New Years Resolutions Repost

Happy New Year. I am going to repost something I wrote nearly a year ago which I think is relevant for this, the first day of 2010.



I have always had an attraction/repulsion relationship with New Years’ resolutions-while I am drawn to the concept of change and renewal, I hate the stereotypical pattern of adopting resolutions in January just to abandon them by February. Think of all the people you see on the treadmills at the YMCA during the first week of January and how they seem to fade away by the Super Bowl.

However, a client called me last week, energized by the New Year (and perhaps the new administration). He wanted to get his will finalized, his business interests and intellectual property interests organized and in general take care of a lot of the small details that had been left hanging for some time. I was impressed and somewhat inspired by this and began my own list of dreaded tasks that I had been putting off for some time. January and February are probably great months to organize one’s professional and personal life (“to get your life in order” as one of my old English professors used to say).

If you have a will (and you should have a will) you should see that it’s up to date. If you own a corporation or a limited liability company, you should make sure that your organizational documents are up to date. If you own copyrights or trademarks, you should review their relevant dates. If you’re like me you should also hit the Y, go to bed earlier eat more vegetables, etc. but those are different resolutions for a different post.