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Make The Most Of Your Holiday Gifts

Published on December 26, 2007 in Career Development, Goal Setting and Personal Success. 0 Comments

OK, the gifts are unwrapped, and now you have a decision to make. What do you do with the gift(s) you received that don’t fit, are the wrong color, or are just not you? Or, maybe you received some gift cards or perhaps even cold, hard cash.

Selfish Is Good

If you are like most people you will spend at least some time in the next week or two visiting the local mall to exchange gifts or buy something with the cash or gift card you received. Instead of just buying something that would be “neat to have” or getting another pair of shoes, why not invest in yourself? Here are a few post-holiday shopping tips that could help you achieve more life success in 2008 and beyond:

Buy a book on a subject you have always been interested in- Try something new. Maybe you have wanted to learn a new language, or learn how to play an instrument. Perhaps you want to start a new hobby or learn more about history. Whatever you are interested in there is probably a book to help you.
Improve your job skills- One of the best ways to improve your life is to do a better job at your job. I’m assuming that you enjoy what you do. If not, see #3 below. If you do enjoy your work, learning how to do your job better can make you more money without increasing your hours worked. Maybe there is a seminar or conference that you can attend that will give you new skills or allow you to network within your field. There are lots of options. Find something that works for you and enjoy the benefits of working smarter.
Explore a new career- If you are not happy with your career, do something about it! Working at a job you don’t enjoy just isn’t worth it. Use some of your extra holiday cash to begin the process of exploring alternatives. Join a professional association of the field you are interested in, begin the education process needed to switch careers, or even just start your “career transition” fund that can provide a cushion when you eventually change jobs.
Plan a quality vacation- Vacation time is important. Taking time away from the everyday is vital to our overall health. Instead of another year doing the same old, same old, explore some exciting alternatives! Use some of the cash you received to visit a place you have never been before, or just do something different at your regular vacation spot. You don’t have to travel the world to have a nice vacation, there are plenty of alternatives close by. It just takes a little research. Start your research now and you will be a vacation hero to your family this year!

Get Creative

These are just a few possibilites. There are many, many more. Just think about what you would like to change and see if there is a way to get started sooner rather than later. Maybe you can even get a jump start on your 2008 commitments before January 1st.

Commitments For 2008

Published on December 23, 2007 in Career Development, Goal Setting, Health and Fitness, Personal Success and Sports and Hobbies. 1 Comment

OK, here are my 2008 commitments.

I am posting these so that you can get an idea what I am going to be accomplishing next year and why I have decided on these particular commitments. You have over a week until 2008 so maybe you can use my commitments a a springboard for your own ideas.

Ride at least 4 days/week for total time of over 200 hours during 2008: Road bike riding is my primary form of exercise as well as the key way I get to satisfy my competitive nature outside of work. I have been riding seriously for almost 5 years after 20+ years of running. I really enjoy the structure of planning out each week’s worth of riding and going out after work for an hour or so really helps keep everything in balance. I ride by myself 2-3 days a week and with a group the other 1-2 days. I have pretty much decided to stop racing criteriums (fast circuit races) as I just don’t have the time to train properly to be truly competitive but I mainly don’t want to risk a bad crash like I have witnessed/barely missed in nearly every “crit” I raced. I guess I’m getting a little chicken in my old age:-) Instead, I plan on riding several “competitive” centuries this year. If I can stay healthy (see below) I may attempt a 12 hour event.

Learn something new every day: I am reading “The Intellectual Devotional” which is 365 days worth of knowledge from 7 key areas. It should help me learn a little each day and might inspire me to try something new. I will read this book each evening before bed.

