Happy New Year!

As we come into 2009, you may be looking back and 2008 and saying one of three things to yourself.

“What a fantastic year 2008 was!”… or “2008 could have been better for me…” or “2008 was the worst year of my entire life!”

Whatever you may be thinking about 2008 - it’s over and now time to start a new year and try to make it a great one! So, unless you want to be saying 1 year from now…”What the heck happened to me in 2009!?” You might want to start thinking more deeply…

So, what have you resolved to do this year?

If you’re like most people….New Year’s resolutions come and go. Depending on the survey or study you consult, around 50% of Americans make New Years Resolution and about 15% of them actually last more than a couple months. Not a very reliable means of getting something done is it?

But you are not like most people or you wouldn’t be reading this blog post right?

This year, instead of making resolutions that last no more than a couple days, consider a new strategy.

Here are Five Not So Typical Financial Resolutions…Be Careful as They May Change Your Life :)…

1. Resolve to make a change when you need it and not to wait for a special day like New Years, next Monday, the first of the month or the second full moon in March, to make that change you know you need to make.

When you feel as if things aren’t working out the way you’d like them to, say for example you’d like to save more money, instead of saying to yourself – “I’ll save more money after I take that vacation” or “after the Super Bowl party”, or “after my car is paid off,” sit down immediately and make a plan to save more money.

Be specific with your goals. A random, “I’d like to save more money,” is a flimsy goal just begging to be forgotten. Instead, set a specific goal and a time you intend to attain your goal by. “I’d like to save $5,000 by April,” is much more specific.

Make it positive – we’re talking about a statement that implies success here. For example, “I’m going to save $5,000 by April.”

You also should Create a plan of action. How are you going to save $5,000 by April? It’s not going to magically happen. You’re not going to manifest $5,000 into your savings account – we’ll maybe you could manifest 5K but in my experience manifesting takes a bit more than willing or wanting, it takes action.

Don’t get me wrong here, I strongly believe in visualization and prayer to the angels and spirits above. But you can pray all day for the tea kettle to boil, yet until you turn on the fire it probably won’t boil. So what I’m saying is do a combination of visualising as well as taking action.

An interesting thing happend to me. I made a visualzation chart about 3 years ago by just cutting out pictures of things I wanted to see happen and writing down impact words under them etc. Well, last night I looked at it and I discovered that I’d accomplished about half of the things on the chart! I thought that was pretty amazing and am now making a new one to replace the goals I’ve already met.

I will be sure to do something each day towards making those a reality as well by taking action.

2. Resolve to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Resolve to grab a hold of those little bits of inspiration as they pop into your head. There’s an old saying that money likes speed or success likes speed. It means that if you sit on an idea or an opportunity for too long – it goes away.

Don’t wait, don’t hesitate. If you are inspired to do something or an opportunity comes your way – take action. Too often people have brilliant ideas, often while they’re sitting in traffic, having a conversation with someone, first thing in the morning before they’re fully awake or heck I’ve even had them in the shower. So what happens to those ideas?

If you’re like most, you say “I’ll have to remember that idea.” Or “I wish I could write that down.” Or maybe you do write it down, right next to the other 100 great ideas you’ve had over the past year or so.

And what happens then?

Nothing.

You don’t take action. You don’t implement your idea or even begin researching its viability.

You know what inevitably happens to all those great ideas YOU had? A month, a year, or even several years later you come across someone who is making a ton of money with that very same idea. The difference is THEY took action.

Resolve right here, right now – TODAY – to take advantage of opportunities and ideas when they come to you. Don’t write them down and save them for later, begin exploring the possibilities to make that great idea a reality.

Too many people are afraid of failure or start talking themselves out of taking action on their ideas because they think of 101 ways it wouldn’t work. Well, you will never know until you tried right? I say it is better to try something and fail, then learn from that experience than to never have tried at all. Which brings us to number three on the list…

3. Another thing happens to some people who receive inspiration or are invited into opportunities – they let fear and doubt and a general lack of faith get in the way. Resolve to shove fear and doubt aside.

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”
- Sven Goran Eriksson

Fear has a great knack for getting in the way of success. It prevents us from even trying. The real question you have to ask yourself is – “What’s the worst that could happen?” And “Do I really care if I fail the first, second or even the third time?”

Most often, the thing we fear is really quite minimal when we compare it to the potential reward and let’s not forget the reward we feel for simply trying in the first place. Instead of letting fear talk you out of something, examine the risks, assess your fears, and then determine if it’s worth it. 9 times out of 10 it is.

But what about doubt? Doubt is actually a pretty ugly word – especially when what you doubt is your ability to succeed. You weren’t born with this doubt. It crept up on you as you were growing into adulthood.

Somewhere along the way you started doubting your abilities to do certain things. Perhaps it was something someone said to you or that you overheard or perhaps it was an experience you had, regardless the effect was the same. You began to doubt yourself.

Doubting yourself sucks. Don’t do it. Rather than letting doubt get in the way of even trying, why not simply plan for success, accept that you might fail and then try and see what happens?

Wonderful things happen when you let go of fear and doubt. Resolve to make decisions based on what you can do, not what you fear or doubt. The difference may sound small but it’s a huge change and the results will not just affect your bank account – they’ll change your life.

4. Resolve to look for opportunities. Open your eyes to the possibilities. When you set a goal or state an intention, quite often people succeed simply because they are now focused on the goal. Things they didn’t notice before are now all around them.

For example, if you state an intention like “I want to see a blue balloon today,” chances are you’re going to see a blue balloon. Not because it magically appeared but because you are now looking for blue balloons – you’ve become aware of them.

The same thing happens with other goals including financial goals or success goals. As soon as you’ve set your sights on the goal or intention, all sorts of opportunities and possibilities appear to help you attain your goal.

The trick is recognizing them and taking action. Resolve to look for opportunities to help you attain your goals. They’re there just waiting for you to notice.

Opportunites have a way of finding busy people - people who get things done rather than lazy people. Why? Maybe it is the law of the universe, or maybe it is karma or maybe it is just because people who take action and jump on a good opportunity when they see one will work harder at it than someone who just expects the world on a silver platter.

So keep your eyes open and when you get that chance, take it and run with it.

5. Resolve to let go. It’s funny but sometimes when we hold a goal too closely, when it becomes too important to us, it slips through our fingers. Set your goals, make your plans to achieve them, keep your eyes open for the possibilities and then let it go.

Let go of emotional attachment to the goal and enjoy the ride. When you’re able to enjoy the path, the effort, and the eventual success or failure, their really is no downside. And more often than not, when you’re able to let go of the need to succeed, of the emotional and almost physical longing for success, success follows. It’s one of those little secrets that we know but forget because we just get so tied up in the results.

So this year when someone asks you what your New Year’s Resolutions are, and you know they will, you can tell them that you resolve not to make any resolutions. You can tell them that you live your life embracing the present and always ready to make changes as the need arises. You can tell them that you resolve to let go of fear and doubt and need. You can tell them that you’re embracing a life that looks for opportunities and takes action.

Happy New Year!

To Your Success!
Jeremy Gislason
SureFireWealth INC