Eventually a new year — even with all its freshness and high hopes — will lose that air of optimism and promise. After just a few months, some real estate agents fall behind on the business plans they built back in January.

As a consultant to Realtors for nearly two decades, believe me, I’ve seen plans wilt like month-old roses. Agents and brokers who once looked like thoroughbreds ready to explode out of the gate begin to look more like tired donkeys after a hard day of hauling rocks.

What happened? Why is it they’re not getting done what they need to get done to meet their goals?

Take heart: If you’re running behind and not tackling all the tasks you intended to accomplish by now, it’s OK. Turns out, it’s not that uncommon. We’re human. And sometimes, to borrow from the poet Robert Burns, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

The beauty is that no matter how far off track you are, you can choose how to react. To me, that’s one of life’s most important lessons. What’s more, there are specific ways you can get back into the game and start getting things done to make the rest of this year even more successful.

Here are five practical ways regain traction:

Reexamine your plan. Part of the problem may lie with your plan itself. If you’re having trouble completing tasks in the plan, it’s worth taking a second look. Are your goals actionable? Are they specific enough? Maybe they’re not realistic. There’s no law that says you can’t go back and make adjustments. The key is to get comfortable enough with your plan and goals so that you’re not intimidated — and more importantly, you’re sufficiently motivated to get busy achieving them.

Think small. Your whole life people tell you, “Think big. Go big. Bigger is better.” But when it comes to making progress, sometimes smaller steps can get your further along your path, especially if you’re fighting procrastination. When you’re looking at a task, take a minute to figure how you can break it down into bite-size nuggets versus cramming the whole thing in your mouth at once (a serious choking hazard!). Say you plan to call 20 prospects tomorrow. That sounds like a lot of calls you have to make. Why not opt to just call five before 10 a.m., then five more before 1 p.m., etc. Doesn’t that sound a bit more manageable?