While we are talking about money stuff, before you start spending your raise, inheritance, or whatever money, make sure you have either a savings account or an envelope in your top dresser drawer (or where ever you want your secret stash to be) that equals or exceeds SIX months worth of living expenses. This lessens the panic when you suddenly have a car repair, child’s braces, new fridge, job loss or any of the other ‘surprises’ in life.

There is an old standard about what to do when you find yourself in a bad financial position: “If it ever comes down to either/or, make your car payment or repair before your mortgage, because you can live in your car, but you can’t drive your house to work.” That’s not bad advice if your circumstances change suddenly, but I'll take it a step farther... Don’t accrue debt in the first place. Don’t take on an expensive car (payment) because you think you deserve it, or want to impress someone else. Save your pennies if you must, but PAY for your car rather than have a car payment. There is nothing wrong with saving toward a goal. That’s the smart way to do it.

In honor of the new year, and all the resolutions you are tempted to make, here are some tips on goal setting.

Step 1: Sit down with pen and paper and do some dreaming. No kidding, this part is serious business. Let your mind wander a little and try to see the life you really want. REALLY see it. Do you want to go to college, buy your first house, or something else? In your mind, try to picture what living that dream would look like. Does your home have one or two stories? Is your car a sports car or a station wagon?

At this stage, you have a magic wand (you really do, it's called your "pen"). Anything is possible. No limitations (those will come later). Look at all facets of your life. If you had no limitations (pretend time, money and other things are no obstacle) what would your life look like? How involved would you be in your church? What hobbies would be part of your life? I love to China Paint and do all kinds of Needlework, as well as design Counted Cross-stitch patterns, so those would fit into this section of my plan. Sports or physical activities? Travel? What role would you play in the lives of your children or grandchildren? What kinds of things would you be doing with your friends?

This might take several sessions. You might want to, right now, schedule an hour a week into your calendar for this. Call it "GOAL SETTING" or something else that sounds serious and professional, and don't let anything stop you from keeping that appointment with yourself. Later, this time can turn into refining your plan or re-organizing. In the beginning, you might want to take an entire afternoon. Or, you might want to leave it out on the diningroom table, or somewhere else that you can "doodle" with it whenever you have a bit of free time.

For now, just get those thoughts on paper. Later you'll turn them into goals and action plans. You can call it, "The Road To Our Success", “Dreams Of My Future”, or something else that resonates with you. Create a "Goals & Dreams" book. Maybe in a loose-leaf binder, a pre-bound thing that's like a dozen sheet protector pages bound together, a photo album with those "magnetic" sheet pages, a journal-type book, or a scrapbook. Another good way to display your goals and dreams is with a bulletin board or one of those folding poster board things. Choose something that fits your personality, and works best for you. I started with little scraps of paper (post-its, index cards, and note-pad sheets) that I kept together in a little plastic sleeve. Now I have a photo-album with different kinds of sheets in it. Sheet protectors for full-sized sheets of paper, and those sheet protector kinds of pocket-pages for photos.

This is where you can get creative. If one of your goals is to have a new car, go on-line and find out all you can about it. Go to a car dealer and get their brochure on it. Take someone with you and have your picture taken test-driving it.
Really see those goals in as much detail as possible. Go to Michael's (the craft store) and get some scrapbooking stuff to accent it. Go to a travel agent and got some travel brochures. Some goals might have several pages, and will have more after you accomplish it and add some pictures of your success. Find articles about it.

Eventually your book will be a combination of achieved goals as well as ones you are working toward. It's a great reminder to have when you feel dismal. It's a great "pick-me-up" when the day has been full of frustration. I even have some of those original scraps of paper goals in mine. One is just a page from a small note book, on which I had written: "Achieve President's Club", and then scratched out "how". It says: Sell $10,000 (at that time) in cycle. 20 campaigns at $500 each. (I started part-way into the cycle). I have that sheet mounted on a piece of colored paper along with a picture of that Mrs. Albee statue that I cut out of the President's Club Recognition brochure from that year. And a photo-copy, cut out of the Recognition Statement from the campaign I earned it in. (I made it in 16 campaigns by-the-way.)

This book is not just to motivate you. It will help motivate your children to set and achieve goals of their own. Share it with your family, and encourage them to contribute ideas of things to work toward like a family vacation, a new car or that swing-set they’ve always wanted. One person I know, wanted to take her family to Mexico for her daughter’s 15th birthday (which is a big thing in that culture) to celebrate her heritage as her mother, grandmother, etc., had. She achieved her goal, they went, and now pictures of that event are in her book.

You can add all kinds of things to it. If you attend an event, save the invitation and have your picture taken there. Include any kind of incentive or event and as many things as you can think of that contribute to it. Tickets, fortunes from cookies, small calendar pages, swatches and paint chips. Cut pictures from magazines. The more things you include, the more real it becomes in your mind (which will help keep you motivated on those challenging days). Also include information and pictures when you achieve it.

Step 2: Start planning how you will turn those "dreams" into goals. Like my example above about achieving "PC". What will it take to achieve your goal? Then break that down into manageable sized pieces. One Rep I know, broke achieving PC down into not only what it took each campaign, but how much she needed to sell in a single day. Make your steps small enough to be achievable, but big enough to make you stretch a little. Make all of your goals "SMART". If you don't know what SMART goals are, there's lots of info on the internet about SMART Goals. Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Ttimely.

Step 3 & 4: Start tracking yourself. Are you achieving above, below, or right on? What adjustments do you need to make? Adjust as you go along. Some things will work, some won't. Some will work for a while and then need freshening. Don't let your goals or your enthusiasm stagnate. If it no longer motivates you, change it so it does.

Step 5: Make sure you reward yourself along the way. I have short-term goals for each week as well as long term goals for the next several years. When I accomplish a step I reward myself. Sometimes it's only a SUBWAY sandwich, or a DAIRY QUEEN Sundae, some times it's a bigger item like a piece of jewelry. Always have something immediate you are working toward on the way to the big goals. This will help you stay motivated and enthusiastic. Share those achievements with people you care about, like friends and family. Let others know what you’ve achieved and encourage them to make their dreams a reality too.

Step 6: After you achieve a goal, give yourself a little time (ten minutes or so, only half-kidding) to wallow in your success and enjoy your reward. But don't end the day without a new goal. You need some reason to wake up in the morning and start in again.

I wish you great success!