Alacrity

Public Service Announcement:
A few things to keep in mind if you make some new resolutions tonight:
(some of these have vague psychological justifications, others are personal experience)

- It takes 30 days committed to your new rule for it to stick- do whatever it is (or avoid whatever it is) 30 days and it becomes a habit. EVERY day.

- Make reasonable demands- I have a friend who swore off desserts for Lent last year. She and I are serious cake-a-holics, and we were on a cruise when lent began. Seriously bad for keeping your resolutions. Make reasonable demands on yourself.

- Make notes or reminders of your goal- I put up little signs to myself when I know I'm not going to be good about something. Also, when I'm on my exercise kicks (semester breaks always make me lazy), I mark every day that I exercise. It's encouraging to see a month full of X's.

This page offers more (though some similar) advice.