tara waechter owns planning-fun-road-trips.com, a website that covers every aspect of road-trip planning including mapping tips, packing lists, road trip games and songs, trip ideas, recipes, tools, and in-depth articles. she is also an office manager, wife (of husband ash), and meeting and event planner.
Here are Tara's "Five Rules For Life":
1.) Set goals that are challenging, inspire you, and are achievable - and write them down!
Goals that are too easy or boring will never motivate you enough - but make sure you can actually achieve them, as setting yourself up for failure will also destroy your motivation. Look for those "baby bear" goals that are just right. Writing them down is also a must-do. Studies have proven that goals that are written down are 90-95% more likely to be achieved. I’ve had enormous success with achieving my goals using this method.
2.) Nurture your relationships.
Many people allow their goals and work to take over their entire lives, only to find themselves alone and lonely. Nurture your relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners regularly with emails, phone calls, and visits. Tending your relationships is like tending a garden – you need to water and feed your garden regularly, or it will die from neglect.
3.) Never give up on your dreams.
Only you call yourself out of the game. You’ve only failed if you’ve accepted failure. Otherwise, you’ve just found things that don’t work – keep on trying and learning from your mistakes and you’ll eventually succeed.
4.) Happiness is a choice.
You are entirely in control of your moods. You may want to blame your bad mood on circumstances, weather, or rolling off the wrong side of the bed - but really, you’re in charge. Choose to be happy – make it a priority – and you’ll be on the right track. How to make yourself happy? Focus on what you love about your life right now. What do you really appreciate or feel grateful for? No matter how tough things are, there’s always, and I mean always, something good to be grateful for. Now keep adding to that list and include everything from the big items to the very small and simple pleasures of life.
5.) Be here now.
Goals are essential, but never let the future or the past obliterate the present. It is the only thing you truly have - now. There are no guarantees of the future. The past is over. What you have is today. Make it a habit to revel in the moment at least once or twice every day. Carpe diem!
Tara currently resides in Cary, North Carolina.
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