Every new year encourages the idea of one or multiple New Year’s resolutions. People all over the world take part in making either small or big goals for themselves to complete by the end of the year to see how their life has improved. However, many goals are unrealistic because of high expectations going into the new year. Because of this, most individuals aren’t satisfied with their progress by the end of the year, which can take a toll on their mental health. To prevent kicking off the new year with bad mental health, it’s best to make realistic goals that you would be able to complete.

Once you have set an attainable goal and are committed to completing it, you should write the plans down in a notebook, journal, or even in your phone to help you remember what you’re working to. Part of those plans should include broken-down steps to get you to that goal so that you won’t be entirely clueless as to how to complete the goal. Think of what tasks you have to do in order to be successful. For example, if your New Year’s resolution is to be more organized, then one task would be to make your bed every morning.

You are definitely not obligated to make a New Year’s resolution every year, but for those who do, these essential steps will highly increase your success towards your goal and will ensure that you will be celebrating your success at the end of the year.