According to some people, New Year's resolutions are made to be broken. If that's the case, then why bother? Let's face it, many people feel the need to turn their lives around in one way or another and sometimes the New Year is a good time to reflect on ways of improving oneself and coming up with strategies for getting what one wants out of life. The problem is that goals made without careful consideration are often unrealistic and without a plan to reach a goal, a goal is not much more than a wish. On top of that, New Year's Day must be followed by planned time set aside for periodic self-reflection, if one wants to have a reasonable chance of reaching a goal. Weekly lists of things to accomplish and monthly progress checks can be very useful when it comes to reaching goals. Ultimately and most significantly, it is important to realize that any day is a good day to set a new and meaningful goal and that New Year's Day is not the only day available for that purpose! However and nonetheless, setting goals and making resolutions on New Year's Day is a great tradition, but not something one should do just because it's a tradition!