As January 1st approaches each year, the word “resolution” is commonly heard and thought about. Every year people strive to pick resolutions that best fit them in order to kick the new year off right. Resolutions excite people because they feel that they are a way to control what isn’t working for them in their lives and make a change. 

The top 10 most common New Year’s resolutions do not tend to change dramatically year to year. The most popular regard exercise, finances, and health. According to a News 10 poll involving 274,779 Americans, here are the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for 2020:

1. Actually doing my New Year’s resolution
2. Trying something new
3. Eat more of my favorite foods
4. Lose weight/diet
5. Go to the gym
6. Be happier/better mental health
7. Be more healthy
8. Be a better person
9. Upgrade my technology
10. Staying motivated

Since resolutions are infamously known for being broken, I would like to go through each of the 2020 most common resolutions and discuss what you can do to uphold your new goal. 

1. Actually doing my New Year’s resolution

According to a study conducted by the University of Scranton, just 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals, while around 80% fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions, says US clinical psychologist Joseph Lucian. The day where people’s new resolutions seem to crumble the most is January 12th. In order to prevent this from happening, it is crucial to pick a resolution that you actually feel passionate about. If you have no desire to change, then it is nearly impossible to follow through. For instance, as shown, a very popular resolution is going to the gym. Understandably, you may pick this one as your own because it is a good goal and everyone seems to choose it. However, unless you have a strong connection to the benefits of going to the gym, knowing that they would outway the struggle you may feel while you are there, then I would advise that you not to pick it. You must evaluate if the effects of your new resolution are important enough to you in order to overlook the possible difficulty. 

2. Trying something new

This resolution can be really fun if you let it be. There are two routes you can go with this resolution. You can either view it as an opportunity to try something you have been dying to try, or you can use it to push yourself to try something that doesn’t necessarily feel comfortable. For instance, if someone decided to go skydiving to fulfill this resolution, he or she could have picked it because they have been wanting to do it for a while, or it could have been the opposite. Maybe they are afraid of heights and they want to challenge themselves. If that is the case, then I would suggest baby steps. Before skydiving, try going on a ferris wheel or the deck of a tall building beforehand. This will help make sure that when it comes time to completing your goal, you are ready mentally. 

3. Eat more of my favorite foods

This resolution should not be too hard to do if you’re anything like me. My tips for this one is just to plan ahead to make sure this happens. If your favorite food is sushi, make a reservation for a sushi restaurant for later in the week. This resolution is just as important as the others- it is always important to do something you love. 

4. Go to the gym

I am someone who enjoys exercise so I have some helpful tips on how you can achieve this. Similar when picking a resolution to stick to, finding motivation is very important in order to love exercise. You also need to care enough about the effects and why you’re doing it. If you care enough about the effects, every minute of exercise will become every minute for a better version of yourself. Additionally, you must also pick exercises that you enjoy and switch them up to avoid boredom. If you hate burpees, then don’t do them. Otherwise you will come to dread your workout. Finally, exercising with a friend will help. You can help motivate each other and view it as a way to get together and see one another. 

5. Lose weight/diet

I am also someone who loves to eat healthy. This may be hard for a lot of people depending on different taste buds, but I happen to love everything. I even think most healthy foods actually taste better than foods that are bad for you. However, if you aren’t someone who has a liking for healthy foods, I hope you can be open minded enough to realize that there are so many ways to eat healthy and make it taste amazing. Just by browsing youtube or the internet you can find delicious, quick, easy, and healthy recipes. I get most of my recipes from Maddie Lymburner on Youtube. On the other hand, if you want a real diet and a little more guidance, I would suggest Noom. Noom is a weight loss app where no food is off limits, meaning if you know that you don’t want to eat healthy all of the time, you don’t have to. It is very effective and recommended by many doctors. 

6. Be happier/better mental health

This resolution is extremely important and a really good thing to focus on this year. There are a couple of ways you can do this, but a good start is by making sure you do at least one good thing for yourself everyday. It can be as simple as eating your favorite food, or treating yourself to an episode of your favorite show. You must make sure you have self care for in order to motivate yourself through each day, especially if you have been struggling with happiness lately. Some other good little things you can do is read quotes, self help books, and create affirmations. A good idea for the affirmations is to write down on post-its the quotes you have found or sayings that help get you start your day. Then put the post-its on your mirror of somewhere where you’ll see them. Looking at the words of encouragement and positivity that you wrote is more beneficial than you may think. It will also help to talk to someone like a family member or friend. If you talk about how you are feeling and any potential problems you may have, they will help and support you. Chances are they will even let you know how they have felt or have been feeling the same way. This gives you a source of comfort and reminds you that life is tough, but you’re not going through it alone. 

7. Be more healthy 

This resolution essential encompasses 4, 5, and 6 into one. In order to feel healthy it is a good idea to exercise, eat right, and have a good mindset. It is also a good idea to get plenty of sleep. Sleep can be the difference between a great day and a terrible one. Sleep affects your mental health more than anything else. Try to set a goal for bedtime every night. When you have a schedule, going to bed at a good time becomes a priority. Also, make sure you are drinking a lot of water. Water helps your skin and body to carry out specific functions, lose weight, give you energy, and much more. In order to drink more water try getting large water bottle with a straw and bring it with you everywhere. Since it is accessible and easy to sip out of you will find your water intake to increase dramatically. You can also squeeze some lemon or infuse it with other fruits and vegetables to make drinking it more desirable.

8. Be a better person

I don’t have any life-changing advice that could help this happen overnight. However, I would recommend writing down everything that you want to be in order to be this ideal human. Along with that, I would write down how you can achieve that. For example, if you simply want to be kinder, write down “kind.” Then you can branch off of that and write “make someone smile.” Once you have goals for yourself on paper, you will have a guideline to follow and you will be more likely to become this better version of yourself. 

9. Upgrade my technology

I can definitely understand the need for this resolution. Not that I feel this is of utmost importance, but I can empathize with the feeling of aggravation when my technology is slow and needs updating. This resolution can in turn become more than itself, because once you update what you need, an opportunity for better organization is created. Nothing feels better than having a fresh, clean, organized start for the new year. In order to ensure you follow through with this resolution, try and make a reservation with whichever company you are buying from. If you would rather simply walk-in and upgrade your device, plan a day and make sure you include it in your calendar. However, chances are, this will be an easier resolution to complete due to the infatuation that comes with outdated technology.

10. Staying motivated

As I have discussed in 1, 4, and 5, motivation is essential in order to carry out many goals and resolutions. In order to obtain and maintain this motivation, keep in mind why you want to reach your goal and resolutions in the first place. What are the benefits? Keeping these benefits in mind and realizing that the achievement of these resolutions will change your life for the better. You will find motivation to become a constant in your life.

I hope these tips have helped you stick to your new resolutions. If you start to fail to follow through with your resolution, don’t stress! It is very common. What is important is that you don’t let that moment of failure overtake your whole year. If you keep working at it and don’t give up, success will soon follow.