New Year's is the only holiday that celebrates a passage of time. Perhaps that's why, as the closing seconds of the year tick away, we humans become introspective. Inevitably, this mental examination of our own feelings and motives turns to thoughts of self-improvement and the annual ritual of making resolutions, which offer the first of many important tools for remaking ourselves for the better, we can only hope.
Simply by subscribing to blogs and bookmarking web sites (such as THIS ONE) that could give you some new thoughts or other ideas. Then make the time to scan your feeds and bookmarks for interesting posts every week. Even limiting your reading time to an hour per week means you can read at least a dozen thought-provoking posts in the time it takes to eat your lunch. Hey, you may even learn something that could be worth while, or give you an answer of another kind…
OKOA Resolutions Basic Ideas…
1. Debt Reduction and Savings Building
One of the first things you have to do before any debt can be eliminated is to stop adding to it. If you continue to unnecessary spend, you are only fueling the problem, and adding on to the debt, not resolving it. Keep some kind of daily diary of all money spent, whether it is by cash, check, credit card, etc. Once you know where your money is going, then, and only then, can you take the steps needed to prepare a good plan that you can live with and make huge strides to plan your debt away. It is not easy, but well worth it.
Make a resolution now to stop charging anything and to get financially stable. If you can't pay cash for it, you don't need it, make it just that simple. At first, apply all you can to get rid of any debt owed, then as the debts are paid, start a saving account, and pay yourself first by putting away at least 5% of your net income. Then as you learn this simple habit better, each year increase the percentage put away by 2-5%. It is amazing how fast the total will add up, and how good it feels to have the cash to cover should something happen.
2. Lose Weight and Get in Better Physical Shape
Physical activity builds physical vitality. With every year of your life, you have more to gain from being physically active; as your age-related risks of chronic disease increase, regular exercise generally slows or reverses that trend. In fact, you're even more likely to notice the benefits of regular exercise if you already have a persistent condition reminding you that you’re getting older by the second.
Are you ever going to be fit again as long as you live? The answer is unless you make a resolution to get fit – you’re never going to be fit – ever. The choice is yours; it begins by opting for the stairs instead of the elevator, fruit in place of sweets, and enthusiastic rather than sedentary activities.
3. Learn Something New
People throughout the world are realizing that a strong resolve to lifelong learning is more than just education and training beyond formal schooling. A lifelong learning framework encompasses learning throughout the life cycle, from cradle to grave and in different learning environments, formal, non-formal and informal. Some of the side effects from this action could also help your own body, mind and inner-self.
Perhaps you are considering a career change, or having one forced upon you, want to learn a new language or musical instrument, or just how to become a better cook? Whether you take a course or read a book, you'll find education to be one of the easiest, most motivating and beneficial resolutions to keep. Challenge your mind in the coming year, break out of currents routines and challenge every comfort zone and watch your horizons expand to who knows where.
4. Stick to a Budget
It’s been said that the best defense is a good offense. Developing and sticking to a realistic budget is a brilliant offensive move as it prevents overspending and ensures peace of mind. In today’s often uncertain world of downward trends and bailouts, having a firm grip on your own financial matters is more then key!
Many people find it very difficult to stick to a budget. It does take hard work and a lot of self-discipline, at least in the beginning. The good news is that most people find the longer they can stick to a budget, the easier it becomes.
5. Enjoy More Quality Time with Family & Friends
More and more people are resolving to spend more quality time with family and friends this year. This means you must consciously decide to actively and purposely work on improving your situation every day. You may need to do such things as reschedule business activities to make time for your friends, help your children set and achieve worthwhile goals, and setting aside at least an hour a day for the family, every day.
Starting right now, you can begin to make choices and take day-to-day actions that will create nothing short of a phenomenal family or friends. You can choose to have this if you just resolve to do it and know where to put your focus. Making our lives stronger and healthier is important to our communities, our state and our world as a whole.
