- Henry Ward

How often do you see people who have succumbed to their current, sometimes ill-perceived, circumstances?

In extreme cases perhaps these people drink too much or take some other "home remedy" to self-medicate their feelings of inadequacy and/or hopelessness.

On a more conservative level, they may simply complain about being treated unfairly and/or feel deserving of something they think they’ve either earned or are entitled to.

When setting goals for future success, it’s imperative that you begin the process with a clear healthy mindset. One that empowers you with the realization that you, and you alone, possess the ultimate tool to improve your situation - Freedom of Choice is this tool.

No doubt you’ve heard others speak about the power of choice. The fact remains that in virtually all scenarios, each of us has the personal freedom to choose how we will respond to any given situation.

Those who choose NOT to choose will remain a self-imposed victim of his or her unique circumstances. Those who DO take control of, and responsibility for, their own situations have the ability to effectively prepare, respond, and take actions necessary to improve their lives.

So as we step into each New Year, new month, new week or new day, "STEP OUT"!

Take ownership of the challenges in front of you - and make some winning choices (which may not be easy choices, but will be the right winning choices) that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

Remember these important words by Leonardo da Vinci as you consider the obstacles in front of you. Make your New Year’s resolutions and conduct your goal setting with this in mind:

- Leonardo da Vinci

GOAL SETTING QUICK START

Goal setting doesn’t have to be a long drawn out process. While you should certainly take enough time to be thoughtful in your planning, the process itself is fairly simple.

Consider using the following "Quick Start" goal-setting process to start the year off with a clear vision of what is important to you and how you intend to achieve your New Year’s resolutions.

Reflect On the Prior Year

Note your achievements of the past year - list all of the good things that happened in the last 12 months. List names of new friends and people who have come into your life. Be as detailed as possible, listing the simple to the significant.

List the things that you are grateful for including Health, Friends, Family, Employment, Financial, Emotional, Spiritual, etc.

Note: If you have a job and live in a safe, warm place - you can be grateful that you have it better than a whole lot of other folks in this world. It’s a fact: Gratitude Improves Your Attitude.

Note your disappointments of the past year - list all the things that you did not like about the prior year. What caused you stress and unhappiness? Did you make choices that you wish you would have made differently? Did you associate with less than desirable people that limited your ability to achieve? Make the list as long as necessary - get it all on paper.

At the top of your list, write in big bold letters "Things I am resolved to never experience again!"

Create Your New Resolutions!

Determine what you want - not simply what you feel you need to do, but ask yourself specifically "What do I want?". Ask this question under each of the following "Life Categories": Health & Fitness, Family, Friends, Career, Financial, Emotional and Spiritual.

Why do you want it? - Get clear in your own mind why you want these things. Are these goals things that will serve you well? Will these goals help you to achieve a more fulfilling life?

If not, start over and get more clearly about what you really want for yourself and what your motivation or purpose is for wanting these things. You must understand why you want to achieve these goals, because the "purpose, is your ultimate motivation" to achieve your goal.

Every time you feel unmotivated, you will refer back to these statements and realize exactly why it is that you need to take another step toward achieving your goal. This really works if you apply it.

Create your M.A.P. - Master Action Plan!

Get specific! Write down the necessary action steps that you are committed to taking to achieve each goal. Ensure that you include at least 2 action steps that you can do "right now" that will get you on your way. Doing something now, or within the next 24 hours, will create instant momentum for you and you will be well on your way to achieving your goals.

Consider investing in a life management system such as FranklinCovey or Tony Robbin’s - Time of Your Life system. Tools like these are extremely helpful in teaching you more about yourself and how to effective set goals and maximize your time.

In addition, you’ll receive some wonderful tools (planner) that will assist you in connecting your everyday activities to your New Year’s resolutions and life-long goals.

Sound good? Then do yourself a favor and print this article and schedule some time (now would be good) to completing the quick start process.

Avoid the "Someday Syndrome". Tomorrow never comes, and the road to someday always leads to nowhere.

Oh yes, almost forgot - remember that long list of disappointments you developed? Those things you said you are resolved to never experience again?

Make a point of destroying that list and celebrate your new goals and resolutions. (That "ugly" list isn’t anything that one little match can’t make quick work of.)

- Thomas Edison

Richard Gorham is the founder and President of Leadership-Tools, Inc. His web site, http://www.leadership-tools.com is dedicated to providing free tools and resources for today’s aspiring leaders. Offering high-quality tools in the areas of Business Planning, Leadership Development, Customer Service, Sales Management and Team Building.

Goal-mapping is like a treasure hunt, you must first start out by knowing what you are looking for. Be very specific on what you want without limiting yourself. The next step is charting out what course of action you must take to get what you want. I encourage women to map out a treasure hunt on what they want in life, and to use that chart to reach their goals. That is exactly what I did to get my Ph.D. degree. I knew that I wanted to get my degree in psychology, and to write a book. My goal was to use my dissertation as a self-help book, and with the successful completion of my dissertation I could be awarded my degree. I enrolled in the Ph.D. program and completed all my core courses.

