This Year I Will: How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution, or Make a Dream Come True

Written by M.J. Ryan

Narrated by M.J. Ryan

Are you really ready to change? Take this quiz and find out.
Every New Year's Day, my list of resolutions is:
Ambitious. I aim for everything from losing weight to saving more money for retirement.
Realistic. I just try to bump my good behavior up a notch--be a better friend, give more money to charity---without giving myself any strict deadlines or goals.
Precise. I decide exactly how many men I will ask for a date, or how many new jobs I will apply for.

Whenever I decide to change something, it's usually because:
My doctor has put the fear of God into me.
I read a magazine article about why making this change is important.
I start daydreaming about how great life will be after I make the change.

True or False: When you want to make a big change in your life, timing is crucial.
Failure is:
Impossible.
Inevitable.
Not in my vocabulary.

Learn the secret to making changes that stick
Every so often people get inspired (again!) to lose weight, to get organized, to start saving, or to stop worrying-but a few months later they give up, frustrated. It doesn't have to be that way. In This Year I Will…, bestselling author M.J. Ryan offers breakthrough wisdom and coaching to help listeners make this time the time that change becomes permanent.

Why do people find it so hard to change? The secret is that everyone has their own formula for making changes that stick, but most people don't know what theirs is. They think there is one way to lose five pounds, and another way to stay on top of their e-mail, but they don't realize that for all changes, there is one system that works best for each individual. This Year I Will… helps you lock on to your unique formula for planning, implementing, and seeing a life change through, so you can use it again and again to tackle anything else you'd like to do.

For anyone who has broken a New Year's resolution, fallen off a diet, or given up on fulfilling a dream, the ingenious strategies, inspiring stories, and sheer motivational energy of This Year I Will… will help you make a promise to yourself that you can actually keep.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ascent Audio
• Release date: Dec 17, 2008
• ISBN: 9781596593152

M.J. Ryan

Known internationally as an expert on change, MJ Ryan works as an executive coach to senior executives and entrepreneurs around the world to accelerate business success and personal fulfillment. She combines a practical approach gained as the CEO of a book publishing company with methodologies from neuroscience, positive psychology and asset-focused learning to help clients and readers more easily meet their goals. Her clients include Royal Dutch Shell, Microsoft, Time, the U.S. Military, and Aon Hewitt. She's a partner with the Levo League career network and the lead venture coach at SheEO, an organization offering a new funding and support model for female entrepreneurs. She's the founder of Conari Press, creator of the bestselling Random Acts of Kindness series, and author of many books, including Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals.

Reviews for This Year I Will

[David Kestler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book of M.J.Ryan I have listened to in the last little over weeks. I like this listen so much that I purchased the physical book from Amazon for I plan on working through her book and making a study of it. I can see how my children are stuck, from their mothers programing and this can help massively overcome the negative their mother imparted to them. She is still a drug addict, and I learned a lot just from listening to this book. Wish this book would have found me long ago, however I know I was not ready then for it, but grateful I am today and for M.J. Writing this book. God Bless you M.J. Ryan and thank you.

Super David Scott.

[deldevries · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the story telling style. The story that sticks with me after the book is finished is the work colleague that responded to questions about how he is able to keep a balance between work and outside life: (almost a quote) I do all of the things that are important to me and ignore everything else.

[murphy4jacobs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the few "self help" books with practical, useable advice. This book on how to change habits or make new ones does not offer a single magical prescription to cure all your ills. Instead, it offers dozens and dozens of different methods of making change, with the single admonition to keep trying methods until you find something that works -- because, if you really want it and practice it, one or more method will work.

[kreativit · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read this book twice now, in January when I make New Year's Goals. I have found the advice in the book to be some of the most practical and easily put into practice advice on meeting goals. I will probably read it again next year too!

[laws_7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If anyone wants to make a change in their lives, this book is for you. In This Year I will , the author shows a unique formula for planning , implementing, and seeing a life change through. Each one us has the opportunity to make changes and grow. It is when we do not that we get stuck.

[cooperca05 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of the best self-help books I've read. It's all about taking it one day at a time to create a more positive future. Solid, doable suggestions and talks about tracking your success and not beating yourself up when you go off track (ie, trying to eat healthy, but you end up eating 12 krispy kremes). it's all about changing how you think to create and inspire yourself to a better future.

[jepeters333 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Why do people find it so hard to change? The secret is that everyone has their own formula for making changes that stick, but most people don't know what theirs is. They think there is one way to lost five pounds, and another way to stay on top of their e-mail, but they don't realize that for all changes, there is one system that works best for each individual. This Year I Will helps you lock on to your unique formula for planning, implementing, and seeing a life change through, so you can use it again and again to tackle anything else you'd like to do.

[sjmccreary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fast-reading book with hints and tips about how to be successful in making a change in your life.I want to start off by saying that I did not like this author. She is one of those motivational types who seem to have no real background of their own. All surface and no substance. She is not credited with any education or professional accomplishment except writing books and being a popular speaker. She is one of those weird Californians who actually make a living as a "thinking coach". (Apologies to everyone from California, but to us here in the midwest, some of the things we hear about what goes on out there are hard to believe.) Almost every single statement she makes is taken from (and credited to) some other author who wrote some other self-help book (a few of which I'd actually heard of). I'm sure that if I met her in real life I'd roll my eyes and keep my distance.Having said that, now I need to say that I actually found the book to be quite helpful. She has organized the work into 3 sections, each one filled with more than a dozen short articles which offer helpful hints and advice to support the focus of that section. The first section talks about the preparation needed before attempting to make some kind of change in your life, the second section is about implementing that change, and the last talks about sustaining the change. She explains the brain research (done by others - our girl is no scientist) that shows the reasons why most people who make resolutions fail in the attempt. And provides ideas for overcoming those roadblocks and move on. She provides lots of anecdotal examples of how her suggestions might be implemented. Most of all, the things she says are common sense and encouraging.I picked the book up at the library on a whim, hoping for a kernel or two of something useful. I found that, and more. I actually found motivation and encouragement to do something different and reasons to hope that the effort could be successful. I guess she's good at what she does, after all.

[libbeth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Basically, helps you find your goal setting formula, not someone elses.