Entering a New Year for some of us means going through the age old process of putting together our list of New Year's Resolutions; those great ideas that come to mind each year and that we always stick to and achieve success at, right?

Well, a favorite web-site of mine Statistic Brain (http://www.statisicbrain.com) provides the following information about our New Year's Resolution habit:

• 48% of Americans usually make New Year's Resolutions
• 8% of Americans who do make New Year's Resolutions are successful in achieving their resolution

While the above may be true, they also will tell us that people who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don't make New Year's Resolutions. For myself, I recall a few resolutions that I failed to follow through with for more than a few weeks:

• I will think of a password other than the word "password"
• I will give up chocolate
• I will spend less than an hour a day on the internet

By definition, a resolution is, "making a firm decision to do or not to do something" and I can tell you from personal experience that my confidence is shaken immediately when I think about making New Year's Resolutions simply because of my total lack of success. I think the real reason is I have little support in their success.

A New Year's Resolution that has been successful for me and I would encourage you to explicitly consider is that of professional education. NACM has many opportunities for you to move your career ahead, or simply learn more about your profession. You might consider a path to certification; whether your first or the next step you cannot lose when it comes to following through on your resolution. Class schedules and scholarship information can be obtained by checking in with the NACM staff. Perhaps it is simply attending an ICEL (Intermountain Credit Education League) lunch meeting that occurs once each month. You might find a Regional or National Conference of interest as the educational value of these meetings cannot be matched anywhere.

Whatever fits for you, the execution of the resolution solution should not be considered "noise pollution', but an opportunity to begin or continue a "professional education revolution" in 2017.  

Let's make 2017 the year of the Professional Education Revolution and find an education opportunity that fits where you are and what you're looking for. NACM stands ready to help you create your Resolution Solution.