Whats your new year Plan?
Many people come into the new year with the usual promises of losing weight, spending more time with the family, taking up that hobby, joining the gym and stop smoking etc etc But how many people consider taking the time to think out your New Year Plan regarding your finances. Do you sit down and work out where you are at now and most importantly of all where you would like to be by 2014? Setting Goals and creating your New Year Plan is something most people overlook and neglect with a fresh new year and can often be a key component to a positive, profitable and Happy Year.
Setting Goals may not Come Naturally
Taking the time to write down goals is not something that can come naturally to most people.A lot of people don’t consider what they want to achieve over a 12 month period as they are almost on auto pilot or in one of their “programs”. You know kind of like when you drive somewhere you go a lot and find yourself arriving without a clear conscious idea of how you got there. Some people spend the whole year doing the same things at the same time and so they never feel any need to write down a new year plan or goals. A common story you hear from these people is ” I don’t have time to write down my new year plan!” MAKE TIME. Buy one less coffee that morning or take 5 minutes out of your lunch break to stop and think.
Setting Goals can be as simple as taking the time to sit down with a cup of coffee (at home or your favorite shop) without any distractions and just think about some small, medium and year long goals you would like achieve and make notes on those. The notes really are just so you can keep yourself on task and to look at what goals your achieving as the year goes past.
Stephenie over at the HuffingtonPost came up with a new take on Setting Goals for 2013 by calling your goals a word. In addition to a list of things you may want to accomplish use a guiding word to symbolize what you wish to create for yourself over the next 12 months. Just one word to represent what you aim to achieve and to summarize and drive yourself to accomplish those goals. Sure you can write down an extensive list of your long term goals as well and in fact she suggests this but a single word to represent your target can be easily printed and put on the desk at work, a copy on the dash of the car even the word on the front screen of your smartphone, ipad or PC.
A New Year Plan on Paper 
is the only way!
Both my own personal experience and some conferences I have attended shows that writing on paper rather than typing or tapping into your tablet will drive those goals into your subconscious and help your focus for the the New Year Plan more effectively. I know my own handwriting is positively atrocious but I made the effort to buy myself a nice well bound notebook and I write on a regular basis into my journal my plans and goals. I wont lose this notebook as its quite distinctive and allows me through the process of pen to paper to really focus and think about what I want to achieve. My writings also wont get lost deep on a hard drive. Additionally I am not going to get distracted by emails, twitter and Facebook while I am sitting with pen and paper to hand compared to my laptop.
Following up on Setting Goals throughout the year
The last but almost more important step is to find your special notebook and go over it after several months asking yourself lots of questions.
- What have you achieved?
- What did you fail to achieve?
- Are you surprised on goals you set for your new year plan you achieved without actually remembering them?
Take the time to focus on those non achieved goals and rewrite them into your book. What do you need to change in your behavior to achieve them now?
Forming a habit of checking your setting goals book throughout the year could be the most useful thing you promise yourself in January.
Motivated and excited? Try looking at your personal finances or How to make New Year Resolutions Stick thanks to the folks over at CNN.
***Photos thanks to Bayasaa & Jroo***
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
And what if you’re like me and can’t even decide on what my goals should be? Doomed I guess.
Its easy for me to comment but everybody has goals.
Try this on for size – Take the time to sit down with pen and paper and work out what you want material things wise. A new TV? A new car? A new holiday?
Then work out how your going to achieve this. Will it be working harder, spending less, saving more? Taking a second job?
Now from 5-10mins work you have an idea of a want or need, how your going to achieve this and half a plan or goal in mind.
Continue to flesh this out with things you want spiritually, physically and health, emotional, employment.
First time is the hardest. From then on setting goals can become a little easier.
Good luck.
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