My Secret to being “Lucky”

Let me start off by saying that I consider myself extremely lucky in that I have two beautiful daughters and an incredible husband. We’re all healthy and very happy. We live in a nice warm house and have plenty of food to eat, nice clothes and lots of toys.

But when I look back at the last 40 something years, I’ve never been a “lucky” person in what you might think of as traditional luck.

I don’t gamble because frankly, I’ve never won more than a free ticket in a scratch off. I’m convinced that the lottery pool I was part of at work never won a thing because I was one of the members. When it comes to a career, I’ve had to work extremely hard for every position that I’ve ever had. I’ve never been one of those people who walk into a seven figure job with their three years of experience at the Gap. We’ve also never been those people that buy a house and sell it a year later for $200,000 profit. My husband and I have never made any money when we’ve sold a house (in fact we lost 100K on our last house). I’ve never had any inheritance or even had a huge income tax refund. We usually always find a bill we don’t know about rather than an extra bit of cash from somewhere. But, over the last 20 years, my husband and I have worked very hard for the life we have and we’re really proud of it. It’s just that none of it came the easy way – it was all hard work.

The reason I’m sharing all of this is because I think it’s possible for everyone to change their “luck”. Einstein said that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Many people do the same thing day after day, year after year and expect changes. But I strongly believe that if you focus on your goals and develop a step by step plan, that you can meet those goals in your life and frankly – you make your own luck. The only way that I’ve been able to accomplish anything (from projects around the house to buying a new house) is by setting a goal and then implementing a plan that includes small achievable milestones.

If you’re interested in changing your ‘luck’ – here’s how to get started…

1. Consider what might be one important goal for you or your family that you’d like to achieve in the coming year.
2. What is a realistic timeline for meeting your goal?
3. What do you need to do to achieve your goal? Break it down into small, individual, manageable steps.
4. Once you’ve identified what you need to do to achieve your end-goal, formulate a plan of attack. Plan to tackle those individual steps one by one.
5. Taking on those steps one at a time and completing them will not only move you towards accomplishing your end goal, but also give you that much needed sense of accomplishment along the way. (Never underestimate the feeling you get from checking something off a list!)
6. Before you know it you’ll be well on your way to achieving that end goal that used to look like an insurmountable task.

Rinse. Repeat – for each goal you’d like to accomplish – large or small.

Organizing your house in 2020 is an example of a totally doable goal for the year.

1. Goal – Organize House in 2020
2. Timeline – 1 year
3. Needed to achieve goal – eliminate unwanted clutter
4. Plan – identify items and if they’re used frequently, occasionally or never.
   • If an item is used frequently, put it in a place that’s easily accessible. Don’t place frequently used items in the basement.
   • If an item is used occasionally consider if it’s used enough to be kept nearby or if it could be in storage. (For example: Most things that I use for entertaining I keep in my basement storage.)
   • If an item is never used – consider letting it go. This is tough because you’ve either spent money on an item or someone may have given it to you.

I was watching a home improvement show the other day and they were talking about cost per square foot of a house. I had a LIGHT BULB moment. It hit me that ANY items in my house are actually costing me money by taking up space. Therefore, if I don’t need or want them – why pay to store them?

• Anything that you’re letting go – divide into three boxes of donate, sell or trash.
  • I like to put any donations in a box immediately and then straight to the back of my car to drop off. If not, they’ll get buried in the garage somewhere.
  • Have a plan for selling. (yard sales, mom sales, online sales) Also, make sure that you’re not trying to sell stuff that no one will ever buy. It’s better to donate it right away or dispose of it, otherwise, you’ll just be back to a lot of clutter.
  • If your item is broken, dirty or not able to be donated or sold, dispose of immediately.

5. Steps – apply these rules to each area of your house where you have clutter. If you have 15 minutes tackle a cupboard or shelf. If you have an afternoon or day – tackle that guest room.

6. As your house becomes decluttered, you’ll notice that you have more room for putting away individual items. The golden rule of a place for everything and everything in it’s place really does work.

Taking on new challenges can seem overwhelming but when you develop a manageable plan it becomes a habit. When things become a habit – they become second nature. Before you know it you’ll be able to achieve all of the goals that you’ve set for yourself, including changing your “luck”.

Here’s to a fantastic New Year and New Decade!