Most people use the start of the New Year as a time to make resolutions for changing their lifestyle, whether it's eating more healthily, smoking or drinking less or just making more time for the kids.

Everything is great for the first couple of weeks ... willpower and determination are high and the resolution seems easy, but as time passes it can become more difficult to stick to the resolution without slipping back to your old ways.  What can help?

We've done some research for you to find some tips for keeping your new year's resolution.

First ... your resolutions should be realistic.  We know you've already started them ... but if you're starting to find it difficult it might be time to revise your resolution.  If you resolve to "NEVER smoke again," then the first time you give in to one cigarette you've failed and you will feel like you've failed.  If you resolve to "reduce my smoking until I no longer feel like I depend on it" then that one cigarette will feel like a minor setback instead of a major failure.

Second ... monitor your progress.  How do you get your children to eat the right things or tidy their rooms?  You probably use a tick chart or a sticker chart ... every time they do what you've asked them you tick it off.  Why does that work so well?  Because they can see their progress ... and you're not so different.  If you can see your progress it will help you to continue so find some way of monitoring your progress.  And what happens when your child has managed to get 5 or 10 stickers?  Do you give them a reward?  That brings us to our third suggestion

Third ... reward yourself!  That doesn't mean that when you've lost a few pounds you can reward yourself with a whole box of chocolates ... think of something else you like and use that as the reward.  For example, you've gone a whole week without a cigarette, so use the money you would have spent on cigarettes to buy yourself a big bunch of flowers or that CD you've been meaning to buy for ages.

Fourth ... visualise the end result.  Remember that the period of change is the difficult bit but that once the change is complete you will be living a whole new lifestyle.  Imagine that lifestyle, imagine how it will affect the way you do things differently to the way you do now, picture yourself in 6 months time.  If you find it difficult to do that try out our fifth suggestion.

Fifth ... talk about your resolutions.  Tell your friends and family what you have resolved.  They will ask you how you are getting on each time they see you and this will give you extra motivation to keep going.  Friends and family can help you with your visualisation as well.  Imagine yourself as you will be in a year's time and then ask one of your friends to "interview" you about your life.  You could tell them all about your "new job" or your "new house" ... when your friend asks how you got the job or what helped you to quit smoking think of a realistic answer.  The more information you can give the more real it will seem to you and the thought patterns that led to those solutions will be embedded in your mind, making it easier for you to do in real life.

Sixth ... our final suggestion is you don't have to do it now!  Resolutions can be difficult to keep when you're making them just because you feel you have to and not because you really want to.  If New Year isn't the right time for you, choose a different date.  What about March 1?  That's the first day of spring so it is traditionally a time of change.  You could match your personal changes to the seasonal changes.  You could use the start of summer on June 1 as your target date to complete your resolution and then enjoy summer with your new lifestyle.

Hopefully these tips will help you to stay on target with your resolutions.  For more help you can find lots of information through Google.  Just click this link: Google Search

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