Resolve to Quit

New Year New MeIt may seem early to you that I am already talking about resolutions.  However, right now is the time you should be setting your goals for at least the first three months of 2014 and have a pretty good idea of what your major goals are for the year.

That being said I think it is time a lot of people give up a big habit.  It isn’t smoking or dieting.  I believe it is time to give up the resolutions and move on to creating breakthroughs and goals. You have heard but it’s time to really start setting goals and letting the resolutions fall by the wayside.

Studies show that 88% of people drop their resolutions by the end of January.  These big plans we have for ourselves and they only survive for four weeks?  I think there is something going on here.  That something is no real plan or target.

In order to succeed at something you have to have a specific measurable goal to shoot for.  Zig Ziglar said it best when he talked about the best archer in the world can’t hit the target blind folded.  In order to accomplish anything you have to know exactly what you are trying to accomplish.  Once you get this anything is truly possible!

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If you haven’t heard yet you can check out my new program called New Year New Me!  It is to help out with turning your resolutions into goals and doing it with liked minded people through teleseminars, one on one coaching, and group mastermind calls.  For more information you can visit http://www.newyearnew.me

Teach Your Kids The Tech Way

My Job ChartI am going to deviate a little from my normal blog and write about a service I ran across a couple of weeks ago.  It is call My Job Chart and is a great tool for teaching your kids to spend, save, and give in a technical but easy way.  Did I mention it is also free?

My Job Chart was developed to allow the parent to assign various chores and along with that a point value.  In their system one point equals one cent towards a reward such as something from the Amazon store (you can set whatever items you want to allow them to save points for), a trip to the movies, eating out, game time and a lot more.  You can also choose custom rewards and how many points it takes to receive that reward.

The system also allows the child to select how much money they want to save and can click a button to have you add that amount to their savings account once they earned it.

Lastly, it allows your child to give.  You can setup whatever charities you want your child to be able to save their money to be donated to and they choose how much goes the charity.  Once they have earned enough points they click a button and you receive an e-mail asking you to donate the amount on behalf of the child.

We use this with our daughter and it is great.  She is excited to see her points go up everyday after she does her jobs rather than waiting for the once a week payday that we were doing.  She is able to be in control of her points (*cough* money) and learn how to save for a goal, give to those less fortunate, and save for a rainy day.

There is a lot more as far as customization and options you can do.  It is 100% free so give it a try.  After you do swing by here and let me know what you think!

 

100 Things

Moe the Sloth

Jennifer feeding Moe the Sloth at Cincinnati Zoo.

In episode four of “This Is Your Life” Michael Hyatt talks about giving out legal pads and having his family right down 100 things they would like to do in their life.  He called it a goal list or dream list (as he says, this was before he knew of the term bucket list – I like dream list better).

I think everyone needs to make one of these and push yourself to 100 as he suggests.  Why?  You will be amazed at the results you can have just by putting pen to paper.  Share them with your family and strive to accomplish everything on it.

One of the big list items for my wife was meeting a sloth.  Thanks to Allison Gibbs and Kate Olukalns at the Cincinnati Zoo she was able to mark this off last month.  We were also able to walk in New York City which was something both of us had wanted to do for some time.

Moe and Kate

Moe with pal Kate Olukalns.

Nothing is to wild and crazy for the list and don’t leave anything off. From eating at a specific restaurant to traveling the world, anything you want to do should be on the list. You never know when you can make it happen or someone makes it happen for you.

Luck

4 Leaf Clovers

Photo Courtesy of Christoph Rupprecht

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Seneca

Saint Patrick’s Day was this past weekend when we celebrated the luck of the Irish.  But what about the luck in your life?

We all create our own luck.  If there is something you want to accomplish then go set the goals and do the work necessary so you can succeed.  If you have never done this then set a small goal and see how it feels to actually complete what you set out to do.  Complete a few short term, two week or less, goals and soon you will be doing 5 year goals.

Create Luck!

Self Education

self educationCollege isn’t for everyone.  I think it is obvious but we are still being encouraged to go to a traditional college after high school.  While I highly believe in education I think there are other ways of getting it.  20 years ago a traditional school may have been your best option, however, there is such easy access to material that self education can give you more knowledge than going to college.

If you want to go to college for the experience then go for it.  If you want to go because it is necessary for the path you want to live in life then go for it.  If you are going “because I’m suppose to” then do yourself a favor and take local classes and read books in the field that interests you.

Walt Disney didn’t go past his freshman year in high school but continued to educate himself through books and experiences his entire life.  Let me stress – FINISH HIGH SCHOOL, but explore all of your options for higher education and choose the best for you and not what is expected of you by others.

Your Past Does Not Dictate Your Future

So many people seem to think that their past defines everything about their future.  This is simply a myth.  While I will say that your past has helped shape you it should never define you.

Have you noticed when you see one person who says that their life sucks they do things that cause this (they spend money they can’t afford, complain about everything, drive people away, etc)?  And then you have the other person who says that life is great and they seem to have everything in order (good relationships, savings, friends, etc)?

