It happens every year. The countdown begins and ends, the ball drops and New Year’s resolutions are made. Whether those resolutions are kept is not as much of a guarantee.

TOI put together a list of common New Year’s resolutions and asked its employees, Twitter followers and Facebook fans to tell us what their 2011 New Year’s resolutions were. Survey participants were asked to choose any and all options that apply. The options included the following:

• Lose weight
• Spend more time with family
• Save more money
• Learn something new
• Travel more
• Eat healthier
• Exercise more
• Get active in the community
• Other

The most popular New Year’s resolution among our audience is to save more money in 2011 (59.5 percent). Not far behind it is to exercise more (57.1 percent). There were three choices that focused on getting healthier: lose weight, eat healthier and exercise more. After saving more money, these three choices surpassed the others. The least popular New Year’s resolution is to get active in the community (7.1 percent).

Whether it’s saving more money, traveling the world or exercising more, all of these goals can seriously improve your mental and physical health. Keeping any resolution takes a lot of dedication, but there are some tips that can really help if utilized early on.

Be specific – When setting your New Year’s resolution, be as specific as possible. Your overarching goal can still be to lose weight, but set smaller, more detailed goals like lose 5 pounds by the end of the first quarter.

Be realistic – It is easy to get carried away when truly wanting to start anew, but if you are realistic about your specific goals, you are more likely to be successful.

Support – If you are willing to share your New Year’s resolution, tell your friends and family. Having a support system to offer encouragement is very helpful. Letting others in on your goal makes you accountable to more than just yourself, giving you an extra incentive to stick with it.

Reward yourself – It is much more fun to work toward realistic, specific goals if there is a reward in store. For example, if you decide to set a goal for each quarter, reward yourself at the end with dinner at your favorite restaurant.

Be positive – There may be moments (or months) that you slip up. Do not let these short-term setbacks discourage you from your long-term goal. Simply let it go and move forward.