HEALTH
The Resolution: Live a Healthier Life
The Experts: AtlantiCare physicians and staff
The Advice:

Sleep better
Get more sleep. It is crucial to overall health and weight management. If you snore, don’t ignore it. Make an appointment to see your physician to determine if it is a sign of serious health risk.
Howard A. Levite, MD, MBA, medical director, The Heart Institute, ARMC; medical director, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, ARMC

Don’t skim on the skim milk
Add a fortified skim milk product to your diet. It has a rich, creamy taste and texture that is similar to whole milk, but without the fat, and more protein and calcium per serving than whole or skim milk.
Kelli Ireland, outreach coordinator, AtlantiCare Special Surgical Services

Safety first, multi-tasking later
Actively choose to become less distracted while driving. In addition to being safer, your stress levels will be lower if you focus on one task at a time.
Barbie Harris, RN, pediatric nurse, ARMC; chapter coordinator, Safe Kids of Atlantic and Cape May Counties of which the Harrah’s Regional Trauma Center at ARMC is the lead organization

Do some relationship rehab
Maintaining social ties can help us get and stay healthier mentally and physically. Strong, supportive relationships can reduce stress and lead to a healthier lifestyle. Identify unhealthy relationships that distract you from life, fitness, and work/career plans or lead you to unhealthy behaviors or decisions.
Ken Bishop, MS, educator II, AtlantiCare Corporate Education

Do a vitamin check
Many people - especially older folks - are low on vitamin D. Ask your physician if you are getting enough (the recommended daily intake has increased from 400 units a day to 600-800 units a day for most adults). Vitamin D is linked to more than just osteoporosis. Heart disease, cancer, muscle weakness, and body pain may be related to low vitamin D levels. Check with your physician or nurse about this and any vitamins or supplements before taking them.
Ira Stein, MD, FACP, associate program director, ARMC Internal Medicine Residency Program, lead physician, AtlantiCare Clinical Associates

Step it up
Take the parking spot farthest away from your destination.
Reva Dubin, MD, medical director, ARMC Mainland campus Emergency Department

MONEY
The Resolution: Improve My Finances
The Experts: McGowan & Co., LLC
The Advice:

Investments
Investments should be made only after high interest rate, non-deductible debt is extinguished.

Before you make an investment make sure you have determined the asset allocation that is right for you. This means having the correct blend of fixed income and equities. Make sure that your investments are in harmony with your risk tolerance, tax position, cash flows and estate plan. A professional can help you do this.

Once you make investments, don’t put them on autopilot. Monitor them and adjust as necessary.

Real Estate
Your home is not a bank. It is your biggest investment and your shelter - don’t use it as a borrowing source. Home equity loans are great for a crisis but they interfere with the goal of getting the home paid off in preparation for retirement. 

If you have extra cash and have already paid off credit card debt, add an extra amount to your mortgage payment to reduce your balance and pay it faster. Avoid the temptation to keep mortgage payments low by using interest only or adjustable rate mortgages.

Educational funding
It is hard to beat the 529 plans. They allow investments to grow tax-free for your children’s education. Discipline yourself to put a little away as often as you can.

Retirement Planning
Most corporations no longer provide pensions for their employees. We are all on our own. If your company has a 401K plan, participate and do so in an amount at least equal to the amount that will maximize the company matching.

McGowan & Co., LLC is an investment services firm located in Bryn Mawr , PA. They can be reached at (610) 520-2400.

WORK
The Resolution: Advance My Career
The Expert: Meredith Haberfeld
The Advice:

For the Employee

Design your intentions for your career for the year. Create a business plan as though you’re an entrepreneur. Ask for a review and follow through until it is scheduled. 

Come to the review with your own ideas of what you can do to develop. Be thoughtful about this. What are the gaps between your current performance and the people both 1 & 2 levels above you?  What skill sets do they have that you don’t?  Determine them and create and share your plan to resolve the discrepancy.

Also come in to that review with a few highlights of what you have accomplished this past year.  The more you can quantify this in dollars and cents or measurable results - the better. 

Write down feedback from your supervisors and create an action plan to address each point and set up a meeting to review it with your boss or supervisor.

Dismiss competition. It’s a distraction. Create a big game to go after and play to impress yourself. The most remarkable leaps I have seen people make happen when they re-direct whom they are trying to impress, stop aiming to please their boss, and work every day to impress themselves.  Inevitably it is noticed.

For the Entrepreneur

Let your ambition come out.  Design your plan for 2008.  Pick your top initiatives. Make quarterly targets.  Fight like hell to meet them.

Although you have the joy of not having a boss, take time each week to write a weekly business report and send it to someone: your director of operations, your secretary, your spouse. In it, addresses the action items on each initiative with specific deliverable dates. The specific deadlines prove crucial for my clients time after time.

For the Career-Shifter

Figure out your financial plan that will take care of the transition.

Turn on your networking.  Resumes and job boards are devastatingly wasteful compared to networking with actual people. Dig through your old contacts and find out what people are up to these days, send emails to say hello, update contact information, send a holiday greeting, or set up a coffee date for the new year. 

Aim for one in-person meeting a week just to connect with people who may be relevant to your transition. Meet with no agenda to get a job from them, but instead just to communicate and see what could come of it. You’ll be shocked what lurks within your own contacts when you really take this on.

When aiming for that perfect new job, consider your end target will come as a function of many, many no’s.  And the game then becomes: How many no’s can you accumulate while playing at your best?  The more you can get in a day or a week, while playing at your peak, the faster you’re advancing your goals.

For Everyone

Let yourself dream.  Before you get “realistic,” pay attention to your desires.  One of the things that’s special about extraordinary people is that they listen to their longing – even when there is a long list of reasons that they can make for why it’s likely not to turn out. 

Do the dreaming and design. Break the dream down into benchmarks with real deadlines and put them right into your calendar so they’re staring back at you.

Be light with yourself about any failures…they don’t stop you unless you sit in them.  If need be, shed a tear, moan to a friend, then wipe yourself off, and get back to your game.

Put the past in the past.  If you’ve failed at this goal before learn from your mistakes.  Face forward into a wide-open future rather than being distracted by the trail you’ve left behind you.

Meredith Haberfeld is an acclaimed Executive Coach in New York City . She can be reached at www.meredithhaberfeld.com

LOVE
The Resolution: Improve my personal relationships.
The Expert: Patrick R. Connelly, LCSW
The Advice:

It is so important to make your partner feel appreciated. Take note of at least one specific thing he/she does every day and say thank you. This simple action can go far in both making your partner happy and making you realize the value of your relationship.

Set aside a regular time to talk (and listen!) to your partner. Turn off the TV, computer, phone, and radio. Find out what sorts of things he/she is thinking about/worried about, etc. Tell your partner what they can do to help you feel loved, cared for, and special. Make these conversations a regular part of your relationship – it’s OK to schedule if you need to.

Take responsibility for your part in conflicts as opposed to attacking your partner or becoming defensive. This response helps make it safe for your partner to confide in you and trust you.

Don’t wait to get help if you are in a troubled relationship. If you think you can’t talk to your spouse, contact a professional. Couples wait an average of six years before they get help, making it much more difficult to repair and rebuild the relationship.

Patrick Connelly is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker specializing in helping couples reconnect deeply with their partner. He can be reached at connelly_pat@yahoo.com or (609) 780-3570.