Trying To Get Someone To Change? Here are 5 Things to Consider

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you'll understand what little change you have in trying to change others."” 

- Benjamin Franklin

I first started writing blogs in the beginning of this year with the intention to share my experience, expertise and knowledge with friends and family. Half-way through the year I decided to expand my horizons and had the opportunity to post my blogs on LinkedIn. For the last six months I have received great comments, kudos and encouragement. I have also received quite a few interesting questions and suggestions.

I took the time yesterday to go through many of the suggestions and questions people have sent me. Interestingly, about 80% of the questions or suggestions are about making someone change their ways: “Can you write about how to make your boss be more engaged?”; “How can I point out to my sister that she is spending too much money?”; “Do you have any advice on how I can make my wife listen to me?” I slightly changed the structure of the questions, but all of these questions are about making someone do something, change something or realize something. I decided to address these questions in today’s blog and provide three things anyone should consider when trying to make someone change.

Adults have years of bad habits

Most people have done things in a certain way for years. Perhaps, you have a co-worker that likes to procrastinate (and that has probably worked for him throughout his life). Or perhaps you have a sibling that has always been late – always. It’s unrealistic for you to try to change someone who has exercised certain habits throughout their lifetime and expect that you can magically turn that around in a heartbeat. By the time we become adults those habits (good or bad) are practically engraved in our DNA.

Can these habits eventually change? Absolutely, but it takes more than a few words of encouragement (or discouragement) from you to make it happen. You can’t expect things to change overnight, you can’t expect consistency, and you can’t expect immediate buy-in. From my experience, the more things you want to change about a person, the more problems you’ll have in your relationship.

Who likes to have their flaws pointed out?

Sometimes we think we’re doing a person a favor by telling them what they need to hear to make them better. This can work with some people, but not everyone is the same. Not everyone likes to hear that they’re lazy, that they need to be more responsible, that they are unorganized or that they don’t know how to be diplomatic. In fact, I can guarantee that most people know these things about themselves and you reiterating what they already know is probably not going to help.

Most people are quick to point out the flaws of others, but offer no assistance, no advice or no solutions. Additionally, it’s not what you say but how you say it that matters in many occasions. I’m sure many people would like to be less lazy, a bit more organized, or would like to know how to be more diplomatic, but how can they learn those things? Can they look up a video on Youtube on how to be less lazy? At work, this is a problem many managers have when giving feedback – they only point out the “areas for development” but don’t offer any assistance, solutions, advice or steps to development to improve those areas.

You can’t make someone change

I have finally learned that you can’t make someone change – you can only help. We get so caught up in wanting to change our employees, our co-workers, our significant other, or our children. You can’t change someone – you can only help, you can only provide support and you can only guide. Many of us want people to change but are not willing to commit, to put in the time to help others change. We get frustrated and impatient because the other person is not willing to cooperate and we give up. If you won’t invest in helping others, who will? Invest time, energy and love to help others. All you can do is help. They are the only ones that can make change happen.

Look in the mirror first

Many times we focus so much on trying to change others or trying to get others to see things our way that we never stop and look in the mirror instead. What habits do we need to change? What do we have to change about ourselves? Instead of asking, “why isn’t he listening to me?”, ask “am I listening to him?” Are you requiring patience from someone else but you are not patient yourself? Are you demanding understanding from your boss but have never tried to understand yourself? Are you taking proactive steps to change your ways? If the answer is ‘no,’ then what makes you think you can change the ways of someone else?

Be the example

Change yourself first, then help others change. You can’t make someone change unless you have gone through a transformation yourself. Change your ways first and have people take notice. This has been the only effective way I have made change in others possible. I try to hold my tongue, and demonstrate how change is possible. Every day, try to be a better version of yourself and others will eventually want to become a better version of themselves without you having to say a word, having to point out anything and (sometimes) even needing to help. Become an exemplary human being of positive change and healthy relationships. Let the obstacles and challenges test you because that is the only way you’ll know if you’ve really changed. Then, you can provide hope that change is possible in others.

Perhaps this wasn’t the type of article that you expected but my hope was to help you see things through another set of lens. Max Depree, the great American author on Leadership once said: “We cannot become what we want to be by remaining who we are.”

