Holiday Tips - Resolution Help!

Tips for Actually Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

Just like everyone else, each New Years I promise to myself that this year will be different. I'll finally start going to the gym, or quit smoking, or diet healthy. Of course, by January 5th, I'm already over my resolution, dismissing it as silly. Do you have any tips that will help me keep my resolutions?

Signed,

Resolutions needed

April Masini's advice:

Dear Resolutions needed,

Give yourself a break. Don't be so hard on yourself -- we all fall into the same trap. But if you do want for a better new year, it's important to make resolutions that are realistic.

If you do find yourself making the same New Year's resolution year after year -- and you aren't achieving it, you'd do well to make your resolution something like, "I'm going to give myself realistic goals that I can achieve." Then, instead of making your resolution a weight loss of 25 pounds, you can make it something more realistic for you -- for instance, I'm only going to eat dessert after meals on weekends. Or, I'm going to switch from soda to water during the week. You may actually find, by doing this, that you inadvertently achieve that big weight loss you were hoping for -- without giving yourself such a tough time.

One of the best habits you can form is to know yourself and give yourself realistic goals and limits. If you don't, you'll be sending yourself the subliminal message that you're not good enough to do it, and that you're a failure, because you keep failing. Giving yourself goals that you can meet will give you the message that you can do it, and that you're a winner. This will carry over into other parts of your life.