planning process

Dec

2021

Christmas Gift Ideas for Less

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Need Christmas gift ideas for less? Just a short time before Christmas day is upon us. If you’re still not done with your gift list, you might be stressing out. But all is not lost yet. There are still some gifts that you can make for your loved ones and friends without having to splurge. Some of them you can make at home too.

Your gift doesn’t have to be expensive for it to be appreciated. Personalized gifts are always much appreciated. It gives the gift a sentimental value that commercial items cannot convey no matter how pricey. Here are some gift ideas for less that you can create at home for your loved ones.

Recipe Jars

This is a nice gift for friends and loved ones who love their pancake, waffle or brownies. Just pick a recipe, measure all the dry ingredients and place them in layers into the glass jar. Try to alternate the ingredients in such a way that the colors make an interesting pattern.

Print out the recipe on sticker paper and paste unto the side of the jar. Or print it on cardboard paper and tie to the neck of the jar as a gift tag. You can also use this for chocolate drink mixes or coffee blends.

DIY Kits

Got a family member who loves drawing and coloring? Gather different coloring and drawing materials; a sketchpad, pencils, erasers, a ruler and sharpener. Put everything in a handy file folder that they can conveniently carry with them.

For a friend who loves making her own jewelry, gift them with more beads and trinkets for their jewelry-making collection. You can get them the special beads, or a tool that they’ve been wanting to buy; but just can’t get their hands on. This is one of the Christmas gift ideas for less that’s always appreciated by young students. They are the ones who are passionate about their hobby but can’t afford all the materials.

You can also gift friends with a kit for getting rid of negative energy in their homes and work places. This gift does not only benefit them personally but the people in their space too.

Personal Coupons

If you’re broke but really want to make the effort; then gift your family members and friends with your time and energy instead. This is one of the Christmas gift ideas for less that doesn’t even cost you anything.

Design your own personal coupon stating a service that you will offer for a certain duration of time. For example, you can give your mom several coupons for a neck and shoulder massage for 20 minutes. You can give your dad coupons for washing the car and so on. Give the gift of a memorable experience that you will all recall with a smile later on.

For friends, you can give coupons for accompanying them to shopping errands. They can then claim these coupons any time of the year. Make sure that you state in the terms and conditions that they have to schedule these events with you first.

Use Your Talents

If you’re good at crocheting or knitting; make a scarf, or a beanie, or a pair of mittens, for a good friend or loved one. If you’re good at sketching, drawing or painting, then gift one of your creations to a valued friend.

Got a talent for writing poems? Create one for a special friend and print or write by hand on special paper. It would be great to present this gift by reading it to them aloud. Preparing this kind of gift is a fun process too. Plus, the result can be a very memorable experience.

Are you good with a camera? Take candid photos of your friend, select the best ones and display in a special picture frame. You can also put these in a scrapbook. Label each photo to tell a story about your friendship. Or just showcase your friend’s endearing character or unique personality. You get the idea, so go ahead and start planning for your next creative gift.

Use Available Resources

If you’re not too confident about your talents yet; then the next best thing that you can do is to use your resources to create a personalized gift. Get on your computer and go online.

For a friend who loves their tunes, download them a collection of their favorite songs. Transfer to a USB so they can load it on their laptops and mobile phones. Got a friend or relative who is too busy to take care of putting together a business card? Get your design skills to work and gift them with a simple calling card. Now, they don’t have to write their contact details on a piece of paper whenever they meet clients.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

You know the saying that one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure? If you’ve got stuff just lying around and gathering dust; think of who these might be of more use to and give that item to that person as a gift. Not only will you reduce your clutter, you get to reuse stuff and recycle them for a purpose.

You might have a friend who’s been pining to have a jacket or bag just like what you have. If you’re planning to buy a new one anyway, why not give your old jacket or bag to this friend? You might have a friend who loves your sense of style. If you’ve got a top that you already have several iterations of; why not give away the one you don’t use most often to your friend?

