New Year’s resolutions! Depending on your experience or opinion, this idea can be met with enthusiasm or a frustrated groan. But if you plan to make a few of your own in 2020 – eat healthier, lose weight, quit smoking, go back to school, get out of debt – then you are in good company. Nearly half of the U.S. population sets resolutions they hope will improve their lives in the coming year.

While half of us may be enthusiastically writing down those resolutions, only about 25% of us stay committed for the first month, and barely 8% of us achieve them at all. Yikes! Those numbers aren’t encouraging.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are three ways you can help make those resolutions stick beyond the first week, the first month, and even the first six months. These suggestions will help ensure that when the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 2020, you will be able to cross those NY resolutions from 2020 off your list for good.

Be specific

The most popular New Year’s resolutions are: lose weight, eat healthy, and quit smoking. While these are all worthy goals, they are not necessarily easy to track. Try setting more specific goals that can be measured.

Instead of the more generic resolution – eat healthy – try something you can check off each day, like: drink 64 ounces of water before bed, include 2-3 servings of fruits and vegetables with each meal, quit drinking soda, cut out all processed ingredients, eat no refined sugars.

When you state specifically what you want to achieve, you can track your progress. It is much easier to look back on your day and see you drank a certain amount of water than it is to gage whether or not you “ate healthy.” The more specific you are, the more likely you are to not only be able to track goals and resolutions, but to be able to measure progress and ultimately check them off your list or turn them into healthy habits that will last beyond January, June, or even the end of the year.

Be realistic

Too many times we inadvertently set ourselves up for failure by over-setting and overstating our resolutions. Try setting three goals instead of 10, working on one resolution or goal each month instead of tackling them all at one time, or narrowing the goal down to something attainable instead of something overwhelming – like losing five pounds instead of 50, running one mile instead of a 5k, paring your drinking down to one glass of wine with dinner instead of cutting alcohol out completely.

Managing your expectations from the beginning and being realistic about what you can actually achieve will set you up for success instead of failure. It also helps you to win small victories along the way, which increases your confidence and momentum toward achieving bigger, more difficult goals in the future.

Get some help

We’ve all heard the saying that behind every great man there is a great woman, or something like unto it. Behind every goal that is achieved there is also a partner or support system that provided the help and the encouragement to make it happen.

You don’t have to do it alone.

Research shows that having an accountability partner, or someone who can provide you with added support when you are working toward the achievement of a goal, can increase your chances of success by at least 65%. That’s an incredible number!

Whether it’s a trusted friend, a partner, a mentor, or, even better, a LIFE COACH, odds are that you’ll do better if you don’t do it alone.

A life coach, or an accountability partner, can help you track your goals, keep you honest, point out barriers or speed bumps along your way, offer you encouragement when you feel discouraged, and be a sounding board for you on good days and bad days.

To find a life coach just in time to start out the new year, click here.

You can do it!

As you move into the next year and a new decade, don’t let the statistics of New Year’s resolutions past scare you. Don’t let the failures you’ve experienced in the past define your future.

Know this: you can do it! The longest journeys begin with a single step. Set specific, realistic goals, and ask for help. The life YOU want to lead is within your grasp. Go out and seize it today.

And Happy New Year!