Make magic happen this year

Good morning Dinks.  Last week I told you about my goals for 2014.  This year I want to work less, travel more and focus on my personal happiness.  So that’s what I’m going to do, but before I start I need a plan.  And you know me…I love to plan.

That’s why I love the New Year, because it always starts with a plan.  During the holidays I fill up my wall calendar and my paper agenda (Oh yeah that’s right I’m old school) with dates, goals and targets.  This year I even added in a little extra me time with two massages and one spa day throughout the year.  Having personal goals gives me something to look forward to; something to work towards and that keeps me motivated.

New Year, New Beginning

This time of the year many people want to start over…they want a do-over on their life from last year and that’s OK.  As adults we learn from our mistakes and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a bigger and better version of yourself.

Lots of people set goals but don’t achieve them.  I don’t think it’s because people set goals that are out of reach, I think people don’t achieve their goals because they don’t have a plan.  For some people goals are dreams, they are magic thoughts that people hope to have.  But goals don’t have to be dreams.  The truth is that goals can be achieved by anyone.  So how can you make the magic of your dreams happen? With a plan.

That’s where I come in.  I love making plans and I will tell you how I work towards my personal goals.  I use the same attack plan for all my goals from career and money to health and weight loss.  And trust me when I say…it’s not complicated.  But a plan is only successful if you stick with it, and that’s the truth.

Achieve your goals in 2014 with 3 simple steps:

1. Start small, but think big.  I don’t know about you, but having huge goals doesn’t motivate me because it’s hard to track the progress and they always seem out of reach.  I like to set smaller goals that I can easily achieve in the short term.  Instead of trying to lose 30 pounds in the next six months, why not focus on losing one pound in the next week.  Having smaller, short term goals helps keep me motivated  and working towards the bigger goal.

2. Don’t look back, focus on the future. So often people like to dwell on their mistakes of the past.  I have made my share of mistakes over the last 33 years of my life, and I am not saying that we should forget our past.  But we should look towards the future and take pride in the fact that we are trying to change our life around.  So what if you accumulated thousands of dollars of debt – you did it and it’s done.  Now you have to make a plan to pay it off.  Think into the future, think about your life being debt free.

3. Stop talking and get it done.  This is the most important part of your new plan.  Stop talking about it and start doing something about it.  Setting a plan, being organized and having goals are great – but they don’t mean anything if you don’t get them done.  Actually you will just feel worse about yourself at the end of the year when you look back and realize you didn’t achieve any of your goals.  So avoid the self loathing by achieving your goals this year.

Photo by SierraTierra

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.