Did you start off the new year with goals and plans? Are you achieving everything you set out to do? Feel invigorated by your new life?

If you answered “no” to any of the above, you could be missing out on a key component to achieving what you want – making a decision, then making a declaration.

One of the reasons we fail to achieve what we want is because we have not DECIDED this is what we want. Once we decide this is it, no going back, this is who I am, this is where I am going, the momentum starts to build. When we go after big goals it basically requires a re-invention of who we are, how we behave. Otherwise we will just be the same old person trying/hoping/wishing to get something we have always longed for.

Here is an example. Every year many millions of people set the goal to shed some weight. They plan out their ultimate goal with milestones in between, they may join a gym, hire a trainer, join a support group. A year later they are back where they started – hoping/wishing/wanting.

There is no energy in hoping/wishing/wanting. There IS energy in DECIDING. Notice the difference when you say: “I hope I lose weight this year” versus “I decide to lose weight this year.” The ‘decide’ is unequivocal, fierce, definitive, assertive, action-oriented. To “hope” is 50-50, stuck, limp. Don’t be a limp noodle! Make a decision, and BE that decision.

How do you BE a decision? Make a declaration that creates the new you.

Example: “I am now in perfect health. I am someone who respects and honours their body with regular exercise and nutrition. I feel good and look awesome!”

Sounds better than “I wish/want/hope to lose weight this year”, doesn’t it?!

So go ahead – decide, declare, and reap the rewards of your new energy!

Zoe Herbert is a Canadian Australian living in Canberra Australia where she runs her own coaching business, Inner Compass. As a coach, Zoe loves to help busy professinals work less and achieve more. Zoe has worked in the personal development industry since 1987 with over 200 individuals and groups. She spent 8 years working with Outward Bound Australia where she served as instructor, trainer, developed the Instructor Training Program, and served on the executive. She has served in leadership positions in various outdoor organisations, including as Chair for the Australian national peak body for the outdoors - the Outdoor Council of Australia. Zoe loves running marathons, hanging out by the surf, sea, and sand, and drinking a good glass of red wine. Visit Zoe at http://www.innercompass.com.au

Goals are extremely important and are the key to any success plan. However, we hear about goals so much that we often take this step for granted. We assume that we already know everything there is to know about setting goals and thus usually skip over this extremely important fundamental success factor. Please don’t let yourself get into this trap. As Tony Robbins states in his Personal Power tape on the Power of Setting Goals “Fundamentals have to be practiced daily!”

In this article, we are going to work on your goals.

Remember my previous article? “Why start a Home business” - http://www.source-locator.com/newsletter1.htm? In that article I talked about creating your “Why”.

In this article I am going to talk about setting goals to help keep you focused so that you will have a clear cut plan set to help you ultimately achieve the reason why you started a home business.

I believe that the Tony Robbins goal workshop method is one of the best goal setting methods out there so I am going to use his method in this article to help you create your goals and help motivate you to take immediate action.

It’s extremely important to follow the steps in this mini workshop if you are going to get anything out of it.

As Tony states, there should be 3 areas for which you should set goals. These areas are:

* Financial goals – (Money)

* Thing goals – (Things you want to have)

* Personal Development goals - (Things about yourself you want to improve on)

Write out your goals

1. Sit down right now and write down the things that you want to have 1, 3, 5, and 10 years from now. Do it now! Don’t read on until you are finished.

2. Ok, now I want you to write down your financial goals for the next 1, 3, 5, and 10 years. Do it now. Don’t read on until you are finished.

3. Ok, now I want you to write down your personal development goals for the next 1, 3, 5, and 10 years. Do it now. Don’t read on until you are finished.

4. Read over your list and pick your top two goals that you want to accomplish in the next year, from each category, and write a paragraph about why you are committed to achieving these goals now.

Take your time… really think about it. Don’t rush… Don’t move on until you are done.

Ok… Are you done? If not finish up before you read on. You are only hurting yourself if you don’t take the time to do this.