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.  

5 Things You Might Do Well At Work But Terribly At Home

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."” 
- Unknown

A few months ago I met with a friend who wanted me to help her with her finances. She felt she never had any money and she didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t asking me for money but she wanted me to go over her budget and see what things she needs to change.

After she asked me to help her, I paused for a bit and asked her a question.

“Wait a minute,” I said, “don’t you manage a multi-million budget at work?”

“Yeah, I know,” she responded, “I guess I never thought about my own budget.”

Many times we acquire great skills at work – skills we probably didn’t have before. We might have learned a bit more about finance, accounting, time management, organization, leadership, management, and teamwork or communication skills. The interesting thing is that time after time I meet someone or someone I know comes to me because they’re struggling with something personally that they might be doing well at work. Below are a few of these things many people do well at work but, for some reason, don’t do a good job at home.

Manage a Budget

As discussed in the introduction above, there are many people who manage a lot of money at work, but for some reason can’t or don’t manage their personal finances. Money management is a great skill to have and many of us have it. Use that skill to take control of your spending, your budget and your credit. Just like you spend an ample amount of time at work looking over numbers and making decisions, you should do the same at home. Make the time and effort because I can guarantee you that your money is more important to you.

Organize Yourself

I had a friend a few years ago who introduced me to his co-worker. His co-worker bragged about how organized my friend was. I was shocked. I didn’t say anything, but I knew my friend for at least 5 years and our circle of friends knew that he was awfully unorganized. My friend was messy, he never knew where he left papers and he was always late paying bills – and he was my roommate. Organization is another great skill to have. Transfer that skill to your personal life and, just like you do at work, you will become more productive.

Follow Up

As a program manager a few years ago, my goal was to acquire and retain new business for the company. Anyone that has ever worked on sales knows that following up is key to getting the sale. I did a great job at work, but a terrible job following up with friends and family. At work, I used to respond to our stakeholders in less than 24 hours. At home, I would receive a call, a voice message, a text message and you would be lucky if you heard from me. The people outside of work are very important to you, probably more important than the people you’re trying to sell to. Apply the same rules at home as you do at work. Be responsive at home, be accessible and just make sure you return phone calls.

Manage Your Time

Productivity is important at work. Many of us use an Outlook calendar to schedule our time at work and we try to stick to it as much as we can. We include meetings, tasks, projects and more meetings in our calendar. However, many of us don’t do the same with our personal life. We don’t schedule our life! Plan a date with your significant other, schedule the time when you’ll pay your bills, don’t forget your little cousin’s birthday party, and schedule some time to grow. You will accomplish more in life if you apply the same time management strategies you use at work.

Exercise Your Patience

I had a niece that used to work at a fast food chain. Anyone that has ever worked in fast food knows that you have to be very patient with the customers. My niece was always very polite, patient and professional when speaking to customers. At home though, my niece was the opposite. She hated waiting, she hated how her younger sister would nag and she couldn’t stand being at home. Patience is a great virtue. At work we become very patient with clients, co-workers and our boss. It shouldn’t be any different at home. Why does it all of a sudden change? Take the same measures and effort you apply at work to your home and you will be happier. There is no difference.

Are you a different person at work as you are at home? I always believed you should always exercise the great qualities you were given as a human being, no matter where you are. In fact, I think these qualities are much more needed at home than at work. 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.  

Still Trying To Figure Out What To Do With Your Money? Here Are Some Suggestions

"If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal. Not to people or things."
- Albert Einstein

I came up with a realization this weekend. As I have been sitting down with friends, family, clients and couples, I realized that I am actually not a financial adviser or a financial planner. As I reflected on all the sessions I had with people, I realized one important thing that I didn't realize before. I've been advising on money now for almost a year and this theory just clicked recently. This is my realization:

I'm not a financial adviser, I'm a life adviser. I'm not a financial planner, I'm a life planner.

As I reflect back on the sessions I had with people, I try to quantify the the type of conversations we have during our sessions. Most of our conversations are about goals, dreams or about the things we want out of life. The main reason I see people struggling with saving, debt and budgeting is because there is no clear vision to what they want in life. There is no plan. When there is no plan to follow, no goals to accomplish, the money just disappears. Before your money continues to disappear, I want to dedicate some time to hopefully help you discover what you want to do with your money. 