6. Quit Smoking
Becoming a non-smoker is probably one of the best decisions you can ever make, and is a life changing as well as a life-saving and a debt reducing decision. The benefits to your health, relationships, finances, vitality, the environment and to your sense of self-esteem for having conquered a really hard-to-kick habit will make any and all of your efforts and determination more than worth while. The resolution to become a non-smoker will also help you to live longer, have more time and enjoy the finer things in life.
Once you’ve made the resolution to stop, acted upon it and succeeded, you'll feel great about what you have achieved. Resolving to give up this habit is your decision, and will improve your life from that moment on. No one else can make you quit, and no one can help you make the resolution. You have to do it yourself, you have to want to do it, and you need to do it now!
7. Increase Income
A new year provides a sense of getting a free do-over, so you can try again and get it right. Many people resolve to find better jobs or to take a new approach to the jobs they've already got. It's corny, but true -- most of us get reflective at this time of year and if we are in jobs already, we begin thinking: Am I on the right path? Do I like where my position and my company are headed? Am I even in the right career?
So you've been hearing that voice again, the one that says you're not doing what you were born to do. That may be true, but how do you figure out what you should be doing? To begin answering this question, examine whether your current career path matches your core interests, beliefs, values, needs and skills. Resolve to ask and answer those essential questions before making any new career changes.
8. Volunteer and Help Others
A popular, non-selfish New Year's resolution, volunteerism can take many forms such as spending time helping out at your local library, mentoring a child, or even help building a house for others to name a few. Volunteering has risen sharply in the years since we began making resolutions. This suggests the likely emergence of a new civic generation and a resolve to make a bigger and better difference with our lives.
Resolve to replace the pursuit of success and materialism with the pursuit of contribution and generosity. For this to occur, the critical question must move from, “How can I become successful?” to, “What can I contribute that will significantly impact other people's lives?” By focusing on what we can contribute, we will automatically become successful. Try it and see for yourself.
9. Delegate effectively
We all want to work less and get more done. Here's one of the greatest secrets of time management: successful delegation. Start by writing down every activity you and yours undertake for an entire week, and then review the results hard. There are likely a number of activities that won't help you achieve your goals, or could be done better by others. Focus on working to get those low-priority activities either delegated better or dumped all together.
While writing down everything, be sure that all items are in roughly scheduled order as to when they are actually getting done. This simple act may even show how a task is taking up multiply time slots and who could do the task needed in one stop, at one time. This in it self, will free up more time for all.
10. Get Organized
Resolve this year to plan your days, reduce interruptions, clean off your desk, say "No", and make detailed lists. The benefits of getting more organized include being able to save time, as you no longer look for the same things over and over again or need to replace things you can’t find at all.
You will reduce stress because when you know where everything is, there’s no last-minute rush to find what you need and get out the door on time for school, soccer practice, or that important business meeting.
You will also find yourself being much more productive, as all the time you once spent looking for things can now be used to do more important or more enjoyable tasks. Most people define being organized as quickly and easily able to find what you need. While this is certainly true, organization is so much more. The ability to staying organized lets you focus on accomplishing your most important goals. That’s the true benefit of being organized.
Here's Hoping For Our Success...
It’s a stark irony of the Western calendar that the odometer turns over smack dab in the middle of winter—the one time of the year when most people can’t rouse themselves to clean their own bathrooms, much less make an ambitious, life-changing, behavioral U-turn. If you’re the type who likes to ring in the New Year with an engraved in stone list of resolutions, I hope that my list above will give some ideas that you have not come up with or even tried yet.
Now, for the rest of us, don't just read the above list and start making excuses, just think how nice it would be to have the time or inclination to really try this year. You can actually do any one, two or the needed of the above list! These could boost your life, in many ways, just by bookmarking this blog or printing it out and at least working on a couple of the above points over the coming months. Soon you will be noticing the benefits. Good luck, have a great year ahead and never stop building upon your success, while always be looking for Other Kinds Of Answers…!
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