a42_3037Have you already broken your New Year’s resolutions?

Blame it on the ancient Romans. Their new year commitments began with pledges to the god Janus to behave better in the next twelve months, and when the Romans failed to meet those goals, they simply suggested that, “It was the will of Janus.”

Of course, making those resolutions has become a cottage industry. Some opine in a lighthearted way, such as Ami Angelowicz who calls for resolutions that have “nothing to do with smoking, weight loss or becoming BFF with your mother-in-law.”

Take a glance at faith leaders such as David Wolpe, the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple, and Kenya Sinclair posts in TIME and Catholic Online, respectively, as a spiritual bend to this new year’s resolution business.

And speaking of business, even the famed “Freakonomics” podcast series devotes its last couple features of the year towards, “how to be more productive,” instead of its usual more pedantic angle.

Regardless of what you have already resolved to tackle in 2017, can I push you to add just one more?

MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR KENTUCKY’S KIDS DURING THE 2017 GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

That is what those Freakonomics guys would call your stretch goal, but they assert that for your stretch goal to become your stretched reality, you have to scale it to actionable steps. When you think about making that difference for the Commonwealth’s children, there’s no shortage of actionable steps.

  • Know who your state legislators are, their leadership roles, and how to contact them.
  • Sign up for KYA’s email listserv to stay informed on bill movement and current action alerts.
  • Attend Children’s Advocacy Day at the Capitol on February 9th.
  • Meet with your legislators during Children’s Advocacy Day and contact them throughout the session with action requests and thank you’s.
  • Review fact sheets on each of the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priorities.
  • Engage on social media during the legislative session using hashtags: #kyga17 #BlueprintKY #CADKY2017
  • Register for the Children’s Advocacy Day Prep webinar on January 26th.
  • Submit an op-ed on the Blueprint to your local paper.
  • Attend a committee meeting in Frankfort when a Blueprint priority has a hearing.
  • Write your personal story, as it relates to Blueprint priorities, as a guest post on our blog.
  • Share action alerts for Blueprint priorities with your personal and professional networks.

As a new year dawns, leadership guru and author Tom Peter, challenges us to, “Celebrate what you want to see more of.” Celebrate good things for Kentucky’s kids to be sure – but be part of making them happen. Our youngsters are counting on you.