New Year's coaching course: Make your goals concrete

• Write your goal on a piece of paper where you will see it often. Committing things to paper helps to keep focused and motivated. It makes your goal more tangible and concrete.

• Break your goal down into smaller steps and a previously unobtainable goal suddenly seems attainable. Ask yourself: what can I do as a first step today on my journey to attain this goal?

• Ease up on yourself. Saying: "I have to do xyz" or "I must do xxy" or "I should do xzy" increases the likelihood that you’ll think of yourself as a failure if you don’t do it. A kinder and far more helpful way of thinking is to say: "I would like to do xyz".

• Avoid beating yourself up if you don’t meet your goals or targets – as this will only make it more likely that you become "inactive" around your goal and give it up all together. Instead of saying: "I’m such a loser, I should have gone to the gym today, everyone else manages it, I will never lose weight!", try saying: "I would have liked to have gone to the gym today, but instead I’ll go tomorrow".

• Reward yourself along the way for the smaller steps you achieve and have a reward in mind that you will treat yourself with once you have reached your ultimate goal.

Dr Michael Sinclair is a Chartered Consultant Psychologist.