Top 10 Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

Do you have trouble keeping your New Year’s resolutions? You’re not alone. Most people who make resolutions fail to keep them.

Here are ten ways to make and keep New Year’s resolutions—or any changes in your life.

1. Make the resolutions you care about. Be certain the change you want to make really matters to you, and that it’s not just something you think you “should” do. Perhaps it's who you want to be...

2. Be specific and concrete. Not “I want to lose weight” but “I want to lose five pounds by March 15.” State your goals in measurable and attainable terms.

3. Make the time. If you want to exercise three times a week, write the dates and times in your calendar. Also, be honest with yourself about what might stop you from being strong in the moment of truth……what might keep you from doing what you planned? Identify what you will do to overcome it.

4. Easy does it. Start slowly. Don’t expect to run a marathon by February if you can’t make six miles now. Start with a run a few blocks long in the neighborhood or the park.

5. Do it differently. If you’ve made the same old resolution for ten years and never been able to keep it, do something different this time. If nothing changes, nothing changes.

6. Accentuate the positive. Better to say what you can do rather than what you can’t. Instead of “no fatty foods,” say “nonfat milk and fruit for dessert."

7. Start over if you need to. Don’t let a slip cause you to quit the whole program. As the song says, “pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.”

8. Share your resolutions with a buddy. It’s easier to exercise with a friend, join a book club with your sister-in-law, or quit smoking in a supportive group.

9. Believe in yourself. Use positive self-talk, affirmations, and put encouraging notes on the bathroom mirror.

10. Celebrate your successes. Congratulate and reward yourself when you keep your commitment to yourself. Do something nice for yourself: have a dessert, buy yourself flowers, treat yourself to a movie. 

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