1 – Shedding the Pounds

Losing weight is on almost everyone's New Year's resolutions list. This is the most popular because New Years is right after the holidays in which most people have family dinners where they eat too much food. During the holidays it is very likely for you to gain excess weight because you eat so much traditional holiday meals that are high in calories. Losing weight includes getting a gym membership and working out. People have no excuse to not follow through with this New Year's resolution, but like most New Year's resolutions people often quit sometime in January.

2 – Keeping in Touch with Family

Keeping in touch with your family is on a lot of people's New Year's resolutions list. This is because during the holidays family that live out of town get together, and it feels as if you have not seen them in forever. People make this part of their New Year's resolutions because they enjoy this time together and it rekindles their love for their relatives and close family.

3 – Beat the Debt

Getting out of debt is also another popular New Year's resolution. New Year's is just after holidays in which you had to spend a whole bunch of money on gifts. Getting out of debt will help raise your credit score. Although getting out of debt seems like a great New Year's resolution, many people do not follow through with it completely, so they end up putting it on their New Year's resolutions list every year.

4 – Learn a Skill

Learning and/or trying new things is important to diversify yourself. Doing the same thing over every day is going to get boring at some point. A great New Year's resolution is to learn new things, like trying to become a better communicator, or learning how to budget your money. People do not like to try new things; they like to stick to their everyday routine. A new thing that you could try would be a new food or a new program. For example you can try to go to a Zumba class with your friends - who knows you may actually like it!

5 – The Good Samaritan

Helping others is a great New Year's resolution that most people follow through with when they are least expecting it. There are not a lot of honest and helpful people in the world and if you help someone, this will show them that there are people who care out there. Some ways to help others could include volunteering at a soup kitchen, or simply offering a friend to stay at your house if they need a place to stay for a while.

6 – Enjoy Life More

Enjoying the little things in life is a New Year's resolution for older people. We take a lot of things like going out to eat with our family for granted. This is one New Year's resolution that most people do end up following through with. When thinking about it, you don't know what is going to happen in the next couple of months, so you might as well live as if every day is your last day and cherish everyone and everything that you have.

7 – Quit Smoking

Quitting smoking is a New Year's resolution that a lot of smokers have on their New Year's resolutions list. Starting a new year could mean that they can start fresh and smoke free. Many smokers cannot quit smoking cold turkey and it is a hard process to quit, so most people do not follow through with this New Year's resolution.

8 – Quit Drinking

Quitting drinking is on borderline alcoholic’s New Year's resolutions list, but just like smoking if you are addicted to drinking, or simply fold to peer pressure, it is hard to quit. To quit drinking you must have time and patience, but this is one of the most common New Year's resolution that people do not end up going through with. Just like smoking, alcohol is easily accessible and fairly cheap, but it something one must enjoy in moderating

9 – Get Organized

Getting organized is in the 10 most popular New Year's resolutions list because after the holidays everyone is looking to start afresh. After Thanksgiving and Christmas there are things laying everywhere and decorations that need to be put away for next year. Getting organized will help clear your brain and ease the mess in your house. When you live in a clutter free and organized house everyone will know where everything is so there will be no arguments about where things have ended up. Everything has a certain place and that place is where it should be!

10 – Grow Up

Becoming more responsible is on younger peoples New Year's resolutions list. Becoming more responsible can include things like getting your own apartment, buying your own clothes, etc. Most teenagers get a job to become more of an adult. Getting a job shows the teenager is responsible, and gives parents a reason to trust their child.

Conclusion

While New Year’s resolutions are a personal thing, the same resolutions tend to turn up on many people’s list each year. This year, choose resolutions you know you will keep, and if they are one of the top ten listed above, ensure that they do not end up on your ‘to-do’ list in 12 months’ time.

Guest Post by Phoenix – Training – Management, Sales and Leadership courses.