CINDY, INCIDENTALLY:

Every Jan. 1 at the stroke of midnight I can always count on two things:

1. Booze

2. The feeling of a clean slate.

Even though a new year is really just a calendar detail, for me it always feels like the chance for a new beginning. Another chance to handle what went wrong the year before or maybe just renegotiate with the karma police about how to change my luck around this year.

While most of us rebel against setting New Year’s resolutions, I say why not? Why not believe that this year you could become the person you always wanted to be? Maybe this year I will learn how to salsa dance, bungee jump off a bridge somewhere exotic, meet “The One� or I will finally get my cat to stop biting people for no reason.

Why not dream big, right?

Most of the time, people put together New Year’s resolutions that undoubtedly begin to crumble right after Jan. 2.

Except for a very small percentage of people, most of us revert back to our old tricks and we just end up feeling terrible about not keeping our word to ourselves. This is why a few years back I decided to rename my resolution goals to “The List,� which is essentially a to-do list for the year.

If there’s something most of us like, it’s our lists. Shopping lists, naughty or nice list, pro/con list or a 50 ways to leave your lover list.

A to-do list is easier to handle, because it means you will get to it, eventually. That takes away some of the pressure and expectations a New Year’s resolutions can trigger. Let’s be honest, most of us are not in any place to start being a better person until maybe sometime in March. So, we need some time to get working on our goals. The list allows for that.

A well-written, thought out to-do list for the year is a great way to focus on what you want for yourself, out of life and maybe just for kicks.

“When I see things in paper, it gives me incentive to lock it down,� said Candice Catron, 24, from Huntington Beach, who admits she’s an avid list-maker. “My big thing is writing things down, like what I want in a guy, a job or things I want for myself … and I keep it in my wallet in hopes that I will find it. It helps me.�

This year, my friends and I brainstormed, and we put our lists together of all the different things we hope to accomplish. Some were easier to attain, like “read more classic literature� “dance more� or “cook at home� more. We also jotted long-term travel and adventure goals and career aspirations for the year.

While putting together my list, I found a blog called the Happiness Project ( www.happiness-project.com) that has a post about sticking to New Year’s resolutions and how writing it down helps.

The author, Gretchen Rubin, had a list of 12 tips, which also included: Be specific, hold yourself accountable, review your resolutions constantly, think big, think small, ask for help, consider giving one up, keep your resolution every day, set a deadline and don’t ever give up.

I can attest for the not giving up. For many years, the No. 1 item on my yearly to-do list was “Quit smoking.� I never gave up on that dream and I knew that one day I would eventually “get to it.�

This year I was finally able to cross it off my to-do list, because I celebrated my first full year on Dec. 22 as a nonsmoker, which I gotta say felt good and confirmed how my yearly lists of goals ain’t for nothing.

So, here’s to clean slates, new beginnings and the possibility of making your own dreams come true.

Happy New Year.

CINDY ARORA is a freelance writer. She may be reached at [email protected].