Hehe. Sounds like you took care of your goals and responsibilities ahead of
time. I always try to get ahead before the holidays and trips, but don't
always quite make it ;)

Thanks! Good call on salad first – I can't imagine how I would have handled
5 thanksgiving dinners! I mostly ate turkey – but I do like pumpkin pie!

Hehe. Sounds like you took care of your goals and responsibilities ahead of
time. I always try to get ahead before the holidays and trips, but don't
always quite make it ;)

Thanks! Good call on salad first – I can't imagine how I would have handled
5 thanksgiving dinners! I mostly ate turkey – but I do like pumpkin pie!

Very timely, thanks for this. I'm particularly all about getting friends and family on-board. Team Up!

One simple trick I was employing during my (FIVE) Thanksgiving(s) to keep the consumption from getting out of control is filling up the plate with salad first…thus forcing the concentrated calories to the fringes.

I need a holiday soon, so can put this to use!

You may be able to find some more goal setting tatics, at this website

http://www.neverstopstudying.com

Plus there's some great free stuff on there!

Thanks for your comment!

I think that's a good attitude to have – no sense beating yourself up over a
couple days when you've stuck to good habits the rest of the month/year =).
My personal take on it is I like to plan for it, so that even as I'm eating
less nutritiously (for example), I know that even that meal is on track

You're absolutely right though – no sense in blowing it out of proportion.
Enjoy the holidays and time with family – and just don't let the short term
excuse of a holiday derail the goals long term =)

I know what you mean about new year's resolutions – I am constantly setting
and reassessing my “short term” ( < 6 month) goals, so it's not too
different for me ether

There is definitely a sense of comraderie and “everybody's doing it” with
regards to New Year's resolutions – and if someone hasn't set goals the
whole year, then I certainly don't think it hurts to set them at New Year's.
It's just harder to stick to them if you set them once a year rather than
(as you alluded to) making it a regular habit =)

One thing I've decided to do is not make any New Year's resolutions this year. I actually already have my goals for the next 12 months outlined and I write them down every single day before I sleep and every morning when I wake up. Amazingly this process allows for a daily goal review and puts the subconscious to work. I learned this from a Brian Tracy tape on goals. I've already started coming up with new ideas and new plans because of it.

I think volunteer opportunities are another great thing to grow yourself. I am planning on getting involved with the surfrider foundation, a non-profit committed to clean water quality in the ocean. Thanks to my ruptured eadrum I couldn't surf all week so I figured it was the perfect time to start work on my new surfing blog and other projects and I've made massive amounts of progress in the last day. So, there's definitely something to be said for using this time wisely.

Finally, regarding the opportunity to not complain and do something, I was telling a friend yesterday that this is the perfect time to go out and push the entrepreneurial limits if you don't have a job because then you may be able to create your own job and that would ultimately be awesome.

Great stuff here as always.