Keeping up with a New Year’s resolution can be challenging. I decided that this year I was going to be the best teammate that I could be. I realized that teammates don’t have to be sports related, nor do you have to belong to a team of anything for someone to be considered a teammate. Each day, I have promised myself that I will do whatever I can to help others as well as recognize when I need help – and then not be afraid to ask for help when I need it.

Being a good teammate is more than just being there for someone when they need it the most. The way that I see it, every relationship is a team effort, and you can only nurture and care for the team if all parties are well taken care of. Asking for help is okay, and it will only make your team stronger and better. Keeping up with this as my New Year’s resolution has been hard, and I’ll admit – there have already been days that I haven’t been the best teammate to those around me. But I haven’t given up on myself, and I’m realizing that little slip ups don’t mean that my resolution has to end a few weeks into the year.

I have made a point to write down my progress with my resolution every day in my planner. Some days are better than others, but that’s with everything in life – some days will always be better than other days. It is important to remember this when some days get rough with the resolution. I know that everyone has days where they know that they will keep achieving all of their goals that they have laid out for themselves, and everyone also has days that just seem to drag on, constantly thinking: ‘can I ever do anything right?’

Yes. You can. Another important aspect to keeping up with New Year’s resolutions is the mental aspect. By simply thinking that you will not make it through, you will not. Keeping a resolution isn’t about having 365 perfect days. Keeping a resolution is about understanding that no one is perfect. As for being a good teammate, I know that there have been days already this year that I haven’t been the best that I could be; but I also know that there have been days where I have practiced being the best teammate that I can be, and I have succeeded. Having this resolution, or any kind of long-term goal, was never about having a year of perfect days.

Having a long-term goal is about the progress that I will make personally as a teammate. This is about an area of my life that I saw needed an improvement, and having this goal is about working hard every day at being better. Consistent betterment and progress is the key to making it through with goals and resolutions. If you were to take your resolution and score it 1-10 everyday on the basis of how you felt you did, there would be days that are 10’s, and days that are 1’s. The important thing isn’t to look at the 1’s, but the 10’s, 9’s, 8’s, the days that you fell down a bit, and then came back. If you laid these days out on a graph like this, you would surely be able to see the progress or the consistency behind reaching your goal.