Screw the resolution. Make some goals.

Every year, millions of Americans create New Year's Resolutions but fail to complete their goals. Bank accounts don’t get any fatter, positive attitudes are short lived, and that extra padding doesn’t seem to go away. Sound familiar?

A recent study shows that 44% of Americans made New Year's Resolutions going into 2017. 16% of respondents said their resolution was to maintain a positive attitude. 10% of respondents chose weight loss and exercising as their top goal. In third place, 7% of respondents chose to cut back on spending.

If you’re one of the millions of American’s who created a New Year's Resolution this year, we want you to succeed. What’s the first step to succeeding? Skip the bullshit and be real with yourself.

Take a look at our realistic New Year’s Goals:

Drink 8 cups of water per day
Drinking water isn’t that hard, right? We recommend drinking at least 8 cups of water per day in order to keep your body energized and fully functioning. The benefits of staying hydrated are innumerable. Your skin, muscles and brain functioning will be thanking you for the extra H2O. Motivate yourself to stay hydrated by splurging on a cute water bottle.

Get Organized - Buy a planner
Life gets crazy busy. We get it. Our founder Sara Marie is a mother to four children, a wife, works a full-time job, and is an entrepreneur. Sometimes we ask ourselves, “How does she manage to do it all?” And the answer is, Sara Marie lives and breathes by her calendar and tasks list. 

Schedule your workouts, meals, work meetings, “you-time,” family activities and more. You can never have too much organization. Sara Marie uses her phone's built-in calendar app for appointments and reminders and uses the Trello app for task list management and collaboration. Decide on a method that works best for you. Maybe it's an app, maybe you're more “old school” and need a perfect-for-you paper-based planner to log your daily, weekly, monthly to-dos. Whichever you choose, jump into 2017 with both feet and stay on top of your organization game.

Meal Prep - Brainstorm meals ahead of time
It’s easy to overlook what your next meal will be when you are bombarded with to-dos. Prioritize your health by planning your meals out a week at a time. Not only will this cause you to make fewer trips to the grocery store, but it will also make you less likely to indulge in fast food.

Find Your Happy - Get a hobby
We urge you to be creative and try to new hobbies. Adopting a hobby will allow you to invest time into something that makes you happy, as opposed to aimlessly scrolling on your mobile device or watching reality television. Find a hobby that allows you to unwind after a stressful day. Some ideas include kickboxing, yoga, volunteering at the local animal shelter, scrapbooking, writing, and more. If you choose an active hobby, don't forget to grab your Shefit Ultimate Sports Bra to help support your goals.

It’s 2017. Let’s be real with ourselves, and our resolutions.

Now let’s put these goals into action. For more inspiration, read our recent blog, “Little Ways to Empower Women” to help motivate yourself – and others – to get started.