The beginning of a new year feels like a clean slate. But as the holidays fade away and the pace picks back up again, it can be hard to keep those resolutions and goals for 2017. According to Forbes, only 8% of people fulfill their New Year’s resolutions. What can you do to change that?

Tips for Accomplishing Your New Year’s Resolutions

Change Your Reaction to Stress

Chaos is born from a variety of things — too many tasks piling up at one time, an oversized task from family or a colleague, putting the pressure on yourself to accomplish a goal. Simply put, it’s too much stuff coming at us within too small a time frame.

Because it seems unmanageable, our natural reaction to chaos is stress. An effective way to manage chaos and reduce stress is adding a pause before outside chaos turns internal. Simply taking a deep breath is one way to bring calm back into your situation. When that isn’t enough, try these two, more in-depth pause practices to keep you calm, focused, and on track to reaching your goals:

1. Positive Thinking

One of the best ways to master chaos is through positive thinking. Being able to absorb a negative situation and reframe it within your mindset is key. This goes for personal situations too, which can often leak chaos into the workplace if not managed properly.

Become a more positive thinker by practicing mindfulness. When you recognize a situation as stressful or chaotic, take a moment to reflect on the positives of the situation. Can’t seem to find any? Gather positive motivation by focusing on other parts of your life that are going well. After enough practice, you will train yourself to think differently about your current circumstance.

2. Logical Questioning

While the practice of positive thinking calls on more spiritual, heartfelt parts of the personality, there is another practice for managing the chaos that enlists the help of more right-brained logic. When things get chaotic take a moment to assess the situation from a non-emotional angle.

Forbes suggests asking yourself how important the situation is. More often than not, an email or conversation that caused initial frustration becomes small within the context of larger goals and the bigger picture. Take a moment to set emotions aside and determine whether this battle is one worth fighting for.

Managing the Chaos

By implementing these techniques you’re on your way to smoothing over chaos, keeping your cool, and moving one step closer to your goals.

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