If you are done, I want you to do something now to take action to start achieving the goals that you picked out in number 4 and wrote a paragraph about. Take action now! I am sure you can think of something that you can do right now. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Take action now! Come on right now! Do something to acheive that goal now! It doesn’t have to be a huge step, just do something now so that you start to build momentum.

After you have done something to take action towards achieving your goal then read on…

Make your goals visible

It’s extremely important to make sure that your goals are always visible. If your goals are visible then they are a constant reminder for you to take action every day towards achieving those goals. Put those paragraphs that you wrote in number 4 where you will always see them. Cut out pictures of your thing goals and hang them around the house. Order a brochure for that car you always wanted but could never afford. Do whatever it takes to make your goals visible.

I hope that you took this workshop seriously and wrote out your goals and why you are committed to achieving them. I also hope that you now understand that goals are the forgotten and overlooked success element that everyone needs in order to ultimately achieve their “Why”.

Paul Lasher is a successful entrepreneur and the owner of http://www.source-locator.com which is dedicated towards helping people to start, manage and market a home based business.

“These days the business world is knee deep in beautifully crafted mission statements. A finely polished declaration of a corporation’s principles is nice, but it’s service rather than sonorous prose that generates repeat business. So if you feel compelled to write your own mission statement, remember these points: keep it to two or three do-able standards, and work like hell to put each one of them into practice every day.” (Unknown)

“Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.” (Japanese Proverb)

“As you emphasize your life, you must localize and define it; you cannot do everything.” (Phillips Brooks)

I cannot stress enough the value of clarity of vision. Writing down your goals and in having them recorded in very specific detail, with a definite timeline for completion.

Our goals need to be sourced in a larger vision of what we want our life to be about. This provides much needed leverage in pulling those goals towards us.

At the end of your life of what will you be most proud? For what do you want to be remembered? What will you regret not having achieved?

What determines the commitments you have scheduled in your diary? Is your life being lived by your design or other’s agendas?

What are the things that hold you back from fully living your passions? Are there ways to minimise these, therefore moving you toward accomplishing your dreams?

Who are the experts and friends you will seek out to support you in your quests? Is there a great collection of personal development books collecting dust on your bookshelves?

Do you have time scheduled in your weekly diary for a review of your goals and to fine-tune your action plans for accomplish your goals?

Do you always have absolute clarity whether something to which you say yes or no is a perfect fit with your life vision, your dreams/wishes, your goals and what you want? Do you have enough leverage attached to each of your goals to generate sufficient personal courage to say yes or no when you want to or need to?

Write down all the challenges and doubts you face with achieving your goals till you can think of no more. Alongside those items that you know to be ‘truth’ write an action you can take to begin dismantling and disappearing it. Determine which of these actions you MUST take and schedule them in your diary for a specific date and time. Then of course, do as you say in your calendar!

To really get a sense of where you are spending your hours and where you could pay more attention, a must visit site is: http://www.pathofhappiness.com/slife.html and rate your score on the sphere of life.

Two terrific sites to visit which provide useful tools for generating your own personal mission statements are: www.franklincovey.com (click on Mission Statement Builder) http://www.quintcareers.com/mission_statement_development.html (read the two recommended articles on this page and the rest of the site is also worth exploring)

©Thea Westra is an international life coach who resides in Perth, Western Australia. She is editor and publisher of a free, monthly newsletter at http://www.forwardsteps.com.au Thea also publishes a few blogs, visit here http://inspiration-daily.blogspot.com/ for directional links to each.

It’s that goal setting time of year again.

So what is the difference between those that achieve their goals and those that forget about their goals?

One major factor is the difference between demanding perfection and appreciating progress. When you set a goal, do you demand perfection or appreciate progress?

Here are a few strategies to benefit from this critical distinction.

Demanding Perfection

So many people get stuck in the myth that in order to change, you have to do it perfectly with no slip ups.

That’s just not reality.

Here are a few signs that you are stuck in demanding perfection:

Appreciating Progress

Even the smallest amount of progress is still progress. It’s still change.

Here’s a few tips on how to focus on appreciating progress:

You can demand perfection or you can appreciate progress. The choice, as always, is up to you.

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscirbe to our monthly Article Empire Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

"One aught never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half." — Sir Winston Churchill

When you decide on a goal, and start on your goal setting path, it can be daunting. Especially when you think of the big picture, it is often not easy to keep your focus.

We do not live in Utopia, thus obstacles WILL be encountered. This is no reason to be sidetracked from your goal, by thinking of what’s coming. If you think about it and anticipate the "threatened danger", you will be better equipped to deal with it when it comes.

If you ignore thinking about the possible obstacles, you very possibly will never start working on your goal. It is important to make a start - remember, when taking it step-by-step, great things are possible. As Sir Winston said, by running away, "you will double the danger".

An example of using focus to succeed, when studying, you can prepare every day, one lesson at a time, the result will be that the exam is taken in stride.

To quote Sir Winston Churchill again, "you will reduce the danger by half" - the danger may be reduced by even more. You may even be able to overcome the obstacle totally. Keep the big picture in mind, but focus on the steps, and you will succeed.

Make it your goal to…

Focus on the steps you need to take to reach your goal. Keep the big picture in mind, but don’t focus on that.

You can continue through life as you are, or you can take charge, and get what you want. Colin Dunbar’s eaziGOAL toolbox contains 11 practical goal setting tools to enable you to reach your goal. Free newsletter. Get the details now.

Did you know that most New Year’s Resolutions are forgotten by the end of January?

It’s true. Not only are most New Year’s Resolutions broken by the end of January, many are just plain forgotten as well.

So my suggestion this year is not to make any!

That’s right, no New Year’s Resolutions. Or if you just have to have one, make a resolution that you are not going to have any resolutions this year.

The genuine pursuit of real goals

Instead pick just one goal that you are willing to commit to achieving no matter what.

To accomplish this you really only need to do 3 things:

1. Put your goal in writing.

Here is how you need to think about it - if your goal is not in writing, then you do not have a goal.

When we keep a goal in our heads, the goal gets crowded out by all the other pieces of information running around in our heads.

Putting your goal in writing makes it real and much more likely to be accomplished. This is because you can now put your written goal somewhere that you will see it several times a day. This is a powerful reminder and keeps you on course.

2. Tell lots of people about your goal.

Tell others about your goal. Make sure you tell one or two people that will hold you accountable to your commitment.

We all need encouragement from time to time. This is because no matter how motivated we are, there are times when we need a good swift kick in the pants.

If you really want to hold you feet to the fire on this one, tell so many people about your goal that you will be embarrassed if you do not achieve it.

3. Give it all you got.

Very few people have had the privilege of giving all they have toward a goal. It is a great feeling.

Back in high school football, one of our mottos was to leave it all on the field. This means to give it all of you, to give it all you have got.

This led to some very exhausted guys after some games. It also left us very content, and with a work ethic that has stuck with me for 35 years.

Another way to look at it is this: simply commit to doing all the necessary things to achieve your goal.

Visit The Article Guy for more leading edge tips and tools for writing articles that bring you prospects, publicity and profits. You can also subscirbe to our monthly Article Empire Tips Newsletter. You are also invited to visit my Express-Start Article Writing Program for more information on the next article writing tele-seminar.

Treasure Map Your Success for 2006

Treasure-mapping is the process of visualizing on paper exactly what you want. The clearer you can see your desired future as a reality, the sooner it can manifest. The actual process is simple: look for color pictures in magazines or catalogs and use rubber cement to glue them to a half sheet of poster board. Each new year, my husband and I “treasure map” what we want in our lives for the year. Whenever we anticipate a major change, such as moving to a new city, buying a house, or changing jobs, we treasure map the change.

YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS MIND SPEAKS

It is not necessary to know what you are looking for when you begin the search. This process allows your hearts desire in your subconscious mind to speak to you. As you look through the pictures, notice which ones resonate strongly inside you. Just tear them out and continue looking.

KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOW YOU WILL GET IT

The magical part about treasure-mapping is that you don’t have to know where the desired object or opportunity will come from. Gifts, contest prizes, unexpected surprises are not unusual. When you are very clear about what you want, you attract the energy and open yourself to opportunities you wouldn’t have been receptive to before.

