4. Identify Goals

Why You Don’t Reach Goals And Why You Will This Year

happynewyear2014You don’t make goals because you are afraid of failing. So I am going to give you permission to go ahead and make some goals and fail at achieving them. Because after you make these big hairy audacious goals, (you will laugh at how unattainable they are) but you won’t laugh at how close you may come to actually getting there. Here is why:

We are told that we are all special and going to become president but we aren’t told that saving a few bucks every day will not make us millionaires but will make us a lot more comfortable than if we didn’t save. Don’t stress out for the top but be happy with the middle ground. It’s achievable with a few bucks every day.

Look back not forward because we can learn so much from our mistakes. Selling your gold jewelry to a what looked like a reputable firm only to find out after the fact that you paid a 30% commission. Mistakes like this teach us – buyer beware! Get fee disclosures and all the facts upfront.

Take action on what did work. I thought social media was for those GenX and Yers but now I get most of my clients through my social media marketing. I enjoy it and will continue to do it. Keep revising your goals. Times change. You change. Go with it. There is a tipping point where you must say- is this working for me or do I need to let this go? You don’t want to be the person who says after 30 years on the job that you should have left 20 years ago.

Track your progress. This is a reality check for me because the numbers don’t lie. You may think you are on track for a comfortable retirement but what does your calculation say? Tracking helps motivate and clear the path for you to keep plugging away.

Get good advice. There is a time to put the numbers aside and talk to someone or a lot of people. The best thing a mentor recommended to me was to get a personal “advisory board”. These were a combination of close friends and business associates that I trusted to tell it to me straight so that I could become not just a more successful business woman but also a better person in the world. Now I mentor others.

Keep these tips in mind when planning your new year, and celebrate your journey to success (before reaching success).