As January rolls around again and as we clean away the Christmas tree and get back to work, it’s that time again.

The time when our thoughts turn towards a few carefully chosen New Year's resolutions.

The thing is, perhaps you do it every year with good intentions. Then, a few weeks later they have turned to dust, while you are still finding needles from the Christmas tree everywhere.

So, here are some ideas to help you get the most of those ideas for change. It is all about the way you think about things. If you think you're going to fail, you are more likely to give in, so going into the New Year with the right attitude will pay dividends.

Pick a specific goal, not a general one

Don’t be vauge, be more specific. If you have decided that this is the year that you're going to lose lots of weight or get rich then you have too wide an idea to get your head around.

Your goal needs to be something measurable and specific, so you know exactly what steps to take to get you there. You can then break it into manageable steps that make it much easier.

Think positive not negative to start with

If your thoughts are around stopping being so fat or lazy or grumpy, then you're going about it the wrong way.

Think about what you want. So imagine that you want to be fitter with a goal, say...running a 5K race in six months. Then when you break this down you can see the benefits to your health and happiness. Turning a negative into a positive can have real benefits.

Don’t rush it..there’s plenty of time

You have all year, so you don’t need to do it all in the next two weeks. How many people go on crash diets at the start of the year? Well, you probably didn’t put it all on in two weeks, so you don’t need to take it off in a quick time. Take your time and you are much more likely to succeed.

That’s why my weight loss programme is only for people who are happy not to rush!

Keep that motivation going

This can be the hardest part and it is where so many of us fall down. You start off January raring to go and then as the year wears on you find that your motivation has dropped and dropped.  When you break things down into chunks then that resolution seems so much less daunting.

Just take one step at a time.

It’s always good to start the New Year with good intentions, so perhaps just start with going for an extra walk and getting some fresh air and then spending that time thinking about all the possibilities for you.