10 ways to make your New Year's resolutions stick

2. Take root. Tree roots grow down for a reason. Be firm in your resolve, and the winds of circumstance will have no power to tear you from your solid foundation.

6. Open war on distractions

“Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries.” ― Blaise Pascal

We love distractions because they keep our minds off the difficulty of the goal at hand.

There is a strategy to help you stay focused: Act on the things that lead you to achieving your goal each day before you do anything else. Don't allow yourself to start on any other activities on your to-do list until your resolution activities are complete.

7. Iterate to success

"We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive." ― C.S. Lewis

In other words: 1) identify what works for you, 2) do it again, 3) improve each time along the way, 4) repeat. Iterate to success also means to stop doing what doesn't work and return to what does. Too often we find something that only partially works in reaching goals and quit. Instead, try taking what works (learn from what doesn't) and experiment on the working part again — only this time, add something new to the mix and incrementally innovate your way to success.

8. Narrate progress

“Happiness quite unshared can scarcely be called happiness; it has no taste.” ― Charlotte Brontë

Don't keep your progress to yourself. Tell someone (who is rooting for you to succeed) all about what you've done. This keeps you excited, gets them excited and helps you remain accountable to others. Also, when you mess up, talk about it and ask for advice on how to proceed. Often you'll find that you already know how to proceed; there is just something about talking about it that make the solutions happen.

9. Go, go, go

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.” ― Henry David Thoreau

Woot! Woot! That is the sound of your self-talk cheering you on as you make your dreams happen. Doing nothing is depressing. Doing something is elating. Stop worrying. Just go.

10. Keep going

"Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ― Thomas Edison

The previous nine tips form the mnemonic: keep going. This year, do it for real. Don't give up. Take these 10Terrif tips to heart, to mind, to action and then to the bank, the scale or wherever you want your goals to take you.

Richie Norton is author of "The Power of Starting Something Stupid" and No. 1 Amazon download "Resumes Are Dead and What to Do About It." Connect on Twitter: www.Twitter.com/RichieNorton FB: www.Facebook.com/RichieNorton Blog: www.RichieNorton.com