Rosh Hashanah is a time to resolve to exercise more, sleep better and make time for what matters, but when good intentions fade as routine returns, seven practical steps can help turn them into lasting changeNadav Harris|There is something almost ritualistic about Rosh Hashanah resolutions. We look back at the year that was and decide that this time will be different. For a moment, anything seems possible. Then the holiday ends, work resumes, the children go back to school and our calendars fill up. Our initial enthusiasm collides with real life. To keep a resolution from remaining merely a promise made at the start of the year, it helps to turn it into an action we can take and repeat.GalleryFewer screens, more room for what truly matters to us (Photo: shutterstock / Mmonshtein)Rosh Hashanah does not have to be the moment when we change our entire lives. Instead of trying to change everything at once, we can choose one thing we can start doing right away. More exercise, less screen time, better sleep or more time with the children — choosing one thing allows us to make real room for it in our routine. It is not about making a complete transformation, but about choosing one action we can start with and continue.One common mistake is setting a goal that is too ambitious from day one: “This year, I’m going to work out five times a week,” “This year, I’m going to start waking up early” or “This year, I’m going to stop eating sweets.”The desire to change is a good thing, but when the change we demand of ourselves is too great, it can become a burden before it ever has a chance to become a habit. Instead of committing to five workouts a week, we can start with one. Not because that is the ultimate goal, but because it is something we can actually do.The scale of the change should fit the time we have available, our workload and our emotional state. During a busy or stressful period, choosing a small challenge that can be expanded later reduces frustration and increases the chances of sticking with it.Change begins with a small action you can take right away (Photo: shutterstock / New Africa)“I want to exercise more” is a good resolution, but it is still too general. To turn it into something we can actually do, it helps to define a specific action: set a day and time for a walk, decide on the number of pages we will read before bed or choose a time in the evening when we will put our phones aside.The action does not have to be big. A short walk, a few pages of a book or a few minutes without a screen may seem like small changes, but they create something more important than a one-time achievement: repetition.The clearer the action, the easier it is to repeatThe clearer the action, the easier it is to repeat (Photo: shutterstock / Nanci Santos Iglesias)Change fits more easily into our lives when it is tied to a routine that already exists. After morning coffee, go for a walk. After the children go to bed, read a few pages. Before going to sleep, put the phone aside.Instead of trying to build an entirely new routine from scratch, we can connect the new action to something that is already there. Repetition and the context in which the action takes place are important parts of the process.Spending more time with the children is a change you can start making right away (Photo: shutterstock / Anna Zhukkova)The choice itself also matters. If a resolution is born solely out of a feeling that it is something we should do, it will be harder to stick with it. Change may be easier when it is connected to something we genuinely want for ourselves.So before making a resolution, it is worth asking not only what we need to change, but also what we want. When a goal is personally meaningful, it is easier to make room for it even amid the demands of everyday life.Even after we make a resolution and get started, there will be days when things do not work out. Missed a workout? There is no need to wait until the following week. Stayed up too late? Try again the following evening. Did not manage to stick to the plan? That does not mean the resolution has failed.One of the biggest mistakes is thinking that change requires perfection. In reality, life will occasionally get in the way. The question is not whether we will stray from the path, but whether we will return to it. Missing once is an event, not a failure.A resolution becomes a habit when we make room for it in our routine (Photo: shutterstock / Kostikova Natalia)One unrealistic expectation is that a new resolution will quickly become a habit. There is no fixed number of days after which we can stop thinking about an action and simply perform it automatically. The amount of time it takes to form a habit varies greatly from person to person and depending on the behavior.So if an action still requires effort after a few days, there is no reason to conclude that the resolution is not working. We need to keep repeating it and give it time to become part of our lives.We do not need to change our entire lives at once. Sometimes the path toward the person we want to be a year from now begins with the simplest thing we can do right away: put on our sneakers and walk out the door.The writer is a clinical psychologist with Maccabi Healthcare Services’ Northern District