This is the natural time of year that we come up with new goals and resolutions. Do you have New Year’s resolutions? Are you helping your nieces and nephews with their goals? Here are tips for moving forward and keeping the momentum going:

What Do You Want?

Create a mind map. Drawing out a mind map of your goals and the actions you want to take helps you solidify want you really want to accomplish. Think about the big goals you have and draw those out. Then add in the actions you can take.

Take realistic actions. If you’ve spent more time on the couch than the running track, you can’t run a marathon in a week. You have to take many tiny steps to build up to run a race. Let’s say you want to declutter your space. First, tackle a drawer or a stack of paper. Think small and make progress. All progress is movement forward.

Have regular goal check-ups. Set up a regular time on your calendar once a month to check up on your progress. If you’re working on goals with your nieces and nephews, set up a time to check in with each other every couple of weeks. Having an accountability buddy helps your progress.

Tools to Take Action

Evernote. Capture notes, ideas and articles with Evernote. With your Evernote account, you receive a special Evernote email address you can save into your contacts. Open an email, jot down your brilliant idea or gift ideas for the nieces and nephews, and email it to your Evernote address. The email will automatically be added to your notes.

Couch to 5K. A co-worker told me about this app that helps you go from the couch to running a 5K race without hurting yourself. Using a realistic schedule, you can start a healthy routine that helps you get ready to run a race and tracks your progress.

Quit That! Use this app to end habits you want to stop, such as smoking and drinking caffeine. The app keeps a record of how long you’ve quit, and lets you brag about it.

TripList. If traveling is one of your resolutions, use TripList to pack your bags. You can create multiple lists for separate trips, jaunts with your nieces and nephews or making sure you have everything in your gym bag.

Digit. This app helps you save money by analyzing your spending and showing you how much you can save.

TaskRabbit. If your goal is to get more things around the house or get ready for visits from the nieces and nephews, use TaskRabbit to find help, such as housecleaning, assembling furniture, heavy lifting, shopping, and even waiting in line.

Online courses. If learning a new skill or taking a class is on your New Year’s Resolution list, check out online courses, such as Udemy, Coursera, and CreativeLive. Learn to code, manage a project, or all about world history. If a niece or nephew is still deciding their college major, steer them toward online courses for them to explore their interests.

Udemy has a wide range of courses, and one of their popular courses is a creativity workshop with Savvy Auntie and author Elizabeth Gilbert. Coursera offers courses from top universities and cover a variety of topics, including the social sciences, business, data, and engineering. CreativeLive has courses centering around photography, art and music.

Celebrate Your Progress

As you and your nieces and nephews reach milestones, don’t forget to celebrate and honor the progress you’ve made. Go to lunch together, grab a pedicure, see a movie, or do a random act of kindness. By celebrating your progress, you can see how far you’ve come, and that is a good way to maintain motivation.