It's a new day -- one full of fresh possibilities.  Let all your reasons for not achieving a goal yesterday be quashed as of this moment. Apply for that certification exam to enhance your qualifications. Commence your job hunt as the first step toward leaving the dead-end position you're in now. Start researching what it takes to get your fledgling business off the ground. Take an imaginary sledgehammer and smash the "t" in "can't" into oblivion. You can do anything you set your heart or mind to. The only one holding you back from reaching for the sky is yourself. Do away with any grudges you may hold towards friends or loved ones. If you find that the relationship is beyond repair, absolve yourself of all negativity by cutting ties and moving on once and for all. And resist the urge to compare yourself to others. Their lives are their own problem. Stay focused on you . We all have a tendency to put things we want to do off because, well, life ...

As cliché as it may sound, I have found this maxim to be true: "Failing to plan is planning to fail." Granted, none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes that ultimately serve as valuable learning experiences. What's more, some of us plan and still end up with less-than-desirable outcomes. But far too many of my friends have wound up in difficult situations -- from grappling with poor career choices to navigating tumultuous relationships -- that could have been avoided had they only planned ahead. Here are a couple of reasons why we might fail to plan our decisions carefully: We're impulsive : We act in the moment without carefully considering the consequences beforehand. We're lazy : There's a reason why psychologists have dubbed human beings "cognitive misers." Naturally, we try to expend as few mental resources as possible. We're emotional: Whether we're happy or angry, our emotions often get in the way of reason, leading us...