It took a very long time, but I never gave up; persistence is the single most important aspect in attaining a goal. It was time for me to write my dissertation, and at this point I was scared and almost ready to give up because money was running out. I found a way to make ends meet while I could devote my time to finishing the book. While enduring the arduous task of writing I kept my vision and knew I had to be true to my goal. While most of my friends were supportive, many people in my life were not. I was ridiculed for even attempting such a grand task. I kept working on my book, and then one day I was on my last chapter. I turned it in; successfully defending it, and received my Ph.D. For me, my treasure was my Ph.D. degree. I kept following my directions to find my treasure and I got it! If I can do it, you can too.

GOAL MAPPING

1. Be specific on what you want.

2. Do what is necessary to reach your goal.

3. Be persistent, don’t ever give up. Even if things look grim, look for solutions and ways to keep your vision.

4. Don’t let others discourage you, everyone feels fear, and everyone is criticized. The only difference is that the one who finds her treasure doesn’t let the fear and criticism stop her.

5. Stay on the map for the duration. It may be tempting to abandon the goal, or to go on a different hunt, but keep your focus and stay focused on your treasure.

6. When you find your treasure, open your box and accept your treasure graciously!

About The Author

Marla Sloane Ph.D., is a successful author and speaker. Her Positive Affirmations subscribers have reached world-wide proportions, and her book, “The Masks We Wear and How to Live Without Them” is at the heart of her teleclasses; From Ordinary to Extraordinary…Unmask Your Potential; teaching individuals how to remove limiting labels. Marla has also produced, Trilogy of Meditations, for your Mind, Body, and Spirit, which is distributed nationwide, and in Europe.

You can contact Marla at: Marla@marlasloane.com You can visit her web site at: http://www.marlasloane.com.

All goals take time to accomplish. But most people are impatient. All really worthwhile objectives involve work, and sacrifice, maybe even pain! But most people HATE pain. Therefore, most people don’t have any system at all for setting targets.

As some wise person once said (and we’ve all heard it a hundred times), “Nobody plans to fail, but many people fail to plan.” And when you look at that sentence on balance you have to realize that it’s the same thing. No plan equals a plan for failure.

So here is a plan for goalsetting - target-setting - that may assist you in changing the way you address life.

Take out a new sheet of paper and write the numbers 1 through 10 vertically, about an inch apart. Ready? OK.

To make it easy for you to remember, I’ve made each of the following ten points hinge on words starting with the letter “P”.

Ø Point 1…PAPERIZE. That’s MY word. It means: Commit everything to writing. Writing is probably the very best way for you to move your thoughts from imagination to reality - from your gut to your head. So when you’re setting targets, use a yellow pad and a pencil - so you can erase, change and edit - or use a computer word processor. There’s a great deal of power and usefulness in getting your thoughts out to where you can SEE them. They become concretely PERCEPTIBLE and PERCEIVABLE.

Ø Point 2…PERIMETERIZE. Another crazy word. But what this means is: Set realistic targets. This is perhaps the toughest criterion of all. What is says is, “Think big, but be practical.” Set reachable targets - don’t set yourself up for failure. If the job you’re seeking generally pays $40,000, don’t expect $50,000 to start. It won’t happen, you’ll be disappointed, and your next attempt at goalsetting will be weaker as a result. The same is true for time frames. If it’s going to take six months to get ready to go into business, don’t expect you’ll be up and running and profitable in a month or two.

Ø Point 3…PARTICULARIZE. Be specific. It’s like the old saying, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” A corollary to this is: “…any road will get you there, but when you arrive you won’t know where you are!” By being specific you set the stage for developing specific actions for getting you from where you are to exactly where you want to be. And by the way, with an accurately formulated and stated goal you’re well on the way to a workable plan…and this means that when you get to where you’re going you’ll really know that you’ve arrived.

Ø Point 4…PERSONALIZE. Make your targets personal by using your imagination. Remember when you were a kid? Didn’t you daydream about being something - a cowboy, a nurse, a pilot? Remember how that felt? That’s what you need to return to now. FEEL your goal. You might even want to do this dreaming even before you start writing. It’s your choice, but don’t overlook the option.

Ø Point 5…PRESENTIZE. Always use the present tense as you set goals and plan. We discussed this a bit when we talked about visualization and affirmation, remember? This tells your brain that you’re underway, not waiting to start. It’ll be unnatural and uncomfortable at first. Here’s an example. Instead of saying, “I’m going to send out 50 letters of inquiry and make follow up calls on each,” say, “I am sending out letters of inquiry and five days later I’m making follow up calls on each one.” As you do this, it’ll become easier and more natural, and your feelings about getting the job done will change. You’ll feel the momentum, and it will propel you toward your goal.

Ø Point 6…POSITIVIZE. State your targets in positive - and, where appropriate, in superlative - terms. Most of us will have at least a little bit of trouble with this, because we’re so used to understating things. We resist “blowing our own horn.” We also tend to use the negative a lot. For instance, just listen to how often people tell you what they DON’T WANT instead of telling you what they DO WANT. A friend of mine at Princeton University, George Miller of the Psychology Department, has a little sign over his desk that says, “The human mind is a mismatch detector; it’s easier for us to see what’s wrong than what’s right.” He uses the sign to remind him that it’s difficult to assist people in raising their self-esteem, because they’re set up to self-destruct.

Ø What may be even more important is the hypothesis that the mind doesn’t discriminate on the basis of value. It simply responds to what is input. If the brain hears, “I am the worst!”…Guess what! Any idea what might occur for this person? On the other side of the coin, who used to shout “I am the greatest!"? Right, it was Mohammed Ali, and he became heavyweight boxing champion, even though there were many other boxers with equal or greater talent. As for the negatives, here’s a sample. Instead of saying, “I don’t want to be poor any longer,” how could you say this in a positive way? “I am rich and getting richer every day.” Watch yourself. Look for the “can’t” and “don’t” and “never” in your self-talk, and make the switch to “can” and “am” and “always.” The difference will be enormous.

Ø Point 7…Be PASSIONATE. There are two ways to be passionate when it comes to target setting. Either Choose exciting targets - or get excited about the ones you choose. If you do a good job of selecting the goals you wish to accomplish, you’ll automatically be excited - your dream will drive you. In the real world, of course, it’s tough to be passionate about what you’ve got! But developing that ability may turn out to be your most valuable growth tool. A sales trainer named Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says it this way: “You’ve got to get excited about the miserable job you’ve got before you get a job so good that you ought to be excited about it.”

Ø Point 8…Be PROGRESSIVE. This isn’t a political statement; it’s actually a RE-STATEMENT about priorities and procedures. On your way to any large goal you’ll discover a number of smaller objectives and tasks that are to be done. Take things in some reasonable order. Try to finish one segment before beginning the next - but allow for whatever overlap there has to be. Start with small goals. As you achieve them you’ll be motivated to tackle the larger ones. Make regular progress, one step at a time, and before you know it the journey will be over.

Ø Point 9…This is a tough one to make into a “P” statement. The principle is: Reward yourself when you reach a goal. In keeping with our “P” format, try this. “PAMPER YOURSELF!” Not too much, mind you, but a little bit, each time you reach a goal or make significant progress. Actually, I like the word “celebrate.” Do you like it? Most of us do like it, but we don’t do it. Somehow we believe we don’t deserve it! But we do. So whenever you reach a goal - even a little one - reward yourself. And be generous with that reward. It might be a wonderful meal, a trip you’ve wanted to take, a new suit of clothes or other purchase, or it might be giving to someone else. But CELEBRATE. Here’s a quick idea. Sock away a small percentage of each dollar you earn just so you can reward yourself when it’s appropriate to do so. What a joy that’ll produce. Try it!

Ø Point 10…Finally, PERFORM. As the Nike folks say, “JUST DO IT.” The best plan is useless without action. And if you don’t reach a particular target after repeated tries, let it go and set another goal, a different one. Be patient, be persistent, be positive. - and be flexible without ever losing sight of the final goal, whatever that is. By the way, it makes no difference that you’re white, black, yellow, young, old, rich or poor. Goal-directed intentions and behaviors are a lifelong success mechanism.

For instance, let’s look at age for a moment.

Ray Kroc took over a little hamburger stand when he was 53 and built it into McDonalds. Harlan Sanders, at age 69, founded Kentucky Fried Chicken. And we all know about Winston Churchill.

As for setting targets as an exercise in patience and persistence, plus flexibility, look at Abraham Lincoln. He set his sights on lots of things at lots of times, didn’t make it much of the time, yet he reached his ultimate goal of being of service to his country; he became president of the United States in 1860 and led the nation through its most difficult years.

Before he reached that pinnacle, though, Abe Lincoln failed in business in 1831 and again in 1832. He was defeated in political races in 1832, 1838, 1840, 1843, 1848, 1855, 1856 and 1858. A lesser man, a poorer dreamer, a less dedicated goalsetter, a less passionate person, a less flexible individual, would have been gone long since!

Here they are, in précis form - the ten “P” words that can help you create, define, structure, move toward and attain whatever goals you see as right for you in your work and career future.

1 – PAPERIZE
2 – PERIMETERIZE
3 – PARTICULARIZE
4 – PERSONALIZE
5 – PRESENTIZE
6 – POSITIVIZE
7 – be PASSIONATE
8 – be PROGRESSIVE
9 – PAMPER YOURSELF
10 – PERFORM!

Copyright 2002, 2005 Optimum Performance Associates/Paul McNeese. Paul McNeese is CEO of Optimum Performance Associates, a consulting firm specializing in transitional and ransformational change for individuals and institutions through publication. His publishing company, OPA Publishing, is an advocacy for self-publishing authors of informational, instructional, inspirational and insightful nonfiction.

Email: pmcneese@opapublishing.com Websites: http://www.opapublishing.com and http://www.opapresents.com

Goals are of vital importance in our lives. Many of us spend our lives without any definite purpose, simply drifting from place to place. Setting goals help us to focus our lives and to advance confidently in a definite direction. Without them, I don’t think our lives can truly be complete.

If you are looking for proof of the importance of goals, you need not look any farther than two pivotal studies on success and goal-setting, one completed by Yale University and the other by Dr. Lewis Terman of Stanford University.

In the first study, Yale University kept track of their graduates during a 20 year period and found that the 3% who set goals were worth more financially than the entire 97% of the students who did not!

In the second study, Dr. Terman of Stanford conducted a study of 1,528 students all with IQ’s above the genius level. His study found that intelligence had nothing to do with success and financial acumen but that goal-setting did!

So now we know that goal-setting is vitally important to our success, but how do we do it? I first recommend that you take a day or two (longer if needed) to spend some time meditating about your passions in life. Start to make a list. Some wise men recommend that you try to write down 100 goals for your life. Lou Holtz, the tremendously successful football coach at Notre Dame and more recently at the University of South Carolina, said that while still in his teens he wrote down over 100 goals for his life (one of which was to coach a college football team to a National Championship - which he did). A few years ago at about the age of 60, Coach Holtz had achieved every single goal he had written down. So he had to write another 100 goals and I’m sure he’ll get those before long too!

I recommend that you try to write 100, write them out and break them out into long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals. You can write your own definition of the time periods involved, but I would recommend that short-term is up to 5 years from now, mid-term is 5 to 15 years from now, and long-term is 15+ years.

Now that you have goals, you need to start taking advantage of them! This is where most would-be goal-setters fail. Anyone can write a goal, but I’d wager that if you asked 10 goal-setters what their short-term goals were after a week of setting those goals, that 9 out of 10 would not be able to answer!

You need goals in your life in order to achieve your dreams and have the success you desire. But just as important is a system for keeping your goals constantly in your mind. We’re back to using affirmations and mind-imagery!

After you’ve written out your 100 goals, take all of them and write them in the form of 100 affirmations. Example, if your goal is to earn enough money to take your wife on a second honeymoon to the Caribbean, then you could write: "I am enjoying the company of my wife in the Caribbean sun by January 1, 2009 with the money that I gladly save and invest for my benefit!"

Then, follow the advice of Rod Moore of Self Management Systems who said: "Each morning, the first thing you should do is spend 5 - 10 minutes and invest it in programming your mind to go get the goals you have set for yourself. By doing so, you are imprinting or programming your mind each day to focus on what you want. By doing this consistently your sub-conscious mind will begin to manifest your desires into your life."

What I’ve found works best for me is to review my short-term goals daily, and then once a week review the mid-term and long-term goals making adjustments as necessary to the term of specific goals. I find that this keeps me focused on achieving the goals with the shorter term without forgetting about the goals on the horizon.

I want you to be tremendously successful and I believe that you will be with the techniques and exercises that we’ve discussed. Be a goal-setter, but don’t just set them and walk away. Set them and follow them and achieve the success you deserve! Until next time!

To Your Success,
Joel S. Nelson

______________________________________________________________

Joel S. Nelson operates Harvest Mind Enterprises, an operation targeted to individuals interested in developing personally by harvesting the power of the subconscious mind. For more articles on the topic, go to http://www.harvestyourmind.com/newsletter.html

© 2005 Joel S. Nelson

Joel S. Nelson has spent years studying the power of the subconscious mind and the science behind success. He believes that growing up we were all taught the wrong things about success and personal achievement by our parents, in school, and on T.V. and that society perpetuates those misconceptions. Joel’s goal is to reverse the damage done by bringing the science of achievement to one million people by the year 2020.

You’re probably familiar with the idea of setting priorities. You look at your list of goals or projects or tasks and sort them in order of most important to least important. Then you focus your attention on the most important ones before you tackle the less important ones. Nothing too surprising there…

But let’s say you have a new priority come into your life, and it’s one that requires a nontrivial time investment. Maybe you want to start an exercise program, and you want to devote a few hours a week to it. You don’t feel like you have any free time where you can just insert your exercise routine. The whole idea of free time is a bit silly anyway. You’re always using time for something, even if it’s purely for leisure activities or rest.

So the only way you can insert something new into your life is to delete something old. You’re already filling each 24-hour day with 24 hours of habitual actions, whether this be sleep or work or rest or even just being lazy. You can’t just stuff an extra hour in there and create a 25-hour day. (Well… I suppose you could if you have a very flexible schedule, but then you’ll lose about 2 weeks at the end of the year.)

A problem happens when you try to do this 25-hours-into-24-hours shove. That hour will have to be stolen from somewhere else. Most of the time people don’t choose where this hour will actually come from. They may assign it a time, but they won’t consciously think about what’s going to be displaced from that time slot. This can result in feeling stressed or overwhelmed for no apparent reason, which often leads to procrastination. Maybe the displaced activities were more important than you realized.

The idea of setting posteriorities means that you consciously and deliberately choose what to delete whenever you start doing something new. So if you want to add 30 minutes of exercise to each day, where will this 30 minutes come from? Will it be stolen from sleep time, family time, lazy time, fun time, thinking and reflecting time, etc.?

Ideally whenever you add a new priority to your life, you want to delete a posteriority. Just as you make a list of what’s most important to you in life, you can also make a list of what’s least important to you. Take note of what you do each day that just isn’t that important. Where can you steal time from unimportant activities to be reassigned to more important ones? Can you delete watching some TV to add some extra reading? Can you delete superfluous web surfing to add more thinking time?

Sometimes setting posteriorities is very challenging. Once you’ve achieved a nicely balanced life, and then you want to start a big new project, you may find it difficult to steal time from other activities because now everything seems important. I had this problem when I started writing my book. This is a big project, and I’m presently investing about 40 hours/week on it. That’s 40 hours I have to displace every week in order to complete this project — a huge amount of time. In the beginning I naively just tried to squeeze it into my already busy schedule without consciously deciding what 40 hours I would delete. I dropped maybe 10 hours consciously, so I was trying to squeeze 70 hours of activity into those 40 hours. Obviously that didn’t work too well. I had to consciously pick out another 30 hours to drop, and that required making some hard sacrifices. Some of it came from sleep, some from family time, but most of it came from other work activities. I had to start passing up a lot of business opportunities that I would normally have taken advantage of. I had to start saying no a lot more often. Now virtually every week I have to say no to at least two or three tempting business offers. In the short run most would be successful, but in the long run I’d never finish my book if I said yes too many times. And ultimately the book project is much more important than the sum total of all these smaller projects, as tempting as they seem.

It can take a bit of careful reflection to know what’s important to you and what isn’t. For example, suppose you’re currently working a full-time job and decide to start your own business. Many people will try to do this by starting the business in their… ahem… spare time while keeping their full-time job. And this certainly works for some people. Spare time doesn’t really exist though, so what’s being displaced? Often it’s family time, leisure time, or exercise time. So if you work on your new business an extra 2 hours a day, you’ve not only increased your total work time by 2 hours, but you’ve also reduced your recovery time by 2 hours. And this often throws life out of balance and can lead to physical and emotional overwhelm. I confess to being rather intimately familiar with this situation at times.

An alternative way of handling this situation is to steal that extra time for your new business from your existing work time. Depending on what options are available to you, you may be able to scale back your hours, switch to a part-time job, quit completely and work on your new business full-time, use accrued vacation time and sick days to take off one day each week, steal small blocks of time during your regular workday for your new business, etc. Obvious some of these options will displace some income, but for many people that is a better choice than displacing too much leisure time.

Copyright © Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog (blog)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles (articles)

Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.

A realistic goal setting workshop:

Have you ever gone to a restaurant ordering a big meal, and ended up not be able to finish the dish? Or have you ever thought of losing 20 pounds in 2 months, and ended beating yourself up? Those are the typical examples of bad goal setting.

We talk a lot about goal setting, but not too many people really understand the true meaning of “goal setting”, even to many professional coaches.

A goal setting is best when someone really understands what he really needs.

For example, almost everyone wants more money, and if he doesn’t understand the real need/ want behind the money demand? How can he best utilize his skills/ knowledge in order to launch a successful plan?

Unrealistic goals are often resulted due to ambiguity.

Therefore, before setting goals, you should be aware of your own circumstance. Be realistic. Ask your friends, family or consider seeking professional advice. Do not fall into hype or hallucination of your own perception.

Also consider the following points when making up a realistic goal.

1) Is the goal feasible? Any other legal constraint?

2) Time constraint?

3) Financial limitation?

4) General environment feasible?

5) Any possible concern

Final important point to note.

Find someone who has successfully gone through the process that you are going to go through. See how happy they are after the process. Don’t judge by the surface, but do more investigation work. You might be surprised that “goal” might not be what you really want at all. Therefore, do think twice before planning and acting.

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At any given moment, you may find yourself caught off guard leading to losing the game, missing the playoffs, or never seeing the opportunity staring you right in the face. This was my life growing up. Always being prepared for action and in a constant state of ready to block, catch, deflect, run, punt or defend my team’s lifeline, the goal. In short, I was a goalie in soccer.

Recently I was watching a soccer game on TV and my instincts instantly transported me back 20 years to when I was a goalie, a goaltender. Goal Tending is very active; you are on the field playing, accessing, looking, anticipating and predicting what will happen. Some times, you never touch the ball; yet other times, you just can’t seem to get rid of it. The job of the goalie is to see the entire field because you have the best vantage point to guide and move the team toward success.

