Is it just me or is it unbelievable that it is already the end of January!   This month at Ruly we focused on goals and goal-setting strategies.  We learned from a variety of voices about how to set and achieve goals, summarized below:

• Kevin Roberts: “Don’t do stuff you know you don’t like.”
• Robert F. Mager: Goals should be people-based and stated in the positive.
• Regina Bogomolova: an inspiring example of a small business owner working hard to achieve her goals
• Martin Luther King Jr.: reminds us that no worthwhile goal is ever “impossible”
• Ruly Ruth: shared 2010 anti-goals for social interactions
• Jamie Smith: jazzed us up to achieve our goals
• Corporations: how strategies use by professional earnings forecasters can help us set goals in uncertain times
• Brain research: how relying on willpower alone is a recipe for failure in achieving your goals and knowing our weaknesses and structuring our thinking for success is critical.

Ruly also provided some helpful tips and advice:

• Calendar 2010 Review: thinking broadly about the timing of holidays, paydays and other milestones
• Difficult Goals Worksheet and recycled thank you note project
• Refrigerator organization secrets from my own fridge makeover

We also discussed the Haiti earthquake and reviewed emergency preparedness and disaster survival strategies.  The situation in Haiti continues to bring both positive and negative updates.  Heartbreaking stories of amputations, food and water shortages and orphaned children abound.  But there are positive stories of survival as well.  I could not believe the CNN video below of a young boy pulled from the rubble after 8 days.

As proof that miracles do happen, The Washington Post reported just yesterday that a teenage girl was pulled from the rubble alive after 15 days without food or water!

The Ruly Challenge

Since we are closing out one month and preparing for another, the one thing we have not yet discussed is The Ruly Challenge.  This month, it seemed most appropriate to set The Ruly Challenge at the end of the month.  Armed with knowledge of goal setting techniques, this month’s challenge should hardly be a surprise.

The Challenge: Identify your goals for 2010.  Write them down and post them somewhere you will see them frequently.

Perhaps you will reaffirm a New Year’s Resolution, or perhaps now that the rosy shine of the new year has dimmed a bit, you might revisit what is achievable given the reality of your everyday life. Your goals might be a small rather than grand–something you have a decent chance of actually achieving come December 31.

For myself, I plan to set goals in the following categories:

• Fun
• Health
• Finance
• Relationships
• Organization

I hope that you do set organizational goals for yourself.  Rather than a broad, general goal like “Be more organized,” break it down into something small, specific and objective, like “Clean out the linen closet.” My goal for Ruly in 2010 is to help you implement organization, timesaving and stress reduction strategies in at least 3 areas of your life.  Of course, I hope that you will find much more than 3 but 3 is my target.  If there are specific areas that you are looking for help in, please share in the comments and I will see what I can do.

On Monday, we start a new month with a new theme.  Please check back then to see.  Today is the last day to receive a Ruly thank you note for your comments by e-mailing your address to info@beruly.com.  I will be practicing a resolution this weekend by sending out my thank you notes.  I continue to be impressed by the comments.  I read them all and thank you for adding life to Ruly and teaching me as well.

Have a great weekend!