Now you’ve recovered form the festive period, then perhaps you’ve already decided what you’re going to focus on this year, and have decided what New Year, New You means for you this year.
What are your goals?
Maybe New Year, New You means that you’re going to:
- Get your finances in order, or see how much you can save with our Money Saving Tips
- Find a new job
- Move to a new home nearer to work or that doesn’t cost as much to heat
- Spend more time with your family
- Go on vacation
- Go to the gym, get fit and eat healthier
No matter what you decide, you’ll want to give yourself the best chance of succeeding.
How will you achieve New Year, New You?
Experts such as Sam Thomas Davies reckon that it can take anywhere from a single day to 66 days to develop a new habit.
It’s quicker and easier to remember go to a new workplace, or home, or that you’ve got a new baby (and more immediately rewarding), than it is to go to the gym or eat more fruit, or stop smoking.
It’s a good idea to have an attainable goal in mind, and something that can be measured and achieved.
Think SMART
The acronym SMART is often used, and is a useful way of remembering how to determine your goals.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.
- Specific – ‘Saving money’ is very vague, but ‘saving $20 a month’ is much more specific
- Measurable – an amount – ‘save $100 dollars’, ‘spend 3 days a week’
- Achievable – can’t save $200 a week if you only earn $150 a week
- Realistic – can’t save $200 per month if your monthly outgoings only leave you $50 to save
- Timely – a given timescale – ‘a month’, ‘by February’, ‘each day’
Define your goals
Your goals might be along the lines of:
- ‘Having $200 to spend on the kids over summer by saving $50 per month’
- ‘Spending an hour with the children each day’
- ‘Learning to play a song on the piano or guitar within 3 months’
- ‘Changing the car to something more economical by the start of summer’
- ‘Eating fruit instead of candy at work’
- ‘Going to see my parents on Tuesdays, starting next week’
- ‘Stopping all the subscriptions I don’t need / use by the end of this week’
Making small steps each day or week is key.
Conclusion
You might have some more things that you want to do, or discover that making big changes don’t involve big steps, and are much easier to achieve than you first thought.
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