How many of you have ever made a New Year’s Resolution? I have!  In the past I would have my list and boy some of the things I vowed to tackle. Well never again!

Yes I have things I want to change. Things I am working on goals and themes I want in my life. Personally  I know me and I don’t do well with as of January 1 I will do it. For me tackling a challenge that way does not work. For me it is just plain stupid.

So what does work for me?

When I want to tackle something what do I do?

1. I ask myself is this something I really want for ME? What is my motivation? I then write out my motivation. An example of this 2 years ago I wanted OFF welfare and wanted to be working as well as giving in my community. Why? Well my motivation was I wanted more cash and I wanted to feel like my contributions mattered and that weighed on me very much at the time. I wrote out in my journal about my whys and well then I went to step 2.

2. I came up with a plan. Re-entering the workforce after time off for any reason can be daunting . It becomes twice as daunting when you have a special needs child who will need after school and summer care (that in itself took a careful plan).

3. I wrote my plan out. Okay this is when you have to ask your self . How am I going to get this thing? What things that can I do? Write out the baby steps I did. Then I wrote out the dates of when things had to be done by..

4. I advertised my plan. My goal. I shared it with friends, with family and then I began to network.  I needed to build a community that would encourage me and help me. I in turn would be doing the same for them.

It took me 9 months to find a job that fit the bill for me. I have had that job for 16 months now. I work for a call center ( yes, she is one of those people) but the neat thing for the last 6 months I have done my job from HOME.  Every night if you are a Comcast customer in the need of internet support you could be reaching me at home. It is a pilot project that I am thankful to be part of and I have enjoyed working for Convergys and their client Comcast. I was able to get exactly what this mom wanted and needed.

Now this week I turned 45! Yeah I am an old maid! So what are my motivations for 2010? I want to be a FRUGAL ( that ain’t going to change), FIT ( that means yeah I am going to the gym) and FABULOUS (that means giving and enjoying life and each moment it gives me) and FAITH FILLED( that means my relationship with God needs some work)…these are the things I am working on..and I don’t need a New Year’s Resolution to get me going.

Are you making resolutions?  or do you have goals at all? I really would love to know? and do you have a plan?

Over the next couple of days here on my blog I will be reflecting on the past decade and how I became the Common Cents Mom I  am and how certain events changed and molded this decade.

This post post will be shared as part of the Tackle Me Tuesday on 5Minutes for Mom and as part of What Works for Me on We are That Family.