How to Keep Resolutions for the New Year

Have you made your list of resolutions for the new year yet? Oh, good.

Have you already broken at least one? I knew it.

The flat out truth is that most of us don’t end up keeping our resolutions all year long (if we did we’d all be thinner, richer, and with fantastically perfect diets.) So how do you keep resolutions, especially if you really want to?

Really Want To
It does no good to make a resolution to do something if you truly don’t want to do it. Do you really want to quit potato chips? No? Maybe this isn’t your year. Try another year. Maybe 2015?
Pick One Resolution
Just the one. Not a list of 25 resolutions that you know, deep down, you are not going to keep. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Unless you are one of those people who are “Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land among the stars!” kind of people. (And honestly, if you’re one of those people, you should consider putting an astronomy course on your resolutions-to-complete list, because that is not how that works.) If you do pick one resolution, you can focus on truly making it happen. My favorite resolution ever was to have better posture.
Daily Reminder
One of the reasons that keeping a simple resolution, like having better posture, worked for me was that I put a small reminder directly where I would see it and execute the action every day. A Post It on my computer monitor that said, “Sit up!” I was the only one who knew what it meant, and it made me pay attention to my posture.
Pick an Unusual Resolution
If you pick “Lose 20 Pounds” every year, and every year you fail, it’s time for a new resolution. Resolutions are about making yourself a better person, so try something different. How about reading three classic books you know you should have read by now (e.g. Moby Dick, Grapes of Wrath, Night by Elie Wiesel)?
Blog about It
Last year the TodaysMama staff wrote their “11 Things in 2011” posts. I have to tell you, knowing that I told you about my resolutions made me want to try even harder to complete them. I did pretty well (considering my usual advice is to pick fewer resolutions) by finishing 8 out of 11.

Now that you know how to keep resolutions, what will you pick? There are one million options to make yourself a better person that do not include weighing 20 less pounds. Make yourself a more interesting person with a new resolution for the new year: