“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else” said Benjamin Franklin. There is a lot of truth in this quote. Those, whom tend to be successful in life, do not get there by making negative excuses to themselves about how they can’t get there. In fact they do the opposite.

If you want to do something in life, there is no doubt that you will find a way. If on the other hand you don’t want to do something, you will always find an excuse. At times you want to achieve something in life, but are cluttered by your own negative excuses telling you why you cannot achieve what you are after.

I have two rules concerning excuses that I use to help me gain what I look for in life. First rule is:

1. Instead of making excuses why you cannot do something, make excuses telling yourself why and how you can do something.

This is a very important guideline or law if you like, that you must adopt into your lifestyle. Now picture for instance that you had this particular goal:

“I want to lose weight”

There are an unlimited amount of excuses out there that one can apply on themselves such as:

“It’s too hard for me, I work 9-5”

or “I cannot afford it”

or “I have a family and it requires strict dedication, my life is already busy as it is”

Now with this rule your excuses are the exact opposite. Hence, in order to lose weight and achieve your goal, you must learn to turn those excuses around to assist you. Make excuses stating how you can lose weight. Make sure to constantly remind your self of all the great rewards you will gain when you achieve your desired goal. Very importantly, inform yourself of the great significance of this goal how you can not go on without achieving it.

Remember, for just about anything in this world, there’s an excuse or a negative spin you can put on it. All it really takes is a shift in attitude, and the change it makes in your life is worth more than anything in the world. Therefore, change the way you think about your excuses. Instead of looking for excuses to avoid exercise, start looking for excuses TO exercise.

The second rule of mine was actually adopted from the world’s undisputed Light Welterweight boxing champion Kostya Tszyu, where he said:

2. “Never ever make excuses”

This is a strict and concise rule that requires much more practice to master. When you have a goal in mind, never ever use excuses. Just go out there and do what has to be done, keep consistent and disciplined in order to accomplish what you desire.

“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” - Don Wilder

One of the most difficult aspect of all this, is being self aware of the times you are actually making these excuses to your self. Many people go on through life utilizing excuses to stop themselves from achieving greatness without even noticing. Consequently, you must be self aware of all excuses used at all times in order to adapt one of the 2 rules discussed above.

IMPORTANT: Instead of being a master of excuses, you must learn to master your excuses.

Mark Machaalani is the co-founder of the best online Self Help website http://www.accomplishlife.com. Mark has an ardent interest in Self Help and Personal Development and aids people all over the globe through personal and private self help coaching at no cost at all. Mark can be contacted via email at mark@accomplishlife.com

Much has been written about writing down goals and regularly reviewing and updating them as a major party of self improvement and success. Likewise, it is considered that a plan for the achievement of any goal, and breaking major goals into manageable steps are essential. If you are thinking of stating a new business or any major undertaking, thorough research is certainly required. It is also unlikely that any new businesses will get far without a well written and researched business plan, and the chances of raising money from a bank without one are probably zero.

However, it is possible to spend too much time in preparation, writing and rewriting, researching and exploring, or waiting for everything to be just right. This can even be a form of procrastination, or perhaps a fear of taking the first steps. One thing that you can rely on – conditions will never be just right!!

There’s great deal of invaluable self improvement advice available to help with all the steps necessary for achievement and success. But you can be certain that little will ever be achieved without action – sustained, determined and committed action. Many highly successful people and companies started out with little in the way of written plans, and almost certainly without having just the right conditions in place. But one thing you can be sure of - they took action, and probably massive action, in the direction of their clearly held visions.

Self Improvement Quote of the Day:

"You will never stub your toe by standing still, but the faster you go, the more chance you have of getting somewhere!" – Charles Kettering

Garry Zancanaro is the founder of Self Improvement Directory, a website dedicated to Self Improvement and Personal Development, and to helping people live more successful and fulfilling lives by providing a directory of the highest quality Self Growth resources available. Includes many FREE eBooks and much more. Visit http://www.selfimprovementdirectory.com/index.html

If I ask you what you want to achieve in your life — your dream goal — your first answer will probably have something to do with money — lots of money. You want to win big at the casino. You want to hit the lottery when the jackpot is at $200,000,000. You want to be a multi-millionaire! Right?

Wrong!

Think about it. If your ultimate goal in life is to be rich, what are you going to do when you achieve that goal? Remember — a goal is the final destination of a journey. When you reach your goal, you’re at the end of your journey.

