Alternatively, instead of making the resolution to exercise more (this year’s second most popular resolution), you could look at what has prevented you from hitting the gym in the past. Perhaps you could pledge to stop hitting the snooze button on your alarm clock, limit your time on social media, or say no to unnecessary late nights at work – all goals that would leave more time for exercise.

The reason this method works? Focusing on cutting out bad habits leaves more space for the good, says personal development coach Kate Hanley, author of How to Be a Better Person. “Making an anti-resolution list gives you an opportunity to identify some of the ways you’ve been making your own life harder, and then use that awareness to stop doing (at least one of) those things,” she says.

So, if you did set a New Year’s resolution this year, it might be time to flip it and make an anti-resolution instead. If the experts are right, that small tweak could dramatically improve your 2018.

Images: Becca Tapert, Anthony Ginsbrook

Here’s why you should set an ‘anti-resolution’ this year