Have it ALL in 2009!

The beginning of the new year is a great time to set goals for the upcoming year in your personal life, finances and career. It is also a wonderful time to reflect on everything you have accomplished the year before. Don’t forget this step! It’s really empowering to look at where you started the year before and what you achieved by the end. What were your top 3 accomplishments for 2008?

It also helps to look at your results for 2008 in determining where you would like to be in 2009. Look at what goals weren’t reached and why. Are they still important to you? What goals did you reach? How can you set even bigger goals in those areas?

In terms of goal setting, a wonderful exercise is to pretend you are in the future 3 years from now and write down your goals like you have already achieved them. Be as specific as you can be. You are therefore pretending it’s January of 2012, and your writing should reflect everything you have done and accomplished since January of 2009. Have fun & dream BIG!

Set manageable & realistic goals.

A lot of people don’t end up reaching their goals because they are too lofty in the first place. For instance, if exercising is a new goal for you, it probably doesn’t make sense to set a weekly goal of working out 5 days a week. This will seem overwhelming and then you may not go at all! BUT if you set yourself up to succeed, then setting a manageable goal of going twice a week may be more realistic. It has to feel right for you individually and you should be motivated to achieve the goals you set. 

Start with your end goal, i.e. losing x amount of lbs, and then break that down into smaller MANAGEABLE steps, i.e. going to the gym twice a week. As you get more comfortable with your new task you can up the amount of time spent on it as you go. 

REMEMBER, life is supposed to be fun, so you should enjoy working towards your goals, not be repelled by them.

Have a support system in place.

I can’t stress how important this is for your success. If you don’t have encouragement from people you trust as you are trying to make life changes, you will likely not succeed. It’s really hard to do things on our own. With encouragement comes accountability. If you have someone to encourage your progress, you will likely feel more accountable to actually doing what you say you are going to. This is key. Being held accountable is vital to your success. 

Action Challenge:

1. Define what is important to you for 2009. 
* Remember you can have it all! Dream big and don’t settle for less.

2. Set manageable & realistic goals. Setting weekly and monthly goals will help you do this.

3. Arrange an encouragement & accountability system for your ultimate success.

4. Take Action!