We are seven days into 2015 and I know at least one of my New Year's resolutions is in the discard pile, or, for the tech savvy, the digital "recycle bin."

I say at least one because more than a few resolutions likely have fallen away by now, even though I am writing this editorial at least a week before New Year's Day.

Seven days in and several resolutions abandoned.

However, I continue to make resolutions every year, formulating a formal document, sometimes a detailed outline on legal paper or, more recently, a Word document with different fonts for different areas of aspiration: financial goals in a font similar to Escrow, the font of The Wall Street Journal, in hopes of inspiring stronger money strategies; a lithe and slender font to prompt better health and fitness practices; straight forward Helvetica to dictate improvements in social behavior such as not talking on my cellphone while making a purchase in a coffee shop, grocery, department or convenience store.

What's more, I keep the written forms to review and, thanks to a computer, cut and paste to carry over from one year to the next. I continue to work on the one made in grade school about helping achieve world peace. And I have yet to abandon my love affair with peanut butter.

According to the website, Ancient Origins, those of us who ring in the new year with resolutions join a long line dating back to the Babylonians, credited as the first to make annual promises of change.

The Babylonians bargained with their gods to return items borrowed and settle debts. Roman civilization took to the tradition and spread the practice. Medieval knights reaffirmed their commitment to chivalry at the end of the year to prepare for the next.

In his article targeted to children for The Washington Post, writer Howard Bennett explains a resolution as "a decision to do or not do something in order to accomplish a personal goal or break a habit. It comes at a time when people look back at the past year and make an effort to improve themselves as the new year begins."

At their core, resolutions, then, are statements of optimism.

In a worn composition book, the celebrated folk icon Woody Guthrie listed 33 tasks he planned to accomplish in the coming year: "shave," "change socks," "love everybody," "don't get lonesome" and "write a song a day" among them.

Sometimes, optimism can overwhelm, however, and then strategies are needed.

Jillian Michaels, fitness trainer turned life coach, suggests creating a goal pyramid. Place the topmost, long-term or ultimate achievement at the point and list the strategies to reach said goal, in descending order to the base of pyramid. The items at the base should be the immediate goals.

In the January 2015 issue of Good Housekeeping, a graphic of a goal pyramid to lose 25 pounds in a year features a monthly goal of eight pounds a month, two pounds a week, with the help of five workouts and adherence to a calorie count of 8,500 calories per week, to daily workout plans in minutes and finishing at the base of the pyramid with immediate goals such as making a grocery list based on healthy recipes found online and reviewing the schedule for fitness classes at your gym.

A true commitment to improvement anyone other than Michaels might find daunting if not exhausting.

Lifestyle and television personality Clinton Kelly sees the business of resolutions in a slightly different light.

In his January column for the magazine Woman's Day, Kelly says he prefers the term evolution, defining the terms as "barely noticeable changes to your daily routine that nonetheless add up to big differences over time."

Forget quick fixes and be realistic, Kelly writes. He, for example, stopped spending $10 a day – $50 a week – on designer coffee, opting to make stylish coffee at home. Kelly used money saved to pay down credit card debt.

Perhaps Mr. Kelly's model or Ms. Michaels' pyramid would have kept yours truly from abandoning whatever resolutions now rest in the computer recycle bin. It is hard to say, although I remain hopeful of contributing to world peace and kicking my peanut butter habit.

Whatever your resolution or evolution, I wish you success in decluttering your living room or garage, losing 10, 15 or 30 pounds or finishing "War and Peace."

April Peterson

editorial assistant

East Penn Press

Salisbury Press