Just over two weeks into January, many Kiwis have already admitted defeat and given up on their new year resolutions.
Only 14 percent of people make it to the end of the year sticking with their goals, with 55 percent giving up hope before March.
Southern Cross Health Society's Chris Watney joined the AM Show to discuss how people can set good goals for the new year and keep them.
Mr Watney has a resolution himself - he's aiming to climb every volcano in Auckland with his family before the year is out.
That goal has an important aspect to it - it's easily measurable.
Resolutions with vague ideas of success are harder to achieve because they're framed in a negative fashion.
Mr Watney has framed his goal around something positive, and created a reasonable end point.
Maybe consider switching out the traditional "exercise more" or "create less rubbish" for "cycle to work twice a week for a year" or "build and maintain a compost pile".
Another idea is to not make resolutions in the new year.
According to Mr Watney, it's not helpful to make a goal when you're not in a normal routine, so it may be easier to make a goal when you're back at work.
"It's easy to make that kind of resolution on a beach when you're relaxing. In fact what we should be doing is making those resolutions when we're busy and it's difficult," he said.
Newshub.
