The new year has arrived, and with it has come the annual pressure to enjoy a clean slate and further one’s self growth by setting New Year’s resolutions.

According to Forbes, 41% of Americans actually make resolutions for themselves, but only 8% of these people actually stick with them for a long period of time.

So very few of us make progress in our annual goals, and most of us don’t even organize any resolutions at all. But, that does not mean that we don’t all have things we want to achieve.

Maybe instead of ditching the entire New Year’s resolution idea, we should look at it from a slightly different perspective.

The Law of Attraction is, simply put, the idea that thoughts become things. It has been traced as far back as Buddha, and was put into the spotlight with self-help book and movie The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Big names like Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey, and Jim Carrey all use and advocate it. This idea can help to eventually turn resolutions into reality.

This law is not a magical fix to our problems, nor does it offer an easy way to achieve anything. Rather, the Law of Attraction is paradigm in the way that we think and view our thoughts.

Part of this law is the idea that we can manifest our reality through our thoughts. A huge misconception about these ideas is that their adherents believe that simply thinking of owning a Porsche every day means that one will somehow appear in one’s life. This logic is deeply flawed, and is far from what manifestation actually looks like.

Manifestation, when done properly, is arguably more work than typical New Year’s resolutions. Natalie Guerin of Huffington Post outlined 7 steps to manifest anything. Her steps are: get clear on what you want, ask the universe, work towards your goals, trust the process, receive and acknowledge what you get, keep your vibration high (meaning think positive), and clear your resistance.

So, as we continue deeper into  into the new year, let’s consider trying a new method to tackle all that we hope to achieve.