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If you’ve ever at the start of a new year vowed to lose weight, save money or live life to the fullest, you’re not alone: these are regularly among the most common new year’s resolutions that people make–and break. In fact, less than 10 percent of people actually succeed at their resolutions (and more than a quarter fail in the first week!).

It’s exciting to start a new year, but as the days and weeks wear on, our motivation starts to dwindle. We sacrifice our ideals to meet our real-life demands. Don’t set yourself up for failure with another half-hearted resolution that you know you “should” keep. Instead, mix it up in 2018 with some alternative new year’s resolutions that you’ll actually look forward to keeping. Try these:

Make a Fancy Meal Once a Month

Break out your best dishes and make it a family affair: go shopping for the ingredients and put on a favorite movie or music as you work together in the kitchen to prepare a meal that’s outside your normal kitchen expertise. Any recipe you could ever want is online, and YouTube provides step-by-step instructional videos for a wide variety of dishes. It doesn’t have to be crazy–you get to define “fancy” for yourself–but make it an event and enjoy the new tastes you discover.

Go Somewhere You’ve Never Been

You don’t have to trek around the globe: make it a weekly or monthly goal to visit somewhere new in your town or the surrounding areas. Restaurants, bars, parks, trails, movie theatres and more are just waiting to be discovered.

Enter a Competition

You don’t have to win, but you do have to try! This could be a 5K race, an art show or a chili cook-off. See what happens when you’re inspired to do your best work and how much you can improve with a little practice.

Take a Class

Online or in-person, there are options everywhere: dancing, painting, card-making, wood-working and just about anything else you can think of. The in-person options in your city give you the opportunity to meet new people, while online courses often give you the flexibility to complete the lessons when it’s convenient for you. For free classes, take a look at Coursera.

Write a Letter Every Week
You don’t even have to send them, but if you do, the recipients will probably enjoy getting mail that’s not a bill and you can enjoy connecting with friends and family. If you have a difficult relationship with someone, you might feel better after you get all your thoughts down on paper even if you do nothing more than burn the letter.

Do Something That Scares You
Anything: hold a tarantula, go skydiving, audition for a community theatre production, speak an unpopular opinion, ride a horse or do anything else that makes your heart beat faster just thinking about it. Join up with a friend and commit to doing it together.

Listen to New Music

Studies have shown people stop listening to new music at the age of 33, focusing instead on their old favorites. But there’s so much music out there! Some of it is sure to be terrible, at least to you, but you never know where you might find a new favorite song. Make an effort to check out new (to you) artists on a monthly basis in 2018.

Experiment (Safely) for One Week at a Time

Don’t try to make a drastic change forever; instead, see how it goes for a week. Try replacing your coffee with green tea, taking walks after dinner, getting up 30 minutes earlier, turning your phone off for the night at 8:00 p.m., or going vegetarian. Maybe nothing will change and you’ll revert back to your original habits, or maybe you’ll find something you like better; either way, you’ll have succeeded. These short experiments are easy to stick to because they only last a few days, and they’re fun because they’re a bit challenging, and you’re doing them not because you “should”, but because you genuinely want to see if and how your life is any different after a week with your new habit. You can try a new experiment every month.

Memorize Your Favorite Poem

Chances are, you’ve come across a poem or a passage in a book that has stuck with you. Go back to it and memorize it word for word. Not only will you be able to enjoy it in your head any time you want to, you’ll be able to say to someone, “Hey, have you read this book? There’s this part I love, and it goes like this…”.

If buying a home is one of your exciting new year’s resolutions, contact us. Brandywine Homes specializes in revitalizing older neighborhoods to offer affordable homes to today’s homeowners. We’d love to welcome you to one of our communities.

Is buying a new home in Orange County, Long Beach or the Los Angeles metro area one of your exciting new year’s resolutions? If so, Brandywine Homes is opening six new communities this year offering a combined 265 single-family homes and townhomes. Click here for more information.