New Year’s resolutions have been a tradition for centuries. They resolve to change undesired traits and behavior or to improve quality of life.

The most common New Year’s resolutions people make according to Statistica are: eating healthier, exercising more, saving more money, making more friends, getting more sleep, improving self-care, reading more and learning a new skill or trying a new hobby.

Do people actually end up following through with their goals and attain them? According to Telegraph.co, people tend to set goals for themselves but few end up succeeding. One in five people admitted to setting overly ambitious goals that were potentially unachievable. Setting smaller and more realistic goals helps people stay on track. Nutrition teacher Kristen Daugherity prefers to make small goals because they are easier to achieve. “I make simple resolutions like trying to drink more water. It maximizes my chances to succeed because it’s an easy goal to keep track of,” Daugherity said.

The main reason why people fail to meet their goals is due to one big mistake. When making New Year’s resolutions, people identify the goal they want to achieve but they don’t think about what they have to do in order to achieve it.

The key to succeed with New Year’s Resolutions is to plan thoroughly. To meet your desired goal for the New Year, it’s important to know what you need to do in order to succeed. “I don’t think I have ever gone through with a New Year’s resolution before. I tend to hype myself up too much and I pick overly ambitious goals that I don’t even know if I can achieve. The longest I’ve stuck to a New Year’s resolution has probably been three days,” junior Madison Linn said.

Here’s how to make a successful New Year’s resolution: Make your goal specific, choose realistic and attainable goals, make sure you can measure your progress, figure out what you need to do in order to achieve your goal, record your goal and track your progress.

For those of you planning to make New Year’s resolutions this year, don’t forgot to plan for the unpredictable. When trying to achieve a goal, remember that you may be faced with roadblocks so it is important to identify ways to navigate around them. It’s easy to set too many unnecessary goals so remember to prioritize because if you focus on one goal first, you can commit yourself 100 percent to it. Last but not least, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t end up following through with your new year’s resolution because most people who made resolutions, probably didn’t follow through either. “Even though people never really follow through with their resolutions, I still think New Year’s resolutions are important because they motivate people to improve themselves for the new year. I respect anyone who has the willpower and determination to stick to their resolutions and pursue them,” senior Jonothan London said.