Everything we do in life has a price. Most of our goals and dreams have a price tag. However, most people don't take the time to calculate the actual price of their dream or goals and many people don't set plans or personal targets for themselves. I write with the hope that this can help you figure out a few things. 

Ask Yourself A Few Questions
Take two hours of your day, of your life to ponder about your life and your future. Grab a piece of paper, a notebook or a diary and a pen or pencil and start answering these questions:

• Where do I see myself next year? In 3 years? In 5 years? Where do I want to see myself?
• What have I accomplished these past 5 years? What do I want to accomplish in the next 5 years?
• What are my goals in life?
• If money wasn't an issue, what would I be doing with my time?

There is no right or wrong answer here. There are no limits to what you can dream or imagine. There is nothing that is impossible when doing this exercise. 

Do Some Research
When I ask people what they want to accomplish, I get a few typical answers: 'I want to open up a 401k to retire' or 'I want to get out of debt.' I definitely respect the goals of my clients, but my goal is to make them happy and to really think about what they want out of life. However, I personally think that there are other accomplishments to think about than just getting old and paying off bills and creditors. I take my time to educate and help people think things through. For example, I ask the question, 'do you know that a 401k really is and how it works'? Or 'do you know how much money you'll need to retire for 20 years?' What about 'Have you thought about how you could potentially retire younger and what it takes to make that happen?'

I propose that everyone goes online and just does some research. You can google pretty much anything. Here are some questions you might want to google:

• What's a 401k?
• What should I do when I'm 30?
• How to start a business
• How much is a farm?
• How to invest in Real Estate?
• Where should I travel?
• Where should I take my family?

You'd be surprised how attainable your goals might be after doing some research. I recommend you research about things you love, you wish to do, and things that matter to you the most. 

Set A Few Goals
Goal setting is key to life. I would personally prefer to be 70 years old and not retired but knowing that I accomplished 95% of all my life's goals and dreams than be 70 years old, retired and not knowing what the heck I did with my life. I set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. We've all done this to some extent. We typically call these 'New Year's resolutions.' Here are some suggestions to get started:

• Choose a deadline that is realistic
• Make sure that your goal is measurable
• Hold yourself, or have someone hold you, accountable

If you want to learn more about goal setting, research this: SMART goals. Start with a goal for this week. Begin to gain discipline. Discipline is one of the key factors to accomplishing goals. 

Be Encouraged
Does this blog seem draining? Too bad. We can't expect to be encouraged every single second, or to have someone push us on every single time we encounter hardships. I suggest that you develop the discipline to be self-motivated. If you've never been the self-motivated type, then you should hang around very driven and motivated people. If you think it's impossible to travel to Europe because it's a lot of money, then talk to someone who will encourage you. If you hang around people that always tell you that you're doing things wrong or that you can't do something, then it's time to start hanging around a different crowd. Encouragement comes a long way.

Stay the course and believe. The biggest obstacle is yourself. If you can overcome your personal barriers, then you can accomplish anything. Any thoughts?

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.

How To Turn Your Cash Flow From Negative To Positive

"Discipline is doing what you know needs to be done, even though you don't want to."
- Unknown

Yesterday, I began to tell my story (Read How I Survived With $11 In My Pocket). Let me pick up where I left off...

So I finally got a job and things started to look a lot better. However, if you remember the story, I was still deep in debt, I received a lawsuit, shortly after a sheriff came to my office to let me know that my wages were going to be garnished, and I still had some bill collectors calling me consistently. 

It took me a few years to get out of this financial hole. This is not easy to do, but yet I was able to do it and I wanted to share the two main ways I was able to turn things around. At the time, I felt as though i was living paycheck to paycheck and most of my money went to paying bills, debt and other people with little or no money staying in my bank account. I had negative cash flow every single month for years. This is how I eventually got out. 

Sacrifice
I used to hate the word sacrifice. It pretty much means that you give up things that you like. Most people kind of want to change their situation, but they don't really want to do anything about it. Most people worry that they're in a financial hole but they don't want to give up anything to get out. I'm sorry to put it this way, but the most effective way to get out of a financial hole is by committing to sacrifices.

In order to prioritize my life and financial goals I gave up quite a few things that were not easy to give up. For five years I didn't own a television. This meant that I also didn't have cable. I had to be content with the car that I drove that was falling apart. I drove that car until (literally) the wheels fell off. For three years I didn't have a bed, just two mattresses on the floor. Beds are expensive and so are cars. If you add up the total amount you would spend on a TV and on monthly cable, it also begins to be expensive to have those luxuries. The phone I had was never new. In fact, I was trying to downgrade at one point but T-Mobile wouldn't let me. I bought clothes maybe once or twice a year and tried to take care of them so that they would last me for five more years. I also gave up going out so much so I can save a little on gas and dining out.

Discipline
As I mentioned before, none of this was easy. Most people feel that they need to reward themselves immediately after they receive a paycheck. Some people I know spend half of their paycheck the Friday they get paid. 

If you really think about it, I didn't have enough money left over (positive cash flow) to buy a new TV. Most people buy things with money they don't really have. I strategically put money aside every month for the bigger goals in life. For over four years I tracked my income and expenses on a spreadsheet (until I learned about mint.com three years ago.) Every month, I sat down for hours to look at where I needed to cut, what other sacrifices I needed to make and stuck to my plan. I also made sure that if I had money, I didn't spend it. the biggest discipline I attained was the ability not to spend money when I had it. I read tons of books and articles about managing expenses, investments, getting out of debt, how to save, how to develop better habits, how to become more disciplined, time management, all read to help me achieve my goals. I read (or listened to) a book every month. I read articles every single week. I forced myself to wake up earlier every morning although I convinced myself in college that I wasn't a morning person. I even gave up french fries for 9 months and eventually became vegetarian. People ask me why I became vegetarian and my simple answer is that I just wanted to see how long I could do it. It's now been five years. 

Throughout this experience, the money I made had nothing to do with me getting out of a hole (read Why How Much Money You Make Doesn't Matter). It was truly the discipline I developed and the sacrifices that I made that eventually helped me reach my goals. What was the end result? Now, I have a TV ( and I do have cable but I just bought it to watch the World Cup games - I'm about to cancel it) and a better car. However, I'm more proud of the fact that I have no loans, no credit cards, positive cash flow and I have been able to reward myself lately with trips to Hawaii, Cancun and Orlando. It also takes discipline to reward yourself at the end. 

Warren Buffet once said, "The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging." Can you stop digging?

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.

Interested In Improving Your Monthly Cash Flow? Follow These 5 Steps...

"Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving."

 - Warren Buffet

Yesterday, I wrote about the concept of Cash Flow (read Why How Much Money You Make Doesn't Matter). For those of you that might not have had the time to read my blog and are in the dark of what Cash Flow is, let me quickly explain it. Cash Flow is what you have left over when you calculate what you earn (i.e. your income) against what you spend. Your monthly Cash Flow might be positive or negative depending if you make more money than what you spend or you spend more money than what you make on  a monthly basis. 

If you think that I'm going to give the top five secrets on how to make more money or how to reduce your expenses, you are wrong. Realistically, yes, there are only two ways to increase your Cash Flow: Either you have more money coming in or you have less money coming out. Instead of going over how to make more money or how to spend less, I decided to go over something a lot more valuable. 

Before I continue, I definitely wanted to let you know that in no way do I currently have a crazy amount of positive monthly Cash Flow. Although my monthly Cash Flow is consistently positive, it's important to note that for many years my monthly Cash Flow was consistently in the red. I share this with you because I hope to encourage you a bit more. I hope that you feel as though your situation is not unique and that things can turn around just like they did for me. Below are five things I wanted to share about how I was able to turn my monthly Cash Flow from negative to positive.

