Will make them, don’t we? We promise ourselves that we will exercise more, drink less, eat less and eat healthily, lose weight and stop smoking as well as a multitude of other resolutions.

But how many of us keep the promises that we’ve made to ourselves? It is said that by the second week of February over 80% of new year resolutions have been broken.

So, what’s the secret of keeping a successful resolution?

One top tip is not to make too many resolutions.

Choose the most important one or one that you are confident about and feel strongly about and stick with it. Concentrating on one resolution is easier than two, three, four or more because then it becomes very, very difficult and you are likely to be disheartened if you are failing on even one of them.

Have smart targets.

S – be specific and set yourself a target. If you want to exercise more perhaps this might be 20 minutes per day. If weight loss it might be a specific number of pounds / kilos in a week etc etc.

M – be sure that you measure your achievements. Keep a note of your progress against your goals and know when you need to work that little bit harder if you’re not on target.

A – be accountable to someone else. Tell another person which might be a family member, or a work colleague, what your goal is and ask them to check progress with you on a regular basis.

R – be realistic.  Is your goal realistic? If it’s not realistic you will become discouraged and the resolution will fail. If you are realistic you have a better chance of success and then can set new goals to the next level when you have achieved your target.

T – make your resolution time bound. When do you want to achieve your goal by? Will it be a three-month project, six months or more? A time bound goal is crucial for success.

So please be good to yourself in 2019 and if you follow the advice above you will have a better chance of success than the 80% of people who don’t make it past the second week of February.