Got an old lamp that you’ve never even used? Check if the bulb still works and replace if necessary. Give to a friend who has just moved into a new house; or who has been wanting to make-over their bedroom. This is another one of the Christmas gift ideas for less that will definitely be appreciated by the receiver.

Give with Love, Receive with Gratitude

These are just examples of what you can do with your skills and talents. Some creative thinking is needed to make a personalized gift that your loved ones and close friends can appreciate. But before rushing for supplies; set aside some time to do some writing. Make a list of what gifts you can create or find in your own home. Think of what gift would suit the tastes and personalities of certain friends and loved ones.

As a last note, some of your friends and relatives might be giving you these kinds of gifts too. Remember to be grateful and appreciative of all their efforts. After all, it’s the thought that counts. Bonus! You can add gift-planning to the list of things you can do for fun.

DIY gifts take time and effort. Because of this, they truly communicate your appreciation for the person you are giving them to. So go ahead and give these DIY gift ideas a try.

Updated. Republished 2020.12.03. First published on Pinoy Smart Living on 2018.12.17.
Featured Image: Original Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash.

Dec

2021

What To Do When You Don’t Know What You Want

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Everyone of us has had the experience or feeling of not knowing what they want to do in one area of their life, or even with the rest of their life. Young people start by trying to figure out their place in the world; but adults experience this too. We usually call this a “mid-life crisis”, or an “existential crisis”, or even an “identity crisis”. Indeed, not knowing what you want or suddenly not knowing what to do with the rest of your life is a scary experience. So, what to do when you don’t know what you want?

For young and old alike, not knowing what you want is usually due to being overwhelmed by the number of things to choose from or from a feeling of having no choice at all. In both cases, you are scared, confused and undecided. You feel helpless and uncertain about the future because you lack direction. Unfortunately, not many people will have someone beside them to point them in the right direction or to tell them what steps they should take next.

If you are in this situation, don’t lose hope. Pluck up your courage instead and do something about it. Trying to know what you want is a big, life challenge. Here are some things you can do to clear the confusion in your head and heart and reset your life.

Focus on The Now

The future is uncertain so don’t let your fears of the “what ifs” scare you. Instead, focus on what you want right now. Take a deep breath and ask yourself: “If money and time are not an issue, what do I want to do?”

There is no right or wrong answer to this question and there might not even be just one answer. So write your answers on paper and list them down as they come to you. You are creating your bucket list of goals and dreams. By creating this list, you are focusing on getting to know what you want. You are starting to clear out the uncertainty in your life and focusing on the things that you are certain about. This is your vision for your future.

For example, you might put down on your list the places you want to travel to, a business you want to start, your desire to be fit and healthy, a wish to learn to sing, your goal of financial freedom, etc. Your answers may seem broad and general, but this puts your goals in focus and they will serve as the direction to help you figure out what to do next. You might want to find a hobby or rekindle a long-forgotten passion that you had as a child thru this list. Already, you are prioritizing things in the order that you list them down but you can always order them as you want once you have your list. Consider this your fresh start.

Plan Out Your Next Steps

Once you’ve written down your list, work on the most important items first. This can be the easiest ones to accomplish or the ones that you need to work on right away. Make a plan on how you can start pursuing that goal. The plan doesn’t need to be detailed; it is just a sketch that will guide you as you go through your journey. It will help you know what you want and need to do and keep you on track with your goals.

You may have more than one thing you want to do for different aspects of your life and that’s quite normal. Your first step is important. Make sure you start small and don’t take on too much at once. Sketching out a plan on how to work on each goal in your daily life is a good start. Start with baby steps. Think of small things you can do each day to move you forward towards your goals. This will help you develop the mindset and the habits you need to succeed. You can worry about the details when you need to later on. The important thing at the moment is to have a plan to reach your goals. This is YOUR LIFE SKETCH which you will flesh out as you figure out the next steps along the way.

Act On Your Next Steps Immediately

Now that you know what you want and need to do; you can work on your first steps right away. Your plan serves as an outline or road map to reach your goals. If you need to ask help from friends or family members, colleagues or other professionals, do it. Don’t hesitate at the start of your journey. This is the time to be decisive. Yes, the future is still uncertain but you are certain of what you want right now and what you can do right now; ACT ON IT.

