How to keep your New Year's resolutions

The age-old tradition of proclaiming a resolution for the upcoming year is something many of us do but very few of us stick with.

So, is it worth it to even try making a New Year's resolution?

Georgia Smith,a practicing psychotherapist and blogger focused on technology and the ways it can be used to improve our lives, believes it is, but there are conditions.

She says resolutions are worth it if you make them realistic and have an action plan to stick with them.

Check out some of her other tips below to help make (and achieve) your own 2012 goals.

It’s entirely possible to make, stick to, and succeed at New Year’s resolutions. The key is to set specific goals that are meaningful to you, and set reasonable expectations right from the outset. The greatest mistake people make when making New Year's resolutions is that they set a goal which is too too daunting and not specific enough.

“I’m going to get control of my finances!” is reasonable but not specific. Likewise, “I’m going to lose 60 lbs in 3 days!” is specific but not reasonable. Anything too abstract or too daunting sets you up for failure. Instead, pick smaller goals or take a larger goal and break it up into smaller, more achievable steps.

Dieting tips: Decide to stop eating when you’re no longer hungry. It is a really bad habit to clean everything off your plate. You are training yourself to not to listen to your own body’s signals. If you feel guilty about throwing food away, you should feel worse about using your body as a trash can. You can also use a smaller plate which will make your portion sizes smaller, or you could choose to drink water instead of high-calorie soft drinks as a starting point.

Fitness tips: If walking or running doesn’t excite you, you can find a sport or activity you enjoy more like hiking, soccer, or martial arts. If something is fun and rewards you with new experiences, new skills, a sense of victory, or other achievements, you’re much more likely to continue with it.

Relationship tips: Make it a point to smile more and listen instead of just waiting to talk, or to pause and reflect before answering. A great goal is to try to think of ways to let those special people in your life feel cared for. A small compliment goes a long way.

Quitting smoking tips: Temporarily avoid the places and people you’ve come accustomed to smoking around. You can also replace the habit of smoking with something like chewing gum. Remember that the nicotine lasts about 4 days in your system, after that it just comes down to replacing bad habits with good ones.

Finance tips: Don’t cut a few things from your budget, cut everything non-essential and only add back what you absolutely need. When you shop, don’t buy things you may need one day in the future, buy only what you need now, today. Also, you could choose to pay off your debts, starting with the highest interest-rate debts first.

Again, the important thing is to pick a reasonable, specific resolution, break it down into small, manageable, achievable goals, starting with things that are small so you start a pattern of success for the New Year!

Do you agree with Smith's take on the advantages of making resolutions? Leave a comment below to sound off! You can also follow her on Twitter @GeorgiaTiPb .