I can see clearly now! Why we need resolution with our resolutions

So, I'm writing this at the end of a first full week back at work in 2014. I don't know about you, but I'm a bit tired already of reading about other organisations' bold New Year's resolutions. It may be that I feel a little guilty. You see, I broke one of mine - to stop ordering take-aways - on only the second day of the year, which must be a new low. But actually, I think resolutions can often miss the point. Here's why. You know that song 'I can see clearly now'? Have another look at the lyrics. I think they're quite clever: I can see clearly now the rain is gone. I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright bright sunshiny day. I think that the second line - I can see all obstacles in my way - is excellent, and somewhat counter-intuitive. It's not that the route is clear because it's good weather. Rather, the singer is able to plot his next steps more effectively precisely because he can now see where the obstacles are. And this is where resolutions often go wrong. In order not to break them, we need to understand the nature of the obstacles too. For my part, I needed to think about the factors that lead me to resort to ordering take-away food rather than just resolve not to do so. It is clearly important for a charity to focus on its resolutions, and to state its vision, mission and values as clearly as possible. But just as much attention needs to be paid to setting out the route map tow