127 shares SHARE TWEET SMS SEND EMAIL (Photo: iStock) Each new year offers college students the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and take yet another tentative step toward successful adult life. There’s a sense of hopeful excitement around new beginnings, but the enthusiasm usually fades along with the newness of the year, and all of those good intentions are filed away until the next opportunity for a fresh start. by the University of Scranton reports that only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolutions, out of the 45% of Americans who make them. However, it’s worth noting that people who make specific resolutions were 10 times as likely to reach their goals — so it’s a tradition that is worth the effort. RELATED: The key to making good habits stick is in adding accountability, inspiration and entertainment to everyday life in order to make change more fun — or at least less uncomfortable. Here are some common resolutions and the technological tools to help crossthem off the list in 2016: Health and fitness Whether battling the freshman 15 or gearing up for a sunny spring break, fitness goals routinely top resolution lists. Tracking activity and calories creates easy accountability — a soda looks far less tempting when the true cost is an hour on the treadmill. Wearable fitness trackers like the Fitbit, Jawbone or Garmin track activity, sleep and diet through their accompanying apps. They basically take care of the hard part of creating awareness, and are probably more honest than the wearer would be about each day’s physical efforts. New Skills Learning a new skill, exploring an old interest, or general self-improvement are popular New Year’s promises. Thanks to the internet, information on almost any subject is readily available, but it can still be difficult to find the time and an easily digestible format. A pair of bluetooth headphones and a playlist of podcasts or audiobooks can open a whole new world of multitasking by makingeverything from workout sessions to public transportation educational and entertaining. Students can learn a new language, dig deep into history, study the art of organization or get creativity pep talks through a variety of podcast apps or by checking out digital audio books from the library. Better Grades With a new year comes a new semester. It’s easy to want better grades, but tough to make it happen without new habits and processes in place. Although laptops and Chromebooks are convenient, research from showed that using laptops to take notes resulted in a more shallow learning experience. While good old-fashioned handwriting may increase the ability to recall information, not having an online backup can feel risky and inefficient. Digital smart pens, like the ones available from Livescribe, are the perfect way for college students to enjoy the best of both worlds with the ability to record audio, handwrite notes, and automatically categorize and sync to a computer for later use.Increased Productivity It seems like there should be enough time in a day to get things done, but with the ever-changing expectations of college life, it’s easy to fall behind, making any forward progress seem impossible. Bluetooth keyboards and a tablet loaded with each course’s eBooks are a great option for working on the go without being weighed down by a laptop and a stack of texts. Students can take notes, work on assignments, read chapters and send emails easily during time that would be otherwise wasted. The hardest (and most important) part is finding the self-restraint necessary to use it for work instead of play. Resolution achievement is all about repetition and routine—two fairly boring concepts. It’s really no surprise that there are so few success stories! The good news for college students? Thirty-nine percent of people in their twenties from the University of Scranton survey achieved their resolutions, versus only 14% of people over 50 — so age and optimism are on theirside. Technology can help revolutionize resolutions by informing, inspiring and entertaining its users to a better life. And if all else fails, resolution rejects can always try again next year. Ashley McCann was named to Ignite Social Media’s “100 Women Bloggers You Should Read.” Her candid humor, frank advice and years of experience put a fun, fresh spin on modern life. She writes for AshleyquiteFrankly.com and as a and writer for eBay. This article comes from The USA TODAY College Contributor network. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of USA TODAY. 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