4 Secrets to Keeping Your New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year, everyone! Did you make a New Year’s resolution this year? If so, you're in good company. 

The Secrets to Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions

Coming hard on the heels of the party-hearty holidays, January 1st seems to be a natural time to start fresh. But is there any point? Psychologists say that many resolutions are broken before the day is out. The fact that we seem to make the same resolutions every year suggests that few of them stick. But even if you broke last year's (or every year's) resolutions, this year can be different. The first step is to pick your resolution carefully.

What Makes a Good Resolution?

The other day, I sent out an email asking my coworkers about their New Year's resolutions. My friend Alan responded that he was resolving to "run more." Now, if I were a betting woman, I wouldn't wager very much on this resolution becoming a reality.  

1. Make your resolutions as specific as possible 

Vague resolutions like "eat better" or "exercise more" are hard to quantity and, therefore, easy to fudge and, eventually, forget. You’ll have a much better chance of succeeding with a specific, measurable goal like taking dog for one mile walk before dinner every night. When I pressed him, Alan came up with a more specific resolution. He pledged to run a minimum of 3 miles, two times a week. The odds of Alan keeping his resolution just got much better.

2. Choose a goal that is realistic but meaningful  

Grandiose plans to radically overhaul your diet on January 1st are usually doomed to failure. You'll get a lot more mileage out of choosing a couple of small but meaningful changes that you can stick to until they've become ingrained habits. For example, my friend Gerry, who needs to lose a couple of pounds, has decided she's going to start putting milk in her coffee rather than half and half.

Don’t underestimate the power of small changes—especially when you stick with them.

That is a great resolution—it's specific and it's extremely doable. I think the odds are high that this time next year, Gerry will still be drinking milk in her coffee instead of half and half. And don’t underestimate the power of small changes—especially when you stick with them. Over the course of the year, Gerry stands to save 18,250 calories, or the equivalent of five pounds, by making this one small change.

3. Be positive

By this, I don't mean "be optimistic" (although that...

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