What good does the New Year serve without a resolution? Throw a party, celebrate with friends, and say our last goodbyes to 2013 because we have work to do. Every year, millions of Americans promise themselves that they will change their bad habits and improve some aspect in their lives; unfortunately, the percentage of Americans who followed out their resolution is slim. In fact, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolution (“Diamond”). Why is it that keeping a New Year’s Resolution is so prohibitive in our community today?

Do not worry! Although keeping a resolution is difficult, it is far from impossible. It is not too late to make some adjustments to our lives, and here are some steps to ensure a successful New Year’s Resolution.

1. Make realistic goals. Making unrealistic, unattainable New Year’s Resolutions does not help anybody. Instead of creating a broad solution to suddenly flip our life around by diminishing every flaws and problem possible, focus on the little things that need fixing, like bad habits. Carrying out smaller resolutions to tidy up for the New Year is much more productive than attempting to topple insurmountable goals, getting frustrated, and failing.

2. Create a plan. Resolutions will not be achieved without a plan of action. The plan does not have to be complex; just a simple day to day agenda that will help carry out resolutions. For example, if cutting back on soda is a resolution for someone, his plan may be to drink coffee instead of Coke when he starts to crave soda.

3. Share your resolution. Inform family and friends; they can be a huge help. Changing ourselves alone can be an overwhelming experience, so people need some external motivation to help them carry out their resolutions.

4. Develop a positive mindset. Sometimes, all that matters is perception. Instead of thinking that carrying out a difficult resolution is impossible, look at it as a challenge. Remember, that resolution was created for a reason. It is amazing how much a positive attitude can change.

5. Don’t get frustrated. Nobody is perfect, and everybody slips up every once and while. Do not get discouraged; instead, try to transform failures into learning experiences to prevent future fumbles. “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill.

Have a Happy New Year!

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Works Cited:

Diamond, Dan, on.
“Just 8% of People Achieve Their New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s How They
Do It..” Forbes. 2014 Forbes.com LLC™, 01/01/13. Web. 17 Jan 2014. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/01/01/just-8-of-people-achieve-their-new-years-resolutions-heres-how-they-did-it/>.