Tips on How to Keep Your New Year Resolutions

It's not something most people do very often but the start of each new year is when many of us start thinking about the future and looking at where our lives are going. Resolutions are made, often the same ones time and time again. Within weeks, life gets back into the normal routine and these pledges are forgotten. For New Year resolutions to really work the first thing you have to do is sit down and take stock.

Before considering what you would like in the future and what your New Year resolutions might be, take a look at your old life. Consider hopes, dreams and intentions of the past that have never been realised. Are they still important? Is it worth making them a real goal for the future?

How to Keep your New Year Resolutions

So, why not take a look back, to look forward. For instance you might

* review the past and the way you live now

* think about what areas of your life or aspects of your personality you would like to change

* list those changes you'd like to make

* decide on the ones you'd like to tackle first

* do some research and find out how to do this

You need to consider the best ways to bring these changes about, taking into account possible snags, how other people will react to your decisions and other things that might make it hard for you to put your resolutions into action.

Next consider how you will feel if you occasionally fail to keep to your New Year resolutions. For instance if you decide to go on a diet, will you feel you have failed if you succumb to eating a bar of chocolate? Is this how it has worked in the past with you telling yourself you are a failure and giving up on the idea of sticking to your intentions?

This time decide on how you might change habits you've fallen into in the past.

Tell yourself, for instance, that you an resist temptation and if occasionally you lapse into bad habits, you will find the self-control to get back onto the path you have chosen for yourself.

Accept there will be the occasional slip-up and dint to your confidence. Make it a resolution to believe in yourself and to believe that you can succeed.

Think about joining a self-help group that might help you stick with your resolutions. Your friends and family might help you too but remember that ultimately you must be the one to commit yourself to bringing about a change and keeping it up once you have changed.

If you really want to keep your New Year resolutions, you should make a plan of action which might make it as easy as possible to reach your goals.

Once you've done all this, you will be in a better position to decide on your New Year's resolutions. You will have prepared yourself for the stumbling blocks that might get in the way. You will have decided on the best paths to bring about the changes you are hoping for and if necessary you will have arranged ways of getting extra support to help you keep your resolutions. With everything in place, all that's left is for you to put your New Year resolutions into action.