“Genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind.

There’s no other definition of it.”
(F.S. Fitzgerald)

This first week of the new year is always rife with ideas. Our inboxes are overwhelmed and our FB feeds are besieged with everyone’s thoughts about all the possibilities for 2016.

Go ahead and read ‘em. Go ahead and write down some of your own. Despite whatever struggles you’ve had in the past with keeping up your resolutions, if you’re feeling motivated to make changes, go for it. Momentum toward positive but difficult change is such a fickle visitor that it’s usually a good idea to say yes when it comes.

One caviat: resist the urge to announce your new, planned change to everyone. Yes, tell a couple of close confidantes, because accountability can be wonderful in furthering the momentum. But announcing your promise to give up vodka jelly beans to the world only increases your temptation to hide whenever your temptations to imbibe creep back in.

By all means, tell someone about putting your new ideas into effect–but don’t tell everyone what you’re thinking about changing.