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There is something magical about New Year’s Eve. Whether you had a fantastic year filled with new job opportunities, once-in-a-lifetime moments, and personal achievements, or a year filled with disappointments that you’d rather forget, the New Year gives us all the chance to feel renewed, refreshed, and recommitted. January 1 marks a new beginning and the best time to commit to personal improvement.

Right? Not necessarily.

Think back to last New Year’s Eve. When the ball dropped at midnight, and you tossed your confetti and swayed back and forth with friends and family signing Auld Lang Syne (and reminding yourself yet again to Google what it means), did you genuinely feel different? When the calendar flips over on New Year’s Day, many of us are expecting to feel an impactful change. We want to feel reinvigorated and somehow different. In reality, you’ll wake up the next morning in your same routine and realize that New Year’s Day is just another day.

Then why not make today the first day of a new and an improved you?

Instead of waiting for New Year’s Eve, and its nonexistent power of conversion to help you make impactful changes in your life, start today—start now even. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish next year, and create an actionable plan to achieve your goals. Some of the most common and beneficial New Year’s resolutions from a physical health and comprehensive personal wellness perspective include the resolution to:

• Quit smoking.
• Drink less alcohol.
• Reduce your body weight to a healthy body mass index (BMI).
• Get at least eight hours of sleep every night.
• Spend more time with your family and less time at the office.
• Keep in better contact with out-of-town friends and family (and that doesn’t mean liking more of their social media posts).
• Set aside a higher percentage of your paycheck in your savings account.
• Mitigate the most impactful areas of stress in your life (e.g., long hours at the office, time-consuming clients, toxic relationships, or an over-burdened calendar).
• Volunteer and give back to your community.
• Go back to school full or part-time, or commit to learning a new skill that will advance your career or enrich your life.
• Accomplish a personal achievement that has been on your bucket list for years, like traveling to Japan, running a marathon, or learning Portuguese.

While a new year has significant meaning for your taxes, it doesn’t have to be the only time of the year when you can decide to improve your life. By getting a head start on your New Year’s resolution in December, you’ll be able to achieve your goals that much sooner, and enjoy the benefits of a new you.