Once you’ve taken the first steps, the feedback you get from the people around you and from your own feelings should guide you to your next course of action. Remember that working on yourself is not an easy process. Take it one step at a time. Don’t worry too much about the future; the important thing is to start and to START RIGHT NOW.

One more important thing to keep in mind in this journey to self-discovery is to believe in yourself, keep an open mind, and an attitude of gratitude. Even when you don’t feel like it; challenge yourself to show up everyday for your goals. Even if you’re just sitting in front of your desk unable to do the work; you can still use the time to visualize your goals. Trust that things will fall into place as you keep doing your best to pursue your dreams.

Whether young and confused, or in a “mid-life crisis”, or experiencing an “existential crisis”, or going through an “identity crisis”; don’t panic. Take a deep breath, get pen and paper and start writing your “What I Want to Do” list or your Bucket List. This may seem silly at first, but it will help you know what you want and you can gain a deeper understanding about yourself. More importantly, it will serve as a light to the path you should take when you feel like you’re in a dark place in your life.

Updated. First posted on 2020.01.18.
Feature Image: Original Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash.

Jul

2020

5 Tips to Get Through Your Lowest Point in Life

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Life is made up of highs and lows and people of all ages experience it differently. When we are experiencing a “high” in some or several aspects of our life, we feel blessed, happy and fulfilled. We are compelled to celebrate our good luck and share our joy with those most important to us. When the opposite happens however, we tend to withdraw from everyone.

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When we’re sad, angry, frustrated, feeling hopeless or regretful, most of us would rather be alone. During this time, withdrawing from your social life can be helpful to your mental and emotional health. This is only if you do so for a short period of time. Here are some tips to help you get through your lowest point in life. These should help you feel better and to get back on your feet quicker.

1. Vent Out Your Emotions

If you’ve been holding on to some negative emotions for some time, now is the time to let them out. Give yourself a break. Venting out emotionally also benefits your mind and body. Cry out your sadness, write down your frustrations, eat a whole pint of ice cream while watching a drama, get angry, have a pity feast or do something creative. Just be sure not to do anything you will regret later. Give yourself a day or 2 to go through the process. Let your pent up emotions out but don’t dwell on them for too long.

Since you are emotionally vulnerable during this time, it is better to do this in a place familiar to you. Some people would rather get away to a new place to sort out their emotions. In both cases, it would be helpful to have a friend who understands what you’re going through. They can help you put a lid on things if you do get out of control. Remember though, your friend can only do so much. Only you can get yourself unstuck from your own emotions or mindset.

2. Get a Sense of Reality

When you have vented out your emotions, it’s time to take stock of the actual circumstances as they are. It’s time to “face the music” as the saying goes. Unless you accept the situation as it is, you won’t be able to move on. This is where an understanding friend is most helpful. This should be someone who knows you personally but is not necessarily involved in the situation.

It will be hard for most people to look at things without emotional attachment. A friend can serve as a more objective observer and can help you see things in a broader perspective. In this way, you can have a better understanding of the circumstances. Your friend can also help you see the point of view of the other people involved in the situation.

This is also the time to be grateful for the things that you have. Go over the lessons you have learned and the people who support you. With a better understanding of things, you can start getting clear, and get even more tips on how you can get through your lowest point in life.

3. Start a Plan

With a clearer perspective on things, it’s time to quit feeling sorry for yourself and start to move forward. Ask yourself: What’s the best approach to turn things around? What should be my first step to clarify things or to solve a major obstacle?

Think about the bigger picture and your goals both in the immediate future and for the long-term. What do I need to do to start my journey to my major goal? Are my previous or current plans aligned with my goals? Write down your goals and next steps.

Think carefully about what you should do each day, weekly, etc. to get closer to your goals. Don’t forget to integrate wellness practices into your daily schedule to keep yourself in the right mindset. You might even try to dress differently to make you feel better.

