Do you make New Year’s resolutions?

I used to, because believe me, I love new beginnings.  Heck, even the first of the month is a good excuse for me to lay down a few new resolutions.

But I discovered that resolutions don’t last.

You’ve probably found this, too.  They’re too nebulous, too fleeting, too easy to forget.  Whether you’re trying to change your diet, quit smoking, or start exercising, you can talk about making a change all you want.  Actually making it is the hard part.

Luckily, I’ve found a few cool tools that will help you make some changes in your life if you’re in the changing mood—two are free, and one’s a measly $10!  (For life altering change, I’d say it’s cheap at the price!)

The first is TinyHabits.com where Dr. BJ Fogg, director of the Persuasive Tech Lab at Standford, offers a totally free, week-long e-course to teach you how to create new habits that will actually stick. I took the course and thought it was awesome.  His method is so simple, you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself, but so revolutionary it could quite literally change your life.  Plus, it only requires a few minutes of your time—probably less than half an hour total over the course of the week.  Are you willing to spend half an hour to learn how to adopt healthier habits?

The second tool is Leonie Dawson’s 2013 Create Your Incredible Year Workbooks:

I found Leonie’s website years ago, when she was still starting out, and she made her calendar/planner/workbook available for free.  So, I downloaded it, and I was stunned by the quality and thoughtfulness that had gone into it.  Page after page of beautifully hand-painted and thoughtfully designed worksheets got me thinking about my plans for the next year.

Because a plan is a lot more effective than just a resolution.  Resolve to do something, sure, but then lay out a plan of exactly how you will achieve it.

Leonie’s website fell off my radar for a few years, but I recently rediscovered her in a group of likeminded businesswomen to which I belong—and she is exactly as warm, loving, open and giving as you would expect from looking at her beautiful workbooks.

The 2013 Create Your Incredible Year workbook, planner and calendar has become an incredibly popular and useful tool to help you plan out and make happen your most incredible year in life or busines (or both!). Over the last four years, thousands of women have used this workbook with the most amazing results. It’s the best planning tool available to help you make your year your most exceptional yet!

Used by entrepreneurs, artists, mamas, creatives, coaches, teachers and women of all ages, the Creating Your Incredible Year workbooks are filled with dozens of pages of powerful worksheets and a printable calendar to help you create your amazing new year.

Just check out some of the beautiful pages that are included!

I’ve already bought mine, and I can attest to the beautiful quality and thought that has gone into this workbook.  In fact, I’m so excited about it, I decided to become an affiliate for Leonie—so if you buy the workbook through one of my links, I’ll receive a commission that will go to helping support Laughing Lemon Pie in 2013!

The third cool tool I found is the website stickK.com.  The site lets you set goals or “commitment contracts” with yourself and then support those commitments. First, you can set the stakes for yourself—you can set a dollar amount to automatically be deducted from your bank accounts and send that money to the charitable cause of your choice (or you don’t have to put up any cash).  Then you designate a referee to help keep you accountable and even invite your friends to become your supporters and cheer you on. Being socially accountable has been shown to make a big difference in whether or not you’ll succeed at your goals.

Make the time for yourself to really plan your 2013.  How do you want it to turn out? Incredible, I hope! And these tools can help.

Take action now: Click here to buy your workbook now or sign up for one of the free resources.  You won’t regret it.