So that explains why many people are excited and gung ho over their New Year’s resolution on January 1^st, only to find they’ve given up by about the 15th! What does it take to be successful in keeping your New Year’s Resolution- or for obtaining any goal you have in general?

There are 6 Proven Steps you must take if you plan to see your resolution become reality:

1. Specifically and clearly define what it is you want. You can’t say “I want to be thinner”, because that doesn’t give any indication to how much “thinner” you plan to become. Instead, you should say “I want to lose 20 pounds”, or “I will pay off credit cards A and B”.
2. Your resolution and goals must be measurable. If you can’t measure it, how will you ever know if you’ve made progress or obtained your goal? Don’t say “I’m going to earn more money this year”; write down an actual dollar amount so you can see whether you’ve reached your goal or not.
3. Set a Timeframe. If you just say “I want to lose 20 pounds” and do not give yourself a deadline, there is no sense of urgency, no real purpose or motivation. You could lose 20 pounds over the period of ten years, or you could say you want to lose 20 pounds in 6 months.
4. Plan, plan, plan. You can’t get anywhere if you don’t know how to get there. How will you overcome the temptation to eat that donut if your goal is to lose weight? You know that we are presented with opportunities to fail at every corner, and once your emotional high has left you and the excitement of entering a New Year or making a new goal has faded- how will you carry on towards your goal? You need to have a plan in place.
5. “The journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step”. This is true with anything you do- nothing happens all at once, you will always have to take it step by step. Making steady progress will produce favorable results- so decide what your steps will be and maybe even build in little rewards for progressing successfully through each of your steps.
6. Consequences for failure and accountability. If you’re going to quit smoking, what happens if you light up a ciggerette and fall off the wagon? Nothing, really. You know that you’ve taken a step backwards from your goal and whether you get back on track or not is not the point. You need to have real consequences for giving in to the behavior you are attempting to change- and get someone to hold you accountable.

Six Steps to Keep Your New Year’s Resolution was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Be Specific About Your Goals. Simply wanting to lose weight and get in better shape is not a good goal to have. Instead you should have a specific goal, such as “I want to lose 20 pounds by the 1st of April.” Having a specific goal in mind will give you a “finish line” of sorts and encourage you to do what it takes to meet that goal. You’ll know exactly what you have to do to win and will be able to come up with baby steps along the way to help succeed in that goal.

Come Up With Baby Steps. If your goal is to eat healthier this year, it’s not going to happen overnight. If you simply decide to start eating healthy all the time, you’re much less likely to stick with it. If instead you try to start eating healthier a few meals a week, start cooking with healthier ingredients, trying new healthier recipes, switching to diet soda, and gradually working into a healthy eating lifestyle, you’ll be much more likely to succeed. Instead of diving into the pool head first and hoping that you know how to swim, you’re taking it slowly and performing intentional steps to learn how to swim.

Be Accountable. If you really want to make change in your life, you have to make your accountable to someone. After you have a list of baby steps to accomplish, give them to one of your close personal friends who would be willing to tell you if you were doing something wrong. Ask them to keep you accountable for accomplishing your baby steps and working toward their goal.

A Slipup Is Not the End. One of my roommates recently decided to start waking up at 5:00 AM in the morning, and on the second day he slept through his alarms. Instead of just giving up, he got back on the horse and gave it another shot the next morning. He hasn’t been successful at getting up that early every day, but he’s definitely making progress and moving in the right direction. We have to admit that there will be days when we fall short of our goals. A lot of people tend to quit their resolutions once they don’t stick with their plan for a day or two. Instead we need to persevere and keep working toward our goal. Don’t let one day of not working toward your goal let you down.

Give Yourself Positive Reinforcements. If you successfully meet one of your baby steps for a week or two, reward yourself. Go out and let yourself partake in one of your favorite activities. It could be going to a sports game, a trip to the spa, or maybe even just letting yourself find a cozy place to read for an afternoon.

Don’t Get Complacent. A lot of people let themselves slip once they’ve reached some sort of success. You might lose 5 or 10 pounds and be very happy with the results, so you quit going to the gym as much and going out to eat every now and then. Before you know it, you’re back where you began and now you’re de-motivated. After you reach your goals, remember that you need to keep working towards them. If you’re not moving forwards, you will inevitably move backwards.

It’s a great thing to make New Year’s resolutions, but if you’re going to make one, you should at least be serious about it and come up with a plan to stick with your New Year’s resolutions.

How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Step One: Try using the Budget calculator from Providian’s website to give you an accurate idea of where your money is currently going.

Step Two: Establish goals. Write them down! What bills do you wish to pay off this year? How much money do you hope to have in your savings by the end of the year? Use these goals as your roadmap for what you need to do.

Step Three: Account for your current spending. When people do this, it’s often a real eye opener. For two or three months, write down everything that you spend- even the 99 cent pack of gum! You might be able to cut back on certain purchases that you didn’t even think about before doing this exercise, and it may add up to being able to save more or pay something off sooner.

Step Four: Using the information from previous steps, create a new budget. Figure out how to reach your goals by changing your spending habits, either increasing your savings or reducing your unnecessary expenses.

Step Five: What happens to most New Year’s resolutions? We make them, we write them down, and one month later we forget about them! It’s important to measure your progress on a monthly basis to make sure you are still on track to meet your goals, and determine if there is a need to change any of your stategies.

Step Six: Remember the days when dentists would reward a child with no cavities by giving them a lollipop? It kind of defeated the purpose and that’s why you’d have a hard time finding a child’s dentist that still uses this strategy! In order to maintain your budget though, you may need to reward yourself from time to time- just be careful that you don’t blow your budget by planning lavish rewards that cost a fortune and go well outside your “entertainment” budget amounts!

Do You Need a Money Diet for the New Year? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.