4. Put in The Work

Now that you have a plan, it’s time to put your plan into action. Plan your daily, weekly, monthly schedule. Organize your workspace to help you work more efficiently and be more productive. Make your environment more relaxing by removing clutter. Talk to the people you need to in order to start the ball rolling. Connect with the right people who can help you carry out your goals. Take each day as they come and keep doing what you need to do to move things forward.

While you are putting in the work by connecting with other people, make sure to invest in yourself as well. Take that online course or attend that training. Get the knowledge and skills you need for the next step in your plan.

As you enhance your knowledge and develop your own set of skills, you will also meet new people who will help you grow even more. As you renew your relationships, you will also encounter more tips and ways to get through your lowest point in life.

5. Be There for Someone Else

Moving forward is the only solution to not staying in the situation you don’t like. Sometimes, certain situations still trigger the negative emotions that we want to get out of our system. This makes it hard to focus on our goals and may hinder our progress. What’s the next best thing to do?

Instead of focusing on just your goals, try to reach out to others who need help too. Be there for them even if just to listen to their predicament. When you focus your attention on someone’s else’s problems, you can learn from their experience. You may find inspiration, or even the solution to your own predicament.

Even if you don’t, you will at least feel better knowing that you are not alone with your problems. You are able to make someone feel better just by being a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. This will help you feel even more grateful for the things you have in your life. You will feel more gratitude for the people and circumstances that allowed you to start moving on from your own low point in life.

These tips are just some of the ways you get through your lowest point in life. If you have been feeling down recently, you should check your overall wellness. If you feel that you can’t handle things by yourself, you should consider getting professional help. A therapist or psychologist can help you so you don’t fall into depression.

Remember that it is normal to experience many low points in your life. But as long as you try to get back up, you will get stronger. The next time you hit a low point in your life; the lessons you learned from the previous experience should help you recover even better than before.

Updated. First published in Pinoy Smart Living on 2019.10.02.
Feature Image: Original Photo by Pixabay from Pexels.

Jul

2020

3 Tips on How to Deal with Change

Reading Time: 3 minutes

There are a lot of tips and tricks on how to deal with change and they all have some things in common. All of us are undergoing change and have to deal with change at different stages and aspects of our lives. We recognize that change is necessary in order for us to evolve. We also know that most humans suck at dealing with change. Each one of us copes and adapts to change in different ways.

Here are some tips on how you can deal with change more easily instead of feeling helpless about things. This is actually a process that is very helpful to get you in the right mindset. You can tailor it to your specific situation too.

1. Anchor Yourself

It is an overwhelming experience when change sweeps over us. Change can occur so fast that we may feel things are getting out of control. This feeling of being overwhelmed by what’s happening around us can stress us out or leave us feeling helpless and frustrated.

The best thing to do is to take care of your own well-being first. Focus on how to make yourself feel better again so you can have a stable foundation to anchor you as you think your next steps through.

Here are some things you can do to anchor yourself so you don’t get swept away by the whirlwind of change.

Don’t forget to observe daily health habits.
Do something you love and do it mindfully.
Meditate and visualize the things that make you feel good.
Talk to a friend and talk about the fun times or do something fun.
Do some exercise to release tension and stress.
Write down the things you are grateful for.

2. Construct Your Strategy

Change can show us our inadequacies in a very painful way. However, it can also be an opportunity to identify what our strengths are and how we can address our weaknesses. Before that process can take place, we need to put things in perspective first.

When you’ve taken the time to anchor yourself you can now think about your next steps — you need to come up with a strategy. Think of your strategy as constructing a building from the ground up. You start by figuring out what resources you already have on hand and what else you will need for each phase of the construction. You need to see which of these are easily accessible to you right away and which ones need other requirements to obtain.

This is also the time to figure out what things you can and cannot control. One of the things you can control is your reaction to the situation. Try to be objective about it but consider other people’s feelings when you talk to them to create a strategy together. You can influence other people’s reaction so it is better to have an open mind on both the negative and positive effects of the change.

