When the new year comes around, it’s a tradition to make a new year’s resolution, a goal that you’ll try to achieve throughout the year. Maybe it’s learning a new skill, getting better grades in class, or working every day. However, let’s just face it, no one’s New Year’s resolution lasts for more than a week. Every year, when people want to better themselves, they’ll wait until the new year, only to just give up. However, if you actually want to better yourself going into 2024 and finally complete a New Year’s resolution, then these tips, which are all completely ethical, are the ones you need to follow.

1) Make your goal realistic

Oftentimes, the reason people give up on their goals is because they’re just too hard, so it’s important to make sure you think you can actually achieve your goals. If you want to go to the gym every day and haven’t gone very much before, then you’ll likely quit soon after starting. Instead of going every day, try going at least three or four times a week, and once you get comfortable doing that, then you can try every day. On the other hand, if you realize your goal is too difficult, you can make it easier rather than giving up entirely. 

2) Start before the new year

A common flaw with New Year’s resolutions is that people will wait until the new year to start them, then give up because it’s a new experience and it’s too much for them. One easy way to prevent this is to start before the new year. Using the previous example, if you want to go to the gym every day, go a few times a week before the new year starts so that you’ll feel more comfortable with it once you start going every day.

3) Motivate yourself

One reason why people quit their New Year’s resolutions is because they just lose passion for doing them. If you want to complete your resolution, you may need something to work for outside of the resolution itself. If you want to be better than your friends, then do it. If you want to be better than your little siblings, then do it. If you want to finally stick it to that one person who’s always better than you in class, then do it. Whatever it takes.

4) Remove any distractions

When completing your New Year’s resolution, you need to make sure nothing unnecessary gets in your way. Take your friends, for example. Every minute you spend hanging out with them is another minute of your life you won’t get back, one you could’ve been spending completing your goal.  Your phone is another good example of a distraction. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been deprived of entertainment, you need to finish your resolution.

5) Keep going, no matter the cost

The most important thing you need to understand when trying to finish your New Year’s resolution is that you need to keep going. It doesn’t matter what else happens, your resolution will become the most important thing in your life, and nothing else will matter more than it. It doesn’t matter if you get two hours of sleep or if you haven’t eaten in three days, you have to keep going. No matter what else happens, even if the world is ending, you will complete your resolution.

Anyways, hopefully, these tips make you look forward to the new year, and make sure to use them when completing your new year’s resolution—all of them.