Did you know that most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions in less than a month? That means that by the end of January, many of us will already have given up on our goal—no matter what it was.

Why does this happen?

Well, usually it’s because people pick out some unobtainable goals. For example, “lose weight,” one of the most common goals, yet is so amorphous that it’s literally impossible to achieve. Even more specific goals like “get healthy,” or “stop biting nails,” do not set you up for success.

Here’s how to set resolutions (or modify the ones you already have) to truly ensure that you can achieve them by using the SMART method. A SMART goal process to revisit time and time again.

Specific – The best and most achievable goals are specific. “Lose weight” is a worthy goal, but “lose two pounds a month,” is better. The more specific you are, the more focused your goa is, the easier it will be to build a plan that allows you to actually reach that goal. For another example, don’t just say, “Improve business.” Pick the specific areas of your business you want to improve and how you want them to improve: “Obtain three new client a week” or “Post to social media pages every day.”

Measureable – Whether your goal is personal or business related, make sure it is measureable. When you can measure your goal, you’ll know how well you are doing and stay motivated to continue working on that goal.

Attainable – If you’re setting goals like “Earn a million dollars this year,” when you only earned thirty-thousand last year, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Be realistic—the whole point of setting goals should be to make real improvements, not just to vocalize dreams.

Relevant – This goes especially for resolutions set for your business. Make sure your goals are achievable in today’s current economic climate. A resolution should be relevant to your current life or to the current state of affairs of your business.

Time-based – Give yourself a timeframe or time limit. Not only will this improve your motivation to actually work on this resolution, it gives you a boost when it comes to making a goal measureable. For example, if your goal is to improve profits by 30%, generate a timeline for achieving that goal and a final time limit.