Unfortunately, most New Year’s resolutions fail, experts estimate that only 8% of us are successful in keeping true to ourselves and establishing new goals. There are ways that you can increase the odds although. Below are some tips for how to do just that!

When making goals be specific. Instead of saying I want to lose weight, experts advise us to be very clear, for instance make your goal to eat better, eat vegetables every day or no eating after 8:00 PM for example. If your goal is to exercise more, include the time and days of the week you plan on exercising, it is easier to fail when you don’t have a plan.

Choose goals that are important to you. Most of us have similar New Year’s resolution, i.e. lose weight, exercise more and save money are among the top resolutions each year, try and make yours something different, something important to you! If you’ve been wanting to spend more family time, perhaps a goal of eating dinner as a family 5 times a week or instituting a Tech Free Tuesday at your home! You are more likely to keep the resolutions that are most important to you.

Tell others about your resolutions. We are more likely to keep those resolutions when we have accountability. Just like working out with a buddy helps one stay on exercise and diet plans, telling others what we are hoping to accomplish in the New Year brings about a sense of importance to our goals. We are less likely to accomplish goals that only we know about, it just easier to give up on ourselves, having a few cheerleaders to keep us honest can make a difference.

These are just a few tips on ways to stay true to your goals and resolutions this year. Check our Facebook page for more tips and advice this month.