Every month, I would do my “goal planning”; to figure out what I wanted accomplished such as the stats I wanted to hit or things I wanted to do. So, this week, month, or year, challenge yourself to take a different vantage point when working with your goals. Yes, taking time to plan them is still critical to the success, but it goes even one-step further by getting in the game and playing an active role of goal tending – all four quarters! How many of us at the close of each week, month and/or year, evaluate how we did, either on paper or in our heads?

Questions we often ask ourselves could be did we hit our goals? Are we where we want to be? Are we disappointed because we realize we are still talking, dreaming, and planning the same things, but have not moved any closer towards them? Are you caught up in blaming others for lack of forward movement or is it just easier to bury your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t matter anyway?

Here is a quick exercise for taking an active approach with your goals and completing the challenge for a year, a quarter, a month or a week. I think of it as goal tending instead of goal planning and here is why, goal planning is a very passive act and goal tending is a very active act. You are always on your toes ready for action, keeping your eyes open and on the lookout for the unexpected. Adding this to your planning stage will let you see just how far you have come and where you going; so grab a pen and paper and let us get started!

 Look back at your past week, quarter, or year; take a moment to recall five victories?
 What are four things you are most grateful for this year?
 What three things did you want to accomplish in this timeframe, but could not or did not?
 What two things would you have done differently knowing what you know now?
 What is one thing you did to make a difference in another person’s life, (even if it was not evident to him or her)?

Did you notice how you could quickly assess if you are going where you want to be going, or if you need to redirect something quickly before you are caught off guard? It allows a different vantage point to come into play. If you are actively involved in your goals and your dreams, you will be able to change directions or even destinations all together if you choose. Why?

Simply because you knew where you were going and the direction you were heading .. you were able to see things before they were missed and before you needed a wake up call.

How many years on January 1st , or the next quarter, week or day, have you said to yourself, “I want to lose weight, begin working out, make more money, do something different, or spend more time with my family”; but in a few months, days and sometimes even hours, it seems that those “goals or promises” were just good ideas and no longer hold the same grand commitment as when we started? Why is the first commitment we seem to break is always the one to ourselves, when ideally it should be the first one we honor? What is this doing to our own self-confidence?

What is missing? The missing piece is we do not always see that the relationship with our self, our own thoughts and communication holds any power to create the world in which we live and without this awareness, we become our biggest enemy. This alone keeps us from trying new things and going for the elixir of life. As soon as we start something new, the small voice inside us starts chattering away with comments like, “you will never stick with this”, “why are you bothering, your just going to give up”, or “why are you trying this again, you know you are going to quit”. This internal conversation is set in motion each time we start breaking our promises to ourselves.

So, as this week, month, quarter or year comes to a close, think of something you wanted to do for yourself, but suddenly found yourself too busy, tired, financial strapped, or overwhelmed to follow through with and finish. This could be something as simple as having a friend say they are going to do something you counted on, but they didn’t and now you are feeling disappointed, frustrated and will tend to NOT trust this person in the future. Is this same friend someone you will call when you really need something? Probably not! Yet most of us have this kind of relationship with our most valuable resource, our “self”. Without knowing what we are doing, our beliefs that we are never sure we can stick to what we need to do when put to the test starts to take root. For the next few weeks, give yourself a priceless gift, one no one else can give you. A relationship with yourself, where you honor yourself in the words you say, the actions you take and the thoughts you think.

Heather Lynn Jergens MSC “The Super Woman’s Guide” Creator of A Woman’s “S” Factor. Heather is a nationally known speaker and best selling author, with her newest book, Hanging On By a Thread, due out in December 2005. She leads workshops and classes focusing on A Woman’s “S” Factor – Sculpting your spirit and soothing your soul. Her gift is touching women with her gentle strength, sense of play and incredible insight.

Through her workshops, books, articles and websites, she strives to touch the hearts of women who feel pulled apart at the seams. Heather, also known as Savvy Sage, brings light with her powerful, yet simple ways to bring women back to their center.

Visit her at http://www.tatteredcape.com and http://www.heatherlynnjergens.com

Setting goals is the first step in achieving them. Without a mark to hit, you never really know what you’re aiming at. In fact, most of us set goals without even realizing it. Maybe it’s our goal to wake up tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. for work. Or perhaps we have a goal to watch the latest episode of our favorite show on TV this week. The truth is, we set goals every day. Goals and dreams are close relatives. Your goals in life will constantly change. Your previous goals could have consisted of going for that "A" in biology…or maybe just getting up in time to make the biology class! Now your goals can take you to a rewarding and prosperous future with the help of a few of the guidelines.

Your Dream/Goal List

Let’s do a dream list of everything you’ve ever wanted. Ask yourself, what would you do with your life if you had unlimited time, talent and money? What do you want to do, be, see, have or experience–to learn, change, create, improve or eliminate? This is a starting point — a place to begin pulling out the important ones — the ones that may become goals. You also should have a current handle on where you are in the various areas of your life. Now it’s time to do some sorting and filtering of the items on your Dream List. Now we begin to focus in on those things that really inspire you to your highest and best.

I’m a firm believer you can accomplish anything you want in life.