Enjoy The Hard Work
People are always looking for a quick way to make money. They prefer to hear the stories of someone who won the lottery and became rich instantly instead of the true stories of those who have worked hard with their blood, tears and sweat to become wealthy over a course of many, many years. Most successful people that I know never got rich immediately. It was their hard work that paid off. They happily worked more than 60 hours a week to move up the ladder in their company. They worked tirelessly day and night because they opened up their own restaurant and they had no time to sleep. In fact, I met a guy at a conference once who said he's working hard because he doesn't like to work. His goal was to retire by age 35. Hard work will pay off. Enjoy the ride. 

Get Educated
If this is the only blog you read, then you're in trouble. Most people think of education as a plan to go to a university and get a degree. However, you can almost learn anything through books and now that we have YouTube, you can practically learn how to do anything on YouTube. Be proactive. Learn about controlling your expenses. Learn about how to accomplish your goals. Learn about investing, how to play the guitar, how to sing, whatever it is, but learn. A few years ago I decided to read a book every month. That type of education was relatively cheap and it helped me learn more about improving my Cash Flow. 

Give More
You're probably thinking, "Wait a minute...if I give more, how will I be able to keep more of my cash flow?." It's the law of life. I'm just not talking about money, but anything that you might have that you can share or give to others. Give your time to someone in need, or give more time to spend with your children. Give your heart to more people and you will see how it will open up doors you never knew existed. Even during times of struggle, I tried to give what I could to others. I had no money to give to anyone at the time, but I gave away my knowledge by volunteering to teach kids how to play mariachi music. I also tutored kids and got shrimp tacos in return. Eventually, everything worked out for the best. Give. 

Make Better Decisions
Most people would rather not think about money and convince themselves that money isn't important. They base their decision on this philosophy and they find themselves struggling consistently to make ends meet. A spontaneous trip to Vegas means nothing to them although they might have spent $800 on the trip that they are now trying to work hard to make up for. Eating out every day and spending almost $900 a month on fast food doesn't matter, right? Take responsibility. Start now. Put down your phone as you read this blog and start making changes immediately. 

Believe
Nothing is impossible in this life. Most people get discouraged because they 'don't make enough money.' Others decide that it's impossible to become as wealthy as the people they see on TV. Your mentality is half the battle. If you think the worse will happen, then it will. If you don't believe in yourself, then why should anyone believe in you? If you truly want to change your situation around, whether it's a financial struggle or something else, you must believe that it is possible. Don't defeat yourself before you try. You'll be surprised how strong you are inside and how believing can come a long way.

This article might not have been what you expected, but I felt I would be doing you a disservice if I continued to give you tips that you wouldn't put into action. Do you really want to change things around or is it just a nice thought? As I mentioned before, half of the battle is setting your mind to it. The other half is really just doing something about it. 

Was this blog helpful? Please share your comments. 

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way.

What Would You Do If Everything Was Possible?

One of my favorite stories is a story I read in an article four months ago. The story was about a seven year old girl who was fascinated by the game 'catch.' She began playing catch with her dad, trying to count how many times they could catch the ball without dropping it. At one point they reached 50 catches and the girl and her dad were excited because they just beat their old record.

One day though, the focused little girl requested a game of catch in order to break their previous record of 50. The little girl wanted to get to 100! The dad chuckled a bit because he knew how much trouble it took them to get to 50. A few days later they reached their goal of 100. The next day the little girl said to her dad, "Dad let's go for 300 in a row!" The dad tried to convince his daughter that maybe they should try 125 or 150 because 300 was a stretch. Despite the push-back, the father agreed and a few days later 300 catches became their record. However, the daughter wanted to keep going. Challenging herself, she now wanted to go for 500. The dad said nothing this time but thought to himself, "You got to be kidding me!" Surely enough, after a few days, they reached 500 catches. The little girl didn't stop there.

"Dad," she said, "let's now go for 1,000 in a row!" The father at this point believed that this was impossible. Embarrassed to say anything to his believing daughter he unfaithfully agreed to try to get to that impossible goal. This time, in less than 24 hours, they reached 1,017 catches!

Earlier this week I wrote about fear and how fear prohibits us from reaching goals or trying things for the first time. Many times, we are the ones who limit ourselves and we are the ones who convince ourselves that things are impossible. What if you didn't set any limits? What if you stopped using the words 'I can't'? What if you truly believed that everything in this world was possible? Are you the one limiting yourself?

