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What do you want out of life? What is it that makes you happy? Are you happy with your life the way it is now or do you dream of being in a better place?  Continue reading to learn how achieving goals will shape your life!   While there may be some aspects of your life where you are happy and content, there are probably other aspects that you would like to improve. Maybe you want to own your own home, become a professional sportsperson or study for a degree. The question is how passionate are you about making changes in those areas and what are you prepared to do in achieving goals?   For example you may love your job but you often work back late and that eats into your quality time with your family. You have the choice of staying in that job indefinitely for financial security...

I set a series of goals for myself for this morning.  It involved cleaning up last night’s mess in the kitchen, going grocery shopping, and preparing dinner for myself and my significant other when she got home.  These were simple, pre-planned goals that I set out to achieve in a specific order with a specific end in mind.  In order to achieve this goal, it required very little distress or effort outside of the house.  A simple trip to the grocer in the morning and I was on my way.  As I write this, the goals have been met and the day feels like it was a success.  I have a sense of accomplishment and happiness about achieving these small goals for the day.   These, of course, are not the only goals I have in life.  They range in size severity that ranges from the day, week, year, and...

We all have goals in life. For some it is to win the lottery or live on an island. For others it could be to get out of debt or plan a holiday. Why is it that some people seem to reach their goals effortlessly while others work hard but never get anywhere?   Although it may not seem so at first, successful people achieve goals by following many of the same patterns. These patterns have been well documented by writers such as Napoleon Hill and his followers over many years.   The SMART goal is one of the most common patterns or procedures used to achieve goals. This means the goal must be: ·         Specific ·         Measurable ·         Actionable ·         Realistic / Relevant ·         Time based     Specific   A goal is like the destination on a map. If you don’t know your destination, how will you know...

I recently read an article in Money magazine on why saving money is so hard.  The article featured an interview with Sendhil Mullainathan, Professor of Economics at Harvard University.  Mullainathan explains that lack of saving comes from lack of attention --- what he calls scarcity of attention. We’re so wrapped up in our current expenses that our attention to future savings is not top of mind. I can relate.  Many of us are just “making do” or “hunkering down” until we see a solid light out of the recession. Mullainathan says that when we’re in this mindset “we are actually becoming less productive, less intelligent, with lower self-control.”  He says we’re “hurting our mental capacity” when we’re short on cash.  So, how do we get out of this mindset?  I gathered two actions from Mullainathan – both require goal setting.  1.    Pay yourself first. We’ve heard this for years, but are...