You might as well give up now and save yourself all that stress. Why deny yourself something when it’s easier to carry on as before. Sorry, I did not catch what you said – “this time it’s different, this time I really want to succeed.”

But you said that last year and you are still a size 20, your gym membership was a waste of money, you are still in that bad relationship, still in that employment rut and you are still no nearer to solving those money problems.

It is your choice of course – this time it really can be different and it does not have to be hard work especially if you embrace positive thinking, but you must really want to make changes to your life and lifestyle.

If you do not want to give up smoking, you never will. If you do not really want to diet, you never will. If you really want to hang on to those tired old habits and relationships then what is the point of making a token gesture for a few weeks.

In such cases you will always make an excuse to stop your resolution. You will manufacture arguments with people, just so you can hear them tell you that you should forget all about your good intentions because it makes you moody.

Those are just the words you want to hear because it takes away all those feelings of guilt. You can convince yourself that you really are doing your best, but for the benefit of the people you love you are going to stop that resolution now. What a cop out – you failed again.

But you know the real truth, don’t you. You really do want to make those changes, but you simply do not have the strength or willpower to finish the job – if only you could get some real help you could definitely do it this time.

Well, here comes the good news. Help is on its way, if you want it. It comes in the form of Powerful Positive Thinking and it can help you succeed in delivering those vital New Year resolutions once and for all.

You do not have to set up mood boards or make constant affirmations. You do not have to work on positive thinking exercises and meditations. When you constantly focus on all these things there is the danger that you send out the wrong messages.

That great Amazon of the Universe misunderstands the order and sees that what you really want is very much lacking in your life and that’s what it will eventually deliver - lack, zip, nothing – and is the reason why so many fail to get any benefit from positive thinking.

To succeed you are going to use other tools like your imagination, common sense and action and if you get them in the right order, it can really work for you. So if you are ready – then we can get started.

You have to be sure exactly what you want to achieve and to do this you need to focus your thoughts and write down in much detail as possible your goals and ambitions. There are other blogs on this website which explain at length the correct way of doing this – but in short make sure you get your specification or order to the Universe as precise as possible. By doing this you will be certain what you want to achieve rather than simply having a woolly idea about possible changes.

Once that has been done and you are sure that it is exactly what you want, then you must destroy the paper as dramatically as possible. You are metaphorically sending an e-mail to the Universe – and do not worry – because your order has been received.

You must now forget all about that order. If you keep returning to it then it will never be delivered. Focus instead on your imagination. Visualise how healthy and attractive you will be, how much richer you have become. This is your dream we are talking about here so let your imagination run riot as if your dream has already been turned into reality.

Support your imagination with action. Join that gym, take more walks, look at ways to save or earn more money, become more sociable so you can meet others – by simply taking action you are oiling the wheels and helping the Universe.

Yes, there may still be times when you are wavering and that’s where common sense comes in. Keep it realistic, keep it happening a little bit at a time, keep your imagination going and then one day – as if by magic – you would have succeeded.

Now that’s what I call a new year’s resolution.