The high rate of failure of New Year’s Resolutions has popularised a saying that New Year’s Resolutions are meant to be Broken, but of course, they are not.

New Year’s Resolutions offer a great opportunity for us to take a step back and acknowledge bad habits and behaviours that call for an amendment, whether it’s your habit of too much tea, soda, or little exercise. But making New Year’s Resolutions and keeping them are two different things. You already know the former, but how then, to keep these resolutions from becoming part of the 92% that fail?

Here are some pointers that might help you succeed.

Know why you are doing it. What are your reasons? If you resolved to eat healthier, what prompted you to decide that? Was it for the sake of your kids? To prevent diseases like obesity and diabetes? Or because you want to remain active as you age? A strong, personal reason helps you persevere.

Be specific. You resolved to exercise more, but what did you mean by exercise? And how frequently, and for how long? Being specific will prevent you from bending the rules and make you feel more focused and responsible. Being specific will also enable you to measure your progress. You can check, for instance, how your stamina has improved over time. If you have a vague goal, you will not have anything concrete to track your progress. Such lack of clarity might make you lose your will to continue.

Be flexible, not brittle. Sometimes, you should allow yourself, within reason, to occasionally bend the rules, or fail. Always keep room for failure. You shouldn’t abandon your New Year’s Resolution because of it.

Making healthier habits takes time and effort. There will be times when you have difficulty adhering to your decision. When you falter, let it go and resume your resolution as soon as possible.

The worst thing that you can do is make a resolution and force yourself to follow it in a way that stresses you out. You may justify that stress, but too much stress for too long can negatively affect your life and work performance. Such inflexibility usually leads to a complete abandonment of the resolution. Such behaviour defeats the very purpose of New Year’s Resolutions. That is probably why a third of New Year’s Resolutions don’t make it past January.

Start Slowly and Be Smart. Some resolutions simply take time to follow. For instance, If you resolve to do Yoga every day, you will face a lot of hurdles at first. It may be hard to find the time on some days, on other days you may feel tired or lazy. In such situations, do as much as you can, but do it every day and aim to make it a part of your lifestyle. It might not be much. It might be only fifteen minutes of exercise instead of an hour, but every little bit counts. Over time, you will be able to achieve your desired target.

Be Realistic. If you set goals that would be extremely difficult for you to achieve, you will probably not achieve them. You might feel optimistic and motivated when you make your resolutions, but that feeling will not last forever. Instead, set a goal and time limit that are not too easy nor too difficult. You need to strike a balance so that it poses a comfortable level of difficulty. And if something doesn’t work for you, don’t abandon it, simply amend it until it does!

Sometimes certain resolutions just may not work for you. Such as solving a crossword puzzle daily. Crossword puzzles are very beneficial to your mental abilities, but they are also time-consuming. If you find yourself sacrificing your work over it, it might be wise to abandon it for now, and postpone it until after retirement!

Finally, if you fail, remember that A New Year’s Resolution is just an excuse to change for good. It is an opportunity for self-reflection, a chance to craft a better future for yourself. It doesn’t always have to be tied to the end of the year. You can resolve to change at any time on any day. It can be your birthday, anniversary, or tomorrow, or next week. All you need, after all, is a will to change. The obstacles in your path, then, may slow you down but they will never be able to stop you.