101 Reasons to be Yourself

How are those New Year’s resolutions coming along? Good, Bad, Ugly?
Why not try something different – something with a more uplifting connotation? For example, make your resolution for the year along the lines of:
“I am making positive changes in 2009.”
“I am developing multiple streams of income.”
“I am healthy and fit this year.”
Focus on that as the big picture for the year, then get started on some specific goals and objectives, seeing yourself actually having accomplished those goals.
Really, how many people quit smoking, lose 20 pounds or make a million dollars because of a New Year’s resolution?
Goal and objectives, on the other hand, act as an organic roadmap to get you to your destination. You can easily work on several goals at the same time for your work, your health, your relationships and whatever else you want to tune up this year.

Here is an idea you may have heard of that has worked for many successful people, including yours truly, in attaining goals and making positive change:
Step 1: Get some index cards that are small enough to easily carry with you.
Step 2: Every night, or first thing in the morning, write down your primary goal(s) for the day in a positive frame of reference. (ie, instead of “I am losing 20 pounds”, write “I weigh 125 pounds”, or whatever your goal weight is.)
Step 3: On the other side of the card, write six objectives for the day – things you can do to move you toward your goal, again, using a positive frame of reference. (eg, 1. walk for 30 minutes, 2. drink 10 glasses of water, 3. get salad greens and fish for dinner, etc.)
Step 4: Put them in order of importance and timing then do each one until they are crossed off.
Step 5: Transfer the leftovers to the next day’s card and do them before moving on to anything else.

This is a very powerful exercise and a fantastic habit to get into. You can get a lot done and do incredible things with your life by using this simple system. I didn’t make this up. I read about it last April. Since then, I have written and published “101 Reasons to be Yourself”, changed my career, built a website and blog and dumped a few bad habits. It really works.

Here’s wishing you all the best!
Heather Loewen
Author, 101 Reasons to be Yourself

As promised, here is a page from my book (more to come on a weekly-ish basis).

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