Try to accept the things that you cannot control and consider the things you can use to help improve the situation.

Think of what you can do at the present moment to make the situation better or at least to improve the future situation. Think, short-term, medium term and long-term. This way, you have a strategy for dealing with any type of hurdles that may come your way. While you aim to accomplish the long-term results, be sure that your strategy is well-defined and flexible enough to accommodate some adjustments when necessary.

3. Thread Slowly but Surely

The time of great change is also a time of uncertainty. Keep in mind that the change you are going through may continue to unfold for a long time. So focus on the present moment and take things one day at a time. Just like threading in water, don’t exhaust yourself by paddling too hard only to find out you’ve moved only a small distance. Instead of reaching the shore, you end up drowning because you are too exhausted to swim your way to shore.

Don’t be too harsh on yourself and others. Be patient as you carry out your strategy. Pace yourself and make adjustments as you need to along the way. Rest when you need to so you don’t burn out. This way, you don’t get stressed out or frustrated when things don’t go as planned.

Keep yourself anchored through self-care practices so you have the mental and physical energy to sustain you through this phase. Celebrate small victories. You may feel disheartened at times but don’t lose hope. Remind yourself that the current situation is temporary and that this too will pass.

Change can be bad or good depending on our mindset. Hopefully, these tips will help you become better on how to deal with change in your life instead of being lost in the transition.

Feature Image: Original Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay.

May

2020

How to Plan for Your Success

Reading Time: 3 minutes

How is your year going so far? How are you progressing in your plans for this year? Maybe you need to adjust your plan. Maybe you need to make new plans. A plan is an important part to your success. It serves as a road map to guide you towards your goals.

If you do not have one yet or you need to make changes to a current plan, here are some tips on how to do it.

Define

First, you need to decide what your goals are. You can start by defining your goals for each aspect of your life. Ask yourself these questions:

Where am I in each aspect of my life right now?
What do I want to achieve in this aspect of my life?
How can I improve this aspect of my life?
Why do I want to achieve this goal for this aspect of my life?
How does this goal benefit other aspects of my life?

If these questions don’t work, then try to use your imagination. Ask yourself:

How does it feel like to have a successful life?
What does it look like to be the successful version of me?
What are the things that I do when I have become a successful person?

Simply put, how do you define your success?

You can put your goals on a vision board to remind you of your goals daily. You will end up with several goals but you will need to prioritize. Decide which aspect of your life you need to take action on right now and which can follow later. Focus on 2-3 key areas so you don’t get overwhelmed. Remember, you’re taking baby steps to improve your life so choose the top 2 or 3 for now.

Divide

Now that you have your goals, you also need to define the milestones for each goal. These become your smaller goals which you can divide according to a schedule. For example:

Long-term goal – the major goal that you need to accomplish in a year, or 3 years.
Medium-term goal – the smaller goal that you need to accomplish in 3 or 6 months time to help you get closer to the long-term goal.
Short-term goal – the even smaller goal that you need to accomplish each week or even daily so you can reach your medium-term goal.

When creating these goals, be sure to follow the S.M.A.R.T. method of goal-setting. This way, you can ensure that your goals are realistic and can be accomplished in a specific period of time.

Give yourself space to adjust to the new schedule. Don’t expect that you can just do it right away or perfectly each time. You’re the one setting your target dates so don’t be too stringent on yourself but don’t be too easy on yourself either.

Dedicate

You have your goals and you have a schedule on how to accomplish them. It’s time to put the effort into getting things done.

The short-term goals can be considered practice. These help to set you up for the medium-term goals and so on. Your short-term goals may consist of daily tasks that you have to learn to do consistently. Dedicate yourself to this and try not to miss a day.

You’re trying to discipline yourself into your new routine but don’t be too hard on yourself. If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up about it and just resolve to do better the next day. You don’t want to burn out while trying to accomplish the goal. Of course, don’t forget to have fun while dedicating yourself to your goals.

