While most new year’s resolutions require sustained abstinence, discipline and an unnatural enthusiasm for green vegetables, here’s one that can be achieved with minimal effort, outlay or time: looking (and feeling) better in your clothes. We’ve distilled five quick fixes that will have you feeling sharper this year without having to go anywhere near a TRX cable. Whatever that is.

1. Keep it real

Take a long, hard look at how your clothes fit, calling on the services of a trusted second opinion if you can. Where do your trousers finish in relation to your shoes? …

SPOKEsmen,

If shopping is the first circle of hell then doing it during the sales is surely the final curve of damnation, reserved for the truly awful, the ones who talk during a movie and stand on the left of the escalator.

And yet, is the joke on us? Maybe the secret to being simultaneously well-turned out and not broke is to buy when the going’s good? Who knew?

Well, anyone who’s adept at shopping in a sale, presumably.

Still, to approach sale shopping without a plan would be at best careless, at worst, downright reckless. …

Man bags: formerly a much-maligned symbol of metrosexuality, but latterly, a lauded and practical way of transporting your sundries from A to B without having to resort to a briefcase. Let critics be damned. A practical, stylish bag is too useful to ignore. It’s time to send your battered school rucksack packing, in favour of something that will really carry weight.

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Sure, our *flawlessly* fitting strides can cope just fine without one … but let’s be clear: a belt does more than keep your pants up.

A trusty strip of black leather may be just the thing for the office — but for less formal occasions, it’s time to go hell for (woven-) leather.. and canvas.

To help you choose, we offer this lightning tour of four more casual loin-girders. Buckle up. It’s a belter.

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Health matters — and no one knows that better than Ed Foy, an HBS graduate who launched PRESS four years ago, a company dedicated to making the finest cold-pressed juices, juice cleanses and healthy foods on the planet.

It’s safe to say Ed knows his nutrients. But he also knows there’s more to life than kale and cardio. That’s what makes him rare, possibly even unique in his industry. He has the gift of talking about health without sounding preachy.

We asked him to share some practical tips for living a leaner, fuller life. Here’s what he said:

1. Be bad sometimes.
When you’re being good, you should be very good. Because then you’ll have even more energy for being bad in those moments when you should be. There are times it’s the right thing to do. You know them when you see them. …

It’s becoming increasingly clear: you’re going to need some heat-appropriate footwear. And while flip flops will work poolside, you run into their limitations pretty quickly. You can’t run in them, for starters.

In theory it should be simple enough: keep your toes covered and avoid man-made, sweaty, fabrics. In practice this combination isn’t always easy to find, so we’ve done the hard yards for you.

Get thee to a shoehorn. And read on.

The Smart Sneaks

Weekend breaks matter. They’re where memories are made. To make your next one happen sooner and better, we’ve put together a list of essential (and, well, non-essential) kit — from the waterproof canvas bag to a whimsical instant camera. And in case you have nothing on the books, we’ve kicked you off with two reliable sources of inspiring ideas.

Dive in.

1.Much Better Adventures

For adrenaline junkies and all those who yearn for the great outdoors, this is your first port of call. Much Better Adventures has a smorgasbord of exciting trips for you to browse — and a worldwide network of local contacts. …

Relax — and be more productive

Michael Townsend Williams used to be an Ad Man. He worked at Saatchis during the go-go years in the 80s. Then in 1998 personal tragedy struck — his brother Jonathan died after falling from a balcony in Kuala Lumpur — and he started questioning everything. To cut a long story short, he quit his job — and became a yoga teacher.

Michael remains unusually alert to the demands of ordinary life. His dynamic approach to meditation and Mindfulness combines a focus on doing as well as being, which he calls “Welldoing”. He has written a book about it — Do Breathe: Calm Your Mind. Find Focus. Get Stuff Done. He has developed an app called BreatheSync, which aligns your breathing with your heart rate. …