Tuesday, 23 June 2015
10 Steps to Achieve Goals
1) Be specific about what you want to achieve
Most people, don't know what they want to do with their life, and even after thinking hard, they don't come up with something they really want to do. This is one of the main reasons that in spite of so many books on success, most people live an average life.
2) Draw up a plan of action
Devote as much time as you need to find a goal or goals, even minor goals are okay. Not everyone really desires great success and is willing to completely change his/her life. Not everyone desires to be a millionaire, or possesses the talent to make money.
After finding a goal that you really desire to achieve, draw up a plan, being as practical as possible.
3) Make a list of steps
List the steps you need to take, such as signing up for a course, studying, reading, developing the required skills, looking for a job, etc, and other steps you need to implement that will take you closer to achieving your goal.
4) Act, do not be passive
Take action and follow the steps on your list. Don't just wait for things to happen.
5) Read and listen to advice
Read books or articles about what you want to achieve. Meet people who can help you and listen to their advice, but use your common sense and reason before accepting anything.
6) Alternative plans
If a certain plan doesn't work, look for an alternative one.
7) Examine your goals periodically
Some goals aren't worth achieving. Circumstances and people change. Some goals lose their importance. It is a good idea to re-examine your goals regularly and weed out the worthless ones.
8) Repeat affirmations
Affirm with faith and feelings that your goal has already been achieved. If you don't undo your affirmations with doubts and lack of belief, they will be accepted by your subconscious mind, which will then provide you with more desire and motivation.
9) Visualize your goal
Visualization will also affect your subconscious mind, which will keep you motivated, focused on your goal, and more aware of ideas and opportunities.
10) Take action
Don't just affirm and visualize and do nothing. Take any action required to bring your goal into fruition. Follow your intuition, new ideas and opportunities that present themselves, and accept help from other people.
Did you like the article? Please tell your friends about it.
Source
Most people, don't know what they want to do with their life, and even after thinking hard, they don't come up with something they really want to do. This is one of the main reasons that in spite of so many books on success, most people live an average life.
2) Draw up a plan of action
Devote as much time as you need to find a goal or goals, even minor goals are okay. Not everyone really desires great success and is willing to completely change his/her life. Not everyone desires to be a millionaire, or possesses the talent to make money.
After finding a goal that you really desire to achieve, draw up a plan, being as practical as possible.
3) Make a list of steps
List the steps you need to take, such as signing up for a course, studying, reading, developing the required skills, looking for a job, etc, and other steps you need to implement that will take you closer to achieving your goal.
4) Act, do not be passive
Take action and follow the steps on your list. Don't just wait for things to happen.
5) Read and listen to advice
Read books or articles about what you want to achieve. Meet people who can help you and listen to their advice, but use your common sense and reason before accepting anything.
6) Alternative plans
If a certain plan doesn't work, look for an alternative one.
7) Examine your goals periodically
Some goals aren't worth achieving. Circumstances and people change. Some goals lose their importance. It is a good idea to re-examine your goals regularly and weed out the worthless ones.
8) Repeat affirmations
Affirm with faith and feelings that your goal has already been achieved. If you don't undo your affirmations with doubts and lack of belief, they will be accepted by your subconscious mind, which will then provide you with more desire and motivation.
9) Visualize your goal
Visualization will also affect your subconscious mind, which will keep you motivated, focused on your goal, and more aware of ideas and opportunities.
10) Take action
Don't just affirm and visualize and do nothing. Take any action required to bring your goal into fruition. Follow your intuition, new ideas and opportunities that present themselves, and accept help from other people.
Did you like the article? Please tell your friends about it.
Source
Monday, 22 June 2015
Determine What Will Make You Happy by Identifying Your Values
“Happiness is that state of consciousness which proceeds from the achievement of one’s values.”
~Ayn Rand
For too many years, I played the part of the perfect little southern girl: I kept my mouth shut and my opinions to myself. I dressed properly, including tights, slips, and girdles. I didn't laugh too loudly in public. I did what I was told.
You see, I learned at an early age that I had to do this in order to always be seen as a “good little girl” (and avoid getting punished). I continued the same behaviour after I got married, doing what my husband expected of me and keeping up the appearances of a perfect life behind a white picket fence.
I was a mental and emotional chameleon, changing my viewpoints and values to match first those of my parents and then those of my husband. Secretly, inside myself, I had my own dreams and opinions, ideas, and desires. Eventually I realized that in order to be happy, I needed to learn to live outside the box of my upbringing.
When I began to explore my heart’s desires, to find myself through travel, and to see what felt right and wrong to my heart and soul, my life blossomed. I had finally begun creating a life that I loved on my own terms.
Last fall, one of my mentors asked me, “What are your values?” I have to confess that I was stumped. Those on-the-surface questions are really much deeper than they first seem. I'm a coach. I'm a writer. I'm a thinker. It should be easy to answer.
