It’s December and around this time we begin to have thoughts about the New Year and how we want it to be. A lot of us make New Years Resolutions and after the first few months, it’s quickly forgotten. There’s also life in itself–you can’t really plan life, it seldom works out the way we plan it.

We make plans and God laughs

What I’ve learned is plans are best made when a situation is already in place i.e. the dream company. Using the dream company for example, a plan would be now that your foot is in the door to work hard to get the actual position you want. Another example: planning to get married; well you’ll have to be in a satisfying relationship first and build from there… There’s an old saying “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Plans are great but setting goals are better! Set small attainable goals along the way, goals you’ll like to achieve in the first quarter of the year and goals you’ll like to achieve the second half of the year. Your goals are personal to you and you alone, they can be as trivial as drinking more water to finishing up that degree to achieving a higher credit score. Goals take practice and patience so don’t beat yourself up if you slip and miss a payment on the road to repairing your credit. Analyze what happened, maybe you’re forgetful, therefore setting your phone to alert you ahead of time to pay the bill will be needed until it becomes a pattern.

Here are a few ways to transition into a successful New Year

• Reflect: Reflect on what occurred in 2016, the highs, the lows and make peace with it and let go!

• Meditate: “Meditation is relaxation. It’s not about focusing one’s thoughts on one thing, but instead becoming thoughtless. Benefits

  include, good concentration, improved communication and rejuvenation of the mind (Art of Living, 2016) just to name a few.

• Dream It: Create a vision board filled with empowering words,

  objects and goals you want to obtain and keep it in clear sight so that you can view it on a daily basis.

• Evaluate: After you’ve created your goals for the New Year conduct maintenance on it ever so often… i.e. You started a diet in January, by March/April how much weight have you lost, how’s your eating habits been, do you need to adjust anything or did you make your goal.

• Do: Whatever it is, nothing get’s accomplished with just thoughts. Get up, get busy and achieve it!