Making it in 2009

Think back to December 2006. Remember all the things you wanted to have accomplished? How did you do? Are those things still on your list?

Well, now we’ve just finished with 2008. We’re now all making the new year’s resolutions that will last to mid-January— get control of our finances, lose X amount of pounds, maybe even read or write a book. Statistics show that most of us will quit before we get anywhere close to those objectives without designing a plan.

This year, set a goal to succeed.

If you had stuck with the goals you made last year, then you would already be done. Wow! 365 days went by quickly, and so will this year, so don’t let the time get away from you. The sooner you make something part of your routine, the less you’ll notice that you’re doing it, and the quicker you’ll be finished.

Don’t make a goal and then look at it as something you have to do. That’s the wrong attitude. Soon you’ll come to resent doing the thing that is supposed to make you better. Remember that every time you pay off a debt, get on the treadmill, or do something else productive, you become a better person and get closer to your target.

Think about when you graduated from college. You were used to going to bed at midnight or later. But now that you have a job, you need to get up earlier. So you start going to bed at 10 or even 9:30 p.m. You didn’t like it at first, and it took some adjusting. But now you’ve done it so much that you don’t even notice. It’s part of your routine.

Getting out of debt, losing weight, or anything else is the same way. Do it for a while, and it goes from being difficult to being a bother to just another thing. By the time beating debt becomes just another thing, you are reaping the rewards from it, which makes the process fun. And when it’s fun, the year passes quickly.

Here are six basic strategies you can do to make it

1. Figured out your motivation, which is rooted in your values.
2. Increased your skills.
3. Enlisted the help of family, friends and colleagues.
4. Steered clear of social events and people who might sabotage your goals.
5. Created an environment that is conductive to success.
6. Rewarded yourself for reaching milestones.