Step 1: Pick the Most Important Improvement
"To be successful, a resolution needs to be something that you really want," says M.J. Ryan, author of This Year I Will... "People try to tackle too many things at once — like losing weight, getting more rest and reorganizing the house — but it's likely that if you try to do it all, you will end up failing." She suggests that you make a list of your goals and then pick the one that's most important to you.

Step 2: Make It Concrete
"Be as specific as possible when you're laying out your plans," advises clinical psychologist Joshua Klapow, Ph.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. For example, instead of saying you’re going to exercise more, he says, decide to "walk 10 minutes every day and increase the time by one minute each time you go." When you're vague about your goals, it's easy to blow things off.

Step 3: Document It
Keep a record of your progress in a place where you can see it, suggests Eve Wood, M.D., author of There's Always Help; There's Always Hope. "People lose their perspective and feel like they aren't doing a good job overall if they have one bad day," she says. "Display a physical reminder, such as a calendar marked with X's, to remind you of how far you have come."

Step 4: Look Out for Yourself
"Women tend to think of everyone else in their families first and put their own needs last," says Ryan. "But if you want to stick to your goals, you have to treat yourself as kindly as you would your husband or kids."

If your resolution is to get up every Saturday morning to do a workout video, ask your husband to help keep the kids occupied during that hour. If you want to learn something new, like yoga, sign up for a class instead of devoting that time to another commitment at your children's school.

Step 5: Understand That You Will Blow It
"Because you're human, it's inevitable that you will break your resolution — but you can turn it into a learning experience," says Ryan.

For example, if you're trying to lose weight and you have a bowl of ice cream after dinner, instead of just giving up on your diet, figure out why you slipped up and come up with a plan to prevent it in the future. (That might mean not bringing ice cream into your home!) "As you become more aware of the things that throw you off track, you will learn to stop yourself in the moment," she says.