A New Year always proves to be exciting, but can also be a little over-whelming – with many promises of doing good and looking after ourselves a little better.

We know that those New Year resolutions can be hard to maintain, so we called on our friend and top etiquette coach William Hanson to help us, and the nation, on our way to a cracking 2019.

William, who has worked at The Ritz London, has developed a 20-step guide on how one can achieve a positive start to the year.

Here are four to get us all going! Good luck everyone…

Wake up from the gym dream

Let’s be honest, unless you were a keen gym bunny last year, nothing’s really going to change in 2019.  Don’t kid yourself that you’re going to be a regular among the machines and weights.  Gyms aren’t for everyone so don’t beat yourself up for not going.  You can be healthy and exercise in other ways.

Switch off at seven

Have a break from screens and the peer pressure of social media after seven o’clock in the evening.  Come home, unwind with a good book, music and conversation with those you live with.  Ignore the devices and focus on the humans.

Change your breakfast

As we all know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Introduce a new option for your morning fuel, such as Lizi’s Granola, to give the dark January mornings a touch of variety and for slowly release energy to keep you going throughout the day.

Smile more and say hello

Spread the positivity by changing how you acknowledge strangers in the street.  No need to say hello to every one you pass, but give a polite smile to most and say good morning/afternoon to at least four people a day.