, losing weight, improving health and reducing stress all in the top six.
A poll conducted by Fly Buys found that 58 per cent of Kiwis plan to increase their savings in 2011 and 55 per cent plan to exercise more.
It's easy to make resolutions - but sticking to them is another matter.
Mount Maunganui based life coach Bernadette Griffiths said making a New Year's resolution was a "tradition".
"Every time you go into a new year, it automatically becomes a time of reflection. Some people do it on birthdays too.
"At the end of the year people look at it and feel 'that was a great year', or that they are really pleased to see the end of that year if it was a struggle."
Most people have a vice, she says, whether it's smoking, drinking, gambling, working too much or even a shopping habit.
The reason so many people failed to keep their resolutions was simply because they didn't really want to keep them, she said.
"Unless you really want to give something up you won't do it.
"People know all the reasons they should give up smoking, so they feel they need to give it a go but within them there isn't that willingness.
"They haven't got to the point were there's something they really want to do."
As a life coach, trainer, professional speaker and writer, Ms Griffiths has created her business, The Joyful Life, to help people achieve their goals.
And she says the key to keeping resolutions is to focus on the positive - the desired outcome.
"New Year's resolutions often don't work because people are coming to it from a negative side - a lot of them are about giving up something.
"To me, goal setting should be about the positive."
Ms Griffiths recommends visualising yourself in a year's time, looking back on your perfect year.
"What would your dream year be? If you reflect on a perfect year, what steps can you take to make it a reality?
"If you just dream a perfect life and set a goal, you need to say 'what one thing can I do today to get me on that track?'. That's good motivation."
Another priority highlighted in the survey was a desire to reduce stress and take more holidays.
Fly Buys chief executive Lance Walker said 2010 had been a difficult year for many, with the Christchurch earthquake, Pike River Mine tragedy, and global financial crisis.
"The holiday season offers a great time for us to recoup, take stock and get back on our feet. Reducing stress and taking more holidays are also big priorities for us."
TIPS TO MAKE THEM LAST:
Exercise/health resolutionsThe New Year is a busy time for gyms, as people try to keep their fitness and health resolutions.
John Richardson, owner/manager of FitCo, said common resolutions were to "get a little bit healthier and look after your body".
Mr Richardson said the key to sticking to a new regime was to set short-term goals.
"That big monstrous goal can be a bit daunting, especially if you are not getting there in the first month.
"Set short-term goals just like getting yourself to the gym three times a week for 30 minutes, to get started to create a habit. Start to cut out some of the bad things out of your diet.
"If you go cold turkey on everything and increase your exercise and change your whole lifestyle completely, it makes it too hard."
Lose weightDon't make radical changes that you can't keep.
That's the advice of Tauranga nutritionist Fiona Boyle, of Food Solutions, on sticking to your resolution to lose weight.
"People who radically change their eating patterns and follow a whole new eating regime generally find it pretty hard to maintain."
Setting realistic goals was the key to weight loss, Ms Boyle advised.
"Instead of saying you want to lose 15-20kg, start off aiming for small achievable steps along the way, so you feel motivated as you get to each of your goals.
"If you lose 5-6kg but haven't achieved 15-20kg you feel that you haven't made the progress you wanted to make."
Instead of crash dieting, Ms Boyle suggests eating at regular intervals and having a proper breakfast, lunch and dinner.
"Have a good variety of foods so you are feeling satisfied rather than hungry."
Money resolutionsIf you want to increase savings and decrease debt, the best place to start is with a budget.
Brian Berry, director of Rothbury Financial Services, said financial resolutions could see you better off in 2011.
"It's a good time of year to do some accurate budgeting and look at what your discretionary expenditure is - the expenditure you don't necessarily have to make but want to make.
"Obviously you have to cover your essential items such as food and so on but there are a lot of items you probably could do without."
Mr Berry advises using your left-over money to increase payments to the bank, which allows you to pay off your mortgage faster.
"Retain the existing loan term so if things get tight again they can go back down to the original lower repayments."
If you don't have a mortgage, that money can go into your savings account.
"It's all about watching your spending, budgeting correctly and using your leftover money to actually increase your payments on mortgage, so when rates do go up in the future your loan amount is less."
TOP 10 RESOLUTIONS
1. Increase your savings (58 per cent)
2. Increase the amount you exercise (55 per cent)
3. Reduce your debt (49 per cent)
4. Lose weight (49 per cent)
5. Improve your health (43 per cent)
6. Reduce stress levels (38 per cent)
7. Have more holidays (35 per cent)
8. Find a new job (20 per cent)
9. Have a child (4 per cent)
10. Get married (3 per cent)