It’s the start of a new year! We know what that means. It’s the annual time for the “new year, new me” motto. It’s time to turn your life around or make a change in your life. Crowds gather at the gym hoping to shed pounds and people hope to get organized with life and never do. It starts to feel like the resolutions are never being accomplished. This defeats the whole purpose of the resolution. If you want to accomplish goals, you should start small.

Instead of “getting organized,” you could pick one specific task you want to get better at like procrastinating. Instead of losing 50 pounds you can try losing 10. It’s better to set a realistic goal and then there’s always the option of raising the bar higher.

This New Year’s Eve, I spoke with some of my closest friends before the ball dropped at midnight. I asked them if they had thought about their New Year resolutions or if they had any general goals they wanted to accomplish in 2016 and this is what they said:

“My New Year resolution this year is to drink more water because I’m really bad at it and I don’t want to get kidney stones. That’s a real thing. And to not let my anxiety ruin my life.” –Erin Lafferty, Rowan University

“Start going to the gym which will never happen–and to do better in school. That’s my new year resolution…to do better in school.” –Amanda Flynn, Rowan College at Gloucester County

“I don’t have one. Find a boyfriend. I’m for real.” –Zachary Bradel-Puglia, Rowan College at Gloucester County

“To fix my time management–which I’m already working on. Stop procrastination unless it’s beneficial which it always is so nevermind. But I’m not a rapper.” –Bre’Jon Patrick, Penn State University

“Ooh, I got it! To visit all my friends at college. That’s a new year’s resolution. You know, we make resolutions that never happen. That’s the point. That’s it. That’s all I got.” –Brejon Patrick, Penn State University

“Stay lit. In every single way. In school, mostly in school.” –Nicole Gooden, Rutgers University

“Live my life with fewer worries. Stop worrying about things so much.” –Morgan Richards, Rowan University

At times, some had to pause and think or even ask the group what a “real” New Year’s resolution was. It’s supposed to be personalized to ourselves yet we always hear the same things over and over again. This new year, make a resolution different from the past. Instead of making unrealistic goals, make ones that you want to, and can, accomplish and change within the year.