The first month of 2018 has come and gone. If you were one of the people who told yourself, "New Year, New Me" only to give up on January 3rd, do not despair. You may think you messed up, but the wonderful thing about self-improvement is that there is no deadline to begin one. I like beginning a resolution on January first because it is easy to keep track of when I began my new habit. That's a personal preference.

If you want to begin on February 2nd, go ahead. Your birthday? Sure! You are free to choose any day. If you have already boarded the new resolution train and fell off, you can get back on.

What makes a resolution so daunting is the fear of failing to reach the goal you set.

The pressure to "not procrastinate" and "never eat dessert" makes it seem impossible to change for the better. These goals are what I like to call "umbrella goals." They cover what you want to accomplish, but there is no plan to see it to completion. An achievable goal guides you to success. Instead of telling yourself to not procrastinate, do a portion of your work for a set time each day.

Think of your resolution as "I will write down a time to complete my reading for my discussion class" and stick to doing what you wrote down. I find that whenever I allot time in my planner for a specific task, I do it at that time. I noticed when I keep a time slot blank, that time disappears. Somehow I always get caught up talking to a friend or scrolling through social media. Soon you will find yourself closer to reaching your true goal to not procrastinate.

It is easy to feel discouraged from continuing a resolution if you slip up. You have already decided to make the first step. It is your decision to keep working toward your resolution. No one is perfect; it's the exact reason why you chose to make a resolution in the first place: to improve an aspect of yourself and your life. If you are frustrated that you messed up, then it proves how much you care about wanting to do your best. With that in mind, don't be too harsh on yourself when you do mess up. After all, even a good diet allows for a cheat meal.

Starting a new habit or kicking a bad one is not an easy task. It requires discipline, motivation, and diligence. The fact that you want to improve is a good place to start. Forget intimidating flip-your-life-over resolutions. Opt for shifting the furniture over an inch; suddenly you will find your sofa in a new place.

The resolution train runs all year long. You may have missed it once, twice, thrice, but you can always hop on after New Year's.