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First, lets demystify them. A New Years Resolution is nothing more than a commitment made at the end of the year. The only difference is that instead of making it to someone else youre making it to yourself.

If youve had a hard time keeping Resolutions in the past take a long, hard look at how you keep personal commitments to yourself throughout the rest of the year. When only you and your bathroom mirror know about it do you keep your promises in a responsible fashion or do you find yourself re-negotiating, back-pedaling and making excuses?

Many New Years Resolutions are born of disgust or exasperation after a year of failed attempts and procrastination. We make them in a punitive mindset of self-judgment. If youve been falling on and off of diets all year it may make sense to you to make a stern year-end commitment to empty your refrigerator and set the alarm for 5 AM to hit the gym.

But consider this. You just loaned $20.00 to your brother-in-law who made a commitment to pay you back on Monday. Instead he spent the whole week dodging you. How would you feel about loaning him an additional $100? If he hasnt shown any ability to keep the smaller commitment would you throw good money after bad? Perhaps youd like him to demonstrate his responsibility before trusting him further. So the first tip to making New Years Resolutions you can keep is:

1. Dont bite off more than you can chew. Set yourself up to win and commit, initially, to the minimum possible. This flies in the face of conventional wisdom that New Years Resolutions should be BIG life changes. But is this realistic? Lets look at the weight loss scenario as its a big one for many people. You make a resolution to trudge an hour each day on a treadmill and drop all fats and sugars from your diet when you havent jogged more than a half hour a week until now. Exactly who are you trying to kid? Better to commit to 4 hours of exercise a week and salad lunches three times a week to ease yourself into your new lifestyle. You can always up the ante later. Choose a level of commitment that will stretch you but not overwhelm you.

2. Chunk it down. Chunking is when you take a large, difficult to manage project and break it down into more easily handled tasks. Dont make one Resolution for the whole year. Make a resolution for the month of January. On February make a second one. Move incrementally. On February 1st you can add in weight training and switch to only whole grain carbs.

3. Tap into your support system. Let everybody know what youre trying to do and ask for their help. Tell your spouse youve made a commitment to spend 5 hours a week learning new software skills and that youll be doing this each evening from 8 PM to 9 PM. Ask him to hold you accountable and listen to him when he does. Tell your usual crowd youre trying to quit smoking, or cut down on the beer or lose carbs. Ask for their help and give them permission to bust you if they find you in the stockroom with a boxful of Krispy Kremes or a pack of Marlboro.

4. Write it down. Studies of small business people show that those who wrote their goals down were 20% more likely to actually achieve them. After youve written down your Resolution put it everywhere. Write it on each day of your daily planner. Post it on your bathroom mirror. Put it in your sock drawer and in your wallet next to your money. This will help you avoid going unconscious. If youve committed to cutting way down on buying CDs it can be chastening to be reminded of this when youre reaching for the plastic in Tower Records.

5. Celebrate yourself when you reach your milestones. Most of us are hard on ourselves when we dont reach our high standards; were brought up not to sing our own praises. If you set out to achieve something that is difficult and important to you it only makes sense to pause and acknowledge your effort when you succeed.

Anyone else would show you a little more consideration than you show yourself. Your boss would take you out to lunch or give you a raise. Your students would send you thank you notes. Take yourself out to dinner or away on a weekend trip and appreciate your achievement. Tell everybody you succeeded and accept their compliments graciously without downplaying your accomplishment.

Happy New Year!

Mary Rosendale is a Lfe Coach, Speaker and Writer. She applies an Eastern sensibility to busy Western lives. Visit her on the web at http://www.TheConstructedLife.com