Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. – Mark Twain

We’re coming to the end of the first week of the new year and many of you who made new year resolutions are probably on the verge of breaking them, especially with the weekend looming over. It’s the best time to break all those healthy eating and healthy living resolutions….

I am the same too, I’ve made resolutions about the things I want to change about myself this year. So far, so good, but I was wondering if this year will be my breakout year where I actually complete them or as usual, stop before January ends. So I went and researched how I can actually make sure I keep my resolutions for 2017.

KISS – Keep it Simple and Specific: Keep your resolutions simple so they are achievable. Don’t be vague like, “I will lose weight this year” or “I will eat healthy this year“. Make it specific like, “I will lose x kgs this year” or “I will stop eating <insert unhealthy foods here> this year”. This helps you have a target you need to reach the end of the year.

Be Realistic: Let’s be honest here, everyone wants to look like the current Ms Universe but someone who is say 120 kgs can’t become 50 kgs in one year, not without resorting to drastic measures. So be realistic about the goals you want to achieve. If you aim to read books this year, maybe you could start with one book a month?

Create regular targets: This is basically breaking down your goals into smaller, bite-sized portions which allow you some successes during the year as well as will not discourage you, especially if the goal is slightly beyond your capabilities. If you aim to save $1000 by the end of the year, then saving slightly less than $100 per month will do the trick.

Keep a diary: A diary, physical or digital will help you document your progress, help you track and celebrate success and also pinpoint failures. This will keep you on track and also once you are documenting your progress, you become inclined to actually go ahead and keep doing what you need to do to achieve the goal.

Celebrate Successes: When you achieve any of your mini goals or are on track to achieving your goals or even keep your resolutions for an extended period, then celebrate it by doing something for yourself, like having a spa day or buying new clothes etc.

Be accountable: Share your goals with family or friends. This will allow you to become accountable for them and when you know people are going to ask you about your goals, you do take extra effort to make them complete.

Don’t give up: Failure is just a stepping stone to success. It’s a very rare individual who will be 100% consistent in achieving his goals through the year. We all are apt to have periods when we slip up. Don’t take these periods of slip-ups as if you are not going to achieve your goals. Get up, dust yourself and go back to the last day you were accountable and then continue from there.