New Year’s Resolutions. Why do we make them? They’re supposed to be a type of commitment we make to ourselves to change something in the hope for new beginnings. This hope for a fresh start can feel amazing, but most New Year’s resolutions fall short. Change can be hard to come by and it’s easy to dwell on the past. If you find yourself making the same resolutions every year, then maybe it’s time to try something different.

I always hear of people making the same resolutions: wanting to exercise more, eat healthier or be a better person. But when asked about how they plan to do those things, they always shrug. They don’t plan them out. Those are resolutions that can take a lot more effort to live up to than to think up, which can be hindering when trying to live up to them. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea (under the right circumstances, they can be good resolutions) but they should have a little more thought put into them. Simple resolutions don’t hold much weight to the resolutee, and can be tougher to keep. If you’re going to go that route, then you should make a schedule to go to the gym and create a workout routine or something. Simply saying, “I’m going to be a better person,” doesn’t mean much if all you do is donate a few dollars to a random cause. Pick something that interests you and get involved with it.

It’s good to go in with a plan for your resolutions. If your resolution is to work out more often and you know you have free time most Thursday afternoons, put time in your schedule and plan to hit the gym every Thursday. If you want to eat healthier, then decide on little things like getting a sandwich for lunch instead of pizza, or cooking something for dinner instead of going out to get fast food late at night. The key is that you have to be willing to commit to your plan. If you put a little thought into it and you aren’t really willing to commit to your resolution, then it’s probably not one that you should make. If you want to keep a resolution to be a better person, then the best way to go about it is to get involved in a cause that interests you. There are plenty of organizations around school that can help on that front and they’ll be more than willing and happy to have an extra set of hands. It’s all fine and dandy to donate money to a cause, but if you can donate some time as well, it means a lot more.

Another good way to look at New Year’s resolutions is to give yourself projects. This is slightly more untraditional way to view New Year’s resolutions, but is still an effective way that many people look at it. Make plans to write a story, create a body of art, build something, or anything you can think of. You can set up a time limit and give yourself a few weeks, a few months, or the entire year to complete a project. This is the type of approach that I prefer to use when making resolutions.

For my New Year’s resolutions, I like to give myself a project and a time limit. This year my resolution is to create an idea for a comic book and draw up at least the first three issues by the end of the year. I love to draw and I’m also a superhero nerd, so I figured why not combine the two? Giving myself a year to come up with an original and interesting plot and draw up a few issues seems like a reasonable timeline, considering all the other things going on this year. I also bought a sketchbook specifically for that cause and I keep it under my keys on my nightstand so that I see it every morning and can take it with me throughout my day. Leaving around little reminders about your resolution is a great way to ensure you live up to it. Sticky notes on the fridge or desk, notifications on the computer, or any little things that can help jog your memory.

Winding down, New Year’s resolutions are really just what you make of them. If you’re not really serious about it, then you probably won’t fulfill them. But if you make a plan and stay consistent, they can be a good strategy for the New Year.