WE all start the new year with the best of intentions, writes Maxine McCreadie.

Heralding January 1 as a fresh start is common place for most of us, pledging to change our lives for the better.

Whether it's to stub out the cigarettes once and for all or finally dusting off the old running shoes, there's no escaping the fact that we'll all make a new year's resolution ahead of 2017.

However, as most of us are already well aware something things in life are easier said than done and that's exactly why sticking to resolutions is often a tall task.

Let's be honest we've all been there, waxing lyrical about how we're going to be a smarter, kinder, more optimistic person but come January 31 it's business as usual.

Made in haste admits the guilt, and often fear, of over indulging during the festive period making a resolution can be a recipe for disaster.

Motivation quickly dwindles and we're back at square one feeling adding to the guilt all the more.

Well, I want things to be different this year.

This year I'm all about accepting that I'm going to wake up on the first with a serious case of wine head and bury myself under a blanket of chocolate wrappers - and I plan to spend the rest of 2017 being realistic.

We all put so much pressure on ourselves at the turn of the year to make huge life changes, which is fantastic and I'm not going to pretend I don't have things I want to achieve next year, but the key to is all is being sensible.

Pledging to learn a new language, become a star baker, get a new job and shed the pounds is too much pressure at the beginning of the year.

According to NHS Choices, only one in 10 of us who make a New Year's resolution will actually achieve our goal.

However, psychologists have found that we're more likely to success if we break our resolution into smaller goals that are measurable and time-based.

Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire, tracked 5,000 people as they attempted to achieve their New Year's resolutions.

His study revealed that those who failed tended not to have a plan, which made their resolution soon feel like a mountain to climb, however, the 10 per cent of participants who broke their goal into smaller parts felt a sense of achievement when they achieved these it spurred them on to smash their original target.

With that in mind, let's all start the new year on a positive, albeit slightly hungover note, with the simple resolution of being realistic.

That way, we all get the best of 2017.