The only good news is I wasn’t alone. Many pundits, bloggers, journalists, commentators and writers were heralding the start of a new decade. Perhaps its because too many surveys are written so you pick your decade from 0 to 9. As in… were you born in the 70s… which is 1970-79. (I wasn’t). Isn’t that a decade? Isn’t 2010 the start of 2010-2019? I think so.

Wasn’t 1999 the last year of the 20th Century? Okay, now we have another time measurement issue. Perhaps I should say the last year of the 1900s. That seems more logical.

Then again I do get the point. 2010 is “10.” And 10 is the end of a ten-year span. But I’m sticking to my guns. Time is different. The third digit in our yearly designation rolled over from 0 to 1, like the odometer on my car. We are in a new era.

To prove it I sent out a survey to a few acquaintances and some other folks to find out if they agreed. More importantly, if they were aligned, I asked them to tell me something they personally would do differently in the next decade.

Every one of them answered it’s the start of a new decade. More importantly, they also shared with me their resolutions to cover up for their multitude of sins.

Look at all the great things we have to look forward to!!!!

Unnamed golfing icon with animalistic name and habits: Resolves to change his name to Cheetah, to get a sponsorship deal from Frank D’Angelo and employ Ben Johnson as his stunt double!

Unnamed assistant coach for a green CFL team: resolves to learn to count to twelve.

Unnamed former head coach for a blue CFL team: resolves to learn to count to twelve.

Unnamed soon to be former mayor of Toronto: resolves in his next job that when he allows his employees to strike to once again ensure they recoup all their lost wages the first weekend back on the job.

Unnamed city in Manitoba that is selling sponsorship to their manhole covers: resolves to raise enough money to pay severance in order fire the person who came up with this zany idea.

Unnamed media industry: resolves not to irresponsibly spread word of pending economic doom in our country, the one with the stable financial sector, just because the crooks to our south messed up bad.

Unnamed media industry: resolves to not cause panic among parents across the country by telling us all our children are about to die if we don’t get them vaccinated by Christmas.

Unnamed coach of Toronto hockey team: resolves to coach the American team in similar way to Toronto team, thereby guaranteeing Trinidad & Tobago their first ever Winter Olympic ice hockey win.

Unnamed hockey sponsor who tried to impose a new hockey cheer on Canadian fans: resolves not to use of the word “eh” in its next 55 TV ads.

Unnamed female American political candidate cum author: Resolves to return as Governor of Alaska, force the state to secede and become the 14th territory of Canada, and then resign to run for Vice-Prime Minister.

Unnamed trio of car companies from Detroit: resolves to quit trying to fool Canadians that they are “domestic” companies and therefore their employees deserve handouts over employees of foreign companies employed in towns such as Alliston and Cambridge do not!

Unnamed hockey team wearing maple leaf on their chest that has to win gold medal in very big upcoming international tournament or an entire country will sulk for two years at which point we can wash away our misery with the 30th anniversary of a certain hockey event played against a certain evil hockey empire who don’t call themselves the Red Army team anymore, but should, especially when they win this big hockey tournament that is coming up: resolves to win it all in convincing style and shut up a certain bald, beige, big belly blogger once and for all.

And I get to coach my high school football team as a volunteer.

You’ve probably heard the story before, about my superhero quarterback, Simon. Well in 2007, when Simon first came to play for me he was a 5’8”, 247-pound wanna be QB, who I played at centre. I kid you not; two-hundred and forty-seven pounds spread over 68 inches. Not a pretty sight.

Especially for him.

Yesterday at practice, as I was chatting with Simon in warm-ups, the weighty topic arose again. In two years this young man has transformed himself into a 5’9”, 181 pound quarterback. One if the best in the city. But skip back a sentence. One hundred and eighty one pounds? Did this kid really lose sixty-six pounds? Wow! How?

Well there may not be an I in team, but there is in WIN. And Simon wanted to win. He wanted to win the starting quarterback spot that I dangled in front of him. He wanted his team to transform from an 0-5 squad, which we were in 2007, to a 2-2-1 squad like we were in 2008. He wanted his best friends to catch touchdowns and enjoy the game.

This was a classic case where the motivation overcame the obstacles. Simon doesn’t starve himself, he makes his own food (pretty heady at 18), and works out constantly, and doesn’t chug 2-litre cream sodas in class in anymore. Which he literally used to do. He would actually sit in class (why the teachers let him I don’t know), hugging a giant bottle of cream soda.

And work out he does. One day when he was still in the “200+” camp, Simon decided to run 10k. He hit a local school track and started the laps, staggering in circles ready to faint. But he told himself, I am running 10k today or I am going to die. Cause if I can run this 10k, I will be convinced I can get under two hundred pounds.

When I go to my office and hear from some staff that they can’t write this deck, or solve this problem, or develop this idea, it makes me wonder… could they lose sixty-six pounds? Are they not motivated by this task at hand? What separates the person who blames society for this difficult project or this excess weight on their hips. But I realize now that motivation has to come from within.

No one could tell Simon to lose 66 pounds. But he wanted to win.