Notice I did not say EVERYTHING you wish to accomplish; I said ANYTHING. If someone else has already done it, you can do it, too. If NO ONE has done it, you can be the first. Nothing is impossible. I didn’t say, however, that it would be easy. Only you can decide whether or not your goal is worth going for. Your determination will make it work. But it has to be something big enough and important enough to be worthy of your best. Out of the dozens of items on your Dream List, you will want to select twelve. Write these goals down in your journal or on a 3×5 card. From this list of 12, you’ll further narrow it down to three. These are your top three key goals. The goals you’ll be devoting most of your efforts to achieving. This process is not something you do in 15 to 20 minutes. This requires some concentrated and focused attention. Try carving out three hours over the course of the next week. An hour at a time would be great.

Don’t Think it — INK it.

I could spend a lot of time selling you on the power of writing your goals down. Instead, in the interest of time, I’ll ask you to trust me. Verbal agreements are legal and binding. The problem is, they’re open to too much interpretation. There is too much chance for ‘he said — she said,’ issues. As a result, for any important agreement, we create written documents to help us make sure everything is clear and nothing is forgotten over time. And what could be more important than our dreams and goals? If you’re serious about accomplishing your aspirations, you’ve simply have to write them down. Remember: ‘With a written agreement, you have a prayer; with a verbal agreement, you’ve got nothing but air.’ Write your goals down, CLEARLY. Write them in the PRESENT tense: ‘I now have, I now am, etc’. Write them where you’ll see them often, like the bathroom mirror or refrigerator. Write them in color or cut out pictures. The next step is to formulate a strategy for reaching your goal.

Action Plan:

Make a list of everything you have done in the last month to achieve your goals. Next to each item, make a mark. Write "A" if it is an action. Write "T" if it is a thought. If you don’t end up with at least 80% of your time spent on positive actions, promise yourself that you will make a change. Don’t think about making a change. Do it.

Now some KEYS to successfully begin:

Take responsibility for the current condition of your life. If you don’t have what you want, it’s nobody’s fault but yours.

Figure out what you want and set specific goals. Write them down.

Write a long and a short-term plan to develop the skills you need and achieve those goals.

Work at least 50 hours a week following your plans.

Spend the first few hours of every day completing the Important-but-Not-Urgent tasks on your to-do list.

Develop a network to help you. Do this via phone calls, e-mails, and personal notes. Use that network whenever you can.

If and when you feel like giving up, persist.

(Please notice that most of these tasks involve actions, not thoughts.)

Now it is time for Your Proclamation: What I will do to Reach My goals

I will design a "Goal Agreement" with myself for any goal, no matter how small or large. A goal, no matter how small, will be treated with great respect because I know goals help make me a better person —the person I want to be.

My Goal Agreement will be written down and I will date the "Goal Agreement" with the starting date and completion date for each goal.

My goal will be described in detail. I will paint a very clear picture in my mind of what I want, how, and when I will get it.

All of my Goal Agreements that have not been completed will be read in front of the mirror every day with a lot of enthusiasm. That way, my goals will be fresh in my mind and I will remember them easily.

When a goal is reached, I will sign the Goal Agreement. I will write in large red letters on the front of the Goal Agreement "I have achieved this goal." I will save all my Goal Agreements so I can see how I am doing and see all of my successes so far. I will become a better, stronger person from this string of successes, no matter how small some of them may be.

I will always remember, I CAN BE AS GREAT AS ANYONE. I will have a plan. Each of my goals, no matter how small, will become a part of that plan and will help me to turn my beautiful dreams into a wonderful and happy life.

I will make sure my goals go together. I won’t set goals for different things that won’t work together.

My goals will be something I want so much that I’ll be excited to do the work it takes to get it done. I will do everything with enthusiasm.

Setting goals is very important to me. It’s not a joke or silly. I know I can’t reach a place I want to go if I do not know how to get there. I know it’s the same way with life. These goals become my plan for my every success.

I choose to take the goals very seriously no matter how small each goal is. I will reward myself and praise myself for starting the habit of planning my life.

If I want my life to change, I understand I have to change, or I will stay just about the same as I am right now. So, I will set some goals that get me excited and move me and my life on the right track to happiness and success.

Now you are on your way to a fulfilling and exciting future!

Joe Kahler is recognized as an expert on helping young adults successfully transition from home to being “out on their own”. His latest work has recently been assembled in his book, Out On My Own… Now What? Tips and Insights So You Won’t Be Left Hanging in the “Real World”!

Joe received his undergraduate degree from Whittier College in Social Sciences and his Masters in Education from Arizona State University. His experience includes teaching, coaching, running numerous businesses, investing, selling insurance and real estate AND attending numerous personal, “hard knocks” training classes!

http://www.outonmyown.com

Watching the Olympics last week really amazed me. The feats of strength were fantastic, and the drama of the events themselves was captivating. But what really made the biggest impact was being reminded of something we all know or have learned in the past, and yet rarely put into action for ourselves: the art of visualization.

