Don't just make - keep your New Year's resolutions this year with advice from Susan Wright and a contest from Special K!

It's that time of year agin when I start thinking about the dreaded term - "New Year's Resolutions" - so easy to make, so hard to keep! Is it any wonder that out of the 70% of Canadians (including me) who make them, 55% of those people (including me) fail to keep them!

Lack of discipline, lack of motivation and lack of willpower are all reasons not to follow through but wouldn't it be great if this year could be different?!

According to Toronto Life Coach and Special K Ambassador, Susan Wright (www.wrightmomentum.com) this can be your year to finally reach your goals - all it's going to take to be successful is focus, manageable steps and setting specific, realistic, measurable and achievable goals.

I know for myself, every year I resolve to lose weight and exercise more and it would seem from Susan's advice, that the reason I fail every year is I'm not being specific enough. I would be better off resolving to lose a pound every week in January and to go to the gym 3 times a week - that goal is very achievable, not overwhelming and realistic for a coach potato such as myself. You of course should make whatever resolutions make sense for you but you get the idea, be specific, don't overwhelm yourself and make it easy to track what you are doing. It's also smart to set a time period - at the end of January I can assess how I've done and continue on for February or make new goals.

Susan also recommends using a buddy system - it's a lot easier to stay on track when you have someone to talk to and be accountable to, especially someone who is going through the same process as you! Also, listen and understand what your body is telling you - it will clue you in on things like hunger and energy levels if we bother to pay attention to it!

Susan said something very smart at the end of our discussion which I had never really thought of before - that a positive side effect to meeting your goals is increased confidence and of course confidence spills over to every aspect of your life so it's something very much worth pursuing!

To help you in your quest for better health you can also check out the Special K website at www.specialk.ca where you will find a bunch of tools to help you set and meet your goals including recipes, meal plans, helpful articles and tips as well as an offer for a free yoga mat!

And knowing that having the tools to begin the journey make life so much easier, they have been kind enough to offer up a basket full of products to one of our wonderful Beauty Crazed readers to help you on your way including a wealth of Special K products, a yoga mat and bag, a wellness journal, water bottle, fitness towel, wrist band and heart rate monitor watch – perfect to help jumpstart the year! Sound like something that might help you out and that you want to win? - then read on...

This contest is open to all our Canadian readers and it's very easy to enter, just leave a comment letting us know that you follow (if you aren't a follower you can sign up through Google or Facebook - signups are in the right sidebar)

1 entry for following and leaving a comment answering the question - Are you a New Year's Resolution maker? We'd also love it if you would share yours with us! Please also leave your e-mail so we can find you if you win!

And for extra entries you can do one or both of the following:
1 entry for following @Beautycrazedcan on Twitter and tweeting the contest
1 entry for visiting the Special K website at www.specialk.ca - taking the Food Personality Quiz and sharing the results

If you prefer not to leave your info on a public post, please leave a post saying you want to enter and then e-mail your info to info@beautycrazed.ca, please put "Special K Contest" in the subject line.  Remember to leave a post or you name won't actually end up in the draw! Winner to be decided by random drawing and you have until January 13th to enter. Good Luck!

- Lisamarie -