The tricks to making your resolutions last

By Jennifer Lesnick

It's the same story every year. Resolutions: I make them and then a few weeks later, I break them. Lose ten pounds. Stop procrastinating. Fit into that gorgeous red dress and then treat myself to the matching stiletto shoes. Be a nicer person. Get better grades. Do something different with my life.

The list seems impossibly endless. Still, at the end of every year, I realize that I never really accomplished the resolutions that I set for myself. Either I'm making the wrong resolutions or I just suck at change.

So I guess this year, that leaves me with two options. I can either make different resolutions that I will actually keep or I can go against years of tradition and nix the resolutions altogether.

For better or for worse, I see the new year as a time of endless possibility. Why wouldn't you want to use a new beginning as a perfect opportunity to change yourself; to better yourself?

And so, that is where I stand right now: Figure out resolutions that will actually make me a better person. Not just a better-looking person, but a better person altogether.

Choosing which resolution to devote yourself to over the course of the year should be a difficult process. After all, this is something you're going to be working toward for a very long time. It shouldn't be easy, but it should be something interesting and at times, even fun.

This year, I have decided on the following things: strive for self-acceptance, get organized, return to ice-skating (something I loved, but gave up a few years ago), improve my time management skills, join a book club, get active, and begin increasing my civic participation.

I admit it's quite a list, but it entails all the things I wish I did, but haven't been doing lately. It's all the things that I admire in other people that I wish I could incorporate in myself.

There are many steps involved in keeping a New Year's resolution. I'm not sure if I'll achieve all of my goals this year, but I know that writing them down and telling myself that they need to be done is the first step.

The first step I take when attempting to keep a resolution is to write it down in as many places as possible. I'm a list-oriented person; when I write something down I'm more likely to remember it and get it done.

It's also important to remember that there will be times when you fall off track. Already, I'm behind on the reading I'm supposed to be have done for the previously mentioned book club.

Still, I can't throw the book out and completely forget about the resolution. Instead, I'm forgiving myself for the slip up and giving myself the time to finish up the book.

Lastly, I suggest mantras. One that I have found especially useful is: never give in; never, never, never.

I have found that giving up really is the easier road. It takes strength and determination to except failure and try again.

Realizing your faults and wanting to improve them is a great step toward self improvement, but intention is not everything.

We make New Year's resolutions with the hopes of actually achieving them.

We make them because we want to actively become improved people and not just because we intend to some day become better people.

Sure, it's difficult, but actual achievement is so much more rewarding than simply writing down intentions that never become reality.

It is my hope that you, dear reader, can use the fresh start that the new year offers to become a better person. Test your limits and expand your horizons.

Jennifer Lesnick is a sophomore English major.