Look far enough into any life and you’ll find room for improvement, but in most cases it only takes half a glance – my own life not being an exception. As I mature, my ways get set and all too often it easier to adapt to the accustomed inadequacy than it is to change it.

As I sat brainstorming the list of possible New Year’s resolutions, noting all the bad habits and unhealthy lifestyle choices, I tried to imagine what might be needed to create a remedy for each. It’s amazing how a list of personal improvement is so similar to a list of personal failing.

Some treatments obviously demand more commitment than others and I don’t have the time and energy to tackle them all at once. Trying to fix everything at the same time would probably just leave your good will burned out by the end of January.

Life is complicated enough – why make a burdening lifestyle choice in another direction? Oh right, I almost forgot, it’s the only way things eventually get better. That’s just how it works; productive change requires a great initial effort, but once better choices become habit, the overall quality of life should improve. A founding guideline to any New Year’s resolution usually begins with sacrifice and ends with a worthwhile goal.

A common example is fitness. You’ve got to get your fat rump into the gym before you start to see a pay off and constant reward usually requires constant effort. But being in good shape and staying that way is a lot easier than trying to jump-start those love handles into six packs.

The worst kind of burn is those first long miles on the treadmill, but in the end when you’re flexing those abs for the Myspace photo, you’ll know it was worth the effort. You’ll forget about all those torturous hours of slobbering sweat, body aching and embarrassment. You might even ask yourself “Why didn’t I do this years ago?” After a while you actually get addicted to the routine and eventually a day won’t even feel right unless it involves a healthy physical exertion.