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The start of a new year is the perfect time to create resolutions that improve your life in every way in the coming year.

I firmly believe—and know firsthand—that clearly setting your intentions is the single most powerful way to make them happen, and make your dreams come true in every area of your life.

Here’s how to set your intentions:

• Take your time. A common reason why New Year’s resolutions fizzle out is because people rush into setting them.

• Only choose goals and resolutions that are really important to you, and don’t choose things that you think you should for society’s or other people’s sakes.

• Love yourself. Don’t set intentions that are a surreal, morphed, or an impossible version of who you are. Instead, be realistic: if you’re 5’3” tall, your intention to be 6’ probably won’t do you much good. Loving who you are will.

• Think through the exact things you want out of life and articulate them very, very specifically.

• Write your resolutions down and read them over at least once a day, if not more.

• Say them out loud.

In short, New Year’s Resolutions are about commitment. After articulating your goals, ask someone you know and trust to hold you to them. If one of your resolutions is to lose twenty pounds by March 1, tell your significant other, a work colleague, or a sibling. At the very least, you won’t be eating cheeseburgers around them, and that significantly increases your odds of sticking with your resolution.

No set of resolutions is complete without a clear plan for implementation. Mapping out your goals, as specifically as possible and with a timeline attached to each one, is the best (and only) way to achieve them. Your goals should be specific, positive, and most importantly, measurable.

Sometimes you may have to start with baby steps. It’s a great intention to be the next Lance Armstrong, but it won’t happen overnight.

The other part of your Resolutions Roadmap is revisiting the goals you set today because they may need to be adjusted over time, as you meet them. In every project, goal, or resolution I make, I periodically ask myself three questions: “What’s working?,” “What’s not working,” and “What’s next?”

Finally, when you’re in the midst of all that planning and resolution-making for the coming year, take a second to remember where you are, and send a little bit of gratitude out to the universe for that.

What are your New Year’s resolutions? Please click the “Post Your Comments” button and let us know.

Thank you and Happy New Year.