The end of one year and the beginning of another feels for many like the perfect time to leave behind the bad and resolve to do something good. And while many struggle to maintain their resolution, the act of making resolutions has held firm.

Over 4,000 years ago, the Babylonians were the first to celebrate a new year and the first to make new year’s resolutions. They made promises to the gods hoping that they would receive good favor in the coming year. There’s no telling if they upheld those promises but they certainly upheld the act of making resolutions.

Thousands of years later many still feel that the start of a new year acts as a great a ‘reset button’.  “I think most people want a second chance to improve the quality of their lives,” Dennis Buttimer, a facilitator at Thomas F. Chapman Family Cancer Wellness said in an article on the Piedmont Healthcare website.

Sadly though, many fail at their “second chance”. It is said that 43% of people are expected to fail before February, and almost one out of four quit within the first week of setting their New Year’s resolution. Most people quit before the end of January, and only 9% see their resolutions through until succession. That’s it, 9% successfully keep their New Year’s resolutions.

To keep your resolution and be part of that 9%, follow these steps Dr. Randy A. Shuck shared on the Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine website.

• Define your goal: Develop a time frame for your goal, with smaller goals to achieve along the way.
• Be mentally tough: Not every day is going to be easy. Keeping this in mind will prepare you for when you are tempted to break your resolution.
• Think positive: Positive thinking plays an important role in overcoming a bad habit.
• Be patient: Making something a habit takes two months on average. You need to make a conscious effort to stay on track through the long process.
• Practice forward thinking: Identify what went wrong in previous failed attempts and move forward. Don’t focus on your past mistakes, only what you want your end result to be.
• Choose not to fail: Choose not to let mistakes bring you down, take a break every once in a while, push through the tough times, and towards your end result.