Thank you so much to all of those that checked out my post yesterday on Bell Let’s Talk day and for everyone who took the time to raise money by talking, texting or using #BellLetsTalk. If you or anyone you know struggles with mental illness you now how important it is to talk about it.
But, back to business…and my tips for a new year and a fresh start.
So now that we’ve purged our homes and have them all organized – what’s next to start the year off right? Now of course, some of these things don’t have an order. For example, you may feel that goal-setting comes before cleaning and organizing. Whatever works for you. The next 3 tips can apply to home and interior design, however, are more just about life in general. These are things I have learned over the years from work and life in general.
You may have noticed that I’m not one for keeping my resolutions. In fact, its probably safe to say that I don’t believe in new years resolutions. With that in mind, I decided to forgo the process – and do something different. If you want to dedicate yourself to something, you shouldn’t just do it because its a new year – you should do it because you feel you need to.
I was able to pull some stats (sorry only American) on New Years Resolutions, 41% of Americans usually make a resolution – but only roughly 9% of people felt that they were successful. (Source: http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/ ) When I checked some other surveys, the results seemed to be at par.
But here’s the thing – in order to achieve something – anything, you need to start with a goal to achieve. I think New Years Resolutions don’t work because there is so much hype around them. What I prefer to do, and what I think people should make instead of resolutions, are just goals – but at any time of the year. So while this is about a New Year and a Fresh Start – this tip can be used at any time.
Goals can be anything. Health, financial, family, planning, career…really whatever you want to achieve. Perhaps its saving for a home renovation. Or maybe its taking on a home project yourself. Or to take the family on a vacation. Whatever it is, one of the things I learned in university, on the job, and is something still widely used across all professions is the S.M.A.R.T. approach to setting objectives or goals.
Some people or organizations may use different words but it always refers to the same thing. Your goals need to be specific and you should be able to measure where you are at or know when you have achieve it. They should actually be able to be achieved – don’t say your going to save $50,000 if that’s how much you make in a year. They need to be relevant and also have a deadline – otherwise how are you going to know when to measure it?
There are thousands of people out there right now claiming to be able to help you achieve your different goals – but I’m not one of them. But WHAT I CAN tell you that using the SMART approach above is definitely the best approach to setting your goals. Then achieving them is really up to you and your effort and willpower! All I can say is that if its important enough to you, you will find a way to to it. If something is not a priority in your life right now, you probably shouldn’t set a goal around it.
Then the only thing left to consider in order to achieve your goals are time and money – two key resources usually required – of course not always in the same proportions. So in the next posts we are going to talk about budgeting and then finally get into time planning.
Feel free to share any of your feelings on resolutions vs. goal setting in the comments section below. I hope it has been helpful for you, at least in not feeling like a failure for not being able to stick to new year resolutions 🙂
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