You can lose weight, travel or get a new job without making it a New Year’s resolution.

We’ve reached the time of year after we have over indulge at Christmas and decide, yet again, to make losing weight and leading a healthy lifestyle a New Year’s resolution.

Add it to the list of travel more, quit smoking, read more, save money and find a partner, and you’ll find these are promises you probably make to yourself every December.

We are here to tell you something.

You don’t have to wait until January 1 to make any of these things happen.

When the clock strikes midnight, the calendar year resets.

But your aspirations, dreams and wishes, they’re a year-round commitment.

Telling yourself you’ll eat better, exercise more or stop spending so much money from a certain date puts so much pressure on that task to succeed.

And because you’ve probably told family or friends, the pressure to stick to it increases.

You spend the rest of December eating your favourite foods before the diet begins or going on a spending spree before tightening the purse strings only to stop indulging at the drop of a hat.

It hardly seems sustainable, which is why most resolutions usually don’t see out the end of January.

If you truly want to make a change, make it.

Don’t wait to put a fancy moniker or heap of conditions on it.

The goals we set ourselves for a new year are usually fairly substantial and they should be treated as such.

We are not saying don’t make a New Year’s resolution, or that they never work.

They could be incredibly successful for some people.

But this New Year’s, perhaps focus on how to maintain your goals once you’ve reached them rather than a quick fix to achieve them.

Because the battle isn’t achieving the goals, it’s maintaining them so we don’t slip into old habits.