Debug

While you’re trying to accomplish your goals, you may find out that some things don’t work well for you or don’t suit you. This shouldn’t stop you from going forward in your goals. This is the debugging process where you work out the kinks in your plan to make it easier for you to accomplish them.

For example, if you find out that exercising in the morning doesn’t work for you, then reschedule it for the afternoon or evening. Just replace your morning schedule with something else on your daily goals.

You will find that you need to do this constantly for your short-term goals. That’s why it is important to incorporate some time for adjustment when setting your goal targets. You may even need to reset your target date for some goals and that is just fine.

You can use this method for whatever goals you have, big or small, and in whatever path you are in your journey to success. The important thing to remember when planning for success is to be consistent. Keep showing up to accomplish your plan starting with your daily habits.

Don’t be too hard on yourself when you fail at times. Accept that some things won’t work out; try a different approach until it works out for you and keep moving forward.

Feature Image: Original Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

May

2020

What Is Your Definition of Success?

Reading Time: 4 minutes

When you are asked what is success, what is your answer? Do you have a sure and ready answer or does the question compel you to pause and think? Most people have a ready, but not necessarily sure, answer to this question.

The most popular answer is either to be wealthy or to be happy. If this is also your answer, have you thought about how much wealth you need to have to be able to say you’re successful, or how do you know when you have succeeded in achieving happiness?

Wealth constitutes what you have when someone takes all your money away.
— Jordan Peterson

If you pause and think about this question, then you might be considering what exactly being successful means. As a way to answer the question, let’s first try to define what it is not.

What Success Isn’t

Most people would consider failure as the opposite of success. But if you review the lives of many individuals we consider “successful”, most of them had their turning point to success after a series of failures, or right after a major failure or a combination of these events. Take a look at these people:

Walt Disney – fired from the Kansas City Star because he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Formed his first animation company but had to dissolve it because he could not pay his rent. Went on to be nominated for 59 Academy Awards for his work.

Oprah Winfrey – born into poverty, was pregnant at 14, fired from her first TV job because she was “unfit for television.” Became the host to one of the longest-running talks shows on TV and now has her own media empire.

Bill Gates – his first company with two other partners failed but this didn’t stop him from trying again. He founded Microsoft, one of the worlds biggest companies and he is now one of the wealthiest men in the world.

JK Rowling – found herself divorced, on welfare and with a child to support by the time she finished her first book. Her book was rejected by all 12 major publishers until a year later when Bloomsbury accepted it and gave her a small advance fee. Her series of books is still enjoying huge success.

Failure is Part of Success

Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.
— Winton S. Churchill

From these few examples, there are some noticeable patterns for achieving success:

Failure is just a stepping stone to success.
Focusing on a major goal and not giving up is important.
Success is not concentrated in just one career path or industry.
Wealth is a consequence of achieving success.

An important thing to take note of is that each of them had different major goals in life based on their personal talents or interest or what we may call as their passion. They set out to do something which they already love to do. This fueled them to keep on working even when facing setbacks.

Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
— Winston S. Churchill

Although their goals were personal to them, it also had a huge impact on a large number of people. Their actions in pursuit of their goals fulfilled a need, addressed a lack that people were trying to find a solution for. This attracted people to support them and their activities which boosted their momentum towards their goals.

Success isn’t just about what you accomplish in your life; it’s about what you inspire others to do.
— Unknown

They did not set out specifically to become wealthy but it was a by-product of achieving their goals and thus, being successful in their particular field.

Stop chasing the money and start chasing the passion.
— Tony Hsieh

What Success Is

Using the observations we have from the examples we reviewed previously, we can define success roughly as follows:

Success is the state of an individual who has achieved a major life goal that they pursued diligently by overcoming failures, which also benefits a large number of people.

Obviously, success is something that you define personally, so you can reword this definition the way you think is more appropriate to you. The more important thing is that you understand the whole concept.

Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.
— Conrad Hilton

Arriving at a state or position in life where you can call yourself successful means that you have achieved a “major life goal”. “Major” is emphasized here, because in order to reach this goal, you have to succeed in the smaller goals first.

