We as human beings quite often put much thought and commitment in developing New Year's goals and putting them on paper. Why not driving goals? This special edition of Drivin' With Joe is out early to help you in your thinking for the year. Because, we spend so much time on the road in our daily lives: what can I do to have a better, safer driving life?

Each year, Terri and I sit down in December and begin working on our goal list for the upcoming year. First we start recapping what we accomplished from the previous year and put them on a "We Did It!" list. Then we begin reviewing what we didn't accomplish that's still relevant and anything new we want to add and put them on a "We Can Do It!" list. It always helps to use the "SMART" Chart to make them realistic and achievable.

When we're finished, we take one final step that we added a few years ago: we put them both in a book of goals and add the previous year's accomplishments to a section called "WOW, Did I Do All That?"

WHY?

Because, come February, many of us have already failed at the discipline involved and give up on our list. Don't be one of them.

We have found that on a difficult day when we're struggling with the current goals before us, we can go into our goal book and see all the things we've accomplished in our lifetime (Yes, it really helps to think back as far as you can remember and write down all the goals you've accomplished in your lifetime. You will be amazed as you do this how much you have forgotten!) and it really rejuvenates us into believing "We CAN Do It!".

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