The ball has dropped in Times Square, ushering in the New Year. Now is the time to make your New Year’s Resolutions. Ready for the epic fail you face every year when you can’t follow through with them? It does not have to be that way. Why not?

Okay, why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? They make them in order to make their lives better. Over the years, when people fail, many times they choose to not make any resolutions. Should people stop so they won’t fail? Perfect people might want to stop making resolutions because they are, after all, perfect. As for the rest of us, we need those resolutions because resolutions are an attempt to improve our lives and that is what life is about for many of us. So, how to avoid the fail?

Many people make grand, sweeping resolutions. They’re going to lose all that excess weight, they’re going to join a gym and exercise 5 hours a week, they’re going to organize their home, their office, their entire life, they’re going to learn a foreign language, they’re going to save money all year and be done with their Christmas shopping 2 weeks before Christmas so they can enjoy the holidays. Yes, all worthy goals and yet still people fail.

Many resolutions do not last past the first week in January. If people get to the end of February they might have a chance of success but few ever get that far. Sweeping changes are all well and good but they require massive amounts of discipline, ambition and time. Generally time is the enemy here.

Small steps every day are the key. Want to lose weight? Pick 1 item to knock out of your diet. That’s it, just one. Mark up a calendar with your success on a daily basis. Keep it up for 2 months and then eliminate another bad item from your diet. Want to exercise, get in shape and be healthy? Find 5 minutes a day, every day to exercise. Okay, that is only 35 minutes per week but consider how many people fail to carry through past the first week of January. If you’re exercising 5 minutes a day, once you get past January 7th you will be exercising more minutes per day than you’ve probably managed in the past. If you last 3 months then feel free to add another minute. Eventually, you will reach your goals.

Organizing is something many people feel they have to do all at once. Just 5 minutes per day of cleaning out and organizing will really accumulate over time. Try it and make sure you do it every, single day. In a month or two you’ll find your results are amazing. If you really start getting into it and waste a few minutes extra here and there to just finish up then you’ll be ahead of the game, but don’t forget you have to spend 5 minutes every day. Whether it’s at home or at work, having a tidy space can have a real impact on your productivity and mood. Additionally, wash your clothes, arrange your stuff, mop your room, clean your garbage disposal, keep your bathroom tidy, keep an eye on your sanitary equipment (like toilet or faucet) and check whether they are working properly or not. If need be call for a technician from plumbing service providers like T.E. Spall & Son (thecomfortdoctors.com/plumbing-services-jessup/) who can help in maintaining your sanitary equipment. Do be vigilant about your surroundings and maintain a clean space!

When working, it can be difficult to focus when there’s paperwork everywhere. This is why some people get a filing cabinet to store their paperwork, giving them a clean space to work. Organizing can be as simple as just putting some of your paper files into a cabinet.

Getting the picture? Spend 5 minutes improving your life and while it may seem it will take longer, in the end those sweeping changes you want to make to improve your life will happen. Good luck with choosing your resolutions. Happy New Year!