Think of it as succeeding in your daily health habits, like eating the right food, which leads to your success in your major health goal of losing weight and achieving a slimmer body.

How To Be Successful

From these patterns, we can further say that the method for success is as follows:

You define your major goal in life.
Your goals should benefit other people.
You work diligently to pursue your goal.
You don’t give up when you fail.

Now that you have a blueprint for success; it’s time to take your first step to determining your own definition of success.

Start Your Journey to Success

One of the first things you can do to start your journey to success is to define what you mean by success. There are many ways to go about this so choose the one that works for you. Here are some guide questions you can ask yourself to get started:

Take some time to think about your answers to these questions and write them down. An important tip while doing these exercises, and even while you’re pursuing your goals, is to maintain a happy demeanor.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
— Albert Schweitzer

This means that you “choose to be happy” every day and not wait to succeed to become happy. By deciding to be happy every day, you will be able to bounce back from failures better and you will be more open to learning from new things from other people and experiences.

We hope this helps you gain clarity on what success means to you and also help you take your first steps to your journey. Cheers to your success!

Feature Image: Original Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash.

Mar

2020

How to Make SMART Goals

Reading Time: 4 minutes

We are constantly dreaming and making wishes for what we want our future to be like but most of us procrastinate when it comes to actually writing down our plan for how to achieve our goals. We all know where we want to go but we don’t have a plan on how to get there. This causes us a lot of anxiety in our everyday lives. More often, we see the prize but we are not prepared for what it takes to achieve it. Having a vision is not enough. You need to know how to make SMART goals to complement your vision.

In order for us to lessen the anxiety and worries that plague us about our future, it is necessary that we come up with a plan that will give us a structure and provide guidepost to follow so we can track our progress. A vision board serves as a reminder of where you want to be but you need a plan on how to get there. One of the best methods to do this is to make S.M.A.R.T. goals.

What are S.M.A.R.T. Goals?

S.M.A.R.T. goals allow you to define what steps you need to achieve your goals and allows you to measure your progress as you advance thru each step of the plan. This acronym stands for the following aspects of goal setting:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely / Tangible

According to Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Allen Lakein said, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”, and Napoleon Hill said, “Plan your work and work your plan.” So let’s start planning the S.M.A.R.T. way.

SPECIFIC

Create a specific goal statement. A goal stated in general terms will seem difficult or even impossible to accomplish so make sure that you make your goal statement specific. Your goal statement should answer the following questions:

Who is involved?
What do I want to accomplish?
Where will this happen/be implemented? – This may not always apply especially for personal goals.
When should this happen/be implemented?
Which things are needed? – These are the requirements and the current limitations.
Why should I achieve this? – Your reason for the purpose and/or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

As an example, a general goal would be “I want to get physically fit.” A more specific goal would be “I want to lose 15lbs by November 15 by working out at home 3-4 times a week so I can look and feel better as well as gain more confidence in social gatherings.”

Another example is if your general goal is to get out of debt, a specific goal is “I will pay an extra P2,000 a month to my credit card bill for 12 months.”

MEASURABLE

Create the specific steps that you will do to achieve your goals but make sure they are measurable so you know that you are making progress. This also means that if you see that you are not making progress doing a particular step, then you can change that specific part of the plan.

Your measurable steps should answer questions such as how much, how many and how will I know when it is accomplished.

Include specific amounts, measurements and dates so you can better track and monitor your progress each step of the way.

For example, a measurable step for the physical fitness goal would be to “exercise 30 minutes a day, 3-4 times a week”, “eat 6 small meals through out the day”, as well as “to lose approximately 2lbs per week.”

ATTAINABLE

Set attainable goals. Weight the efforts you need to make to achieve the goal. Do you have the time to make the effort? Are you willing to make that much effort in the amount of time you have defined? Make sure that the goal you set for yourself is acceptable to you personally otherwise you will only lose confidence in trying to accomplish it.

However, do make your goals challenging and avoid goals that are too easy. Set a goal that you can attain but will allow you to move forward in you plan.

