Yet another year has come and gone. At the end of every New Year’s Eve party, Americans gather round to set ambitions for the upcoming year. Promises of eating healthier, being kinder to friends and family, procrastinating less, and studying more.

CSUN students are keeping their New Year’s resolutions by hitting the Student Recreation Center, Oviatt Library, and their academic planners for the beginning of the new year.

Karen Rubio, 19, majoring in Sociology, plans on managing her time better so she doesn’t fall behind on exercising and maintaining a high GPA. Rubio also works part-time and hopes to find some time to fit the two in her busy work schedule.

“Last semester I wasn’t setting my priorities that well, which caused my GPA to go down. My goal is to aim for a 4.0 this semester and make use of the library more,” Rubio said. “I need to start working out, because of the holidays. I plan on working out three to four times a week.”

The five most common resolutions are losing weight, getting organized, spending less and saving more, enjoying life to the fullest, and staying fit and healthy, according to the University of Scranton’s report.

“I’ve been coming to the gym more than I did last year and I have been trying to get fit like everyone else,” said Omid Malekzadeh, 19, an accounting major. “I workout four times a week for an hour.”

CSUN offers free services for nutritional planning with
one-on-one guidance from peer nutritional counselors on how to stay in shape and lose weight.

“One of the big things is students often have a lack of meal structure, many students don’t eat breakfast. They go for hours and don’t eat and often they will get overly hungry and overeat when it actually comes down to picking a meal,” said Ellen Dauersfeld, Registered Dietician at the Klotz Health Center. “Another thing that happens if you go too long without eating, you start to typically crave more high fat and high sugar foods.”

According to Dauersfeld, students should eat healthy snacks about every three to four hours and eat regular meals, including breakfast to provide energy to the brain and to help prevent overeating. She also advises students to exercise in order to lower stress and bad eating habits.

According to the University of Scranton, 47 percent have self-improvement or educated related goals as their type of resolution for the new year and 38 percent base resolutions on losing weight.

Adam Grimes, 23, majoring in Health and Administration, plans on learning Spanish and Russian with Rosetta Stone as his new year’s resolution.

“I think it is positive and it will help me grow compared to the rest of my resolutions,” said Adam Grimes, 23, majoring in Health and Administration. “If I can learn different languages, I feel like I can conduct business by learning about different cultures and by being able to speak better.”

In addition, people start to lose motivation and disregard their resolutions within the first weeks and months of the new year. Sixty-four percent keep their new years resolution for at least one month whereas 46 percent are able to sustain their resolution as long as six months, according to a Forbes article.

“My new years resolution is to be a better person and to appreciate the little things like my family and friends and not to take things that are so important for granted,” Malekzadeh said. “I am actually trying this year and being more consistent with my new years resolution.”

Forty-five percent of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions and 24 percent never succeed or fail on their resolution each year, according to the University of Scranton’s report. Only 8 percent of people who make New Year’s resolutions are successful in achieving them and those who don’t usually disregard them.

So here are a few tips to put you in the right percentile. It is a new year and a fresh start to accomplish something you never thought you could do before. Get on track, follow these tips, and create a New Year’s resolution that you have been meaning to accomplish.

6 Manageable Ideas for a New Year’s resolution:

1. Get your finances in order. Use coupons, cook dinner instead of eating fast food. Use cash instead of your credit card to keep a limit on expenses. Set up an automatic transfer that will keep a constant flow into your savings account.
2. Clean out the clutter. Studies show that a cleaner and more organized environment leads to less stress.
3. Be more positive. Studies have shown that positive thinking lowers levels of stress, increases lifespan, increases health, and creates better coping skills.
4. Turn off your phone and engage in your environmental surroundings. Give the text messages and email a time off for a change.
5. Watch less television and read a book to help exercise your brain. Reading also expands vocabulary and gives you something else to talk about.
6. Develop a hobby you are interested in, such as painting, hiking or volunteer to help others and get involved in the community.

5 Tips on Maintaining a New Year’s resolution:

1. Be specific; set goals that demonstrate a clear understanding to your resolution. For example how many pounds do you plan to lose in the next month? Rather than just planning to lose weight.
2. Share your resolution with family and friends or significant others to make the inspiration known and for support along the way. This will create a contract between you and them.
3. Place it somewhere you can see every day as a reminder to stick with it, such as on your refrigerator or shelf.
4. Add an alert to your smartphone to constantly remind you of your goal for the day and what you’re aiming for long-term.
5. Start small. Take small steps that are manageable and slowly work your way up. This will help you feel more capable and less overwhelmed by the end goal.