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Hello to everyone that saw my segment on Pittsburgh Today Live this morning and decided to check out my site. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!
As I mentioned, I think it’s time to start looking toward the New Year with an eye towards doing things better than we did last year. Here’s how I think you can get your swagger back in 2009:
Out: New Year’s Resolutions
In: List of goals you want to accomplish
New Year’s resolutions are like diets, they don’t work. Just ask Oprah. I mean think about it. You’ve been doing something your whole, or greater part of, your life and you decide that you are going to pull a Barry Sanders…stop on a dime and go a different direction starting January 1st. Well, Barry eventually figured out that his stopping on a dime could do nothing to help the hapless Lions and he gave up football. Sound like what happened to your 2008 resolution?
It’s funny how we treat the first of the year as our own personal Xbox 360 RESET button. The problem with that is, if you lose all of your power by February, you can’t hit the button again for 11 months. “Ah well, I tried…now pass the chips!”
Instead of putting together resolutions, try sitting down and writing your goals for the new year on paper. It’s been proven that individuals that write down their goals are far more successful than those that don’t.
For this to work, though, your goals must be specific. Instead of, “I want to make more money” write “I want to increase my salary by $10,000”. Instead of “I want to save more” write, “I want to have $5,000 in my savings account by the end of the year.” It will be much easier for you to achieve you goals if you know specifically what you are working towards.
Don’t get caught up in trying to do things cold turkey like going on a diet or quitting smoking all of a sudden. If you take consistent baby steps toward your goal, before you know it you will have walked a great distance. Saving $5,000 in a year amounts to about 13 bucks a day. Saving 13 bucks sounds a lot easier than saving $5,000. What did you waste $13 on yesterday?