Example: Right now you’re in an ongoing dispute with your next-door neighbor. You dislike her with a passion. She makes your home life miserable. You win a lottery jackpot of $132,000,000. Remember — that was your goal. You’ve reached the end of your journey. Only there’s still a problem. You’re surrounded with stacks of green paper but you still have the same neighbor.

Example: Right now you’re struggling to keep food on the table for you and your family. Many nights dinner is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Your goal is money. You think that will fix everything. A distant relative dies and leaves you a bundle. Since you’ve reached the end of your journey — your goal to be rich — everything should miraculously be perfect. But wait. Your goal was just to have money, so unless you and your family can acquire a taste for raw green paper, you’re still going to be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

You thought your goal was to be rich. If you had enough money, all of your life’s problems would disappear.

That’s not the way life works.

If you can’t stand your next-door neighbor, your goal isn’t to be rich. Your goal is to move. Sure, you may need a lot of money to move to the perfect house in the neighborhood of your dreams and furnish it with the best of everything. So, yes, you need money. But you don’t plan to get the money and sit around looking at it.

You plan to spend it.

And what you plan to buy with that money is your real goal.

If you’re hungry, your goal isn’t money — your goal is food.

If your car stops running, your goal isn’t money — your goal is a new car.

If your roof is leaking, your goal isn’t money — your goal is a new roof.

So before you start mapping out your life’s journey, make sure you know where you’re trying to go. Uncover what you really want out of life and how to get it.

Don’t put it off — get started today!

©2005 by Brenda Lewis. All rights reserved

Brenda Lewis believes the path to happiness is to follow your passion. She has just released her 10-step way to get everything you want out of life on your own terms. Visit http://www.missionachieving.com/ for more information.

Dream it! See it! Do it! Be it!™

One of the biggest reasons that many people have trouble with self improvement and building a successful and happy life is that they have no idea what they actually want.

If asked what they really want from life, many people will say that they want to be rich, or happy, or financially secure, or not to have to work so hard, or other equally vague answers. And one of the biggest reasons that these people are not making the progress that want is actually BECAUSE these answers are TOO vague. They have no clear idea of what happiness or being rich or whatever, actually means to them.

As a result they drift from day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year. Before they know what happened, the best years of their lives have passed them by and they are probably little, if any nearer to being happy or rich, or whatever they thought they wanted than they ever were. In order to have the life of our dreams, it is essential to take the time to work out and define EXACTLY what we want in detail.

Exactly what does happiness mean to you? What amount of money in the bank or income would make you feel rich or financially secure? What would you do with your time if you were to only work part time or retire early? And possibly the biggest question of all – WHY do we want the things that you want?

If we have big enough Whys, we will almost certainly find the Hows. This does involve effort, but the rewards make it more than worthwhile, and there is detailed help available from Self Improvement Experts if more inspiration or help is needed getting started

If we make the effort to clarify what we want, develop plans, take action and keep working towards our desires, self improvement and progress will certainly follow, and nothing can stop us. Not only can nothing stop us, but when we are clear about what we want and where we are going, doors can open and unexpected things can happen that will actively help us to achieve our goals.

Self Improvement Quote of the Day:

“Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy" – Richard Halloway

Garry Zancanaro is the founder of Self Improvement Directory, a website dedicated to Self Improvement and Personal Development, and to helping people live more successful and fulfilling lives by providing a directory of the highest quality Self Growth resources available. Includes many FREE eBooks and much more. Visit http://www.selfimprovementdirectory.com/index.html

John was a police officer. He was on duty one evening when a car stopped outside the police station. An elderly man came out of the car and came over to him to request him for help. He wanted John to go over to the car and convince his son, who was a passenger, to take psychiatric help. A simple family matter, John thought, as he approached the car. As soon as he approached the car, the son opened the door of the car and came out. As John approached him, out of nowhere came a knife in his hand. The man lunged at John. Only for his police training, John could have died. He escaped with small injuries. The man was overpowered and taken to the psychiatric hospital under police escort. For John, life had changed. He started to have flashbacks of the incident. Two years later, he was still suffering with the images of the incident. Doctors said he had post-traumatic stress.

This is a negative example of imagery. But our mind appreciates the language of images and no other language. When we remember anything good or bad, the sounds, the smells, the colours, the feelings are remembered. As long as the image and the emotions remain in our memory, the incident remains alive in our mind and our body. If there are many incidents from our past that are negative in feeling, we tend to live in the present carrying their ‘emotional weight’ and their images. This is the major cause of most psychiatric conditions.

On the other hand, you can also use imagery to your advantage. If you want to achieve anything in life- and this means anything- you have to do very little work.

Just make an image in your mind having achieved what you want to achieve. It is important to consider that what you want to achieve has already been achieved. Then add on the feelings, the sounds, the colours, the smells to this image.How would you feel if you achieve what you want to achieve. Simply imagine whatever you want to achieve, every day. If you can visualise this achievement many times a day, it is all the more better. Trust and have faith in the visualisation. Be patient with this exercise. Sometimes one has to do this exercise for upto two years. Sooner or later, whatever you want to achieve will become reality.

Do this exercise, focussing on only one goal at a time.

This is one simple exercise that can change your life. The secret behind its success is that for Nature at large, what you imagine or visualise is reality for you. Nature tends to reinforce our imagination by creating reality out of our images. In order to trust the process, you need to experiment with it. You can change your life and take it into any direction you want.

Pradeep K Chadha is a psychiatrist who has been using imagery with his patients for the last decade. He is based in Dublin, Ireland. He is the author of- The Stress Barrier-Nature’s Way To Overcoming Stress, published by Blackhall Publishing, Dublin. His website address is: http://www.drpkchadha.com

Set your GOALS - write them down! Most of us have specific ideas and plans for achievements over time ~ and that is a GOOD thing for all…. however, it’s imperative that YOU write down your business plan or go to the bookstore and find help in the ‘Dummies’ series to guide you.

There are a few KEYS to success…. #1 is persistence. Sticking with your plan to achieve ~ staying on track. Never giving in or up when the going gets a little rough. Losers throw in the "towel" while winners stay the course.

I know ~ YOU want it NOW! Not later and that is a problem. Drive through windows at the fast food places have spoiled us…. instant service. If we don’t get it immediately we complain loudly.

Life is full of challenge and difficult situations. Most successful business owners have spent years in training ~ on the job ~ facing financial hurdles ~ dealing with employee discord ~ hiring staff ~ terminating losers ~ and all the daily routine activities that must get done to survive.

As some of us can say…. I’ve been there! Done all those things. For me, it was a long road of 32 years to build my success story. My goal is to help you find a few potholes in advance so it won’t take you as long. You’ll be in the money much sooner ~ preparing for growth ~ building multiple streams of income.

Remember ~ your MENTOR TEAM can save you lots of time…. and I’d like to be a fly on the wall helping through my website that is FREE for you to study and learn.

Build your own success team - folks who can openly share their expertise and experiences with you ~ make suggestions ~ listen ~ prod ~ ask Questions for clarification ~ respect ~ respond in kindness. At my place we call it the MENTOR TEAM to guide and challenge us to excellence.

Don Monteith spent 32 years as co-owner of several franchises and a personnel/staffing business. Every year, his firm placed hundreds of job candidates in their dream job. Today, Don shares his business and career expertise through his newest websites on the Internet. Lots of FREE ideas - suggestions - ready for your perusal and study.

http://www.Career-Coaching-Central.com
http://www.HowToGetYourDreamJob.com

The basics of setting a goal is an open secret known by top-caliber athletes, successful businessmen and businesswomen, and all types of achievers in all the different fields. The basics of setting goals give you short-term and long-term motivation and focus. They help you set focus on the acquisition of required knowledge and help you to plan and organize your resources and your time so that you can get the best out of your life.

Setting clearly defined short term and long term goals will enable you to measure your progress and achieve personal satisfaction once you have successfully met your goals. Charting your progress will also enable you to actually see the stages of completion leading to the actual realization of your goals. This eliminates the feeling of a long and pointless grind towards achieving your goal. Your self-confidence and level of competence will also improve as you will be more aware of your capabilities as you complete or achieve your goals.

The basics of goal settings will involve deciding what you really want to do with your personal life and what short term and long term goals you need to achieve it. Then you have to break down goals into the smaller and manageable targets that you must complete in your way to achieving your lifetime targets. Once you have your list waste no time in tackling your goals.

A good way to have a manageable list is to have a daily and weekly set of goals. By doing this you will be always in the position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal giving you the feeling of accomplishment.

Here are some pointers that should be taken into consideration in setting goals and achieving them.

Attitude plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals. You must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind holding you back towards completing your simplest goals? If there are any part of your behavior that is being a hindrance or puts your plans into disarray? If you do have problems in these areas then the immediate thing to do is to address this problem. Solutions may include a visit to a doctor or psychiatrist to control your emotions.

Careers are made by good time management practice. Failing in a career is often attributed to bad time management. Careers require a lot from an individual which often makes the career the life of the individual. Plan how far do you want to go into your career.

Education is key in achieving your goals. If your goals require you to have a certain kind of degree or require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed, make plans in getting the appropriate education.

Your family should never be left out of your plans. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent or when you want to be a parent. You also have to know if you really would be a good parent and how well would you relate to extended family members

Personal financial situations also play a major role in achieving your goals. Have a realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.

Physically gifted individuals may be able to achieve sports related goals like being in the National Basketball association or National Football League. Determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities. Physical limitations could however be conquered with proper planning.

As the saying goes -’All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, or something to that effect, is by all means true down to the last the letter. Giving yourself a little pleasure: should be included into your plans.

To start achieving your lifetime goals, set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily.

Then create a things-to-do list for the day.

Always review your plans and prepare for contingencies.

The basics of goal settings should not be so difficult once you get to be familiar with them.

Dr Schoeffel is the creator of Self improvement guide You’ll find useful informations, articles and resources to every aspects of self improvement and personal development. Here is the address: http://www.self-improvement-guide.com

People who want to achieve success in their lives and are committed to self improvement know the value of setting goals and making workable plans for their realisation. These are essential steps to success. If you need any guidance with goal setting techniques or planning, there are many invaluable tools available from Self Improvement Experts that can really help.

Perseverance and determination are also essentials for success. But an equally important success skill is the ability to change your plans, or even abandon them completely if necessary.

One thing we can be sure of is that things rarely go according to plan. Even with the best planning, the unexpected can and probably will happen. Things beyond our control can make our plans unworkable. Or our plans may not actually be working.

It’s easy to become so involved and attached to our goals and plans that we may not even be aware this is happening. Sometimes, even if we are aware, we may not be prepared to accept that we aren’t getting the expected results.

We if we are serious about success we definitely shouldn’t just give up - many people have missed out on reaching their goals because they gave up too soon. But we can’t afford to be dogmatic either. We must be prepared to be flexible and adapt our plans to changing circumstances if necessary.

Self Improvement Quote of the Day:

“It is a wise person that adapts themselves to all contingencies; it’s the fool who always struggles like a swimmer against the current” – Source unknown

Garry Zancanaro is the founder of Self Improvement Directory, a website dedicated to Self Improvement and Personal Development, and to helping people live more successful and fulfilling lives by providing a directory of the highest quality Self Growth resources available. Includes many FREE eBooks and much more. Visit http://www.selfimprovementdirectory.com/index.html

Here’s something for January besides the usual diet promises. The start of the calendar year is a wonderful time to celebrate life and new beginnings. It is no wonder so many of us choose this time to set goals for ourselves. Most of us define goals as objectives that are within our control to obtain. Wishes, on the other hand, are our hopes and our dreams. It might seem impractical, but we still throw pennies into fountains and long for our wishes to come true. Here, we offer a different take on the standard New Year’s resolutions. Introduce your family to goal setting in a fun, child-friendly way.

Begin at dinner by discussing your own wishes and asking other family members to do the same. Give everyone a day or two to organize their thoughts, then gather in the room where your family feels most comfortable and begin to write. Let each person write as much (or as little) as they want. Leave a piece of paper on the breakfast table or in the car in case someone is suddenly inspired. Remember that dreams are very personal. Encourage everyone to share ideas without adding the slightest criticism or suggestion. Let your enthusiasm motivate you. By writing and sharing your dreams you make them real. Let your enthusiasm motivate you. Often, the greatest reward is not the destination but the journey itself. This New Year commit to building your own family traditions.

Here, we offer a child-friendly way to help families visualize their goals.

The Wishing Tree

The start of each calendar year is a wonderful time to celebrate life and new beginnings. It is no wonder so many of us choose this time to set goals for ourselves. The wishing tree visually proclaims your hopes for the future. Have family members inscribe thoughts on colorful ribbons. Tie the ribbons to a barren winter tree. Listen to them whisper their messages as they flutter in the wind.