"Everything is impossible until somebody does it"

- Bruce Wayne (Batman) 

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible!"

- Audrey Hepburn

Don't forget to share this blog so you can encourage others: family, co-workers, friends. Give them something to get motivated! You never know what they might be going through. A few words of encouragement can go a long way. 

What you can learn from the boy who wasn't smart...

His mother and father feared that something was wrong with their child. He was already three years old and still hasn't spoken a word. Years later, the fear resurfaced when their boy began to attend elementary school. The other kids thought he was weird because he didn't like sports and his teachers believed he was slower than the other students. By the time he got to high school one of his teachers told him that he would never amount to anything and that he should just drop out. Eventually, he did drop out of high school. Even the military didn't want him because he had 'flat feet.' It seemed as though this kid was just doomed. He was born to fail and everyone knew it.

Before I continue with the story, I think it's important to note that I probably already convinced you that this boy was not smart. Perhaps at some point even the boy was convinced that he was not smart. Why do we do that? We allow others to dictate what we are or what we aren't? We're quick to judge and we're quick to accept judgment.

Has anyone convinced you that you're not smart enough? That you're not good enough? Or that you just can't do it? If you allow yourself to be convinced by other people's opinions, then we accept the limits of others, not of ourselves. You have a choice to not listen.

However, the worst thing you can do is convince yourself that you can't do something or that you are a certain way. You might say to someone, "I'm just not a morning person" or "I'm just always late" or "I'm bad with math." When I used to teach guitar lessons years ago, the most common thing I would hear was, "I can't play the guitar, my fingers don't stretch that far." These are all lies. There is a way you can wake up earlier, you just need to get used to it. You can always leave your house 30 minutes before so you're not late. You can do math problems 30 minutes a day to get better. Finally, you can actually just try to stretch your fingers until your fingers get used to the guitar, with much needed practice.

It's easier to convince ourselves that we just can't do things. Or we can use that same mental power to convince ourselves that we can be better. We can convince ourselves that we can change and that we will change. Is it hard? Of course. Does it take time? Definitely. Is it worth it? More than you can imagine.

What things can you improve about yourself? What things need to improve? Is it really others that have convinced you or is it yourself?

Oh yes - back to the story! The boy eventually studied long and hard to take a few exams and eventually got into college. After college he struggled with finding a job because his teachers refused to write letters of recommendation for him. The story of his life continues. He finally got a job at as a patent clerk and continued his studies earning a doctorate from the University of Zurich. The boy who was once told he would never do anything in life became one of the smartest human beings that ever lived. His name was Albert Einstein.

2014 is the year of the NEW

I have no clue what I'm doing. I told myself I would begin writing blogs and I've spent the last three hours researching what a blog is. After signing up with three different blog sites, I landed here trying to write my first blog ever. I also stole a picture I liked from the internet that says "The Future - Next Exit". Am I even supposed to do that? I got in trouble when I was in 8th grade for plagiarism.

I'm the type of person that doesn't wait until the New Year's to do a list of resolutions. My list was created almost 5-10 years ago. However, as I discuss the many things I have done in the past (and what I plan to do in the future) people have been intrigued by my actions. I'm no superhero and I'm definitely not talented at many things but I always give things a try. This will probably be my worst blog ever because it's the first. Nothing comes naturally to me the first time. Or the second or third, for that matter. With experience and practice everyone gets better.

Think about the first time you tried to swim. You probably almost drowned, didn't you? Well, I did. What about the first time you drove a car? You probably hit a parked car, right? Wait, that was me. At least now I'm a decent swimmer that can doggy paddle for hours and I have some great parking skills.

To everyone reading this, first of all, thank you. I won't waste your time with my silliness. This 2014, make sure you plan to do something you've never done in your life. Maybe it's something you said you would do later. Maybe it's something your significant other has wanted you to try for some time. Maybe it's something you've secretly wanted to do but never had the courage to take action. This is the year to reinvent yourself - no excuses. This year will be Chapter 1 of your life. This is the year to take risks. This is the year to make plans. This is the year to take action. This is the year you will conquer your fears. Don't live your life thinking - "what if". Life is beautiful. Try to see how beautiful. Try life for the first time.