It makes perfect sense that people want to better themselves, and why wouldn't we want to begin the New Year with a fresh start and some great goals? But when it comes to making New Year's resolutions, there are many obstacles in our way. We end up failing on our resolutions before February even begins. If you do decide to make a New Year's resolution for 2019, you need to be motivated if you want to succeed in achieving your goals.

Don't set yourself up to fail by making incredibly hard resolutions to keep. Many people want to see change happen so fast and on such a large scale that they don't factor in practicality when making promises to themselves. This is one way to set yourself up for failure. One of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to lose weight. When making your resolutions, start small. For example, instead of saying "I want to lose (insert unrealistic number here) pounds this year," start with what you can do in the first month. Taking your goals one step at a time will help you stick with them and more importantly fulfill them. Don't put a number on things. Instead of saying "I want to lose X pounds," just make better eating choices and be more active. Let any weight-loss be a side effect of a healthy lifestyle.

Take your resolutions one step at a time and create small goals that will help you eventually achieve your big goals. I always want to use the new year as a way for me to be more organized and manage my time more efficiently. In the past, I have often failed at this because of the time it takes for me to do the many things that encompass organization, such as making my bed in the morning, writing in my planner, or starting my college assignments early. Procrastination has always been my downfall. This year, I will start small and instead of committing myself to completing my assignments a week in advance. I will start with 2 days before the due date. Once I have mastered that deadline, I will add one more day and work to complete my assignments 3 days in advance. This will help me achieve my goals at a pace that is actually conducive to my schedule and my personality.

So, if you decide on making a New Year's resolution, remember to be practical, realistic, and start small with your goals. Work your way towards bigger milestones. You'll thank yourself come next December when you're still working on your resolution that you took it one step at a time.