We are now well into the New Year. Research shows that by this point, 95% of New Years resolutions are distant memories, with very little change to show for them. Do you need to make some significant changes in your life? Perhaps you have wanted to be more productive at work, receive a promotion, or simply upgrade your professional skills. You might want to organize work life or simply use better judgment in managing your time. You want to find time to do the things you believe to be most important in your life to regain control over your health, finances, and other aspects of your life.

It does not take a New Years Resolution and it does not take months or even weeks. It can take as little as seven minutes. Studies have shown that the average corporate executive has an attention span of seven minutes. Coincidentally, the brain is limited to remembering only seven pieces of information at time, according to Harvard psychologist George Miller. Therefore, if you want your life to change, you must work within your own mental capabilities. There are literally hundreds of things you could accomplish within a seven-minute window of time. Each day holds tiny opportunities to make life better. Once you recognize that fact, its a fairly easy decision not to let these opportunities pass you by.

One of the greatest gifts each of us has been given is the ability to choose. Change happens in an instant. It happens the moment you decide to change. Now is the time to decide to be different. Haven’t you wanted more out of life? More results? More fulfillment? More leverage? Even, more fun?

Too often, we think of change as being complex, unmanageable, and beyond our grasp. When we think that way, we ignore the fact that the biggest, most meaningful changes are really the result of a series of small seemingly insignificant changes. These simple micro-actions are the tiny choices corporate executives and sales people can use every moment of every day that can make the difference between mediocrity and excellence.

Here are three simple micro actions that could impact you or your company almost overnight. Of course, just because an action seems easy doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right one to commit to doing. As you read this list, choose one or two of these micro actions that would make the most difference in your life and try to focus on adding them into your day. If you will truly make a commitment to be different, at the end of a month or so, you may be amazed at how these tiny efforts can positively impact your future.

1. Almost all of us want to improve our physical health. We set these big goals to lose weight and get in shape, only to find ourselves with a drive-through cheeseburger in our hands eating lunch at 2:30 because we are overwhelmed at work. Big goals are wonderful, but small goals are often more successful. By swapping soda pop for water, improving health and loosing weight is easy. Those liquid calories can really add up.

2. We live in an email world and there is very little personal correspondence any more. In less than seven minutes, you can thank a customer for their recent order – write a note to an employee for a job well done or send a card to a supplier. You will be shocked at the impact your effort will make on your customers, employees and suppliers. They will remember this gesture for months. When was the last time you received a personal thank you note? How did it make you feel?

3. According to the American Booksellers Association, 58% of American adults never read a book after high school. If you truly want to be different tomorrow than you are today, choose to be more knowledgeable. Knowledge truly is power and it allows you to grow and change in amazing ways. By reading only ten pages of a book every day, you could read a 300-page book every month! That means you could read twelve life-changing books a year.

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