Don't get me wrong - I think it's excellent to reflect on what we could have improved from the prior year, and continue to work on ourselves.
However, saying "Oh, I'm going to start improving this thing on this date, even though I've known that I could improve it this entire prior year" - that's a no-go. It's not a true commitment.
Something that could and should be improved, indeed, should be addressed immediately. It should not be delayed.
If you want to take your self-improvement seriously, then you find your faults and correct them on a rolling basis, at the time you find them. We don't have the time to delay things until the next year - life's far too short for that. Plus, having a long list of "resolutions" makes them even harder to keep, as compared to knocking out problems as they come.
In my personal situation, I want to continue improving my personal growth and maturity, become more independent and capable of doing things on my own, stop having to remind myself to not act like a child and instead just innately do what is right, and continue working on my physical and mental health. These aren't new resolution; they are wheels that are already turning, but require even more force to turn quicker. It's tough to change my personality in my 30s, but I have very good reasons for wanting to improve these aspects, namely the health of my family.
One aspect of maturity which is definitely going to be an issue this year is my emotional maturity. I don't handle major changes and life situations as well as I should. This has been proven by how I've handled my family's health this year. There were quite a few times when I made their situations about me, despite having most of my focus on them. You may say, "that's natural, their health does affect you" but I should be more headstrong and keep that to myself when they're struggling.
Recently, I mentioned my decision to not take any vacation or to move far away for my work, thus limiting my job prospects. This was done so that I could be available to my grandparents at any time they need me, or God forbid, get hospitalized or have some type of an emergency. Innately, I know that this is going to be bad for my well-being, but right now their health takes priority over mine, in my mind. Part of my maturity will be to accept that fact that my own life will have to go on without them, but I'm not quite ready to accept that yet.
This is eventually going to bite me in the backside, and I'll burn out, and only then will I accept that I should take some time off. This is NOT how a wise person would behave, but I know myself. I can only hope that, whenever that time comes and I'm on a brief sabbatical, my grandparents will still be ok. It would certainly be God's cruel joke if they end up needing me while I'm away.