It is the time of year families will be ringing in the New Year! We may be thinking out loud, where did the year go? 2017 is nearly over and our family didn’t get several things one we had hoped to. Regretting will not bring time back. We can, however, make the best of the time we have left in the remaining days of December.
    Set Goals—With your family decide what needs to done. Is it making an appointment with your tax advisor or accountant to do some year-end financial planning? Or is it updating your medical insurance coverage to meet your family’s current needs? For other families it may be finishing holiday shopping by Dec. 15.
    Prioritize—Make a “to do” list. Several time management experts advise that taking the steps to write down what needs to be accomplished is very helpful. By writing tasks down it helps avoid forgetting an important deadline or the feeling of being over whelmed. Some things need to be done today or tomorrow. Other things on the list could probably wait until another day. Put the most difficult or time consuming tasks at the top of the list. Cross projects off the list as your family completes them.
    Conquer Procrastination—When you or your family members are avoiding something or don’t want to do a particular task, break it into smaller tasks or jobs. Or set a timer and work on the big task for a small amount of time, maybe around 30 minutes each day and don’t feel guilty stopping at the end of the time. Eventually you’ll reach a point where you’ll want to finish the task at hand.

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