Resolvers are a click away from success

Marisa O’Neil

Drink at least 10 glasses of water every day. Visit your dentist.

Exercise more.

And you thought your mother-in-law nagged you.

For those who have a little trouble keeping those New Year’s

resolutions, some Web sites will send gentle reminders via e-mail to

help subscribers stick it out past January.

“It would make me feel really guilty if I forgot about my

resolution,” Kristen Rogers admitted as she sipped a latte outside

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Costa Mesa Courtyards. “I’d feel nagged.

But you could e-mail my husband.”

While some peoples’ sole New Year’s resolution is to not make any

resolutions, the perennial favorites are to lose weight and get in

shape. About a quarter of people who promise changes in the year

ahead put those as top priorities, according to the Web sites

https://www.hiaspire.com and https://www.mygoals.com.

Other popular choices include career advancement, managing

finances, spending more time with family and getting organized, as

Santa Ana Heights resident Kristen Andersson hopes to do.

“I don’t usually make resolutions, but that one comes to mind this

year,” Andersson said. “I personally would love [to get reminder

e-mails], especially if it was something I was really dedicated to.”

On the myGoals Web site, Internet users can register for pre-made

“Goal Plans” filled with potential obstacles and ways to get past

them. The site has ready-made plans for the basics, such as “To Lose

10 Pounds” or “Learn to Play Golf.” It also has plans for

less-traditional goals like “Get Breast Implants,” listed under the

site’s “Attracting Others” category.

“Obstacle: I don’t know if I want the implants for the right

reasons,” the plan reads. “Task: Make sure you believe in why you’re

having surgery.”

Registered users can also make their own plans for goals not

listed, or go with one of their offered alternatives. Someone whose

goal is “Practicing Safe Sex,” for example, may instead choose to

“Join the Peace Corps,” “Be Prepared for a Tornado” or “Read the

Bible in a Year” as the site suggests.

For people who want to get real nit-picky,

https://www.reachaccessresolutions.com offers a “team of resolution

resolvers and partners” to offer advice on keeping to those

resolutions. But be warned -- registering on that site, sponsored by

a tooth-flossing implement, means that users also “pledge to include

flossing in [their] daily dental regimen.”

Presumably, they will e-mail reminders to floss. Those could,

however could be confused with another nemesis of the inbox: spam.

“A Web site telling you to keep your resolutions seems cool, but I

don’t think it would motivate me to keep them,” Costa Mesa resident

Tracy Stofferahn said. “E-mails are easy to skip over or forget about

once you read or delete them.”

People can also send resolution suggestions to friends and loved

ones. The site https://www.hiaspire.com offers resolution reminders

and tips for users as well as e-mail postcards for electronic

interventions.

One card shows an American flag, the World Trade Center towers on

the New York skyline, a man walking hand-in-hand with a child and two

women talking on cell phones.

“More resolved than ever,” the card reads. “Stay connected ... .

Another advises: “Stick with your diet, no ifs ands or ... “ above

a photograph of a man wearing jeans and bending over to reveal a

half-moon.

“Who would send a friend a postcard saying, ‘Go on a diet?’”

Coffee Bean customer Darcy Lawler asked. “They wouldn’t be your

friend after that.”

Barista Jon Wittmann, who has resolving to quit smoking this year,

doesn’t need to worry about that.

“I don’t go on the Internet, so that wouldn’t help me.”