Mark Newey, a NLP coach, master NLP practitioner and clinical hypnotherapist, has spent many years in human communication in large multi-national companies, but more recently found his life s passion: helping people to make transformational changes in th

YES, it's that time again.

How many of last year's resolutions did you follow through on? The key is knowing why you're taking the action and then actually taking the first step.

You will only carry out your new year's resolutions if you are properly motivated.

What's your motivation for the new year's resolution? Why are you doing it? People tend to be motivated out of desperation, rationalisation or through inspiration.

Which is it for you? If it's desperation, then it's crucial to look at the consequences to you of not taking the action. Make sure you think the consequences through. Why not write them down? Are they real consequences, or imagined? Are they strong enough to make you act?

If it's rationalisation and you're saying to yourself: "Well I should be doing something."

Again look at the consequences of doing it or not doing it. What would happen if I did/didn't do something? Will you really do it? Is your motivation strong enough?

Well, if it's inspiration, you'll be saying to yourself: "This is what I want to do." You almost don't need any reasons, it's just simply what you want. In other words, you have the motivation and you're going to do it. What you will have unconsciously done is had a look into the future and seen the benefits of taking the action and liked what you saw.

Once you've decided that you do want to take action, it's imperative that you take the first step this week. Make the phone call or whatever that first step is.

If you need help with the change you're looking for in order to achieve your new year's resolution, why not give us a call at Winning Minds? It's what we do. We help people make changes, whether it's stopping smoking, losing weight, building self-confidence or correcting life/work balance or many other things.

* You can visit Mark Newey's website at www.winningminds.co.uk or send an e-mail to being@winningminds.co.uk, or call on 0800 083 0143.