Today’s HOME Spun Wisdom

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Achieving and accomplishing your goals is not impossible?you have to work for it; take time out from your busy schedule. Read here about how to get where you want to be.
Achieving and accomplishing your goals is not impossible?you have to work for it; take time out from your busy schedule. Read here about how to get where you want to be.

RISMEDIA, Jan. 11 ? (KRT) ? Want to make sure you accomplish your goals?

If so, remember that you can only do that if you make yourself a priority.

Your needs must be honored at all costs. All of the promises you make to yourself must be kept.

For example, if you’ve vowed to work out three times a week, you’ll have to let other obligations slide by if there is a conflict.

You might have to let the dinner dishes stay in the sink while you head for the gym. You might have to give up friendships that drain you.

In other words, ask yourself, “What will I neglect this year in order to make myself a priority?” resolution

A man we’ll call Doug says his priority for 2006 is to spend more time with his children. He’s vowed to cut his workday by one hour. Doug wants to leave the office by six every night.

Since he will need to let something go, he’s decided he’ll drop out of two civic clubs he joined years ago.

Those clubs take up several hours of Doug’s time each week. Also, he’s decided to delegate some of his phone calls to others in his office.

“My children are 8 and 10 years old,” he told us. “I am missing out on some of our best years together. When they’re older, they’ll lock me out of their rooms!”

Doug knows he can always rejoin his civic organizations when his kids are in high school.

In order to keep any New Year’s resolution, decide what you’re willing to give up in order to obtain that goal.

You cannot attain any goal unless you’re willing to give up something you’re already doing.

What you give up might be something you’ll never notice anyway. Here are some tips:

– Give up your sofa while watching TV. Instead, place a TV in front of your stationary bicycle.

– Give up talking nonsense on the phone. Find a way to get boring or neurotic people off the phone quicker. This will save you hours each week.

– Give up your addiction to email. Check it only twice per day. Checking email can easily zap 20-40 minutes or more from your time schedule. Do it twice, instead of four times per day.

– Give up overbooking. Stop accepting every invitation that comes your way.

Slow down and schedule time to do nothing this year. During the times you do nothing, your subconscious is recharging itself for greater creativity.

Sarah, a woman we know who’s starting a new business discovered that staying too busy is probably the best way to fail.

Sarah tried to get her clothing business off the ground early in 2005. She worked at it day and night, but got very little accomplished.

Finally, she decided to take a week off and not worry about the business. She did absolutely nothing but relax and goof off for seven days.

“When I returned to the business, my mind moved in another direction,” Sarah told us. “I knew I had to find some investors, so I could hire enough help. I needed six employees, not three.”

She wrote a business plan and got investment capital within a month. Now, Sarah’s business is really taking off.

To make sure you reach important goals, take time out to sit down and think. Ask yourself, “Are my plans working? Am I getting to where I need to be?”

If not, you must do something else. Give up what does not work.

We’ve all heard the saying: “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.”

To do something different, in order to gain the outcome you need, stop stressing out. Instead, calm down and slow down. Ask yourself, “How would I advise someone else to meet this goal?”

Dale, a personal trainer we know, says he gets tickled at some of the people he helps. “They’re mad at themselves because they can’t exercise for two hours a day!” he says.

Dale explains to them why their strategy doesn’t work.

“They’d have to give up their jobs to make that work!” he laughs. “Most people can exercise for an hour each day, but unless you’re a personal trainer like me, don’t kid yourself!”

Dale’s tells his clients to gradually intensify their workout during the course of an hour. “This way,” says Dale, “you’ll get the same good out of one hour that normally would take two hours.”

Look at your sacrifices to reach your goals in realistic terms.

Remember that your life has to stay balanced. Don’t envy other people. Make goals and sacrifices that work for you and you alone.

In order to reach your new goals, you can’t give up anything really important or you won’t stick to your guns.

This way, you’ll predict what goals you truly can reach.

? 2006, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

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