Chances are good that you've already decided to ditch your New Year's resolution.

If you're determined to get your life in order in 2018, all you need is a Sharpie, some Post-It notes, a blank wall, and an hour or two of free time.

The start of a new year is, of course, the perfect time for a fresh start. There's the metaphorical power, plus the numerical ease of counting days and months of success from Jan 1. But balanced against the celebratory excess and indulgence of the holiday season, New Year's resolutions can, sadly, tend towards abstinence.

Bright and beautiful fruits. Hearty whole grains. Vitamin packed vegetables in the most delicious of sauces. Are you ready for this? Here are some of our best tips, tricks, and advice on eating healthy.

Most of us make resolutions to improve only ourselves: We vow to cut out sugar, work out three days a week, dust off the resume and start the job hunt for real. In general, resolutions tend to be very me-focused -- willpower, weight loss, self-care.

Just as important as setting New Year's resolutions is figuring out how we reach them, and not getting so bogged down in work that we forget to take care of ourselves. On the podcast Call Your Girlfriend, hosted by the journalist Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow, co-founder of Tech Lady Mafia, human rights technologist Sabrina Hersi Issa advises scheduling a Personal Inventory Day each month as a way to regularly take stock of where your time is going.

I don't know about you, but I've heard a lot of people say that they want to quit some particularly addictive aspect of modern technology in 2018. Maybe you want to delete Candy Crush from your phone once and for all. Maybe you only want to check Twitter once a day. Maybe you want to stop hate-reading a feed or forum, maybe you want to quit Instagram-stalking your ex and maybe you just want to spend more time interacting with something besides a screen.

New Year's resolutions are usually centred around a big aspirational goal: I'll work out every day, I'll write a book, I'll never eat junk food. But most of us fail at our resolutions. One problem is that we're setting our goals too high. If you want to reach a huge goal, first you have to set a small one.

January 1, 2018 is no different than December 31, 2017. You probably woke up with big plans to "really make some changes this year," but you know what? It's not going to work. Why? Because you've already decided that waiting until the new year to become the new and improved you is the right course of action.

Kicking off the new year by counting down from 10 is so 2016. Instead, this year why not count down the final moments of 2017 with something a little different… like a movie.

"Self-improvement" is a tricky framework for resolutions. We take the phrase for granted, but what is it really saying? That changing a lifestyle habit improves your very self? That implies moral value to your choices, labelling some habits intrinsically "good" and others "bad". This ends up at the idea that your lifestyle choices affect your inherent worth and value as a person. And honestly, that sucks.

In 2017, for the first time in my life, I actually stuck to a resolution. What's more, I'd failed at the same resolution -- to make a budget and stick to it -- for many previous years. Now, if you think there's something shameful in a grown person not being able to handle her finances, you're right!

About ten years ago, I went to a New Year's Day brunch party. Frankly, I hadn't really wanted to go. That particular time in my life was a low point; I'd just gone through a breakup and was feeling unusually forlorn, and I wanted to wallow at home. But the hostess was a good friend and she had invited other interesting, cool people to a good restaurant... so I dragged my feeble, mildly hungover self downtown.

You've probably got some downtime during the holidays, whether you're taking a few days off from work (you should), or enjoying your winter break after studying for exams (you didn't). With 2018 on the way, you can start the new year on the right foot by prepping your resolution plans beforehand. Of course, resolutions come in all shapes and sizes, so the real question is this: how are you getting a head start on yours?

January is a great time to get a fresh start on your fitness. Even if you don't buy into the conceit of resolutions, for many of us the new year is the first time in months we haven't been buried under holiday and end-of-year stresses. Time to work on a new goal! What's it going to be?

Getting ready to hit the gym in January? Here's your starter pack of all the information you need to walk into the gym with confidence and build a habit that will last all year long.

In the journey to transform myself from Couch Potato to Wonder Woman, the first step was to get off the couch.

Now that the chaos of the holiday season is over, a lot of us are vowing to make changes for our health -- but we know that ambitious resolutions don't always work out so well. So instead of saying you'll "lose weight" or "eat better", try one or two of these simple, concrete changes.

Every year you set out determined to stick to your New Year’s resolutions. But year after year you fall off track and quickly abandon them. So why are resolutions so hard to keep?