by Ann E. Smith

Created on: January 05, 2009   Last Updated: August 10, 2009

New Year's resolutions are easy to make - but difficult to keep. You may want to lose weight, stop smoking or exercise more frequently, but then find it difficult to actually keep your resolutions to do these things.

The good news, though, is that there are some things that you can do to give yourself a better chance of sticking to your goals for the coming year. Below are some suggestions as to how to stick it out.

* Narrow your focus.

Too many dreams are not met because they are too far-reaching. The same can be said for New Year's resolutions. If you make a list of ten things to do, then you may easily get overwhelmed and give up on all of them.

Instead of trying to do lots of things half-heartedly, focus on making commitments to two to three things that you really want to change or do. If you keep your list of resolutions small, then you will be able to better focus your energies. And if you achieve the smaller list of items before year's end, you can make new goals then.

* Set realistic goals.

While it's good to challenge yourself and set stretch goals, you do not want to make unrealistic resolutions. Making resolutions that cannot be met fairly quickly sets you up for failure.

To give an example, if you are someone who is completely out of shape and who has not exercised in years, then one resolution may be about working out more frequently. An unrealistic goal would be to run a marathon in the fall. However, a realistic one would be to start off exercising 20 minutes a day for three days a week, and gradually increase the duration and frequency of your workouts.

* Create an action plan to help meet your resolutions.

You may want to keep your resolution at a high level and then create an action plan of tactics to achieve it. Let's say your resolution is to lose 20 pounds in the coming year. Some of the tactics to achieve that resolution may be to join Weight Watchers, exercise more and drink more water.

Once you have decided what your two to three resolutions are, you can then do some research or talk to others to decide what tactics may work for you. Remember that you can change those tactics as you go along.

* Keep quiet about your goals.

There is no need to broadcast all your resolutions to everyone. Sometimes it's better to keep things relatively quiet and just go for it yourself.

* Do not commit to things you do not want to do.

Be honest with yourself when setting your resolutions. You will have no chance of meeting them if you are not sincere about wanting to reach them, especially if they are challenging. You also must be ready to make these changes, and to make them for yourself and not for others.

In conclusion, New Year's resolutions are often things that people wish would happen but do not really commit to making them happen. No matter what your past experience with resolutions, you can keep them if you take a few steps to better ensure your success.

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