The end of the year is a time for celebration. It is when people come together and acknowledge that they have successfully made it through another year, and look forward to the future. With looking forward comes planning, and with planning comes goals... or as they are often referred to in this context, "resolutions." "But it seems to be just as easy to not follow through with a resolution as it is to actually create one. Here are some suggestions so that you don't end up as one of the people who never does what they claim they are going to."

1. Set Realistic Goals

There’s nothing wrong with shooting for the stars and being lofty with your resolutions, at the same time, you want to set goals that you know will be legitimately reachable in the established time-frame. If you set a goal that most likely won’t be achieved in only a year, you may lose the motivation to accomplish anything at all and end up sabotaging yourself.

2. Be Accountable To Others

One of the easiest ways to not follow through with something that you said you were going to do is not tell anyone you were going to do it. If we make a promise to ourselves and then break it, we may let ourselves down, but we’re the only ones aware of it. By telling other people about the goals that we set, it positions us to have people check up on the progress that we’re making.

3. Have Fun With It

Sometimes carrying out certain actions can be arduous, and feel as if it is not even worth the effort. However, if you can find a way to make reaching a specific aspiration fun, it will be an enjoyable process and not start to feel like a hassle. Find something that you like to do (that doesn’t conflict completing with the goal you’re trying to reach) and intersperse it your goal.

4. Persevere!

If it takes us longer than we anticipated accomplishing something, our morale may decline and we become disappointed. One of the key steps to reaching our new years resolutions is to not give up if it takes longer than we would have wanted or expected it to.

5. Ask Yourself Why

Are you only setting a resolution because you don't want to feel left out among your peers who told you what their resolutions were? Do not set a resolution just for the sake of it. If one of your resolutions does not mean much to you, why would you be motivated to actually see it through? You must do it for yourself, not just to impress others. If you truly believe that seeing a certain resolution realized will improve your life, it should be because that resolution arose from awareness of self, not external influence.