It's nearly that time of year again

No, I'm not talking about the eat-till-you-burst shopping love-fest that is Christmas. What I'm thinking about is what comes after - that moment when you step on the scales/look in your wallet/peer in the mirror and think about New Year's resolutions. Yes, you know - those promises to yourself that you keep for a few days or a few weeks until the bad weather gets you down and you return to your normal habits.

So what goes wrong with our resolutions? There are two main problems. Firstly we need to decide on our goals and then we need to make them come true. Get either of those stages wrong and you might as well not bother at all. Of course, I'm going to recommend working with a coach to implement your goals but you can get yourself off to a great start by simply improving how you state your goals.

One way of doing this is to use the SMART mnemonic - make your goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-specific. So, instead of deciding to lose weight as quickly as possible you would come up with a goal of losing 7lbs by the end of March by low-carbing so that you fit back into your favourite jeans.

Another way is to use a specific goal planning process. I really like the method that Jinny Ditzler provides in her book 'Your Best Year Yet!' - it takes no more than a few hours of focused reflection and answering a series of questions to come up with some really focused goals for the forthcoming year.

Of course, it's only going to be your best year yet if you then take steps to attain those goals - that's where the coach comes in. However by formulating them more precisely, you've taken a very big step along the way.