Now, I’m not talking about some deep Buddhist trance. I’m talking more along the lines of visualizing in our minds the actions we wish to take, the things we’d like to have, or even the personal relationships we desire in clear detail, before they actually appear.

It simply dumbfounded me to realize that all of these athletes spent time visualizing in their minds their entire routine, race, or event before they began their quest. I could see it in their eyes, the way they were visualizing each step, every turn, before they took a deep breath and ventured out into history.

This is where I ask you: When was the last time you gave yourself that much attention in the way you perform your life’s tasks, or visualizing how you see your days in the future?

Could you imagine waking up each day with a clear focus on your desires?

Could you imagine the power you could give yourself by visualizing a goal and seeing it come to fruition in your mind’s eye?

So many people say to me, “I want to be happy, I want to be rich, I want that perfect relationship.” Yet, when pressed, rarely do these people have a clear picture of what that would be. Without a clear vision, what they want could be right in front of them the whole time, but how would they know?

So, I turn it over to you.

What do YOU want out of life? Use your imagination, and do a little “daydreaming,” so to speak, then write down the vision for your happiness and fulfillment.

Once you do, you’ll find that the picture you see for yourself isn’t so crazy after all, and with the right direction, all things really are possible.

Because great things materialize, once we start to visualize.

Best wishes, and Keep smilin’……

Gregory Scott Reid, The Millionaire Mentor,Inc. #1 best-selling author, speaker, and Radio Personality. Please sign up for my free monthly newsletters at http://www.AlwaysGood.com

Which of the following changes to your life do you want to make to your life this year?

To help you channel your energy into achieving this year’s goals, here are some practical ways to get you started. After all, there is no reason why you shouldn’t start immediately, is there?

Goalsetting - Getting Started

Write a list of what you want to achieve this year.

Make sure what you’ve written down is specific, measurable and attainable. Eg. Lose 5 kgs by 30th April.

Write no. 1 against the most important goal. Write no. 2 against the next most important goal.

Continue numbering the rest of the goals.

Look at the goal with no. 1 next to it. ie. Lose 5 kilos. Start a separate list with the heading Lose 5 kilos by 30th April.

Write down the action steps you need to take to achieve this goal:

Enter the action steps into your diary/electronic organiser on the day/s you will do these:

Ensure when you book time for yourself in your diary you treat it as a top priority. Unless there is an earthquake or equally devastating disaster occurring, keep that time sacred.

To ensure your goalsetting is successful, it is imperative to write your goals first and then plan the appropriate steps to take in your diary. Otherwise your goals could end up being wishful thinking!

Goal/Dream Chart

Having visual reminders is a valuable part of the goalsetting process. It’s a great way to prompt and keep you motivated to follow through. Cut out a picture of the body you’d like to have from a magazine and stick a photo of your head on top of it. Alternatively if you want to recapture the way you were some time ago, find an old photo of yourself. You can place these on your desktop, car dashboard and the fridge at home.

Do this for your other goals (minus the head). In fact having a dream chart with pictures or words of the things you want to achieve is a great stimulus for your sub-conscious mind. Sticking these reminders onto green paper is even more effective. I have one of these in my office and guess what? It actually works!

Action Is The Key

Once you’ve identified what you want, written it down, planned when you will take action and done your goal/dream chart, nothing will happen unless you get off your butt and take action towards those goals.

Avoid the ‘Too Much Too Soon’ Syndrome

Often people try making many changes at once then get disillusioned because there are too many things to do and just give up. If you’ve done this in the past, tackle one goal at a time. If you really have difficulty going it alone, you may benefit from using the services of a life coach like myself who will keep you on track.

Dare to Fail

In Billi Lim’s bestselling book "Dare to Fail" he shares the following story:

A woman once walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch.

"I couldn’t help noticing how happy you look", she said. "What’s the secret for a long happy life?’

"I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day’, he said. "I also drink a case of whisky a week, eat fatty foods and never exercise."

"That’s amazing, the woman said. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-six", he said.

The Final Word On Goalsetting

You too can achieve your goals if you really want to. The goals you set must fit in with your values. For instance if you really value your health and well-being (and you should…you’re no good to anyone if you’re sick or even worse…dead,) then it will be easier for you to take action around this area.

Goalsetting is an ongoing process. Plan and get off your butt now to achieve what you want in your life otherwise you could get stuck in the usual rut and before you know it, another year has passed by.

Take action today!

About The Author
Lorraine Pirihi is Australia’s Personal Productivity Specialist and Leading Life Coach. Her business The Office Organiser specialises in showing small business owners and managers, how to get organised at work so they can have a life! Lorraine is also a dynamic speaker and has produced many products including "How to Survive and Thrive at Work!"

To subscribe to her free ezine visit www.office-organiser.com.au

This article may be reproduced providing it is published in it’s entirety, including the author’s bio and all links. For further information please contact Lorraine Pirihi, lorraine@office-organiser.com.au