This list is not meant to discourage you, but rather challenge you to actually follow through with what you’ve promised yourself. They say the secret to achieving your goals is actually to create systems, routines, habits, that you can stick to all year round until eventually, you reach your goal.

Here’s a list of the common New Year’s resolutions we often make—and break, but hopefully, not this time around:

QUIT SMOKING

How to make it happen: Avoid situations that may call for it, e.g. drinking sprees. If you must, start the year right by making a public announcement already, so your yosi break buddies already know not to invite you. It might help to think of how much money you’ll be saving by cutting off cigarettes.

EAT HEALTHY

Common excuses: No time to prepare food, healthy food is expensive, or that there is hardly any healthy food stops around your office. Well, you know what they say, “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” And if you’re dead serious about starting off a healthier you, then you’ll definitely make the extra effort—be it waking up extra early to prepare your baon, to researching easy-to-do healthy recipes you can make on your own.

SAVE MONEY

Open a separate bank account that you won’t touch—ever. Make your mother or your significant other a witness, or a keeper of your savings account. Tell them to reprimand you in case the time comes and you insist on withdrawing money from it. Another practice is setting aside a portion every paycheck, and then making do with what’s left for your daily expenses.

EXERCISE

Make reasonable goals. If daily trips to the gym are impossible with your line of work, then stick with a plan that’s actually doable. Three times a week is so much better than an occasional one or twice a month, or exercising only when you feel like it.

DRINK LESS

It may be your best bud’s birthday, the despedida of your childhood friend, or an engagement party. It could be sweldo day, a.k.a. the day when you and your colleagues feel like you deserve to treat yourselves! The list of excuses are endless, in case you didn’t notice, so instead of promising to drink less, maybe you can consider not drinking at all.

LEAVE OFFICE AT 6PM

There can be meetings, events, and such that will definitely go beyond your set 6pm curfew, but other than that, it’s highly advisable to leave office on time. Pushing yourself to work beyond your hours, they say, only makes for unproductive work—and an unhappier, unhealthier you.

PURSUE YOUR PASSION PROJECT

“I would love to learn to cook, to learn to drive, to begin my blog, et cetera.” But years go by and it almost never happens. The common excuse? No time. Work, family, and other demands keep you busy. It’s true, but if this passion project is that important to you, then you should definitely make time for it.

TRAVEL MORE

Piso fares and long weekends are definitely reason to travel more. So what’s stopping you? Well, a lot. You’ve no money, no time, et cetera. But sometimes, you might be able to save up for even a local travel if you try cutting down on other things, e.g. commute or bring your own food to work as a way to start saving up for travel.

Which ones are you having a hard time on? Share with us your pain below!