Online Tools to Make Resolutions Stick

Jennifer O'Neill, special to PCWorld.com

If keeping those New Year's resolutions was as simple as making them, we wouldn't be renewing the same pledges year after year. Sticking to a long-term goal requires all the help you can get, so don't forget to enlist your PC.

Web resources can instantly provide the support of friends in a virtual community as well as the vast amounts of information. Whether your resolves are recycled from last year, or new in reaction to the recent tragedies, online resources can help make 2002 the year to finally be more healthy, wealthy, wise--and at peace.

Vow To Be Healthy

A third of the population is overweight, according to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. To break out of this mold, visit EatRight.org, an American Dietetic Association site, for daily nutrition tips and eating strategies like the ones found in the "Comfort Foods" feature, which explains how to enjoy holiday goodies without overindulging.

Take a Healthfinder online checkup to figure out the kind of help your body needs, and find an exercise you'll actually enjoy from the multitude of links on Fitness Find.

Strive To Be Wealthy

Catering to financial novices, Money 101 provides interactive financial management lessons from CNN and Money Magazine. The 25 course categories, from Setting Priorities to Investing in IPOs, offer a wide range of topics and links for further learning.

Long championed for its credit-card rate comparisons by the best-selling personal finance guru Suze Orman, Bankrate.com surveys thousands of companies' financial products. The site provides rate alert e-mail messages, savings calculators, quizzes, bulletin boards, and investment news to help you make informed financial choices.

If the thought of dealing with dollars still makes your stomach sink, check out ihatefinancialplanning.com. Information is grouped into categories such as family, work, and credit, and the site also offers a jargon index and "What do I do next?" check list. Money management has never been so painless. The site, operated by ReliaStar Financial, is free. The only drawback is that visitors have to register for access.

Promise To Be Family-Wise

The nation's recent tragedies are causing many people to looking inward this holiday season and make more emotional resolutions. The good news is that these goals, like keeping in better touch with friends and family, can be a breeze using the Web.

Start for instance, by building your own Web Site. Both Yahoo's Geocities and Lycos's Angelfire site guide you through a free, step-by-step process to build a site. You can post family photos or personal news, and link to relatives' sites. Each page can serve as a gateway to better family communication.

Keep up the goodwill by remembering to recognize each friend and family member's birthday with the help of the free online message service Memo To Me. Simply log in the date of the event you'd like to be reminded of, determine how often you need the reminder, write yourself a message, and that note will be automatically e-mailed to you.

But when photos, cards, and e-mails just aren't enough, use the Web to plan a reunion. Organizing the work is made easier with the information at Family-Reunion.com. Even if you can't stand the kitschy Mr. Spiffy icon and headings throughout the site, hanging in there will reward you with lots of tips, ideas, and resources--including a newsletter, bulletin board, and relevant links.

Pledge To Be at Peace

The Web can help those wanting to get in touch with themselves and their spirituality this year as well. SpiritualityHealth.com, the online version of Spirituality & Health Magazine is a one-stop shop for inspiration.

In addition to weekly reviews of current movies, the site offers a database of films recommended as "resources for spiritual journeys." There are self-tests such as the "Values Audit," to determine if your employer's values jibe with your own, and online courses with exercises like "Taking Out Your Emotional Trash."

For those who prefer even more interaction, Spirituality.com, run by the Christian Science Board of Directors, features multiple online events about "practical spirituality" every week in which visiting authors, speakers, or clergy post messages in virtual discussion with the logged-on audience.

For more sermon-type content, visit Spirituality for Today, where Christian clergy write in once a month on a variety of themes.

With some faith, these Web resources, and sheer will power, you can make all of your New Year's resolutions stick well into 2003.