The Blend — 1.5.2016
Merry 2016, readers of The Blend! Our first goal of 2016? Coming up with a name for everyone who gets a Tuesday perk from a freshly brewed cup of The Blend. Blendians? Blenders? Blendamanicas? We’ll keep workshopping it.
So it’s the first Tuesday of the year, which means it’s also the first Tuesday of the month, which means (pause to build dramatic tension) a new episode of The Brew is here!
January’s meaningful message is Planning Pays Off. So for the first Blend of the year, we want to help you plan for the rest of 2016. This infographic from Happify about how science can help you stick to your goals is a great place to start, but if you’re looking for more outside-the-box strategies for sticking to your 2016 plan, we’ve got 2 for you.
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Internalize Your Plan – Commit to your plans by starting to identify yourself as
that type of person and then keep proving it to yourself. It’s called creating new identity-based habits that change you from the inside out.
- Plan: I want to save more money.
- New Identity: become the type of person who has $10,000 in savings.
- Proof: save $40 this week.
- Put Your Back to a Cliff – create a scenario in which the negative impact of breaking from your plan greatly outweighs the short-term benefits. Radiolab shared a great example of this with the story of Zelda, a woman who promised herself that if she ever smoked again she’d make a $5,000 donation to a very unworthy cause.
Whatever you plan to do in 2016 — save, travel, be healthier — a plan is as integral to your success as having a goal in the first place. Also, watching The Brew has been shown to cause spontaneous goal achievement (Editor’s Note: Only if your goal was to laugh and learn).
This Week’s Blend
Money
Did holiday spending leave your credit cards out in the cold? Here are 4 ways to plan a warm vacation for your cards (and yourself) while still paying them off. And if you’ve ever wondered how your credit cards charge interest on your spending, read the most recent installment of our column, What’s That Mean, Anyway? – compound interest.
Science
Planning to lose weight this year? If you haven’t been able to find a class you like or a diet that truly fits you, the wait is almost over. “Precision weight loss” will create a diet and exercise routine tailored to your specific genome.
Your Money Personality
Want your very own Blend? Take the money personality quiz now and subscribe to get The Blend delivered fresh into your inbox every week, so you don’t miss out on perks like personalized links and insights specific to you. Otherwise, it’s like you’re drinking only The Decaffeinated Blend, and that’s just not as fun.
