New Year’s resolutions so often fail because they are statements about altering behaviours in order to accomplish something. “I want to stop overeating and to lose twenty pounds,” or “I will to be more attentive to my spouse,” or “I will be a better parent,” are admirable goals, but they are commonly forgotten by February.

Why? That’s because resolving to achieve something ignores one central fact: You are the person who has been running your life while you gained weight or disregarded your spouse ... and since you are still the one in control, it’s unlikely you will be able to arrive at your intended destination without examining your self—the inner set of emotions and beliefs that define your self-concept and the way you experience and understand the world around you.

See, the real hurdles between you and anything you want isn’t just “stick-to-it-ness” or determination. It’s also about finding out the truth about why you have strived in the past and fallen short.

There are people who can’t lose weight because they don’t think they’re worthy of being fit or attractive.

There are people who can’t start a business because the family lore was about people who had tried to do it and failed.

There are people who can’t show enough love to their children because they have never admitted they weren’t loved well-enough themselves and want to avoid reproducing the past.

A single New Year’s resolution may be the silver bullet that changes your life forever: Resolve to find your personal truth.

Resolve to start admitting what you really feel about people in your life.

Resolve to start admitting what you really feel about yourself—even the negative things—so that you can identify the areas of strength you can build on, and others you genuinely need to change.

Resolve to start saying more about what you really believe—spiritually and politically and ethically and morally—because to the extent that you declare your truth, you start living with honesty and conviction. And an honest person with conviction, who admits that being 30 pounds overweight is a sign of complacency, is a person who truly is ready to get fit. And once she decides to change her life in accordance with the truth, her physical fitness will become contagious to every aspect of her being.

This journey toward one’s own truth won’t be easy, but it is the most important journey you can take in your life.

Take just one step in the direction of your personal truth and you may get hooked on the whole journey. It’s the silver bullet you have been looking for that can slay the dragons of indecision and self-defeatism you have been fighting all your life.

Adapted from Fox News