How about New Year's resolutions that work?

New Year’s resolutions might not seem like a great idea since few people manage to keep them, but making a smart resolution can accomplish a number of good things.

Making New Year’s resolutions that are easy to break is a bad idea. Broken resolutions can make people feel like a failure, having fallen short of their goals. It can seem like an example of weakness and can erode self-confidence and self-esteem.

Bad resolutions are resolving to do things that are close to impossible to achieve. Things like losing 30 pounds in one month or looking like an Olympic athlete won’t be possible because so...