As an example, maybe you would really like to go to the gym for a workout but there’s not one near your home and you need to travel early to get to work on time; you also can’t afford the extra gym fee. A more attainable option is to start your plan by buying some affordable gym equipment such as dumb bells and just work out at home instead.

REALISTIC

Make sure that the goals you set are realistic otherwise you may give up in the middle of the process. If you have financial or physical issues for example, take that into consideration as you make your goals. Try to focus on baby steps and give yourself an adequate amount of time to accomplish each step in your plan.

For example you are earning ten thousand pesos a month (P10,000). A goal to save nine thousand pesos (P9,000) a month is not realistic. In loosing weight, loosing 2lbs a week is an attainable goal compared to losing 5lbs a week. A realistic goal is more more motivating than setting the bar too high and not be able to achieve it at all.

Do your research first to make sure that what you are setting for yourself is realistically and humanly possible and break it into smaller goals if necessary. You can also ask yourself if you have achieved something similar to your goal in the past. If you have, then that is a good way to tell that your goal is realistic.

Set a realistic target but make sure it’s also challenging to you and not too easy.

TIMELY / TANGIBLE

Your goals should be timely. You should give yourself an adequate time frame to complete each step of the plan and achieve your goals. As in the goal statement example above, you should set yourself a deadline for when you should have achieved the goal.

Your goals should also be tangible, meaning you can measure the actual progress made or the exact difference from the “before” situation compared to the “after.” In short, you can experience everything with your senses to measure the progress you are making and should be making.

A timely goals allows you to know when you can give up on a step if it fails to produce results and when to begin the next step in the plan. It also allows you to know when you can celebrate a completed milestone in your plan.

So, what are you waiting for? Get a piece of pen and paper. Look at your vision board and start writing down SMART goals on how you can slowly attain the life depicted in your vision board. Do bear in mind though that it is not going to be easy. There will be a lot of challenges ahead but there is a way to how to make your journey a lot easier.

First published in Pinoy Smart Living on 03.22.2019
Original Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Feb

2020

Make Better Decisions with The 10/10/10 Rule

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Our daily lives are composed many opportunities to make decisions big and small, in all areas of our lives. Some decisions have immediate effects and some have long-lasting effects and consequences, as in some cases. There are some life rules that can aid us in making decisions in life, one of which is the 10/10/10 Rule. Try make better decisions with the 10/10/10 Rule.

This is one of the non-negotiable experiences that we all have to go through in life. Whether it’s in a pleasant or stressful context, the decision-making process is an important step to make so we can move forward to our next step or stage in life.

You cannot make progress without making decisions.
– Jim Rohn

The stress from decision-making usually comes from having to make a decision that is in conflict with our feelings at the moment, which is usually the result of a decision not being aligned with certain priorities or goals that we want to achieve. So how do we make the decision-making process easier and more effective?

Some of the harshest decisions that individuals need to make involve and affect the lives of many people. Top executives in big companies have to make such tough decisions regularly. So how do they do it? Wealthy people like Warren Buffet follow the 10/10/10 rule to make smart decisions.

The 10/10/10 Rule

The rule is simple. Each time you have to make an important decision, ask yourself these questions:

How will I feel about my decision in 10 minutes? 10 months? 10 years?

This method allows you to examine your feelings about the decision you are about to make. If you feel that the decision you are about to make will result in you having negative feelings (e.g., regret, guilt, etc.) later on, or if it doesn’t align with your priorities, then you know that you are making the wrong decision or that you need to make some changes to the solution that you are considering.

This method allows you to look further into the possible consequences of your decisions and enables you to assess the situation in a long-term perspective. As you ask yourself these questions, you may find out that you have a more important priority than what you are looking at in the moment, or you may find a better solution (and make a better decision) to the issue you are facing.

Happiness can be defined as the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
– Dr. Stephen Covey

This rule works with small, daily decisions as well, such as whether you should give in to an impulsive purchase that you happen to find during a sale in a mall. Try it and see how it works for you.

Original photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash.