Ok! At this point you should have your goals outline complete ( see previous blog post for help with your outline if still not completed). As we discussed you should have about 10 broad goals that you want to accomplish at this point. You have thought of the person you want to become this year and you have considered the various obstacles that may get in your way. Now it's time to formulate your plan for 2020! This is a big undertaking so plan on spending some time in order to get this right. You are planning out who you will become and what you will achieve for an entire year. Since most of us are planning on achieving greatness, we must first have a great plan! Use the following steps to help you create an awesome road map for your 2020 journey.

1. Cut your goals list by 75%! Yes, you read it correctly. You can't spread yourself to thin. If you do you will end up with a bunch of half way completed goals by the end of the year. Pick the 3 that are most important to you and that are not counter productive to themselves. For instance, you may not want to have a goal of increasing your net worth by 20% along side a goal of traveling Europe for 6 months. I'm not saying these two can't be done, but for those of us who don't make a couple million a year or who aren't high paid travel influencers it would be nearly impossible. You want to put yourself in the best position to succeed. That position is to have a few clear cut goals that are cohesive in nature.  So pick your top three goals that you deem most important to your success this year. You are not throwing those other goals out, your just setting them aside for now. You will achieve all that you want, just not all at the same time. Pick three and focus!

2. Break down the goals: Now that you've settled on your core goals for 2020 you need to break them down into manageable terms. This is done first by breaking your year goals into quarterly goals. Then you continue to breakdown into monthly and finally settle on the weekly targets. I do not suggest daily targets as one day is not gonna make you or break you when it comes to your yearly plan. As long as your on track every week you will get to where you want to be.  An easy example would be to have a goal of making an additional $20,000 this year. This breaks down to $5,000 a quarter, $1667.00 a month, or $385 a week. When you put in this way the amount is much less daunting. It's a paper route or a part time job. Make your large goals small and you will be much more likely to achieve them!

3. Make the Plan: Now that you have broken down your year into weeks it's time to create the plan. Ask yourself, How am I going to get these goals accomplished? The answer needs to be written down in a very clear manner as to avoid those conversations you will have in your head trying to rationalize to yourself why something didn't get done ( We all know this will happen at least once over the course of the year). For example let's say the goal is to lose 1/2 pound  each week. The plan could be the following: MON-SAT strict low carb meals, Sunday one cheat meal is allowed. Mon- 20 min walk, Tues- 20 min walk, Wed- 1 mile run, Thurs - off, Fri- 2 mile run, Sat- 20 min walk, Sun- 1 mile run. You can go into as much detail as you want, as a matter of fact the more detailed the better! At minimum  the plan must be detailed enough to ensure there is no way to talk yourself out of it.

4. Hold yourself accountable: Alright! We have our 3 goals, we have broken them down into weekly tasks, and we have created our game plan. Now we just need to make sure we don't get in our own way! The only person who can stop you from achieving your 2020 goals is you! At some point that little voice in your head is going to come out and start telling you "it's ok to skip a day","take a break", or even "time to quit". How do we stop this? We can't, but we can certainly fight it.

First, write down all the reasons why you chose your goals. Second, take a few videos of yourself. Talk to the future you, cheer yourself on (you can also send yourself emails in the future at futureme.org ). Third, keep a log of your weekly accomplishments so you can see all that you've done and how far you've come. Lastly, find a source of inspiration you can turn to if you need a little help. Whether it's a motivating book, speaker, or a loved one who's always in your corner.

When you think of stopping read those reasons you had when you started, watch a pep talk from yourself, review your awesomeness log, and ask for a little help. These four steps will shut that little voice right down and allow you to keep pushing on your road to achievement!

2020 is right around the corner! Make sure you are ready with a highly detailed and specific plan. This will help ensure that you are not part of the 80% of the population that give up on there resolutions by February! 

Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading,

HappyHealthyHundreds

Midway through December 2019! While it is not time to give up on our 2019 goals, it is time to start thinking big picture for 2020 goals. If you are to have a good chance at reaching all your goals next year you need to create a strong game plan. This starts with a general overview/ outline. You need to decide what it is you want to achieve for the entire year. What accomplishments are going to bring you the most happiness? Once you have those ideas nailed down, you then will work backwards on the details of how to realize those goals you have set.

Now is the perfect time to start spending some time on this outline. Don't stress if you cant sit down and write your goals in one sitting. NO ONE can. You need time, that's why we are starting now. This outline is not intended to be completed in one day, it should take at least a week to formulate! After all, your setting your success plan for an entire year, not what your having for lunch tomorrow!

Step 1: Review

The first step in the process is to review your current year. If you have a goals list from last year you can use that. If you don't have a list, make one. Think back to the beginning of the year, where did you think you would be now? What had you wanted to achieve?

Compare what you wanted to accomplish with what you actually accomplished. For those goals that were not realized, write down the reason. Ran out of time, realized you didn't actually want that goal, worked on higher priority goals instead. Whatever the reason is, jot it down. Then spend some time considering what you could have done differently to achieve those goals that were missed. This will help you create a realistic outline for 2020.

