Resolution – (noun) 1. A goal that one makes for oneself at the dawn of the New Year that one almost never sticks to for longer than 2 minutes. (see also: mission impossible)

The new year is the time for new beginnings. People use the first month of the year as an opportunity to reinvent themselves, to better themselves from the year before.

This practice dates back to the ancient Babylonians, who marked their new year by paying off debts and returning borrowed equipment.

Wanting a fresh start in a new year is still the trend 4,000 years later. It’s the perfect time for those who want to make a change in their lives.

Sometimes, people take to the Internet to let people know about their resolutions, like this Pinterest user who uses inspirational quotes for motivation, and “New Year, New Me” is a popular trend for picture captions.

But, few will take these resolutions to heart and still be excited about them in a month According to the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology as reported by www.statisticbrain.com , 45% of Americans make New Year’s resolutions, but only 8% are successful in sticking with them throughout the year.

In fact, 75% of people who set goals for themselves only maintain them throughout the first week.

According to the same study, the high fail rate is the result of setting hard or vague goals. For example, if one’s goal is to exercise more, and he or she has a concrete plan to do so, he or she is 10 times more likely to meet the goal than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.

Steve Salerno, author of SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless, says, “We are a culture that is addicted to resolutions and affirmation and rosy rhetoric…and meanwhile nothing actually changes.”

And that may be true for those who don’t have a specific plan and who just throw themselves into their New Year’s resolution.

Here’s a better idea. Instead of making your idea general, like losing weight, think of specific steps you can take, each day, in order to move towards that end result. Even if you fail at some of these steps – which you might – brush it off and remember that ancient Japanese saying, nanakorobi yaoki, which means “fall down seven times, stand up eight.”

Make plans. Stick to them.  Good luck.