For most of us the ritual of making new year resolutions is all about creating positive change in our lives. I know over the years I've made way too many resolutions that are much too hard to keep and have left me feeling bad about my ability to make things happen.

This negative thinking really does me more harm than good so in recent years I've decided to be more realistic and kind to myself with my New Years resolutions as I achieve so much more in life with a positive internal conversation running in my head.

So here are some tips about making new years resolutions that actually work and make you feel better about bringing positive change into your daily life:

Goal Tip 1: Write things down! This is really important. Writing down your resolutions, your goals makes a huge difference to whether they stay out there in the ether or come into the realms of reality.

Goal Tip 2: And they had a Plan! Yes, all successful people create plans. The more simple and straight forward the better. This is all about breaking down what's involved in the resolution, the goal and making it into bite size pieces that you figure out how to make happen. It involves setting timeframes, dates for doing and how you're going to do it. A plan lets you get things done.

Goal Tip 3: Getting Started Immediately! Take this time of inspiration and write down your plan. I find that taking immediate action with ideas, writing them down and figuring them out makes a HUGE difference. It lets you work in the flow and the momentum is a key part of success.

Goal Tip 4: Setting Dates! I write out plans and goals with their tasks in my diary and set with reminders on my phone's calendar. I do have 2 diaries - one for work with actions and ideas through it where I also record what I've done with work for that day and another for my personal life with birthdays, anniversaries, things I'm doing in my personal life. I find working through my diary each week and coming across the to do actions that are necessary to achieve my goals makes it so much easier to remember to do them. It's the doing that matters!

Goal Tip 5: Taking Action all 12 Months of the Year! Making the positive changes you want in your life is something for every month of the year, not just the first few weeks or months of a new year. When I quit smoking I did it over 12 months and stayed free of it every month after that. It's a constant activity, not just something for a short time. When I implement a new business strategy it usually takes months (I'd love for each one to take only a few hours but reality is different!) and I make sure I have new initiatives planned for the entire year, not just for a limited time. So think of your resolutions and goals in terms of the year and write out the plan for the entire year. Put reminders through your print and online diaries for the whole 12 months.

Goal Tip 6: Be Adaptable and Flexible! Each year will bring it's own set of surprises, some positive, others challenging. These can often interrupt the flow of your plans. That's simply part of life. So be ready to adapt to new situations and be flexible with what's happening. Goals are achieved step by step in our daily lives and can easily morph and change along with what's happening. My tip is to keep the real purpose of the new years resolution in view and work towards that rather than holding on too tightly to an initial idea.

Goal Tip 7: Reward Yourself! Achieving your new years resolutions and goals is an important part of your life so reward yourself and mark the occasion. Often we find that something that's been scaring us for a while and we've been putting off really isn't that difficult once we're making it happen. So when we do achieve our dreams, our goals we tend to dismiss the achievement but that's failing to recognise the growth that's happened and what we've really done. It's important to mark the attainment of our goals and new years resolutions in positive and constructive ways that mean something special to us.

Need Help Figuring Out Your New Years Resolutions and Goals?

Take Stock! Look back at the year and write down what you've done well and what you'd have liked to have done better. Be realistic but not cruel to yourself as you'll get much better results from a pragmatic approach. Then figure out what you want to repeat in your life and what you want to improve and how you can do this. Remember, beating yourself up with only hold you back. Being kind to yourself, as you would a treasured loved one who you want to succeed in their endeavours, will harvest much richer results. You can take stock as frequently as monthly, quarterly, biannually or annually. Each time frame will bring positive rewards.