The tide of the New Year is just settling in and you have probably made a number of resolutions that you are embarking on. A whole month is elapsed, and with the new month comes a fresh opportunity to reflect on your annual resolutions and how to achieve them. February may be the shortest month of the year but it is also an intermediary after the January burnout (financial and otherwise) and presents an opportunity to review your goals and ambitions with reality setting in on the achievable ones and those you need to strike off or simplify. For instance the below common annual resolutions can be simplified as follows: 1) Regular gym attendance for weight loss may not be realistic going by the cost and time constraints, but you may substitute it with a 30 minutes’ walk to reduce the effects of a sedentary lifestyle (sitting all day). 2) The decision to save 20% of your income looks impossible with all the January expenses, but you can start with 10% and increase it with time. 3) The time spent with your family seems less than what you committed. You can reschedule your activities by waking up earlier so that you finish work on time and cook a meal for your family or attend to children's homework. With each New Year, most of us think positively and try to revamp our lives. Partying should trickle down with February as January commitments and holidays leave negligible savings but St Valentines decided to show up in February and many are thinking of how to please their loved ones on that day. However it doesn't have to be extravagant, you can express your love in a subtle way so long as you make an effort to show it every day. In brief many things are competing for our attention and money that prevent us from achieving our most important self-development goals which would enhance our personality and how others perceive us- our family, employers, clients and the society at large. The reason you seem out of breath and barely surviving is because of the unnecessary load of activities you are involved in. SMART is a best practice framework for setting goals. A SMART goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound. By setting a goal, an individual is making a roadmap for a specific target. The elements in the framework work together to create a goal that is carefully and thoughtfully planned out, executable and trackable.
