How to Make a New Year's Resolution

By eHow Holidays & Celebrations Editor

New Year's Resolutions

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Tradition dictates that every 365 days, you should try to kick bad habits and start your life anew. So sit down with a cup of coffee, a paper and a pen, and reflect: What kinds of New Years Resolutions will you make for yourself this January 1st?

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Self-esteem Books
Scales
Health Club Memberships
Personal Organizers
Exercise Motivation Tapes

Step1

Be realistic by setting achievable goals. Winning the lottery, for example, is out of your grasp.

Step2

Describe your resolutions in specific terms. Instead of "I don't want to be lazy," opt for "I want to exercise regularly" or "I will cut down on my television watching."

Step3

Break down large goals into smaller ones. For instance, commit to losing weight by resolving to join a gym and improve your eating habits.

Step4

Find alternatives to a behavior that you want to change, and make this part of your resolution plan. So you want to quit smoking but you smoked to relax yourself? What other forms of relaxation are available to you?

Step5

Above all, aim for things that are truly important to you, not what you think you ought to do or what others expect of you.

Comments

Anonymous said

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on 1/19/2006 Instead of saying "I want to exercise regularly," write down - "I am spending an hour every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday jogging before work." Write it down, say it, repeat it, review it. Give yourself specific times, specific activities, schedule it on your calendar or planner, and share your plans with others.

Anonymous said

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on 1/9/2008 It also helps to make your goal measurable. Being able to occasionally check-in on your progress can go a long way to helping to keep you motivated.

How do you know if you're watching less TV? Set a quantity goal that's still achievable. For instance; I will watch a maximum of 10 hours of TV this week. You can easily tell if you've done that. And when you accomplish it, you can modify it to 5 hours. And, if you don't make it, you can adjust it up to say, 15 hours, then modify it from there.

Anonymous said

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on 1/18/2006 Tell all of your friends about your new years resolutions. Telling everyone will make you want to keep your resolutions even more because you don't want the embarrassment of everyone seeing you fail. Also, your friends might help you achieve your goals by reminding you when you are slipping.

Anonymous said

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on 1/18/2006 Writing down resolutions along with their benefits is helpful; better yet is posting them in places (bathroom mirror, TV, desk) to remind you of the benefits of your resolutions. A reminder to eat healthy foods on the refrigerator is a great example.

Anonymous said

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on 1/18/2006 Write down the resolutions in bright colorful inks on a clean sheet of paper and hang it where you can see it every day. First thing in the morning, make a plan to stick to the resolutions and the last thing at night, reflect back and see if you stuck to them.

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