While there are several reasons why we struggle with resolutions, the bottom line is that we haven’t addressed the conditions we need to change, says Michael Lopez, author of the forthcoming book Change: Six Science-Backed Strategies to Transform Your Brain, Body, and Behavior. “Resolutions are changes,” he says. “Just like you build a muscle, you also need to build the habit of change. It takes effort.”

Impatience can get in the way, adds Dr. Yalda Safai, a New York-based psychiatrist. “People often forget you need to plan ahead to reach a goal,” she says. “The ambition is usually there but the goal is unrealistic, and the lack of planning makes people struggle.”

Still, a new year feels like an ideal opportunity for self-improvement. But before you resolve to make a change, make sure your resolution doesn’t include one of these four red flags that could doom it—and you—to fail.

1. Your List Is Too Long

As the calendar is about to turn, it’s natural to take stock of your life and identify things you want to change. The problem comes when that list is too long, says Lopez. “You can really only work on a couple things at a time,” he says. “It’s about paring down that list and prioritizing it.”

Becoming more selective doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want to change all those areas you identified. It means you need focus to build progress, says Lopez. “My recommendation is to pick one thing and focus on it for three months,” he adds. “One goal for three months is a great way to increase your chances of success.”

If you can stick with a new habit for three months, you’ll be more prone to maintain it. Then, you can add a second goal for the next quarter. “Build the habit of change,” says Lopez. “Go from something that’s very effortful to something that becomes the way you do things.”

2. You Start with a Difficult Goal

Aiming high is a good thing, but you need to make sure your goals are attainable and realistic, says Safai, or else you will be disappointed. “If you haven’t been to the gym in six months, don’t make it your resolution to run a marathon anytime soon,” she says. “Small goals are always better than big ones. Start small and reevaluate every month.”

Lopez agrees: “If you have a few things you want to change, don’t start off with the toughest thing on your list, especially if you’ve made this resolution in the past and were unable to stick with it,” he says. “There’s something to be said about the low-hanging-fruit experience. Picking the easy one first helps you build confidence by accomplishing your goals.”

The more you progress, the more motivated you will be to take on the next goal. If you haven’t built the muscle for accomplishing your goals, though, you’ll set yourself up for potential challenges right away.

3. Your Goals Are Framed Wrong

Whether it’s avoiding sugar, alcohol, or social media, it’s common to identify the things you no longer want to do. But defining goals in avoidance terms can doom you to fail. Instead, Lopez suggests using approach goals, which are more motivating.

“Most of the time when we set an avoidance goal, it’s because there’s something about ourselves, our life, our circumstances, our behavior that we don’t like,” he says. “What happens, though, is it becomes the emphasis of our focus, and it’s all we can think about.”

Instead, redesign your goals into desired-approach patterns, says Lopez. “I use a ‘from/to’ statement,” he says. “For example, ‘I want to go from somebody who leads an unhealthy lifestyle and eats poorly to somebody who makes healthy choices.’ Then, every time I’m faced with a choice, I remind myself that I’m somebody who makes a healthy choice.”

4. You Track Your Progress In an Incremental Way

If your New Year’s resolution is to lose 30 pounds, chances are you’ll track your progress by your output, which is what you weigh on the scale. However, if that number doesn’t budge right away or if it goes down slowly, it can hurt your motivation.

Instead, Lopez recommends tracking your resolution in terms of your effort. “Shift your goal from saying ‘I want to lose 30 pounds’ to ‘I want to go for a walk four days a week for 30 minutes,’” he says. “All you have to track is the effort that you provide in pursuing [your] goal. If you do that, you’ll accomplish your goal a lot more rapidly and sustain the motivation for pursuing it.”

If your goal doesn’t have a measurable outcome, such as being a better spouse, parent, or manager, Lopez recommends identifying the practices that characterize the goal. For example, if you are in a conflict with someone, you can choose to listen first and ask questions instead of tracking the conversation by winning or losing the argument.

“What you have to do is show up differently in that conversation,” he says. “Don’t worry about outcomes. Just in the act of trying, you’ll eventually get better at whatever you do.”

If you stumble in your resolution journey, Safai advises that you try not to get discouraged, remember that you’re human. “[Not sticking with resolutions] happens to all of us,” she says. “Think about why you care about the goal and how it could benefit you. Then, use that as fuel.”