If you’re like most people, New Year’s resolutions are hard to sustain — even the most generous estimates show that half of us fail to keep them.

The problem isn’t our goal – to improve our lives in some way – it’s our execution. 

Most of us start off too big. But what research shows is that the best way to create a healthy habit is to start as small as possible. 

That’s why the foundation of our behavior change platform is Microsteps – small, science-backed steps we can start taking immediately to build habits that improve our lives.

 You can find hundreds of them in our book, Your Time to Thrive: End Burnout, Increase Well-being, and Unlock Your Full Potential with the New Science of Microsteps. Inside there are Microsteps on topics like sleep, nutrition, unplugging, movement, focus, relationships, creativity and purpose and meaning.

We ran a poll on LinkedIn to hear which area of your life you’d most like to focus on in the new year — you can go here to see the results.

As we look ahead to all the possibilities of 2022, remember: there’s nothing wrong with aiming big, but we can help ourselves by starting small.

This article first appeared in Arianna Huffington’s On My Mind newsletter on 3 January 2022.

Where to begin? Here are five Thrive Global Microsteps for positive change

1. Block time on your calendar for exercise. Treat your exercise time like you would an important meeting or doctor’s appointment. 
2. If you catch yourself in a negative thought pattern or feeling particularly stressed, turn your focus to the rising and falling of your breath. Even a few seconds of conscious breathing will help you reduce stress and increase calm and focus.
3. Whenever you’re about to do some demanding work, take a moment to think about how it will make someone’s life easier, or have some other positive effect. Reframing in these moments when work gets tough can give you a deeper sense of meaning and help you stay motivated.
4. Whenever a call ends early, or when you get up to use the bathroom, take an extra two minutes for a stretch break.
5. Turn off all your notifications, except from those people who might need to get your attention. The more our phone buzzes at us, the more it conditions us to release cortisol, “the stress hormone”.