At the end of every year magazine covers seem to become covered in well-meaning tips, advice and how-to’s for organizing your way into a better year. Headlines like "End Your War Against Clutter,” "10 Tips to Tidy Your Closet," "5 Ways To Turn Your Kitchen from Chaos to Calm" Sound familiar? And is it any wonder why stores like the Container Store do special promotions on their organizing products at the start of every year? Coincidence? I think not.

And I get it. New year, fresh start, yadda yadda yadda. Resolutions are so tempting because they offer a clean break… a fresh start. But what might seem like a fresh start can also be a false start. Because the motivation for change is just the resolution itself. Not the result of the sustained effort. Because it is the sustained effort that takes really hard work.

It's what makes a lot of resolutions a tricky proposition. Setting a goal tied to a resolution that you might not keep (especially if you don’t see quick results) will only discourage you, and sabotage any real chance for lasting change. A better approach is to do some analysis to figure out what you really want, and then set some realistic action items to get you closer to what you want to accomplish.