New Years Resolutions

It's that time of year again. Yes, it is that time of year when people reflect on the year that has passed them and once again start their list of resolutions for 2006.
I feel that this is a tradition that needs to be rethought. Why? For lots of reasons. First off, most people make a resolution and studies have shown that within 30 days, they are back to their old habits. Psychologists have shown that it takes up to 60 days to create a new behavior. That is why when someone goes to see a psychologist/counselor/shrink they do so for several months. These clinicians want to monitor someone's behavioral changes over the course of time because they know that someone can not change a habit or bahavior they have formed over the course of years in just a couple of days. People are not patient and give up too soon. They get frustrated when they do not see immediate results from their work and do not wait long enough to see the new behavior. This is most accute when people try to lost weight.
Second, why do people find it neccessary to make changes at the end of the year? Why don't we make changes to ourselves throughout the year, rather than use the excuse that it is the end of the year? I can only speak for myself and from my own personal experiencewhen I say that I work on my religious, spiritual, and physical sides everyday. I have my wife, family, and friends that watch out for me and let me know if I need to work on something. If I see that I need to work on a specific character defect or shortcoming, I do it now, not wait until the end of the year when I look back and realize how little I have done to change myself. I look back at the year and am proud of who I have become because I know that I spent even a small amount of time everyday working on myself.
Lastly, resolutions bring people up, then down or give people an excuse to try changing, then quit. They give people a false sense of hope that they are going to make their lives better, then when they don't succeed they become sad and sometimes depressed. Or even worse, they don't care. These people passively say" Aw well, it was worth a try" and just remain as they are without taking their giving-up seriously. I have seen it in my own life. Friends start a diet after the holidays, get real serious about it for a short time, then stop eating well or exercising. They start to look and feel good, then I see them a month or so later and they look like they did before and their attitudes are negative or they just don't seem to have that same positive energy that they had before they started the diet.
I would love to own a gym. I heard 0n tv that the biggest time of year that people diet and excercise is right after the holidays. The Today Show was saying that most people that make the resolution to lose weight or start and excercise program do so for a month, then get tired and give-up. Wouldn't that be great to own your own gym, selling 6 month memberships to people that are only going to come for a month, then not show-up anymore? Or raise your membership fees in January knowing that you are going to make a killing on people signing up after the holidays?
Those who know me know that I only talk the talk if I walk the walk, so this subject is one I can effectively submit my opinion on. I really do not mean to be so cynical. I am really NOT a cynical person, but seeing history repeat itself and watching tv shows lately where the topics have been New Years resolutions has got me thinking. Perhaps I should (insert sarcasm) make it a New Years Resolution not to take other making resolutions so seriously!