Where else can you go to see the huge 2 ton lighted ball drop in Times Square? Over the years, during the televised hours leading up to midnight have been continuously filled with more and more hoopla and extravaganza! Packed with song, dance and a look back at the previous year, New York has really done the past 100 New Year countdowns well! To date, this is the only televised New Year’s Eve countdown that implements a ball dropping on a spindle from the top to the bottom lighting up a magnificent light at precisely midnight! People from all over the world stay up late just to see this spectacular event!

Ever wonder where the top countdowns have taken place? Well, that is all about perception. What one would call a top countdown may not be up to par for someone of a different age. New Year countdowns take on all forms from parties to fundraisers, intimate to wild! New Year countdowns can take place in a ballroom or in the street. There may be parades or just mass confusion up and down town. Different time zones celebrate at their respective times, Japan before the United States and such, but all sing their own versions of “Auld Lang Syne” (Pronounced Old Ang Zie)

At some time during New Year’s Day, it is said to be good luck to eat sauerkraut and hot dogs. This will bring the one who can stand to consume those two foods a whole year of good luck according to legend. Counting down to the New Year has traditionally been the cause of heightened senses of hope and renewal. This can lead people to make a new start and live differently than they have in the past. Whether that involves loosing weight, changing jobs, getting married, beginning a new hobby or picking up an old one, whatever the change, usually the New Year is the time that it begins. This is why the commercial gyms are so busy during the months of January, February and sometimes March. By this time, however, most have given up and fallen back into old habits and ways of living. What if there was a new way to go about a countdown. You could still begin at New Year, but here’s a proposal for something truly new in the New Year.

Maybe a New Years countdown that would work would be one in where the countdown begins AFTER the New Year. An example of this would be to begin the countdown in January and work until the end of the year on a particular goal. New Year countdowns could take on a whole new meaning. This could mean actual success instead of failure! There could be a mid-year check in June, around the 15th of the month and you could see how close you were getting to your goal. As part of the new year countdowns, obtaining new jobs could be worked on, loosing weight would be given a whole year instead of just three months’ attention and other goals, too unrealistic to achieve within a short amount of time would be given more breath. Implementing this new type of New Year countdown could include saving to buy a new car. Maybe you want to put down $6,000 on a new car purchase. Giving yourself a whole year to do this while you countdown to the purchase of your new car sounds a lot more realistic, don’t you think? If this new type of countdown were adopted, maybe more would be successful.