It’s January 2018 and most of us have begun formulating blueprints for the new year. It seems society has fashioned us to resolve to be a better version of ourselves each calendar year. Some hope to shed daunting weight, others hope to complete their education, while others hope to remove all negative energy and/or people from their personal spheres of influence and living spaces. While making resolutions never seem to prove fruitful, setting goals and creating blueprints to achieve those goals is a tried and proven formula for success. Whatever that success make look like to each of us.

Each year I’ve written to you providing tactical ways for achieving success in the new year. In the first, released Feb 2016 - Kingdom Promises: Make Goals Not Resolutions – I gave you reasons why making a commitment to a goal will reap more results than forming a resolution. In the second installment, released Jan 2017 – The Art of the Blueprint – Goals: Part II - I gave you 5 smart steps for outlining those goals and formulating those blueprints. In Part III, I want to make sure you have the proper tools to help you reach those goals.

1)    Planner: You will need a great planner to get you through the entire 365-day year. I prefer a daily planner as it allows me to visualize the obligations of my day, hour-by-hour. The planner I use (pictured in the infographic above) can be purchased at any Target.

2)    Act: It’s time to act! Refer to Goals: Part II for practical ways to put your goals into action. An easy and cost-efficient way to do so is to purchase a monthly calendar, hang it in the room in your house in which you spend the most time, and check off each day that you achieve a step towards your goals. Write in major milestones as well so that you can visualize the journey and feel a sense of accomplishment each day you see a checkmark. A personal favorite of mine is the 2018 Hidden Figures calendar from YourBlackWorld.net.

3)    Save: We’ve already discussed the buying power of Black Americans in The Black Dollar. So, you understand the need to invest in our own. On this subject, I believe that for communities to thrive, they need to be self-sufficient. Economic freedom and recycling dollars in the Black community helps with this. Maybe you only want to open a small account at a Black-owned bank. It’s still worth the investment. To find a Black-owned bank in your area, visit blackoutcoalition.org.

4)    Read: Readers are leaders. Read everything. Tweets. Fiction. Non-fiction. Biographies. Romance novels. Autobiographies. Works of poetry. The Bible. Other religious works. Your old textbooks. Newspapers. Just read and read a lot. Two of my favorite reads from 2017 are Counting Descent by Clint Smith and Queen Sugar by Natalie Baszile. May they each bring enrichment to your life as they have mine.

Good blessings to you and all your goals in 2018! Remember – never give up. Your dreams will make room for you.