WAS I SURPRISED!

Several years ago, I treasure-mapped a trip to California. My husband and I were newly weds with debts from former marriages. There was no way that I could purchase the air-fare to California. After I treasure-mapped my trip, I actually won a contest and received the round trip ticket to California in the mail!

SOMETIMES THE RESULTS ARE IMMEDIATE

A student of mine treasure-mapped new suits for his wardrobe as he anticipated a career change. He was a state worker, and only wore casual clothes. When he went home after the treasure-mapping workshop, a neighbor came over carrying an armful of suits in the exact size as my student. The fit and colors were perfect!

HERE’S SOME OF THE PROSPERITY I HAVE TREASURE-MAPPED

• A new house, complete with gazebo

• New job with happy co-workers and wonderful boss

• Vacations, including a white-water rafting trip and hot-air balloon ride

• Clients, my husband, children

• Romantic weekends, healthy life-style choices

• Art, furniture and household accessories

TREASURE MAP A NEW RELATIONSHIP

Relationships: To treasure-map a spouse or special companion, concentrate on finding pictures that represent what you want the relationship to look like: how you want to be treated, what you will do together what values you would share, etc. Avoid treasure-mapping a specific physical body (after all, they are just models in the pictures.)

TREASURE MAP A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Physical changes- If you want to treasure-map an ideal body for yourself, concentrate on finding pictures of the active, healthy lifestyle that your body would need to maintain its energy. I’ve even pasted my own face on the body of a woman doing aerobics. Taking aerobics became a believable reality to me and melted the resistance I was feeling at the time.

CHOOSE KEY WORDS SPARINGLY, AND ALWAYS IN TYPE

Words- Include your own name, cut out of type, and a phrase or two (also in type) that motivate you. Be aware of too many words, however, as it is the visual image that your mind finds so powerful.

WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED, BLESS IT!

When the treasure-map is finished, bless it. Some people like to add a picture that represents God as their source for everything. I write a little prayer on the back: “Thank you, God, for this or something better.” The treasure-map will come true in its right time…so just trust and let go.

HAVE A TREASURE MAPPING PARTY

Invite friends to bring their scissors, glue, and magazines for a treasure mapping party! Treasure-map with your spouse and your children. Children age 10 and up can treasure map their goals for the summer. Challenge a teenager to treasure map his or her life in ten years. It is especially exciting to exchange your final treasure-map with your spouse or partner and see how he or she has represented your relationship adventures!

LAMINATE THEM AND WATCH THEM COME TRUE

I still have the treasure-map in which I visualized my wonderful husband. We have been married over 20 years now, and that early treasure-map is faded and torn. Since then, I have been laminating my annual treasure-maps. It is exciting to watch them come true over time…proving that we can, indeed, choose our future.

Copyright 2005 Ana Tampanna

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ana Tampanna, "The Alligator Queen," is author or the "The Womanly Art of Alligator Wrestling." To learn more about her books in addition to her speaking and coaching services, visit her site at http://www.alligatorcoach.com/index.html

If you want to achieve anything in life, goals are imperative to your success. There are many different methods of setting goals but I have personally found some great ways to get the goals down and review them that have gotten results!

The first thing you need to do when setting goals is get very specific about what it is you want. How does the end result look. Write it down. Flesh out all of the details until you can see it perfectly in your mind’s eye. Then write it down, record it, or otherwise store it where you can see it everyday.

Next, imagine how you will feel when your goal is achieved. Bask in the feeling of victory and attainment as if you were standing in the moment right now.

Third, decide that you deserve to achieve this goal and that you will achieve it. Just make the choice right now.

Fourth, list the reasons you want and deserve to attain the goal.

Fifth, list the major obstacle that exists in this moment between you and the goal. What do you need to do, learn, accomplish on your way? Who do you need to talk to, get help from? Set out to tackle this immediately.

Finally, make the decision right now that you will absolutely never give up until you have reached your goal.

If you follow these simple steps, there is literally nothing you cannot accomplish.

