The third Monday in January (that’s today!) is reportedly the most depressing day of the year. By this point in the month, the sad fact is that the majority of people who set them have already given up on their New Year’s resolutions (and are giving themselves a hard time about it). The Christmas credit card bills are hitting. And while you’ve given yourself something to look forward to by booking a holiday, the long days of summer still feel a very long way away. Sound familiar at all?

Well, if you feel like grabbing life by the proverbials, sticking the Vs up at Blue Monday and doing something to make yourself happier today, here’s a handful of simple ideas (all well researched and proven to make a difference, of course) that you can do right now, in just a few minutes, to give yourself a boost, and a break, and do something to inject some more happiness into your life.

Grab a pen and notebook (or a notepad app on your phone), and write down three things that you feel personally grateful for in your life today.

Big things or small, taking five minutes to complete this task each night for three weeks will be enough to help develop a happier mindset for the longer term.

Research shows that happy people tend to be generous with their help to others. So whether it’s calling a friend and offering to babysit, paying someone an unexpected compliment, buying a coffee for a stranger, surpising someone with a small gift, or offering to go and fetch lunch for everyone in your team, do something small that helps someone else, and bask in the glow of feeling good for doing something good.

We don’t find time, we make it. So today, whether it’s ten minutes during your lunch hour or thirty minutes this evening when you’d usually be catching up with social media or mindlessly watching something you aren’t particularly attached to on TV, make the time to do something you love. You know, the kind of thing that makes you forget to eat and go to the loo. And if you really can’t make the time today, or indulging some time in your passion is something that requires some notice, make today the day you commit to making some specific time for it over the next week.

I’ll let you into a secret. When we’re talking about happiness, achieving your goal is not actually what it’s about. Sure, you’ll feel great when you do achieve it. But having a goal and working towards it is what matters, because in order to feel happy, we need to feel a sense of purpose. As happiness-expert Tal Ben-Shahar says: “Happiness is not about making it to the peak of the mountain nor is it about climbing aimlessly around the mountain; happiness is the experience of climbing toward the peak”.

So, whether it’s something that you can achieve before the clocks change in the spring, or a mountain that will take you longer to climb, make today the day to commit and get started by taking a first step. After all, when better than today?