Reader Tips: Sticking to New Year's Resolutions

Envision success.

Visual reminders are very helpful. Hang up pictures of what your goal looks like, or sign a contract with yourself.
Lisa Wermetz
Murrieta, California

Invest in yourself.

I choose only goals that I’m heavily invested in. If the resolution isn’t important enough to work on every day, it doesn’t make the list.
Pamela Bryson
Houston, Texas

Program for success.

I forget things that I don’t enter into my PDA, which is synchronized with my computer calendar. To help me stick to resolutions, I put them on my calendar or to-do list, along with a reminder that pops up on my computer screen.
Gina Padgett
Cookeville, Tennessee

Make a plan.

Set one specific resolution, write out a plan for accomplishing it, and try it for a week. If the plan doesn’t work, revise it.
Melody Lowman
San Francisco, California

Start in September.

For me, the new year starts in September, when school begins. Each family member devises his own detailed chart to keep him on track for the rest of the year.
An ADDitude reader
via e-mail

Don’t make New Year’s resolutions.

January 1 is the worst day to start something new; it carries high expectations. Any other day of the year is a better time for changes.
Julie Madison
Germantown, Tennessee

Stay short-sighted.

Instead of a yearly goal, I just remind myself to do everything one day at a time. Thinking long-term is too hard.
Anita Berenyi
Doylestown, Ohio