Inspiration, motivation, and reflection. That is what January is all about. New Year’s Resolutions is something that not everyone participates in. Some people believe that it doesn’t matter the time you improve yourself, that won’t make a difference in how well you accomplish your goals. But, others like me believe that it can be a fresh new start, and is a perfect time to reflect and develop yourself in a positive way. So no matter your personal opinion, here are some ways to stick and practice your goals for the new year.

Be specific
By starting with a small and specific goal, it can and will be easier to accomplish. For example, one of my goals this year is to call my Grandma every day. This is a specific goal whereas, saying I want to call my Grandma more often, won’t be specific enough to attain.

Track your progress
One thing to keep in mind while writing your goals is that you want to find a way to keep track of your progress. You can create a bullet journal which can release a lot of creativity, you could keep it simple, and keep this information in a notebook with a pen, or you could log your progress in your phone on the notes app. One of my goals this year is to drink more water. A way I could track this is by downloading a free health app, to measure how much water I intake. There are plenty resources digitally and physically to help you complete this step.

Make it realistic
The more honest you can be with yourself in creating your goals will increase the likelihood of achieving them. For example, if you could run a solid mile and you wanted your new goal to be to run three miles by the end of the school year. This would be a much more realistic target, then if you wanted to run a half a marathon by the last day of school. It is okay if your goal is smaller than you had accepted because then you can conclude it thoroughly and move on to another goal you have set.

Do it for the right reasons
If an adult wanted to eat a paleo diet as his or her goal. Their reasoning behind that should not be from a place of self-hate, it should be from a place of wanting to nourish your body. Setting goals for anything should be from a mindset of wanting to positively make yourself better instead of a mindset of negativity and lack of confidence or love for yourself.

Break it down
Once you have your main goal, break it down into small achievable steps. For example, wanting to run three miles by the end of the school year is the bigger picture, and now you need to break that apart into manageable chunks. Those could be wanting to run a mile and a half by February 20. Your next chunk could be wanting to run two miles by March 20. And so on, until you reach your physical goal of wanting to run three miles by the end of school.
Knowing all of this, you can sit down and self reflect. And also, make informed goal choices. Just remember the five keys, Be specific, Track your progress, Make it realistic, Do it for the right reasons, and Break it down.

Now, some goals that might be right for you could be turning in homework on time, being able to do 75 push ups by the next fitness gram, getting all A’s by the next report card or putting all homework and due dates in a student planner.