16 New Year’s Resolutions You Need to Stop Making

Some New Year's resolutions are just never going to work out, and the best thing you can do about that is to stop making them.

Like the resolution to lose weight. It's not that you'll never get down to the size you want to be—it's just all wrong as a New Year's resolution. First off, January 1 is the worst time to start over. There's holiday food everywhere. You might even be hungover and need a bag of fries. But when failure strikes, your January 1 mindset means you have to wait another whole year to try again. Sure, try to lose weight, but don't make any grandiose resolutions.

We are ambitious when we make New Year's resolutions, but setting a goal of strict savings before the Christmas and winter holiday credit card bills arrive will make you feel like a failure before you even have a chance to get started. Instead, sit down with a budget once you know the damages of the year before. Sketch out some strategies and hit them hard in February.

Yes, set your intention to write a novel this year, but don't tie your art to a New Year's resolution. If you're new to writing or to writing fiction, you'll be disappointed with your work at first. Instead of resolving to write a novel, resolve to write daily. Once you're in the swing of it, start putting your pages toward a larger story.

Your New Year's resolutions to be happy are well-meaning, but you can't force it. Instead of resolving to be happy, look at what makes you unhappy and see what changes you can make there. You might discover you need help in finding your bliss or beating your depression. You can't keep easy resolutions that don't have easy solutions.

Your friends do it, those people who attend city council meetings do it, people on the plane do it. You're not going to do it. Learning to knit sounds amazing. It looks amazing. The things you can make are amazing. But if you haven't already learned, you're probably not going to start on January 1 and keep at it for a year. This also goes for building your own computer, eating only homemade bread and growing all of your own vegetables.

Look, sugar can act like an addiction and your brain is definitely going to send signals that you want it so bad. That's a miserable way to start the new year. So, then, cut back on sugar. And work your way toward cutting it out. But as a New Year's resolution, you're setting yourself up for failure. (Especially if you didn't follow the knitting advice.)

Like quitting sugar and losing weight, cutting out cigarettes on January 1 sets you up to not try again for another year. You should definitely make plans to quit smoking. But not the day after a big party, late at night or if you'll be attending those parties that straggle on after the official holidays are over. Instead, wait until you're back to your regular routines, press on a patch and cut it cold turkey.

A marathon is a goal, not a life-change resolution. Definitely make plans to start training. And definitely join groups that train together. But use your New Year's resolution to create changes that make training and running the marathon possible. For example, commit to several hours a week for runs, or resolve to stretch more and drink less.

Cutting back on screens, especially for your kids, is a noble resolution. But you need to play around to see what the right formula is for you or your family. Cold winter vacation days are not going to give you an accurate picture of what your family can handle. You don't want to set you or the kids up for thinking that, no, you're not the kind of family that can live without screens. Instead, resolve to only watch certain shows, to talk more after each episode or to find new and fun ways to spend downtime.

If you have to make a resolution to call your mother (or father) more, you might actually not want to talk to them. That means you probably won't stick to it. Instead, look at what keeps you from calling and work on that. You want to be a better child, but maybe it's not all on you. You want to do the right thing, but if it's not a genuine desire to talk to her, that will come through.

If you have a drinking problem, you need help and support, not a New Year's resolution with no accountability. Definitely stop drinking, if you want to, but don't make light of it or set yourself up for failure by simply saying "it's over" on January 1. You can resolve to curb drinking, setting a limit for nights out or the weekend.

Like running a marathon, finding a new job is more of a goal than a resolution, which is a change you make that has an immediate impact. Instead, resolve to update your résumé and social media accounts, to get out more and network within your industry and look into classes that will round out your skill set. Use the resolution to make the changes you need to find a new job.

When you make a resolution to get out of debt in the next year, you've given yourself 12 months to get it done. Some people will then put off the debt management until it's too late to really tackle (while likely building up more debt). Others will set unrealistic goals. Instead of resolving to get out of debt (again, it's a goal), take a close look at your income and spending, see where there's wiggle room in either and make a plan. Then, make the changes you'll need. That's the resolution.

Procrastination is an outlook, a worldview. Put it off—it'll get done when it needs to get done. What's behind that attitude? How has that paid off in the past? How has that sunk you? It's those behaviors and attitudes that you need to change. It's too easy to say, "I won't procrastinate" and then to do nothing about it. It's much more effective to make a plan for how you'll approach tasks and assignments going forward, by giving yourself mini-deadlines, making an accountability partner or finding support from a friend or life coach.

If you haven't learned German by now, you're maybe not going to. Unless you need to. So instead of setting a goal for learning a language, resolve to put yourself in more and regular circumstances where you'll need the language, either through travel, work or even a weekly class.

If you have to make a New Year's resolution to have a baby, you probably have a partner who is not on board. But even if it's a joint resolution, you don't know whether getting pregnant or successfully adopting a child is going to happen this year. Instead of resolving to have a baby, resolve to start trying and getting things in your life ready for an expanded family. With luck, this will be your year and, with the plans you made on January 1, next year will be the best one yet.