"Goals are dreams with deadlines." -- Diana Scharf Hunt

Setting & Keeping New Year's Resolutions
By Molly from Smart Pretty & Awkward

I'm all about goals, planning, the future-- I am always making & updating plans for 3 months, 6 months, & 1 year out.  I would make plans for 5 years out, but I'm practical enough to know that the longer-out the goal is, the more likely it will not happen as my short-term goals are always changing! Below are my steps that I follow when making, updating, & refining resolutions.

Step One: Making Resolutions
To make a New Year's resolution, think about your life currently. I like to divide my life into segments: Career, Financial Health, Personal Health, Beauty, Relationships, Friendships, and My Blog. Tailor your segments to what makes sense for your life (maybe School would substitute for Career, or a different hobby for Blogging, for example). Most of us naturally compartmentalize our lives, but this is a way of consciously doing so.

In each section, I like to think about where I am now, & where I want to be going, i.e. what do I like about my job? What do I want to improve in my relationship? What is realistic and tangible for each of these goals?

I won't bore you with my choices for each category, but needless to say there are things I like & things I want to improve on for each. I'm careful to say improve on, rather than dislike, because a dislike is essentially just something that needs an upgrade or a change to make it a like.

Step Two: Keeping Resolutions
There are three keys to keeping New Year's Resolutions.

The first is writing down goals for easy reference, & also because writing down goals makes them seem more "real." I save all of my goals in a Google document, so I can see what my goals were for the past few years & the updates I made as I went along. Before I made my 2011 goals, I checked in with my original 2010 & 2009 goals to see what I was working on in years past.

The second key to keeping a New Years Resolution is frequent check-ins on goals progress throughout the year: daily, weekly, monthly &/or quarterly check-ins. I do personal check-ins on my progress almost daily, & always weekly.

The third is sharing your goals with others who can help you. One of my closest friends is a health guru, and we shared our nutrition goals with each other to keep each other on track via weekly emails (she lives in another state). Another close friend is in a similar spot in her career as me, although a different industry, so we frequently talk about career and job goals. My boyfriend and I shared our goals for our relationship, because it is important to us that we keep working to improve it. & finally, my mom is on board to listen & give feedback on my financial goals.

Step Three: Refining Resolutions
After goals are set, they might need refining or updating throughout the year. My birthday & my half-birthday are the two times a year when I modify my goals list and see if a resolution need to be tweaked. If the goal is achieved early in the year, maybe a new goal need to take its place (Get a Better Job changes to Get an Excellent 6-Month Performance Review at New Job, for example).

& of course, don't forget to celebrate with pals when one of your goal is reached!

A favorite of mine...

Meandering throughout the internet world one early morning at work, I stumbled upon a blog that managed to provide a wealth of inspiration through its simplicity. I've compiled a few of my favorites :)
How to be (less) Awkward: Be with a guy that likes you enough to brag about your accomplishments independent of his own to people in his life.

How to be Smarter: Spend ten minutes a day doing something that will help you reach your ultimate goal. Ten minutes a day writing your novel; ten minutes a day doing jumping jacks; ten minutes a day researching better career options. Time adds up in a real, quantifiable way.

How to be Smarter: Clutter isn’t about too much stuff; its about being indecisive about what you really need in your life. This applies to both physical and mental clutter.

How to be (less) Awkward: When meeting the boyfriend’s ex/old hookup buddy, you must compliment her on one specific thing. Its so much harder to talk badly about someone behind their back if they have made the effort to be nice to you.

How to be Smarter: When you stop having fun, get out. This applies to jobs, relationships, and shopping trips.

How to be (less) Awkward: Always say thank you to your bus driver, cab driver, retail helpers, teachers as you leave their class, party hosts, and more.

How to be (less) Awkward: A friend once told me that a retort that no one can argue with is, “I do what I want” said with a mischievous yet sweet smile; she is right.

How to be Smarter: Stop wasting your precious time. If a guy is looking at his phone while he’s talking to you, he’s not interested. Next.

How to be (less) Awkward: Just because you are sitting with a group, doesn’t mean everything has to be a group decision. I don’t care what kind of sushi you are thinking of ordering, and I certainly don’t want to hear a ten minute discussion about it. Exceptions: if I have crush on you or you employ me. Or both.
How to be Prettier: No black tights after April 15. No exceptions. Its summer girls!

How to be (less) Awkward: At a minimum, you are required to be as careful with other people’s hearts as they are with yours. If someone is holding your heart with two hands, treat theirs like glass as well. If someone is juggling your heart, tossing it up in the air, and dropping it on occasion, it’s okay to clutch theirs less tightly.
How to be (less) Awkward: Does anybody ever like a complainer? Are your problems really interesting to everyone else, all of the time? Does talking about things, instead of fixing them, ever work?

How to be Smarter: All financial advice can seem so complicated and long winded. It all boils down to: Live within your means, save for retirement, have an emergency fund, and pay off credit card debt. If all four at once seem daunting, your goal should be to start doing one more of those things a month, and, after four months, you should be on track, doing all of them.

How to be (less) Awkward: Awkwardness is a mental state only; it is not physical; and you create it in your head. Remembering this is helpful in a state of uncomfortableness.

The rest of this fabulous blog can be found here