According to the time management firm Franklin Covey, one third of resolutioners don’t make it past the end of January.  A lot of these resolutions fail because they’re not the right resolutions. And a resolution may be wrong for one of three main reasons:

1) It’s a resolution created based on what someone else (or society) is telling you to change.

2)   It’s too vague.

3)   You don’t have a realistic plan for achieving your resolution.

Your goals should be smart — and S M A R T.

Specific. Your resolution should be absolutely clear.

Measurable.  Logging progress into a journal or making notes on your phone or in an app designed to help you track behaviors can reinforce the progress, no matter what your resolution may be.

Achievable. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have big stretch goals. But trying to take too big a step too fast can leave you frustrated, or affect other areas of your life to the point that your resolution takes over your life — and both you and your friends and family flail.

Relevant. Is this a goal that really matters to you, and are you making it for the right reasons?

Time-bound. Like “achievable,” the timeline toward reaching your goal should be realistic, too. That means giving yourself enough time to do it with lots of smaller intermediate goals set up along the way.