Directions
You will need:
8 x 11-inch colored card stock
A hole punch
String
Scissors

1. Let each person choose a different color of bright card stock. The sheets should be 8 x 11-inches. You will need several sheets of each color.
2. Cut strips 2-inches wide by 8-inches long. Using a hole punch, make a hole at the top of each strip.
3. Cut a 10-inch length of string for each colored tag. To make a loop, thread one end of the string through the hole and tie a knot.
4. Have each family member write their wishes on the tags.
5. Hang the wishes over the branches of a designated tree and announce your dreams to the world.

You have permission to reprint this article electronically or in print, free of charge, provided that each article is:
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4. And the following byline appears at the bottom of each article:
About the Author: Rondi Hillstrom Davis is the co-author of the award-winning book Together: Creating Family Traditions. To check out her website that’s jam packed with family ideas, visit http://www.togetherparenting.com

About the Authors Janell Oakes and Rondi Davis are co-authors of the award winning book, Together: Creating Family Traditions. They want to give you the most important gift you can give your family. You can be a part of an irresistible offer available for one day only.
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"The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success, but on significance." - Oprah Winfrey

What if true fulfillment could be found not in what we achieve, but in the significance of what we do?

Often, when we think about setting goals for ourselves, we think about what we could have or do that would bring us great success. We dream of a promotion, being on TV, winning the lottery, going on exotic trips, and of the proverbial, shiny red corvette. All these things represent a form of success that we imagine being available for ourselves.

It seems reasonable that winning the lottery or getting a new car would increase our standard of living. After all, who couldn’t use more money or a better car? However once we’ve made it to one level of success, we rarely take a moment to appreciate it before moving on to the next. The material object we desire has been captured, and the chase is over.

It is instances like this where we have failed to make a true difference in our own lives. By focusing on objects of success, rather than objects of significance, we have created a continuous cycle of disappointment.

How is focusing on success different from focusing on significance?

We all have a slightly different idea of what success is, based on our own opinions of what it takes to have, be, and do ‘more’ or ‘better.’ In this sense, the things we feel successful about are measurable things in our life. Getting the promotion means we have succeeded in acquiring a measurable result. Winning the lottery is a measurable result, as is making it onto Jeopardy(tm), visiting Nepal, or owning a corvette.

We also have our own opinions of what is significant in our lives. Our families, friends, spiritual commitments, and health are just a few examples. Sometimes we sacrifice experiences and actions that would make a profound impact in what we would consider significant in our lives, because we are blinded by the more appealing, "successful" solution that will make us look really good.

If your dream is for your children to grow up to be healthy, have solid values, and be productive citizens, which would make a more significant impact in their lives? You getting a high-paying job where you travel a lot and aren’t home often, but have plenty of money to pay the bills, treat them to movies, and pay for their college tuition? Or would your dream more significantly be fulfilled by taking on a lower-paying job where you are home more, available to spend time with them creating memories, and allowing them to take on the responsibility of paying their way through school?

Neither of these options is "right" or "wrong", but they will each have a very different results. Each year millions of parents make decisions just like this, and many opt to be financially successful, because they equate having money to being a good parent. They were brought up, perhaps not having a lot of money, and recognize opportunities that they can make available to their kids using money as a tool.

For another example, let’s say that since you started your marketing firm, your dream has been to help home-based businesses reach their market expansion dreams. Like all marketing and media firms, you are bombarded with opportunities to win awards and prestigious recognition for the work you do. The issue is that in order to win the awards and gain much desired exposure, you must alter the way you do business.

Will you continue to run your business in a way that significantly impacts the lives and futures of your clients? Or will you choose to chase the images of success that lie in awards and recognition? Is it possible to do both and still fulfill upon your mission?

If your dreams are a classroom, significance is the genuine learning experience, and success is a standardized test. While you are experiencing true learning and growth, you might learn what you need to ace the test, but when you teach only for the test, you miss out on a lot of wonderful experiences that aren’t related to the final exam.

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Kimberly D. Wells specializes in goal setting and achievement. Find out more about the BE SMART Goal Achievement System at http://www.besmartgoals.com, or visit Kimberly’s Blog to receive one-on-one goal setting advice: http://besmartgoals.blogspot.com
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