How are you doing with that New Year’s resolution you started a month ago? If you have already fallen off the wagon, don’t beat yourself up. You are not alone.

Consider StatisticBrain.com statistics:

58% of us will make resolutions

73% will stick to them for a week

68% will make it 2 weeks

Only 9% will report success.

THE MAJORITY of New Year’s resolutions focus on either self-improvement or education. We want to become better.

As an executive coach and business consultant, I work with men and women who want to improve their professional and personal lives. They ask me 2 questions:

• Can you help me be more productive?

• Can you help me reduce my stress?

Yes, I can, but let’s look at why you have low productivity and high stress.

THE BIGGEST culprit is consumption.

We Americans are driven to consume. Consumption made up over 2/3rds ($13+ trillion) of our $20 trillion-plus 2019 gross domestic product, the dollar value of goods and services our country produces.

Our problem is that we consume stuff and then the stuff consumes us. Consuming stuff we don’t need wreaks havoc on our finances and devours our time. As a result, our productivity drops and stress rises.

What my clients want is to help them find more time to be more productive.

The only way to do this is to simplify your life. The secret is how you answer this:

• Will this add value to my life?

• Will this bring me joy?

LET’S SAY you’ve been asked to serve on a non-profit board whose cause is dear to your heart. Your first response might be to say “yes” without thinking about the toll it may take on you and your time.

Before you jump to “yes” or agonize over how you’re going to say “no” ask yourself will serving on this board add value to my life? If the answer is “yes” then do it.

If the answer is “no” then ask yourself if serving on this board will bring me joy?

If it’s “yes,” then do it. If the answer is “no,” then say “no.”

This will save you time and stress.

LET’S CONSIDER another example.

Suppose you say, “I need a new car.”

Will buying a new car add value to my life? If you do not already own a car, the answer is probably “yes.” Buy the car.

Suppose you already own a car. It has 100,000 miles on it, is paid for, works fine, and gets you from one place to the other.

You say to yourself, “I need a new car,” when actually you don’t need a new car, you just want a new car.

Will this car add value to my life? No, I already have a car that drives reliably..

Will a new car bring me joy?

Yes, but only for a week until I have to make the 1st payment.

Don’t buy the car and avoid a new monthly payment, higher insurance and property taxes.

Business coach Bill Edmonds can be reached at bill@theweeklywinningthought.com