Happy New Year everyone! I know it’s a couple of days into the New Year but I had a little bit of a holiday hangover, so this is my first post of the year.
With every New Year comes New Year’s resolutions, as the holiday season tends to put us on a high and we feel like we can achieve anything if we simply make a list of the things we want to accomplish. Sadly, the high normally goes away pretty quickly and the ability to stick with our new plans normally goes shortly after.
So how can we ensure that we actually stick to the plans we have beyond the month of January and make the year a productive one? Here are a few tips
1. Set Bite-size realistic goals – We should always set targets that we can actually achieve in a reasonable time frame. For example you may want to travel around the world this year but that target is a little vague and surely you don’t plan to see the entire world. It’s more realistic to say I want to visit Spain in February, Australia in April, Hawaii in May and so on. This will give you a sense of achievement as you visit each destination and motivate you to get to the next one.
2. Put a number on it – Instead of saying I want to get rich this year how about a goal of an extra $1000, $5000, or $20,000 for the year. This way you can break it down to a monthly figure and see how close you are to your goals and then you can make adjustments as to how much more work you need to put in to meet your targets.
3. Have an accountability partner – It’s always easier to finish the race when you have someone cheering you on or even holding your hand along the way. Share your goals with your spouse, a friend or a co-worker so that you can have someone else giving you that extra push when you need it or give you a nice kick in the butt when you start to slack off.
These are just a few of the things I plan to do to help me achieve my goals this year and I hope they help you too. Feel free to share any additional tips or specific goals you have for this year and let’s see if we can achieve them together.