For many of us, the new year means making your list and checking it twice. Whether you're resolving to learn to ride a motorcycle, to end world hunger, or merely to break your addiction to guacamole-flavored Doritos, the best way to clarify your priorities and organize your goals is to write it down.

Listing your resolutions can help you figure out what you really want to do with your time—and also get a handle on whether your goals are realistic. Besides, once you've displayed them on the refrigerator door, there's no avoiding them. When they're staring at you every morning on the bathroom mirror, it's harder to forget that you made those promises to yourself.

The best lists are short, simple, and pragmatic. For your first draft, you can think big, but in your final version, include no more than three or four goals or you'll wind up overburdened and overwhelmed. Keep the items specific and manageable: "I will invite friends over for dinner once a month," not "Expand my social life."

If you're looking for inspiration and moral support—and maybe the chance to borrow a few ideas from other people—check out the website 43things.com, backed by internet retailer Amazon.com. The site serves as a public clearinghouse for resolutions and as a meeting place for people with like-minded ambitions to share hints and track their successes.

Website membership comes from around the world, but many of the goals people have chosen for their own lists have a familiar ring. Most people want to improve themselves, expand their own boundaries and try new experiences.

Here are the top five resolutions named by the members of 43things.com—and a few suggestions for how to tackle them.

5. Be happy. The surest way to be happy is not to focus on riches or success; the science of positive psychology has shown that focusing on relationships, rather than material goods, provides lasting pleasure. Volunteering breeds happiness, as do good social skills and solid networks of friends. If you're going to spend money, experiences (travel, entertainment and so forth) usually bring more pleasure than objects.

4. Fall in love. This is a perfect example of a goal that absolutely must be broken down into smaller pieces. Before you can fall in love, you need to meet someone—and if you're looking to meet someone, flirting is a big step in the right direction. Research in the science of flirting shows that two-thirds of the time, it's women who take the lead. She lets the man know she's interested through glances, laughter, smiling and welcoming body language. After that, it's give-and-take. A successful flirtation is like a pas de deux: each mirrors the other's body language, creating a synergy. For more details on the dance, try Love Signals: A Practical Field Guide to the Body Language of Courtship, by David Givens, Ph.D.

3. Write a book. As any author will tell you, writing a book generally takes a lot longer than a year. But you can get started on your authorial ambitions by experimenting with memoir. Writing about difficult life experiences can be freeing, as it can help you stop brooding over an experience that disturbed you. It can also give you a deeper understanding of your own life story, which in turns helps you figure out what your values are—and where to put your priorities this year.

2. Lose weight. What advice haven't you heard on this one already? Rather than rehash the obvious—small portions, no crash diets, no "forbidden foods"—this is a good chance to break one big goal into more manageable smaller ones. If you're looking to lose weight, think about making just one essential change this year: getting in the habit of regular exercise. But make that goal smaller too: Resolve to start walking to work, or to take up yoga, or sign up for a dance class.

1. Stop procrastinating. There's a reason this is the #1 resolution—procrastinating is often what prevents us from making all the other changes we're trying to take on. Procrastinators often distract themselves from what they really need to do with make-work and other minor responsibilities, rather than tackling the big tasks that really need attention. It's a very hard habit to break, but for a start, put that annoying but necessary task that you've been avoiding all last year at the top of your list. If you can get through that problem, that more than anything may bring you a very happy new year.