WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. -- Well, here we go with another year, even another decade no less. How will you use this new year?

Why do I ask? Because this is another year for success, another year for accomplishment and another year for achievement!

Sometimes people move into the new year making resolutions with often mixed results. Part of the reason for this is resolutions are often put in a negative context about not doing something, rather than put in terms of accomplishment. You can better your odds by starting right; starting on a positive note.

Be positive! Seek what you can gain, rather than what you can give up. There is a penitent quality about just giving things up. Instead, find a way to add to yourself. Picture yourself with another stripe. Sense how good it will feel when that credit card balance goes away for good.

Consider the person who sets their sights on being smoke-free, knowing that they are making a real reduction of their risks for lung cancer. How often have we heard, "I'm going to try to ....?" Don't plan to try. Plan to achieve. Remember what the Jedi Yoda said: "Do, or do not. There is no try." Well, I'm no Jedi and neither are you, but the little green guy got it right. Success starts in the mind first and then becomes reality.

So what can you succeed at in 2010? Completing your career development course? Getting started in the Community College of the Air Force? Studying "no kidding" hard for the next promotion? Making a relationship better? Getting the God part of life on track? Paying off bills and preventing more debt? Being more fit or more technically proficient? Being more in touch with friends and loved ones? Being more of a wingman to the new guy?

Remember, when you improve, so does everyone around you. When you succeed, everyone around you succeeds. Chances are that as a better Airman, you are also becoming a better spouse, a better parent, a better son or daughter and a better wingman.

So here is another year. Form a mental picture of who you want to be and what you need to get there. Get a target lock and press on to your goal. Mentally you are already successful ... now you are just doing the leg work to make it happen! So how will you use 2010?