New Year’s resolutions: something that countless people look forward to but only a handful are able to keep up with. These resolutions seem to trap us in an endless cycle of making lists year after year only for them to become neglected by the second week of January. Even after all of this, everyone still continues to make lists, even though they are never able to complete them. To prevent this from happening, here are a few tips to help keep up with your resolutions for the new year.

1. Shorten Your List – It’s hard to keep goals that don’t seem to end. Everyone feels the motivation to keep these goals during the first few days of the new year, but it is not possible to maintain a ridiculous amount of goals. A better way to keep up with goals is to keep them to a minimum and make them more broad to cover a bigger amount of goals. For example, instead of having ten different goals related to fitness, have one that says, “be more active.”
2. Set Realistic Resolutions – Do not let the exhilaration of the new year fool you! Setting unrealistic, extreme, and near-impossible goals will cause you to put them off and never pick them back up again. It might be tempting to set goals that’ll give you the quickest route to the phrase “New Year, New Me,” but it is always better to slowly improve rather than become perfect all at once. Instead of writing down to run three miles everyday, try to run a total of a mile per week, and then increase your goal as your stamina improves.
3. Make It About You – The title about this tip might sound selfish (especially if one of your goals is to not be selfish), but it holds meaning behind its words. It is less enjoyable and more difficult to complete a goal formed by the need to fit in or pressure from someone else. If you want to do something based on what is shown on social media rather than for your own desire, working towards that goal will seem more like torture or a chore rather than something that is helping you improve.
4. Consistency is Key – Make sure you are consistently working towards your goals. It does not have to be every hour of every week (that would actually be unhealthy), but make sure you are working towards said goal(s) at a good pace. Also, try to increase how consistent you are as your habit improves. For example, you might work out once a week, but when you become used to doing so you should start working out three times a week.

Resolutions are a good way to hit the ground running for the new year, but sadly a lot of people are not able to keep up with their goals. However, by shortening your list, spreading out your goals throughout the year, setting realistic resolutions, making goals because you want to, and being consistent, you will begin to realize that you can finally start checking things off your list.