It is possible with the heart of a champion.

• Position: Resolutions

We all have good intentions this time of year. "I would like to lose 30 pounds; get back into a size 4 dress; increase my sales; be nicer to my family; stop worrying; and play tennis again." Across America, this list goes on and on: New Year's resolutions made; New Year's resolutions failed. Below are suggestions from Change Your Life author and coach Jim Fannin that can help make those resolutions actually stick:

Out with the old, in with the new. It is time to bury 2009; start fresh; wipe the slate clean. Take down the Christmas and Hanukkah decorations; get rid of everything that is unwanted. (You are on your own with relationships.) Change your "worn-out" expressions. Forget how you previously managed your money. Clean your closets. Give your "fat clothes" to charity. It may be time to get a new broker, banker, accountant, dentist, physician, attorney, or psychic. It may be time to reinvent you.

Be realistic. Make a list of things that are possible. Limit your resolutions. It is better to change one big thing than five little ones. However, it is okay to reach for goals that are a stretch. This is a resolution that could be possible if it is planned out in detail. Remember, your resolutions cannot be about something that you physically or technically cannot do.

See what you want, not what you do not want. Avoid statements such as, "I don't want to swear anymore." Instead, say, "I have clean speech."

Make resolutions measurable. I want to be happy. I want to lose weight. I want to get healthy. These all are nice thoughts, but they only are wishful thinking. A resolution that is measurable is something like: I want to weigh 122 pounds by March 1, or I will play tennis competitively in a league by June 15, or I want to be vice president of my company by Dec. 31.

See it and say it as if it is so. I am going to lose weight is not a resolution. Act as if you already have accomplished your feat. Say what you want in the finished state. "I am fit at 140 pounds with 10% body fat." You cannot be 140 pounds in a body that sees itself as 160 pounds. Work backwards. Millions of Americans will attempt to reach their resolutions by going from A to B. However, champions first mentally see B. Then they illuminate a pathway from B chronologically back to A. The...