Let’s be honest about these first of the year resolutions. According to a study,88% of people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions. With those odds, why would you even bother with a New Year’s resolution? I don’t think you should.
But I do think you should set strategic goals. Semantics? Perhaps, but one is 88% likely to fail; the other has a very high probability of success. Here’s the difference.
So many resolutions fail because they’re not aligned with a burning desire to accomplish them. For example, these are common resolutions:
Lose weight
Save money
Take a family vacation
Quit smoking
None of these is specific, nor are there any action steps. But, the real problem is they’re derived almost out of thin air.
When I received an advance copy of Carl Richard’s book The Behavior Gap, I read it cover to cover in one day. It’s rare that I come across original thinking in the personal finance world and I wanted to bring some of that original thinking to you.
I was fortunate to spend some time with Carl and we recorded our conversation about money its impact on our lives. Carl is known for taking complex financial issues and breaking them down into simple to understand drawings that could fit on the back of a napkin.
One of my favorite drawings from Carl depicts the relationship between money and happiness. Carl explained how we face this contradiction in life where we feel that if we can make just a little more money we’ll be happy, but we’re also told that money doesn’t buy happiness. According to Carl, there is truth in both statements. Be sure to listen to his explanation. Continue reading →
This approach to time management has nothing to do with colored labels or organizing the files on your hard drive. It’s about ruthlessly protecting your time so you can get more done faster. These ideas will offend some and inspire a few, but that’s ok–there’s a reasononly the minority are highly successful.
Why do so many feel overwhelmed most of the time? Many years ago, I was running ragged trying to work a full-time job while running two business and juggling a family with a newborn. I couldn’t keep up and had to slow down and figure out what the heck I was doing and where my time was going. I realized I was “busy” most of the time, but I wasn’t really accomplishing much.
My days as a detective started out like the movie in Groundhog Day. I got to my desk at about 7:15 AM–not because I was most productive then, but because my boss showed up at about 7:30 and as long as I beat him in, I was good. Everyone else worked on the same premise.
I would fire up my computer and just stare at it for a good fifteen minutes. It was much like a scene in the movie Office Space. When my boss walked in, everyone gathered around and talked about nothing for an hour or two. When I say nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, but my boss liked it, so we complied.
No one else had anything to do that early either, but somewhere it said we had to start work at 7:00, so we did, even if it would have been more productive to come in later.
Last month I asked readers to share their biggest money concerns and I received a ton of great responses. Today I’m summarizing a few of the common themes and sharing some of my responses. You may relate or have similar worries so my feedback will be helpful to you.
Also, I’ve decided to give you free access to the first nine chapters of my book because the book covers most of these concerns. This offer will be removed soon, so download it quickly and share it with your friends before the link comes down.
“Chuck, my greatest worry is that we will not be able to save for our kids’ future. It is difficult to pay the bills, save for retirement, and also save for the kids’ college all at the same time.”
Everyday when I pick up our daughter from cheer-leading practice, she changes the car’s radio station. It drives me nuts. I’m not sure why I put up with it, but the conversation is entertaining.
“Have you heard this new song?” “That’s not a new song,” I reply. “But it just came out.” “I used to listen to that when they made real music,” as I explain how her “new” music is really just remakes from the 80’s.
As it turns out, most of the stuff I listened to as a kid, was also stolen from before my youth. The same is true of marketing. What was once new, becomes old, and is then reintroduced as new and exciting again.
The popularity of the internet has revolutionized marketing by decreasing costs and expanding reach. It’s almost free to use email as a marketing medium, but the low cost creates it’s own problems.
Let’s be honest about these first of the year resolutions. According to a study, 88% of people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions. With those odds, why would you even bother with a New Year’s resolution? I don’t think you should.
