Happy New Year!!!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day and I'm so grateful to have made it to another year!

At the end of each year I like taking time to reflect on how close I've come to reaching the goals I set for the year and then set new goals for the next year.

The year of 2016 was overall a great year for me!

Here's why: 1. I passed my final defense and received a Doctorate in Nursing Practice. 2. I reached another life milestone of turning the BIG "40"!!!! 3. I was able to celebrate obtaining my doctorate and turning 40 with over 50 of my closest family and friends 4. I was able to visit my father's hometown in Jamaica. 5. I presented the work I did for my doctorate in two different conferences over the summer 6. I several traveled to several great places including: San Antonio, Las

Vegas, San Diego and Guam. 7. I celebrated Thanksgiving while on an 8 day cruise to Mexico with my

family!

Can I just say I had a blast last year!!!!

I will admit however, that in addition to the wonderful accomplishments and cherishable memories made, I also experienced my share of setbacks and disappointments. The first one being that it was a difficult year for me financially. Throughout the year funds were extremely tight and I was living paycheck to paycheck every month. It can be so frustrating to find yourself struggling and praying that ends will meet. Nevertheless, by the grace of God and with the help of family I was able to survive.

I also faced a disappointing breakup with someone I cared for deeply and anticipated sharing the rest of my life with. Needless to say, it didn't happen and I know it was for the best so I've made peace with it but it was still a very difficult and painful road to walk. There were certainly valuable lessons learned and a tremendous amount of growth that resulted despite the pain last year.

For each of us, every new year brings its victories and its failures, its challenges and its triumphs, its smiles and its tears. Many of us set out at the beginning of the year with ambitious goals, audacious dreams and relentless determination to succeed. Sadly, sometimes life happens and we're derailed from our goals or our focus is shifted to issues that become more pressing. The weight loss and workout plans take a back seat, enrolling in school is postponed for another semester or the business proposal is never started.

Don't let your goals for 2017 take a back seat this new year. Below you'll find six steps I've used to help me stay the course. We'll dive in a little deeper next week to each one of these steps. In the meantime I hope your new year is off to a great start! I'm praying God's blessing over your life and stand in agreement that you will reach each goal you set out to accomplish in 2017.

Happy New Year!!!

B.Dyer

6-Steps to Stay on Course throughout the New Year: 1. Write the vision down. 2. Find an accountability partner= 3. Develop of game plan & Do the Work 4. Put it on your schedule 5. Find your motivation

6. Reward yourself for small steps taken