I know few people who haven’t said, “This semester I promise to actually go to class! I will make an effort to be a better student. I will be nicer to my teachers this semester.”

The promises go on and on and the lists of resolutions that never can be guaranteed fade as the weeks unfold. I guess those were what I promised in 1999 and they still return to haunt me in 2013.

But what if this semester we actually investigated those little things that might just be adjustable in our lives. Forget about getting a 4.0 in all my classes or visiting every building on campus that I have never set foot in, or making amends with everyone that I ever offended since I was born.

Maybe this semester, I might just look at a few things that could be accomplished. And if I accomplished a few little things, maybe a bigger item might follow.

So what can I actually accomplish? How about this semester when I enter my first class and discover that I have a god-awful project to get done before the last day of class, how about laying out a plan with my teammates to finish a week early, not a month early but a simple week.

Remember what it was like last semester on Thursday before that last day and you were still up at 4:00 a.m. trying to put the finishing touches on that last project.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a week’s breathing space and the loss of tension that it would provide? Your leadership skills would be utilized in getting the group to get that work done early. Your sleep would be improved and life could actually be a bit more pleasant.

Or could you simply start your day with a simple question, “What have I got to be thankful for today?” Forget any religious connotations or rigorous philosophical issues; just open your eyes and start with something that doesn’t require any mental exercise or in-depth probing at the inner facets of the universe. How about, “I am thankful that I won three games of solitaire last night before I went to bed!” or “I slept nonstop and didn’t awake at all last night!’ or “My roommate and I didn’t get into a fight yesterday!”

These don’t require a great deal of thought. They simply require a different focus.

Why can’t I put a positive spin on the everyday activities of my life instead of griping that my dinner was cold or my shoes hurt or it rained or I didn’t study and I failed a test?

Turning to a positive focus just might make the days move along a bit better. I know at this point you’re going to say, “Oh here he goes, trying to get us into a lah lah attitude of smiley junk and all sweetness and joy! Garbage!” I don’t think that you have to make it such a mind game. It is simply a resolution to make the effort to be positive instead of negative.

Once you do it, you discover that those positives really build up and when the negatives do creep in, they might not be as debilitating as they were in the past. Think about when driving instead of responding to the reckless driver, “That *$#% blank, blank, blank nearly killed me!” I say, “Wow, I lucked out and didn’t get hit by that *$#% blank, blank, blank!” Doesn’t the one seem a little more positive and I am still alive so that has to be good.

Resolutions never seem to work. Major diets fail on an hourly basis. Grandiose plans get shelved to be brought out year after year only to be shelved until finally out of sheer failure of will power and depression we just give up entirely.

But maybe if we try a few little things and build on those baby steps, life just might be a wee bit better, a little better, then move on to a whole lot better.

So how about this semester, make some really doable resolutions. Make an effort to go to bed an hour earlier at least one night a week — who knows you might like it and suddenly it’s every night.

Give yourself permission to do nothing academic on a weekend because you got all the work done during the week. Say hello to people you don’t know in your residence hall or apartment complex. Don’t try any great resolutions. Start with ones you can accomplish and feel good about.

And with every success, life just might be a bit brighter.

Craig Gunn is a guest columnist at The State News and an academic specialist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Reach him at gunn@egr.msu.edu.