To Ponder in January

Forge Ahead

With each new year, most of us have some idea of a New Year's resolution that we'd like to fulfill. It could be getting a higher-paying job, reaching a goal weight, or spending more time with our families and friends. Unfortunately, though the initial part of the year brings on this hope and motivation, we often find ourselves struggling with the resolution even as February approaches. Here are some tips for staying on track to fulfill your resolution(s).

1. Be Realistic

Sometimes the reason we don't meet these goals is that we try to do too much in a single year. For larger goals, break each step down into year-long pieces. For instance, if you eventually want to buy a home, but your credit isn't that great, don't resolve to be a home-owner this year. Just commit to paying bills on time and paying down debt in 2014. For 2015, resolve to start saving up your down payment. Then, in 2016, resolve to search for and purchase a home. Breaking your commitments down like this can make them a lot easier to stick to.

2. Make a Timeline

It's really easy for us to get off track when we aren't sure where exactly we're supposed to be at any given moment. We keep restarting our savings initiation or beginning of a diet. Use at least one calendar to help you keep track of what milestones you think you should be able to reach throughout this year. Multiple calendars are really helpful because those count as extra reminders of the promise you made to yourself / your family to get this thing done (i.e., your business planner for work, your calendar in your kitchen, and your calendar on your phone / email). For instance, if you know you want to save $2,000 to be able to take you and your husband on a nice vacation during a cold January next year, divide that out by twelve and on the last day of each month note how much you should have saved by then. By the end of January, you'd need to have about $166.67 saved. At the end of February, you should have about $333.34 saved, and so on. This way, every time you open your calendar to schedule a meeting or figure out what day of the week a holiday lands on, that reminder will be there. For wall calendars that stay open for the entire month, you get to see that end-of-the-month goal every day to help you stay on track.

3. Persevere

Sometimes we have trouble successfully completing tasks that we usually perform on a daily or weekly basis (getting to work on time, keeping our house clean, etc.), so don't give up just because you didn't meet one of your milestone goals. Just work that much harder to catch up to where you said you wanted to be. If that means saving more, spending an extra 30 minutes at the gym, or taking extra time off of work (if possible) to spend more time with your loved ones, so be it. Just because you can achieve something doesn't necessarily mean it will go easily and as planned. Often, the things we work hardest for are the most enjoyable when we earn them.


With these things in mind, we hope you have a happy and safe 2014!