I wish you success in all that you do!

Have a great life!

Rasheed Ali (#1 Adversity Consultant) and Bill White (Syncronicity Expert) have just launched http://www.SleepYourWayToRiches.com — a powerful new success and wealth creation website and http://www.SolutionCoach.com — a powerful business and success coaching site.

Looking for ways to make next year your best ever? This article will give you the tools needed to put you on the road to achieving your dreams in the coming year.

First, decide that next year will be your best year ever! This creates Looking for ways to make next year your best ever? This article will positive expectations for the year and sets your mind on a search for ways to make it happen.

Now ask yourself what will make next year your best year ever. Exactly how much money do you have to make? What has to happen in your personal life? What about your health? Write a description of what events have to take place, where they need to occur, who is involved, and when things must be done. The clearer the description of what you want, the better the odds are that you will attain that goal. And remember to make these things you really want, don’t list things that someone else wants for you, if you don’t want them as well. Pick five of these best things that can happen to you and turn them into goals, in order to focus your efforts on your top priorities. Be sure to check for conflicting goals, lying on the beach, does not go with starting a new business.

When looking at your goals for next year, make sure they are measurable, since you will want to track your progress during the year and make any changes in your plans as they are needed. Be sure to budget the funds necessary to implement your goal, and also assign a time budget to it, so you can see what is involved. You may find that breaking down the goals into smaller and smaller pieces makes the process more manageable.

Then, announce to everyone you come in contact with, that next year will be your best year yet. This will generate some pressure to live up to the announcement and help keep you motivated. Plus, your subconscious mind will work to support this statement.

Next, start implementing the plan. All the plans in the world mean nothing unless you take action.

As you move through the implementation process, be sure to give yourself credit for what you have accomplished thus far, even if you have not reached the goal. This will keep your morale up and help keep you motivated.

If you have a setback or lose your motivation to work on the goal during the year, remind yourself of the reason you set the goal, the payoff you expect to get from it, and this will help you get back on track. Also, if you fail to make progress on the goal, step back and ask yourself if it is still a worthy goal. Perhaps you have changed or the circumstances have changed and you should abandon the goal without feeling guilty. Lighten up on yourself if some time has passed and you have not made the progress you wanted to. Maybe your timetable was unrealistic, or other legitimate things have come up to delay the project. Better late than never is a good thing to think of when it comes to goals.

As far as how much time to spend working on your goals for next year, there are two ways to look at it and you can pick what works best for you. One school of thought says you should take total massive action on your goals and never stop to work on anything else until it is completed. Another adage to keep in mind is that it is better to do a little a lot, than a lot a little. By this I mean it is better to keep working on your goal, doing at least something daily, but keeping at it, rather than trying to do everything at once, but only doing it sporadically.

If you follow the steps outlined in this article, next year truly will be your best year ever. So the last step is to make plans to celebrate having had your best year ever, as you are now on your way to the top.

Edward W. Smith is the author of Sixty Seconds To Success, produces and hosts the Bright Moment cable TV and internet radio show, is President of the Bright Moment Seminars and is a motivational speaker.

Tis the season to be jolly. Tis also the season to look back on the year that was, celebrate personal growth, victories and achievements and reflect on losses, misses and down right stuff ups.

We individually reflect on the year that was; maybe in an MS Word generated letter to distant relatives and friends interstate or overseas, summarising how we did, who changed jobs, house moves, little Johnnie’s cricket scores, the Grandkids new teeth and so on. How much different from last year is it?

Then, in the Christmas hangover comes New Year complete with bagpipes, parties and resolutions. We will; improve business revenue, have a better sales quarter, cut costs; spend more time with staff and less on paperwork; go to the gym, lose weight, stop smoking; drink more (water) and so on…..

Some of us write down our goals, type them up, make spreadsheets, print them in colour, and put them on notice boards. And some of us came to the conclusion; that New Years Resolutions (like affirmations) don’t work so why bother? After all haven’t we got enough proof that New Years Resolutions and Goal Setting doesn’t work, because we just did the “that was the year that was” exercise and not a lot happened like it was supposed to. Or did it?

