Dear Student,

Hopefully you have been able to apply some of the tips offered to you in past newsletters to improve the effectiveness of your coaching program.

With the start of a new year, we anticipate some exciting changes and developments here at Prosper, Inc. We are especially excited to bring you along for the ride, so that together, we can prosper in the year 2006. As you know, we cannot celebrate our success until you are celebrating your own.

We encourage you to take some time to evaluate your progress, personal and financial, over the past several months and to set new goals for this New Year. Write them down and review them often. As Lee Iacocca said, “The discipline of writing something down is the first step toward making it happen.”

We look forward to joining you on an exciting journey to success!

Sincerely,

Your friends at Prosper, Inc.

Got Resolve?

Great! Here are 10 tips for keeping your resolutions going.

Every successful entrepreneur is in a constant state of self-evaluation. From business practices to personal habits, the self-made businessperson is continually breaking bad habits and forming better ones.

While making (and keeping) resolutions should be part of a daily lifestyle, the New Year offers and excellent opportunity to really set out to become someone better. There is something about the idea of being able to start over that motivates us to pause and reflect on our lives as they are, as well as how we would like them to be. Yet how many times have you thought back to last year’s goals and found that many or most of them were abandoned – like a great idea that just never got off the ground?

Many people have difficulty following throughout on our resolutions due to factors such as choosing unrealistic goals, not making them challenging enough, and/or lacking the necessary motivation to stick with them.

Your goals may aim to accomplish a wide variety of outcomes – better health, improved relationships, greater productivity or increased financial success, to name a few. Whatever your goal, the following tips should help put you on the right course and assist you in staying committed to your most important resolutions for 2006.

1. Start with a vision.

If you don’t know what you want your future to look like, how can you decide what areas of your life need to be worked on? Every successful person can see exactly where he or she wants to be in the future. Spend some quiet time reflecting on (and writing down) what is good, bad or incomplete in your life. Then try to see which areas you want to address and make better. Establish this vision of your “better” self, and let it motivate you throughout the year.

2. Get organized.

It’s easy to get sidetracked from your goals when you mind is concerned with untangling a cluttered office or schedule. Clear away clutter. Go through paperwork, file old bills and receipts, clear out your closets, drawers and storage containers. Decide what you need and will use and either throw out or give away all the rest. Put aside some time each week for this purpose. After you have cleaned out, you can focus your mind on more important things – like your goals. Keep ONE calendar to record all appointments, events, grocery lists, meal plans and days you are going to exercise.

3. Learn something new.

There’s something to be said for extending yourself. When you try to learn something completely different, you’re not just gaining a skill. You’re also expanding your self confidence, and infusing yourself with greater energy and sense of purpose. It will help you realize that you really are capable of more than you had previously believed. Find something – anything – that interests you: A cooking class. Pilates. Photography. You’ll find that your success in one area will tend to spill into others.

4. Set challenging but realistic resolutions.

Choose goals that stretch your ability, yet are realistic and therefore less vulnerable to failure. It’s much easier to resist discouragement when we truly believe we can accomplish our goal. Don’t respond to that negative inner voice that says, “Oh, I’m not capable of that.” Instead, focus on what you truly desire for your life and relationships, and let this be your guide.

5. Write down your resolutions.

Keeping your goals at the forefront of your thoughts will make it easier not to let them slip. Write them down and stick them on your bathroom mirror, your fridge, your car dashboard, your desk or wherever you know you will see them. You can also show them to a good friend, family member, your coach or anyone who could provide support and encouragement. When you share your resolutions with someone else, you’ll automatically have additional motivation not to fail.

6. Create action steps for each resolution; write them down, and keep an accounting of your progress for each.

A resolution without planned action is doomed. Break each goal down into small action steps. Put a date for completion to ensure you follow through. Come up with an accountability system that will work for you. Check off each accomplishment as you go and be willing to make adjustments to achieve your desired results.

7. Get enough sleep.

This may be your most important resolution. So often, when we take on new work or add additional items to our schedule, we do it at the expense of our all-important good night’s sleep. Reverse this trend. Dedicate a portion of your schedule to enough quality sleep. You find yourself more clearheaded, productive and motivated throughout the day. Without that sleep, you’ll find that your quality of life – not to mention your health and happiness – can quickly make turn for the worse.

8. Work to eliminate bad habits.

You know you have them – we all do. Little (or big) vices that sabotage our efforts and use up our limited resources of time, energy and focus. For each bad habit you decide to eliminate, have a good habit in mind to replace it with.

9. Set appropriate and healthy limits in all areas of your life.

Read any self-help book, and you’re likely to find a common thread: a happy life is a balanced life. Knowing your limits and enforcing them with yourself and others if a prerequisite to a healthy life and relationships. Learn to say “no” and be firm in your resolve. Otherwise, you will also be undermining your resolution to take care of yourself.

10. Work to be the kind of person you want to be with.

Bringing out the best qualities in yourself will help to ensure that attract people of good quality – both in your personal life AND your circle of business colleagues.

There’s no time like the present to make positive changes in our lives. This year, make your resolutions really count – become the person you know you have the potential to be. There’s truly no limit to what you can accomplish if you take it one step – one resolution – at a time!