The human brain is a remarkable thing.  It provides you with the answers and reasoning you are searching for whether right or wrong.  Your life might be great when other people look at it but when you continue to tell yourself you have the worst luck and a bad life then your brain starts to provide you with how you have the worst luck and what you are doing wrong in your life.

If you want to change you can.  Will you?

 

Book Review: 100 Days of a New Year by Jennifer Tankersley

100 Days of a New YearJennifer has once again provided an excellent resource to those who want to stay on track and stay motivated for the first 100 days of the year.  In her most recent edition, Jennifer takes you day by day from January 1-April 23.

This edition is setup like the other two that I have written reviews about.  It comes with 75 downloadable planning pages to help you stay on track.  You are provided with an activity each day to help navigate and organize your life (except for Saturday – that’s catch up day!).

The book is in PDF format which allows you to read on your computer, tablet, or print it out and put into a three ring binder as recommended.

What I enjoy most in each release are the different activities.  Many times they are things that you have thought of but put off or activities which give you that “I haven’t thought of that” a-ha moment.  A new version comes out each year and I do like going through and seeing what is new.

You can purchase this ebook directly from ListPlanIt for five dollars.

*Note: I received a copy of this book at no charge in exchange for my honest review.*

Make Goals Instead of Resolutions

Resolutions vs GoalsIt is time for everyone to start their resolutions but I urge you: DON’T! Why? Well, how many times have you or a family member made a New Year’s Resolution and come February (or a week later) you have already forgotten about it or dropped it? Exactly. That is why I urge you to make New Year’s Goals instead.

The difference between the two is simple.  A resolution is when you say you are going to do something to change your life and that is about as far as it goes.  A goal is something you write down along with the steps it will take to accomplish the goal and with a time frame on finishing it.  The process of goal setting allows you to make small steps over a period of time rather than looking at the big thing you want and thinking it is to big to even mess with (it is the whole ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ thing).

Want to lose weight?  Get out of debt?  Spend more time with family?  Simply set up your goals the SMART way (first published by Paul J. Meyer):

  1. Specific – Instead of “I want to lose weight” change it to “I want to lose 20 pounds.”
  2. Measurable – You have to be able to measure the goal (it is three weeks in, how much weight have you lost).
  3. Attainable – Your goal must be something that is reasonable.  Something within your life that can be reached.
  4. Relevant – Your goal needs to be something that matters even if only to yourself.  If you don’t care if you stop eating junk then your goal is not relevant.
  5. Time Bound – You have to have a time frame around it.  Maybe it is a six month time and maybe it is five years but you must have a time set.

Let us all go out and make 2013 the best we can!

Sources:

Books of 2012

Books

Image Credit: brewbooks

2012 was a year of reading and education for me. I have read more this year than in any previous year and it is great to see the accomplishment. What I believe drove this was Jon Acuff’s “FinishYear”  where he talked about finishing 12 non-fiction books. I went and doubled!

2013 is just around the corner and my goal is to complete 40 books by the end of next year. Who wants to come along on the journey?

Below, in no particular order, are the books that I completed in 2012. The links will take you to Amazon to read more about them and where I have written a review I have included a link to that as well.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Money Class by Suze Orman
QBQ: The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller
Parenting the QBQ Way John G. Miller
How to Be Like Walt by Pat Williams
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant by Terry Felber (review)
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Poke the Box by Seth Godin
Tribes by Seth Godin
Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander
Wisdom Meets Passion by Dan Miller & Jared Angaza (review)
No More Dreaded Mondays by Dan Miller
More Than a Bucket List by Toni Birdsong (review)
Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
The Art of Selling Yourself by Adam Riccoboni & Daniel Callaghan (review)
The Present by Spencer Johnson
Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
The Daily Six by John Chappelear
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
One Big Thing by Phil Cooke (review)
The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney by Jeff Kober

30 Days

30 Days with Morgan SpurlockIt is often said it takes 21 says to form or break a habit. I am not sure how true this is but that is about right for me. If I keep doing something each day somewhere between 21-30 days it starts being routine. Many people want to start or stop habits but think it will be hard or take a lot of time. It may very well be hard if you are curbing an addiction or trying to exercise daily when you have never done it in your life but you have to start the journey.

Morgan Spurlock did his show “30 Days” where he placed himself or another willing participant in a situation for, you guessed it, 30 days.  There were 18 episodes in the original run from 2005-2008 (source: IMDB).  If memory serves, those 30 days were always an eye opener for the participant and those around them and many good things seem to come out of the days they spent together.

Imagine if you looked within yourself and decided to do one thing you always wanted to do and committed to doing it for 30 days.  Would it change your life?  Better yet, would it hurt you in any way?  I ask the hurt question because if the answer is a resounding ‘no’ that it wouldn’t hurt and you could commit the time for a 30 day span then why not try it?

This article was completely inspired by a TEDTalk I ran across a few days ago that was given in 2011 by Matt Cutts.  It is only 3 1/2 minutes and I encourage you to give it a brief watch and see if it inspires you to try something new for just 30 days.