Pub. 1 2016 Issue 6

7 ISSUE 6 2016 A FRESH START A Fresh Start | Continued on page 8 T oo often, the end of the year means the realization that things didn’t exactly go according to plan the last 12 months. Being resilient enough to look around, assess your life, andmake the changes necessary for a fresh start could be the difference between a new year that looks pretty much like the old one, or a new year that really is something to anticipate. What can you do to make those changes? • Name the problem. The faster you accept that you have one, the faster you can begin to solve it. • Keep calmso you can thinkmore clearly. Have you ever tried to do somethingwhen you felt totally panicked and afraid? You probably mademistakes youwouldn’t normallymake, right?That’s why the first thing you need to do is to deal with your emotions in the short term. Take a couple of minutes. Focus on your breathing. See if you can look beyond the present crisis just long enough to gain some perspective. Tell yourself that you can take time later to feel whatever emotions are currently roiling through your body. Right now is the time to think, not the time to feel. • Assess whether you need to continue on the same path or cut your losses and change directions. You probably know what your strengths and weaknesses are. Always play to your strengths, and when it’s time to quit, go right ahead. You’ll havemore opportuni- ties ahead of you. Any money or time you’ve already spent can’t be recovered. Put your effort into something that has a better chance of success, or modify what it is you are trying to accomplish, and don’t look back. • Keep trying new things until something works out. If you plant enoughgood seeds, andprovide themwithwhat they need to grow, then at some point that’s exactly what they are going to do: grow. It’s the same with opportunities. Believe that you can be good — exceptionally good — at something, and then do everything you can to identify what that something is. • Do what you can to improve your situation. If you can’t manage to have enough money in the bank to last for three months, then start smaller. Can you set aside $10 every paycheck and ignore it until it can grow? If you know layoffs are coming, can you start getting your resume out to other companies and looking for ways to change jobs before that happens? • Look for bad habits and get rid of them. Do you eat too much junk food, watch too much television, and have irregular hours that involve staying up too late every night and then scrambling everymorning? Buy some apples and carrots. Start reading a book and spend some time on that instead every night. Figure out when your bedtime is and when your time to get up is. Don’t expect to change in a single day (although some people have done just that), but do work to reset your internal clock. Stop eating about 5 p.m., use dimmer lights in the evening, and don’t end your day in front of a bright screen. See whether you can get about half an hour of bright light within ten minutes of waking up. • Work hard. Knowing that you are working toward your goals occupies your mind and makes you tired enough to sleep well at night. Sitting around and moaning about how hard things are