Become more flexible: As I get older I am finding out that my body doesn’t tolerate the abuse like it used to. As a result I am finding that I am starting to get some small, nagging injuries that could affect my ability to participate in cycling, among other things. So, I have already begun a nightly stretching routine that is already starting to make a positive impact. I will probably order “Yoga for Cyclists” as it has specific routines to help cyclists become more flexible. I want to be “200%” more flexible by this time next year. I realize this might be hard to measure but I will use the flexibility of my hamstrings as the benchmark. Currently, I can barely get my hands past my knees while sitting on the floor with my legs flat against the floor. I should be able to touch my feet easily if I am doing things the right way.

Make time to visit out of town friends: We have very close friends (two different couples) that live, now that we all have moved, in two different cities than us. We have a great time when we are together. We have made a point the last few years to get together for at least a long weekend. This is a major goal for us this year as we don’t want to break that tradition.

Obtain advanced investment management designation: I am going to begin work on an advanced investment planning professional designation. There are 2-3 courses of study available and I will need to investigate them to see which one best complements my current experience. I will have narrowed the field by the end of January and I could be done by the end of the year if I pursue one or by the end of 2009 if I pursue the other.

As part of my commitment to myself, and everyone else who reads this, I will update my progress each month. For better or worse, I will let you know how I am progressing and if I have had to make any adjustments along the way.

There you go, I have laid my 2008 commitments out there for everyone to see. There is nothing earth shattering, just some things I would like to improve on. Hopefully they will give you some ideas for your own. To develop your own, follow the outline I had in my last post.

Everyone please have a happy and safe holiday!

Creating New Year’s Commitments That Work

Published on December 21, 2007 in Goal Setting and Personal Success. 1 Comment

Ok, so if you have read my last post hopefully I’ve convinced you to make New Years commitments this year instead of resolutions. Now what? So many people fail in their quest to improve themselves. They start out each year with high hopes and not much later they have forgotten completely about it. Then next year comes along and they go through the same process all over again. How can you increase the odds of success? The key is to be specific and focus on a limited number of commitments. Here are some things that I have found to work for me personally. Maybe they will help you.

Focus on a few key areas
Set challenging, but achievable commitments.
Write down your commitments
Measure your progress
Be willing to adjust if something happens

Let’s explore each one a little more.

Focus On A Few Key Areas: Too many times we decide to improve ourselves all at once. It is easy to get caught up in the spirit of “more must be better” so we come up with a huge list of things to do. It’s no wonder we fail, there’s too much to follow. Instead of a large list focus on 2-4 specific areas that are most important to you right now.

Set Challenging, But Achievable Commitments: Make sure that your commitments are challenging enough to push you a little bit but not so hard that you lose motivation and give up. We need to see progress, it helps us stay motivated. For example, if you are committing to lose 100 pounds by June 1st and its January 1st you probably have a limited chance of success. Sure you will lose weight but compared to what your goal is it won’t seem like much so you could “pack it in” and give up. A commitment of losing 30-50 pounds by June 1st might be a better way to go.

Write Down Your Commitments: Make sure you are accountable to yourself. Writing down your commitments makes them more real. You don’t have to tell the whole world what you are doing but make sure you have something concrete you can refer to on a regularly. Stick a copy of your commitments somewhere that you will see on a regular basis (refrigerator, mirror etc.).

Measure Your Progress: When you set a goal or commitment it is important to have a way to measure your progress. Set points in time that allow you to check you progress. For example, if you have committed to losing 25 pounds by June you would probably want to measure your progress each month.

Be Willing To Adjust: Sometimes your best laid plans have to be adjusted. For whatever reason, sometimes life gets in the way. If this happens to you don’t get too discouraged. You can always reset you commitments at a later time. Take note of what you have accomplished up to the point you had to readjust and move forward from there.

Now that you have some suggestions to help you set your commitments for the new year, take a few minutes and think about what areas of your life you would like to improve. Write them down, attach some reasonable time frames to them, and set some benchmarks for evaluating progress. Have a “plan B”in place to help you recover if life gets in the way.

Good luck creating your commitments for the next year. To give you some ideas, my next post will list my commitments and how I plan on achieving them.