How to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Last

It’s January. It’s cold, your boots are leaking, and you can’t return that sweater your mom got you. I get it; this is the worst month of the year (besides March, which is a nothing month and will never be April). To distract yourself from the misery that is winter without any more holidays (besides Valentine’s Day, which is almost worse than no-holidays), you’ve decided to make some New Year’s Resolutions.

You’ll make the plan directly after eating that third slice of pie and drinking too much Bailey’s. Sitting in your own disgrace, not having worked out in a few days because your mom needs you to help decorate the tree, you make New Year’s Resolutions in order to make order out of the chaos that is your life.

Am I getting too deep? Are you creeped out by how much I know your life?

New Year’s Resolutions are kind of the “Let’s hang out sometime!” of the holiday world. You throw them into the universe, hoping they’ll stick, but too often they fall flat. But NOT THIS YEAR!!!

Here are some ways that you can make your resolutions stick (for the low, low price of $29.99 a month to my Venmo account):

1). Don’t make them for the whole year

A huge part of keeping to a resolution deals with practicality. Are you really sure that you’re going to be able to commit to something for 365 days? Think of this last year; we had no idea what was in store for us on Dec. 31, 2015. 2017 might be crazy, so don’t try to commit to something before you see how the year pans out.

2). Goal-oriented

Set small goals for yourself. When I was feeling unmotivated at the gym, I set a goal for myself: go five days a week for three weeks, and I would buy myself a super-nice workout hoodie. It was the perfect amount of time: short enough where I wouldn’t get discouraged, but long enough where I didn’t get immediate gratification and then give up. Habits are typically solidified after fourteen days, so by setting a goal just beyond that, you’re putting yourself in the position to keep doing something even after you reach your goal.

3). Diversify

Much like holdings in the stock market, you shouldn’t put all your resolutions in one basket. If all of your goals are workout-oriented, but you’re a miserable loser, at the end of the resolution, you might look great, but you’re still an awful person to be around. Body, yes, but mind and soul as well. I saw a YouTuber who was doing a month of no-complaining, and it seems challenging but totally intriguing.

4). Tell One, Tell All

Don’t be annoying about it, because telling someone your resolutions is a little like telling someone your dreams, but feel free to tell a friend so that you’re kept accountable. Big or small, knowing that someone knows even one of your resolutions might encourage you to keep at it.

5). Venmo me

Seriously. $30.

6). Don’t be so rigid

You’re human (I hope). There might be a marathon of Barefoot Contessa on, or you might break a limb, thus stopping you from fulfilling a resolution. Be gentle with yourself, and don’t let small missteps discourage you. The whole idea behind resolutions is becoming a better person, and part of being a person (I’m told) is making mistakes.

There are six ways that you can make sure your New Year’s Resolutions stick! Now get out there and make 2017 everything you want it to be.