Every New Year there is a flurry of activity as people set a whole slew of goals (calling them resolutions). Gyms are flooded with new (or returning) members, health food aisles suddenly become popular, bookstores may find themselves selling out their stock of self-improvement titles. Of course, usually by the middle of February, life returns to normal.

One of the main problems is that people set their sights too high, either with too many goals or with goals too broadly defined (making them seemingly insurmountable). John Richardson over at Success Begins Today proposes a new approach to this process of resolutions. His ideas:

• Write down your goals - This makes them more concrete and easier to verify at the end of the time period you give yourself.
• Limit yourself - Start with one goal at a time because this makes it easier to achieve and keep track of your progress.
• Give yourself time - It is commonly believed that most things take 21 days of consistent repetition to become a habit so give yourself a month for each goal.
• Build on past success - Increment your goals on top of each other, so when you achieve one, add a second one and work on them both.

What does this add up to? He suggests 12 habits in 1 year. You start by writing down one thing you would like to accomplish, making sure it is small enough to be manageable but big enough to be a challenge. For the first month, focus on reaching that goal. Do something every day or week toward it. At the end of the month, if you have been consistent, you would have established it as a habit. Then add your second goal and spend the second month focusing on developing that habit while maintaining the one from the first month. Keep that up for 12 months and by the end of the year you will have accomplished your goals by making them habits in your life. Sounds doable to me.