Step 2: Consider who you want to be and the accomplishments you want to have completed at the end of 2020. Think in broad terms to start ( you will narrow you thoughts down into measurable goals later). You are just  writing down a general overview of where you see yourself at the end of next year. I recommend you pick 10 broad goals to begin. These are very general and simple. For example, one could be "I want to have more money in the bank at the end of 2020 than I do now". Another maybe " I want to be in a different career at the end of 2020". You get the idea. The priority in this step is to create the vision for the person you will become throughout the year. Think this out over a few days, this is not something you can do quickly. The essence of a goals list is to change your current situation. In order for this to happen you yourself are going to need change. Your making a plan to transform yourself from the 2019 version to the 2020 version of yourself. Make that plan with purpose.

Step 3: Think of the possible obstacles that may try to get in your way. All of them! These could be self inflicted, such as doubt or lack of motivation. Or they could be external, your job consumes your free time, or one of the kids has a hectic travel baseball schedule. Anything you can think of, write it down. You need to be thorough on this list so you can try and prevent as many unforeseen circumstances as possible. Don't get me wrong, there's always going to be something that pops up but you can minimalize these occurrences with a well thought out obstacles forecast. That way you are less likely to get off track when you hit a bump in the road!



These three steps will help you formulate the basic outline needed to create a well thought out, detailed goal plan for 2020. You will use the knowledge you gained from the review in step 1 to help you formulate a realistic and attainable vision of your future self and accomplishments in step 2. Forecasting obstacles in step 3 will help you pave the road for the successful journey you are going to undertake to reach your goals.

Start with these! Part two of this series will be published next week. We will get into a lot more details. We will be trimming down the thoughts from step 2 into measurable/actionable goals. We will also begin to think of the philosophies and tactics we will use to overcome the obstacles in step 3.

This process will take us some time to complete, but I guarantee you this. You are definitely worth the time and effort!

Talk soon!

Thanks for reading!

HappyHealthyHundreds

 The holidays are here! Which means laughter, giving, and happiness!  I'm a big Christmas and Thanksgiving guy. I love the food, the presents, the movies, the parades, the family gathering together by the fire, All of it! With all the great times, great food, and great gifts it's easy to get yourself in a bit of a bind. You can easily string together a few weeks of over eating and overspending without even realizing it! By the time the holidays are over you've gained 10 pounds and maxed out your credit cards! We have compiled a few tips and tricks to help you avoid this.

Just to be clear! By no means are we suggesting you don't indulge in the festivities. After all, you work hard all year! You deserve to have some cake and see your families expression of joy when they open presents under the tree! We just want your enjoyment to be sustained, not ruined by a scale and a credit card bill! Use the following tips to aid you in surviving the holidays..

1. Gift Splitting: This is an awesome way to save some cash this season. Its very simple! When it comes to those higher ticket gifts see if a few family members want to chip in. If your son/daughter want tickets to the game, see if grandma wants to split it with you. The kids still get the gift they want, you saved grandma from trying to guess what to buy, and you've saved yourself half the cost of the gift! It's a win for everyone.

2. Gift Card Promos: This is a great way to knock out a few gifts at the same time while keeping a few dollars in your pocket. There are some really great deals out there if you look for them. The best ones are usually from a restaurant, hotel, or event business. The typical deal you see is spend $100 and get 20$ free. That's a free gift or stocking stuffer! There are better ones though if you look. I recently found a place that would match whatever you spent. Insane! I spent 100$ and got $200 with of gift cards! I was able to pretty much cover all my nieces and nephews in one stop (8 of them). Awesome stuff! Keep your eyes out for those deals and be ready to pounce when you find em'.

3. Plan for next year now: Take advantage of all the sales post holiday! Right after Christmas is the perfect time to stock up for next year. All the wrapping paper, lights, and cards are on deep discount. Buying those items now till save you a could chunk of change in the future. Take advantage!

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4. Eat what you want: The food is one of the best parts of the holidays. No one should have to resist all those goodies. So don't!  Just keep your indulgences to one meal a day, not all meals all day. Eat whatever you want once a day! We recommend you stay strong all day and indulge for dinner if you feel the need. Why? If you have a few cookies for lunch you are more likely to have a few at dinner also. But if you only had some at dinner then there's no more meal times for you to indulge. 

5. Do not take a holiday from your exercise: If you have an exercise routine keep it. If you don't have one, start now. Exercising regularly helps increase mental and physical health. It will also help you stay away from overeating as you won't want to waste the work you put in exercising by eating an entire chocolate cake! Also, if you do eat an entire chocolate cake it wont affect you as much as it would if you did not exercise. So while it is holiday season is a great time to take a break from work, it is not a break time from exercise. Keep your routine and you will be ringing in a happy new year!

That about covers it! Save when you can, keep an eye out for gift splitting and gift card opportunities. Eat what you want, enjoy yourself, just keep to one meal and don't slack on the exercise! Try these tips out this holiday season and let us know how it worked for you!

Thanks for reading!

​Happyhealthyhundreds