So now that April is rolling around, it's time to reflect... did those New Year's Resolutions you made four months ago actually follow through? Chances are, you've already forgotten about them, or perhaps you realized how unrealistic they were, and just gave up on them

We’ve all been there. Year after year, every time Jan. 1 rolls by, it’s a reminder that now is the time to make some New Year’s Resolutions. Well the thing is—and I'm sure you heard people argue that time is a social construct—this should not be the only time that we are making resolutions; every day should be an opportunity to better ourselves. Personally, I believe that making a change in our lives is something we can do any day, and while the start of a new year marks an opportunity for us to do so, often, we are a little too confident in our abilities to make certain goals.

So, don't fret too much about that resolution you made to go to the gym four times a week. Just forget about all those failed resolutions. Let’s face it, we’re all human, and just waking up one day and making a change in the way you are living your life isn’t as easy as it sounds. So forget about all those resolutions, and make a few new ones. Ones you'll actually follow through with, and ones that are actually plausible. Doing this provides us the chance to really think about that change, and, in a way, force ourselves to follow through with it.

With that out of the way, the problem that does come with creating, what we should call new new year’s resolutions is actually following through with them. Just looking back, I can honestly say that I have not kept up with at least 80 percent of my New Year’s resolutions. Whether it was because I tried to make too many, or they were just outright unrealistic, for whatever reason, I can count on one hand the resolutions I’ve made over the past few years that I remember and still continue with. What I’ve realized is that there are essentially three problems that cause the failure of these resolutions, and they (in no particular order) are as follows:

1. Creating unrealistic and unachievable resolutions

Okay, is “going to the gym for two hours every single day” truly a realistic goal? Maybe if you’re already an avid gym goer, and you’re just trying to up your gym hours, but for the average person, I highly doubt that this will be happening. The same goes for resolutions like “go vegan” or “cut out anything unhealthy from your diet” when you’re normally a meat-eating person who enjoys junk food. Unrealistic. And the reason why these are so unrealistic is that they are often too drastic of a change to be making all a sudden; when changes are too drastic, it is difficult to stick to it and difficult to find the motivation to do so, which brings me to my second point:

2. Lacking the motivation to follow through with said resolutions

It always starts off the same way. If you’re lucky, the first few weeks to the first month of the year, you’re super motivated to follow through with your resolutions. You’re hitting the gym every week, you’re eating healthy, you’re staying organized, whatever it may be, and hey, it’s going great! However, after that initial spur of ambition you had since the new year, it slowly dies down. You start making excuses, and your motivation slowly dwindles away until before you know it. It’s only February, and your new year’s resolutions no longer.

3. Making too many New Year’s resolutions

Maybe it was just me, but when I was younger, I somehow determined that I should correlate the number of resolutions I made with what year it was; for example, in 2010, I made 10 resolutions; in 2011, 11 resolutions, and so on, which, according to this rule, I should be making a whopping 16 resolutions for this upcoming year. That’s a lot. Heck, 10 was a lot. Even if you don’t follow that same rule I did, many of us make too many resolutions, and when there’s a whole list of things to keep up with, some (or a lot) end up becoming forgotten as it is difficult to keep track of.

So how do you make real and achievable NEW New Year’s resolutions then? The key is to start simple, be specific, and start small. Vague and lofty resolutions like “travel more” or “eat right” are difficult to measure, and thus, call for more opportunity to make those excuses and not follow through with resolutions. What exactly do you mean when you say “eat right?” Instead, create simple, specific, and small goals, such as “cut out soda” or “drink at least eight cups of water a day.” When you create goals that you can keep track of, then they become much easier to follow than vague goals that you likely have no real plan to follow anyway.

Think about how you’re going to achieve your goals. Outline a plan. If your resolution is to “get more sleep,” then consider what steps you might take to achieve that. Whether it’s going to sleep before midnight, or not watching TV or using your computer the hour before you go to bed, planning out such things allows you to consider how achievable your resolutions are, rather than just a vague and distant idea. However, do keep in mind what we mentioned earlier about making too many resolutions! I feel as though many of us feel the need to make a lot of changes in the new year, but it is perfectly fine to make just a few solid resolutions. It’s even completely fine if all you have is one resolution that you truly want to follow through with. The way I see it, the fewer resolutions you have, the easier it will be to focus on those and just those.

In the end, we just have to remind ourselves of why we made those goals in the first place. If you ever do fall out of your resolutions, instead of accepting that as a failure, just jump back up and start all over again, regardless of what day of the year it is. As author Carl Bard once said, “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”