As the world rang in the new year last week, there were a slew of Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook posts exclaiming, “New year, new me,” and claiming to have goals to accomplish in 2017. Don’t get the wrong idea, having goals poses for great results, but often they only last in January and fade off during February and March. According to the Statistic Brain, only 8% of people who create New Year’s resolutions achieve their goals.

Not only that, but why does the change of a date have to constitute a change for yourself? If you feel something needs to be changed, please do not wait for the first of January to decide and make that change; act now. Honestly, it would be better to attempt a change sometime in the middle of the year and fail because then people wouldn’t see it as a failed resolution. Obviously, you should try and accomplish your goal, but the expression, “Everyone’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs” can be applied here because we often create goals that may be unreachable at this point in our lives.

Creating goals that seem unreachable is an awesome idea to have, but creating ones that are simpler might actually help you eventually reach the ‘impossible’ one. Every goal has certain expectations, but it’s okay to be easier on yourself at the start so you can keep creating new goals throughout the year as you finish the first ones. It will make you feel better about yourself by completing small goals on a regular basis rather than making a big one and then failing.

The new year ultimately brings about what appears to be a fresh start for everyone. At PV, it used to be the beginning of a new semester, and people tend to feel the need to freshen their lives. Props to those wanting to better themselves at all because in the end, it’s better to have a resolution in store than to not have one at all.