How To Keep Your New Year's Resolution

If you’re like me, you have a resolution or two for the New Year. Hopefully no more than that, though, as the fewer you have, the more likely you are to keep them. Beyond limiting the number of resolutions, what is your strategy for carrying these best of intentions into 2012? The video below explores this very subject, outlining some of the ways to increase your chances of success in the New Year.

How To Keep Your New Years Resolution VIDEO

For instance, try:

1) Focusing on sticking to the resolution for just 21 days. Once you reach that point, you have a 60 percent chance of maintaining the goal long-term.

2) Remembering it’s all about progress, not perfection.

3) Calling it an “intention” instead of a resolution, as so many of us unfortunately associate New Year’s “resolutions” with failure.

Yesterday I participated in a Twitter chat exploring this very subject. ABC News Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser @DrRichardBesser had some other great suggestions. “Start small, make it convenient, make it social and make it fun,” he tweeted. “Persistence. You have to be persistent in what you want and keep at it. Eventually the good habits stay.”

What’s your strategy for keeping your New Year’s “Intention”?