Two weeks into January and I am still really focused on my six goals for this year....this is a good sign since typically by the 15th of every year I have resigned myself to another year of failure.
2010 seems different somehow....
Not only did I set realistic goals, I also re-examined some of my past goals and tried to figure out why I couldn't accomplish them.
Every year for as long as I can remember I would set a goal for myself to make more money. Well, in my twenties this was fairly easy to do, but then once I started having children, went back to school and then switched careers it became more difficult to earn more money.
Not one to admit defeat easily...I asked myself, "how can I make more money this year?"
Well, a few options came to mind....
One, I could take on a part-time job.
Two, I could ask for a raise
Well, a part-time job doesn't work really well in my life with my daughters. It's hard enough scheduling family time and I can't ask for a raise since I work for a union.
And then it came to me.....
If I can't make more money.....I could always try to spend less money!
Why have I never thought of this before????
I wanted to make 10K more this year than I did last year.
Well, since the government would likely tax me at a 50 per cent tax rate....even if I did make $10,000 more....I would only see about $5000 at the end of the year.
So, if I save $5000 this year by cutting back I will end up the the extra five grand in my pocket.
No, this doesn't mean I am never going to order a tall, non-fat caramel corretto ever again, but it does mean that I am going to carefully track all of my spending and think twice before I splurge. I don't buy lattes everyday, but if I did I would be spending over $1400/year and I do like to go out for lunch...most of my lunches average between $15-20 each meal. If I go out for lunch three times a week for a year....that is $2800!
I think this strategy can work on many of your goals....
If you haven't had success in the past...take some time and try and figure out why your goals couldn't be achieved and see if you can find new ways to accomplish them, or set a different type of goal.
Just a thought!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
New Year - New You!
One week into 2010, so how's it going so far?
My last entry for 2009 talked about the tough year everyone seemed to have...
During Christmas and New Years I heard a lot of talk from people about how 2010 is going to better.
Well, I too think 2010 is going to be a good year. It's the year of the Tiger. The year that brings about significant change. The last year of the Tiger, 12 years ago saw Microsoft introduce Google to the world and in other tiger years we saw the invention of the Bic pen, the Watergate scandal and the beginning of the World War I.
I heard something today which I thought was really powerful....
IF you want the world to change around you, You have to change yourself.
I like this...we can't expect positive things to happen to us magically, if you don't like your world then what are you going to do to change it?
Many people start of a new year with resolutions. I have tried this in the past and somehow always fail.
I have tried to write a huge list of all of the things I want to change, accomplish or quit, but haven't seen much success.
I have tried to change just one thing and, yet even that didn't seem to work, so I had a new thought for 2010.
I booked a meeting with three of my favorite people and asked them to come to this meeting prepared to share three goals for 2010.
All three arrived ready, excited and possibly a bit nervous about our meeting.
I told my friends,
There are three steps to setting goals.
1. Think of your goal
2. Write it down
3. Tell someone about it
Makes sense...you need to think about what you want, write it down, so you can focus on it and then tell someone what it is that you want to achieve.
A word of caution...be careful who you trust with your goal. Not everyone wants to see you succeed. Tell someone who you know has your best interest at heart.
After we talked about the goal setting steps, I explained that each of us should only have six goals in which we want to accomplish.
It is important to maintain balance in all that we do and this includes where to focus our energy.
The areas we need to balance in our lives are:
Health and Wellness
Finance
Family
Relationships
Career
Personal
There might be some variance for people, but most of us should try to keep these areas balanced.
Family might mean spending more time with your children for one person, but connecting more with siblings for another.
IF you are not in a relationship then perhaps your goal is to meet someone...
Your goals should be able to be accomplished within a one year time frame and they must be measurable.
You can't say I want to work out more because this isn't measurable.
Your goal can be:
To start and contribute to an RESP for my children ($100/month) by January 31st.
or
I would like to play 30 rounds of tennis in 2010.
Both of these are measurable.
Once you have written down and discussed your goals it is important that you place them somewhere you will see them often.
We used big sticky sheets of paper and hung them in our en suite bath.
We are meeting again in two weeks to discuss our progress....
I look forward to hearing your success stories in 2010!
My last entry for 2009 talked about the tough year everyone seemed to have...
During Christmas and New Years I heard a lot of talk from people about how 2010 is going to better.
Well, I too think 2010 is going to be a good year. It's the year of the Tiger. The year that brings about significant change. The last year of the Tiger, 12 years ago saw Microsoft introduce Google to the world and in other tiger years we saw the invention of the Bic pen, the Watergate scandal and the beginning of the World War I.
I heard something today which I thought was really powerful....
IF you want the world to change around you, You have to change yourself.
I like this...we can't expect positive things to happen to us magically, if you don't like your world then what are you going to do to change it?
Many people start of a new year with resolutions. I have tried this in the past and somehow always fail.
I have tried to write a huge list of all of the things I want to change, accomplish or quit, but haven't seen much success.
I have tried to change just one thing and, yet even that didn't seem to work, so I had a new thought for 2010.
I booked a meeting with three of my favorite people and asked them to come to this meeting prepared to share three goals for 2010.
All three arrived ready, excited and possibly a bit nervous about our meeting.
I told my friends,
There are three steps to setting goals.
1. Think of your goal
2. Write it down
3. Tell someone about it
Makes sense...you need to think about what you want, write it down, so you can focus on it and then tell someone what it is that you want to achieve.
A word of caution...be careful who you trust with your goal. Not everyone wants to see you succeed. Tell someone who you know has your best interest at heart.
After we talked about the goal setting steps, I explained that each of us should only have six goals in which we want to accomplish.
It is important to maintain balance in all that we do and this includes where to focus our energy.
The areas we need to balance in our lives are:
Health and Wellness
Finance
Family
Relationships
Career
Personal
There might be some variance for people, but most of us should try to keep these areas balanced.
Family might mean spending more time with your children for one person, but connecting more with siblings for another.
IF you are not in a relationship then perhaps your goal is to meet someone...
Your goals should be able to be accomplished within a one year time frame and they must be measurable.
You can't say I want to work out more because this isn't measurable.
Your goal can be:
To start and contribute to an RESP for my children ($100/month) by January 31st.
or
I would like to play 30 rounds of tennis in 2010.
Both of these are measurable.
Once you have written down and discussed your goals it is important that you place them somewhere you will see them often.
We used big sticky sheets of paper and hung them in our en suite bath.
We are meeting again in two weeks to discuss our progress....
I look forward to hearing your success stories in 2010!
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