Time for a check up! Where am I with my New Years Resolutions part 2.

So my plan was to complete the second part of this post over a week ago but I just didn't have time. We had some remodeling going on and were staying with relatives for a few days and I was out of my normal rhythm.

In part 1 of this post I began to disclose my thought process for planning and I hope to finish this one way conversation now and conclude with the actual update on my 2012 goals.

In my previous post I described my 3-step thought process for planning: visualize, strategize, realize.

I'm gonna break down the three steps, so if you aren't interested in reading my details yammering about how to use a simple goal planning process then skip to another post.

Visualization occurs non-stop. It's an introspective process, in which I constantly evaluate my changing desires and ask myself some simple questions, all culminating in who am I? and What is important to me? With these two questions I can measure every goal, entertain many thoughts and desires and simply let the answers guide my life. Who I am as a wife and a mom is different than who I was as a college student or young adult. What is important to me as I strive to reach financial goals like saving for a house is different than what was important to me when I had my first post college job and hadn't thought yet about long term financial planning.

Basically visualization is taking a hard look in the mirror, being real with yourself, evaluating your identity, strengths, and weaknesses.

The second step in my planning process is to strategize. This step I literally do with a computer, a pen, paper, and sometimes a calculator and calendar. When you write down your goals and place them in plain sight, you are forced to recall them on a regular basis. Likewise when you share your goals with others you become more accountable to reaching them. If you were to come into our bedroom you would find a bright green piece of construction paper reading " Brown Family Goals", five goals for this year that we have committed to reaching as a family.

The final step is the fun part, to realize your goals. By realize I don't mean having a light bulb moment in which an idea spontaneously appears in your head. I mean actually acquiring the fruits of all your hard planning, the actualization of your plan.

Stay tuned for the actual update on my 2012 goals, and yes I am drawing it out cause I LOVE to talk about planning!!