Yesterday we talked about My Steps to Make a New Year's Resolution, and today, I want to share you what I learned to keep our new year’s resolution and achieve our goals.

About half of all American adults (48%, according to a Marist poll taken in December) say they are at least somewhat likely to make a New Year's resolution, such as to lose weight, to get out of debt, or to find a better job. However a recent research shows that although they were confident of success with their goals, only 12% of them actually achieved their goals. Chances are, at some time in your life, you've made a New Year's Resolution -- and then broken it.

The following tips are what I learned from people who have successfully kept their new year’s resolution and achieved their goals.

We have had a good new year's vocation and we are now in the beginning of 2010. If you haven't made your New Year's Resolution, you still have time to make one. Whether your goal is to make 80,000 dollars, lose weight, or stop smoking, you can use this guide to maintain your motivation and avoid common pitfalls.

1. Think about what exactly you want the most. This may help to make your goals clear. You may want to achieve a lot of things in 2010, that is ok, but you have to take only one at a time, therefore you should always consider the most desired things first.

2. Set a SMART goal for your resolution and write it down. Most people failed to keep their resolutions because they don’t set a SMART goal. A SMART means your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For Example, if your goal is “I want to have a lot of money”, it is not a specific and measurable goal. And if your goal is “I will make 80,000 dollars before December 31st, 2010”, it is specific and attainable enough for you to measure you achievement.

Do you live abroad or often travel to other countries? If your answer is yes, then you may have the experience to exchange currencies. In these cases, you exchange currencies for your own use, because you need to pay local currency for goods and services when you are abroad. However, what I will point out here is that YOU CAN ALSO MAKE MONEY WITH FOREX TRADING.

For those who don’t familiar with forex trading, a brief definition is needed here: the Term Forex is derived from the words Foreign and Exchange, also known as foreign exchange market, FX market and currency market, is the market where one currency is traded for another.

Making a living as a full-time photographer is difficult for most of us, because we are not professional photographers. However, it seems easier that making some extra money from your digital photos if you sell your photographs on microstock photograph sites, such as iStockphoto, Dreamstime and Fotolia.

These Microstock photography sites have a willingness to accept images from amateurs and photograph hobbyists, so you don’t have to be a professional photographer to step into microstock photograph industry.

Yesterday we had a staff meeting and we were noticed by our boss that our sales volume fell 6% due to the economic turndown, and the sales even fell over 30% in the last quarter. And the bad situation will continue because we still don't have enough sales orders for the next months. Although we don't have a plan to lay off employees currently, every colleague feel afraid to be the laid off. Of course nobody dreams of asking for higher a salary.

I don't think we are the most unfortunate companies and employees because a lot of people have lost their jobs. In this situation, everyone realized the insecurity. It's time to find some another way to make extra money, and even to build your own business.