It’s that time of year again! The time when everyone decides to become a new version of themselves by making New Year’s resolutions. Some of the more common resolutions are getting in shape, losing weight, quitting smoking, and helping others. Forbes.com states that only 8% of New Year’s resolutions are achieved. Over 40% of people in the U.S. make these goals for the future year but they never quite make it all the way through. Forming new methods are only hard in the beginning, until they become second nature. Studies have shown that it takes twenty-one days to start a habit – that’s twenty-one days of hard work or cutting out things that you constantly crave. There is a constant struggle to do the things you don’t want to. A perfect example is losing weight; this is the biggest failed resolution around the beginning of the year. I work at Inwood Athletic Club in Joliet and every year right after New Year’s I always see people running around the track and barley any machine is ever empty. You would think that they were giving memberships away for free, but that’s only for the first week. After about a week or two, the track is a barren wasteland. Most of the people who were walking on the track are now only getting exercise when they walk from the couch to the fridge. It’s nice to see people trying to better themselves, but the fact of the matter is, barley anyone will continue the push to get healthier or quit smoking or even to be nicer. This year, if you make a resolution, try to fulfill it. Push yourself through the twenty-one days before you “take a break” from your resolutions if you really want to accomplish this task. It’ll all be worth it once you start seeing the results.