New Year = New Opportunities!

The best thing I love about a new year is all the new opportunities that lie ahead! You can find new opportunities at any time of the year, but there's just something about a new year that gets my creative brain working!

We all know that new years are full of resolutions, new goals, and new plans. Sadly, the problem that typically happens, is the motivation for all these new opportunities only last just a couple months - if that. Whether it's life that gets in the way or old habits that you just can't seem to break, something will try to sneak up on you and steal your dreams and new opportunities.

The questions is, are you going to let it steal your dream and new opportunities this year?

I don't know about you, but I have a lot of great plans for 2012 and I am NOT going to let self doubt, procrastination, lack of faith, or anything else stand in the way of the dreams that I have for my family. AND my goal is also to help give you some tips and tricks you can incorporate into your dream fulfilling to help fight off any unwanted de-motivators.

1. Make a Plan - you will hear me say this over, and over, and over, and over, and over.....(get it?) again because it is so IMPORTANT. It's like going to a new place - you can't get there without directions. Achieving a goal is the same way - you can't get to a place you've never been without a plan of action (direction) to follow. You plan of action should include 3 things:
1. Your Main Goal aka The Prize aka What You are Working Toward 
2. Broken down into Long Term Goals or Tasks to get there.
3. Broken down into Short Term Goals that will result in you achieving your Long Term Goals which will in turn result in you achieving your main goal.
4. An Example: Main Goal: Increase design clientele by 30% this year.
1. Long Term Goals: a) Increase clientele by 8% Q1 b) Increase clientele by 8% Q2 c) Increase clientele by 8% Q3 d) Increase clientele by 6% Q4
2. Short Term Goals: a) Increase Marketing Budget by 20% b) Increase Local Promotion by 10%  c) Increase Blog Exposure by 5%
2. Schedule Your Time - There is nothing worse than a day full of being busy vs. getting things accomplished. You are better off if you only get 3 things done today vs. being busy all day and never really accomplishing anything. For an entrepreneur, business owner, mom, college student, or project extraordinaire, time management is KEY - we all have the same amount of time in a day, how you use it is where the difference is made. Delegate a certain amount of time to each task, get a timer, set it and stick to your schedule. When scheduling it is important to schedule all aspects of your daily tasks - not just work. It is easy to focus on scheduling and forget to allow plenty of time for the other important things in life - family, friends, chill time, etc. You truly achieve success in your life there has to be balance between work and family and meditation/reflection/spirituality.
3. Make Time for YOU - It's a lot harder to reach a goal and stay motivated when you are frazzled! Building a business, blog, or any other goal you are working towards should be FUN! If you're not having a good time chances are you won't stick to it for very long. Take that 10 minutes to do something that relaxes you. Pause, take a deep cleansing breath and let it all go for just a few minutes. The result? You will feel rejuvenated and ready to tackle the next step of your journey.

So, to all my fellow entrepreneurs, dreamers, and goal achievers - let's make 2012 the best year yet!

Stay fabulous & focused.