Midway through January is a time when the YMCA parking lot is jammed pack, and sales of fitness equipment are setting new records. Men and women around the globe are working hard to meet their New Year's resolutions and shed the pounds they gained over the holiday season.

It won't be long though before the resolve fades into procrastination and discouragement, as the majority of people fall back into their old habits. Workouts become less frequent, the hand resumes stuffing the mouth more often… and inevitably the pounds return.

If you're like me, you may be living a similar parallel in your role as a dad. You may have set some aggressive goals for yourself to be "Super Dad 2007" – spend daily time with your kids, play games with them every day after work, take them out for daddy dates every Saturday morning, etc, etc.

But about the same time you may be realizing that your regular duties at work have not diminished, and your desires for cave time haven't gone away (cave time for me is the way I recharge my personal batteries – such as grabbing a couple hours by myself and watching an intense action flick). And your ability to follow through on your goals might already be noticeably fading away.

I took a few minutes yesterday to think through the goals I had set for this year, and to strategically plan out the improvements I am shooting for over the next few months. After writing out my schedule to give me a bird's eye view of my week, I realized that I didn't have nearly time to realistically make it all happen in a given day – unless I could invent some way to cram 28 hours into each day and live on 4.5 hours of sleep each night. Fat chance! I definitely need to strategize and prioritize, and pick a realistic plan of action.

If you're in the same boat, I recommend focusing on incremental improvements – baby steps if you will. Don't try to change your whole life overnight, or you'll fall on your face like a baby trying to run the first time he's able to lean up against the side of the couch.

For me, the first baby step was taking the kids to school each morning. It's been two weeks now and even that small change alone has added an extra 2 hours to my daily routine. It's placed me in rush hour traffic both going and leaving, and doesn't get my work day started until closer to 9:00 a.m.

But its left room for my second baby step, and that's working out at the YMCA on a more regular basis. My new morning routine is to hit the stationary bikes at the Y at 6:15 with my riding buddy Frank, and then swoop home for a quick shower and pack the kids off to school at 7:45.

These are very small baby steps, but they've impacted my daily routine significantly. In good ways fortunately, but I still need time to adjust to them and make sure I can keep them up for the long haul before I try on yet another change.

I encourage you to do the same. Pick a small change and try it on for a couple of weeks. Evaluate your daily routine after 2 weeks and determine if you can continue the pace, and if you have room for one other baby step. Take a month if you need it – or take two. But be sure to at least take a baby step in the right direction.