The holidays are upon us which means that we will soon be ushering in a new year that is full of hope and promise.

In the past, I’ve been known to jump on the resolution bandwagon and have determined to “fix” every area of my life with a slew of New Year’s resolutions that rarely lasted past February (if even that long.) After years of failing to fulfill my resolutions, I finally decided to chuck the whole notion of them. Now, I no longer set “resolutions”, instead, I set intentions for the year (more on this in January). I also choose to bypass January and do the biggest part of my annual goal setting process in the summer with my annual birthday audit (read more about that here.) Yes–it is an audit but it is an enjoyable process that I genuinely look forward to every year, and if you aren’t too overloaded with holiday happenings, it would certainly be a valuable process to help you begin your year with purposeful intention.

However; as important as all of this intention setting and goal getting is (and it is important!) I believe that there is one crucial step that is often overlooked in the success process. In order to start a new year well (whether it be on January 1st or on your birthday) I believe that we must also strive to finish well.

According to Dan Baker, Ph.D. and co-author of the book, What Happy People Know (Rodale Inc., 2003), an abiding sense of security has been determined to be one of the top twelve contributing factors to a FabYOUlous life. That being the case, it is important that we define what exactly is meant by security. For some people, a sense of security comes from having enough money in the bank to weather a financial crisis. Others find security in their relationship status, outward appearance, social status etc. While there is nothing inherently wrong with any of these factors, they each fall short when it comes to understanding the meaning of a true and lasting sense of security.