For a few of us, New Years Resolutions are just not necessary because we already have our goals clearly written out, we regularly review and update progress, we put structures in place to hold ourselves accountable, and we measure our performance.

So, what is the difference between looking back on the year in December 2006 seeing a great year, lots of achievements and growth and feeling good; or seeing a bit of a non event, having Christmas dinner in the same house, same conversations, same complaints, same old, same old?

The difference that makes the difference is our belief.

“If you believe you can, or believe you can’t you’re right” Often misquoted and so true.

Have you ever set a goal, or had one set for you, and you really believed deep down that you couldn’t do it? What happened? You were right weren’t you? Conversely have you ever had a goal where you knew for sure that this was a piece of cake? Yes, and you were right again, weren’t you? With all the experience, skills and knowledge you now have, could you go back and achieve the first goal? Maybe, probably. With the benefit of 20:20 hindsight what was the difference?

Take 5 minutes private time out for the next startlingly simple but powerful exercise

Look at a simple goal you currently have – Write it down with its due date. Study it. Now, write down all your beliefs about this one goal. List everything positive and supportive and all the hairy beliefs as well. Leave nothing out. Done? Good.

Now look back at your behaviours in the last month in respect of this one goal, and delete those beliefs which have not been totally supported by your behaviours. (For example, your goal is to run your first ever marathon in June 06. You believe you are getting fit. You believe you are going to do it in under 4 hours. Your behaviour is that it is 7 months away you have not yet put on your running shoes to train! Put a line through “getting fit”, and put another line through the “under 4 hours” belief. Your behaviours do not support your stated beliefs). Is this getting tough?

Now, imagine Big Brother has been observing and recording your behaviours for the last month. Write down a separate list of what Big Brother would interpret your beliefs to be in relation to this goal from his examination of your behaviours. Be honest, you are the only person reading the 2 lists. (e.g. in the marathon example, “I believe I am not capable”) Compare the two lists. These are your real beliefs as you are living them in relation to this one goal. What are your lists telling you about your beliefs around this particular goal? Are they supportive of achieving the goal or limiting you and holding you back?

This was a simple exercise related to just one goal. If you found you only had supportive beliefs, then congratulations, you are probably well on your way to achieving that goal. Repeat the exercise for some of the goals you are not achieving, you may uncover a limiting belief holding you back. If so, well done again. You are now one step closer to achieving (or redefining) these goals also.

The lesson is: that when we believe we can – we will. When we believe we can’t –we won’t. It is that simple.

This lesson applies to you, your staff, and your kids, to everyone.

You may be wondering why one staff/team member is struggling to reach a target you set and another is effortlessly exceeding budget, when both appear to have the same skills etc. Limiting beliefs may be a factor. Whilst performance management is a useful tool, it is also a blunt one. Share this article with your team as an opening for discussions to explore if there are limiting beliefs holding someone back.

The great thing about beliefs is that they are just beliefs. Beliefs are just thought forms. The most powerful belief we can have is that we control our beliefs. We can change them at will! For those of you who now want to argue that point and tell me that you will go to war for your beliefs. Remember the tooth fairy? That belief fell by the wayside with a little new knowledge and a different perspective.

Look back into your history, how many other beliefs have you left behind with as you acquired personal growth, new knowledge and experience? Coming from Northern Irish Catholic stock - I attest to leaving a few unuseful but very strong beliefs behind along the way, that’s growth.

So I repeat – the most powerful belief we can have is that we can change our beliefs.

As you look at your unfinished goals again - examine them now in a new light, what limiting beliefs do you have which may have held you back?

Changing limiting beliefs can be as straightforward as speaking them aloud and acknowledging their existence. (Note: best done in privacy) However for the more complex limiting beliefs Performance Coaching may be useful. Begin it now - Start shifting limiting beliefs and achieving your goals.

Liz Cassidy founder of Third Sigma International ia a speaker, trainer and Executive Coach dedicated to assisting others to achieve their goals in Business, professional and personal lives. For more informationad and articles go to http://www.thirdsigma.com.au