From experience, I knew that if my first response to a question was “I don’t know,” then I was telling myself a little white lie. Somewhere within my heart was the answer, but I hadn't really explored it.
What Are Values?
We all have them—they are as ingrained within us as our blood types or preference for sweet or salty foods. But have you actually defined them? I'm not talking about morals, which are defined by society.
Values are who you are, not who you think you should be in order to fit in.
How Do You Claim Your Values?
I've learned from experience that when we get still and listen to the small voice of our heart, the answers we are seeking will come to us. To claim your values, it’s helpful to have a list to work from.
Brainstorm a list of common (and uncommon) values like abundance, compassion, courage, health, and honour. Set them aside. (You can also do an Internet search for “list of values” or “values clarification exercise.”)
After you have a list of values to choose from, set a timer for three minutes. Read through the list of values and circle every one that your gut says fits you. When the timer goes off, copy all the circled words down into a shiny new list.
This list will be the perfect place to really dig into what your heart tells you about which values are truly yours and cross out any of the values that feel like they belong to others. What a gift of clarity!
Why is Naming Your Values Important?
Values are the backbone of life. They are the beacons on our path—in personal life and in business. When you identify your values and get clear with them, something magical happens: They come alive in ways you haven’t even imagined and illuminate and nurture your entire life from the inside out.
If we don’t know what’s important to us, we spend a lot of time wandering and wondering what we should be doing. There is tremendous power in discovering and living according to our highest values, and experiencing inner peace as the natural consequence.
When actions and values are aligned, life feels content, in harmony with your purpose; you have peace of mind, even in challenging times.
Because, if you aren't clear on your personal values, then how can you figure out what you want really want? And how can you be sure that your actions are congruent with who you are at your core?
I know it seems easier to just go with the flow and see where the current takes us. But going through the process to get clear about your values will allow you to walk the path of your true choosing and help guide you toward a satisfying, happy, and fulfilling life.
Time is a limited resource. Once we spend a day, it’s gone forever. If we waste that day by investing our time in ways that don’t set our soul on fire, then that loss is permanent. I get it. I often get distracted and fall into the trap of differing priorities.
Getting Clear on My Values Enhanced Every Day Living
When I took the time to get clear about what my personal values truly were, I had this incredible yardstick at hand to measure the congruency of my goals.
Passion is a driving force in every area of my world. If I am not passionate about my life, my projects, and each and every client I work with, then I am of no service to others or myself.
Love is a clearly a top value for me. I moved 1,000 miles from the place I used to call home to create a life with my partner in Ohio.
Because I value connection, I keep my client list small. And to blend both love and connection, I work from home and travel often with my partner so that we are together more often.
Clarity around my personal values also has assisted me in making decisions more quickly, and better yet, I've found a greater satisfaction around the decisions I make.
This has created a domino effect of goodness in my world. The values that led me to better decision making and satisfaction around those decisions led me along the path to greater confidence in myself, and an overall feeling of happiness around my day-to-day life.
As far as I'm concerned, happiness is not about perfect big events in life, but about the culmination of those small moments of every day living.
It also allowed me to see the insanity of trying to be the “good little girl” who pleases everyone. Because, what’s the sense in pleasing everyone if you sacrifice yourself in the pursuit?
What Will You Gain by Developing a List of Your Personal Values?
Values serve as a compass so that, day after day, we’re moving closer and closer to our definition of the “best” life we could possibly live.
Once we've named our personal values, it’s easier to identify what’s not helping us achieve a life that we are in love with.
Your values are the building blocks of the type of life you truly want. They will serve as the light that illuminates your path in life. And by having that light, you will discover your way to happiness.
Source
Sunday, 21 June 2015
Thursday, 18 June 2015
Beat your Monkey Mind and Stop Procrastinating
A fun and scientifically founded video about procrastination and more important how to beat it!
Monday, 15 June 2015
Taking Responsibility for Your Actions
When we make excuses or try to blame other people or external factors for the eventual outcome of something, not only are we failing to take responsibility, but we are demonstrating a character trait which is very common in people who fail to succeed in anything.
In shouldering responsibility ourselves, we are giving ourselves the power to shape the outcome ourselves and are therefore taking an active and not a passive role in how the outcome turns out.
Realisation
It’s only when you accept that everything you are or ever will be is up to you, that you are able to get rid of the negativity of excuse making that can so often prevent you from succeeding. You may find yourself in your current position in both your personal and professional life and remain convinced that if all’s not going well, then it’s ‘so and so’s fault’. However, we all have free will which means that we are completely responsible for all of our successes and failures and of our happiness or state of unhappiness.
When we realise this it can, at first, seem like a huge responsibility which we are placing on our shoulders but when you rationalise it and accept that you are responsible for every action you take and every decision you make, that there is virtually nothing that you can’t achieve, have or accomplish if you accept that it’s within yourself and yourself only, to reach your ultimate goal.
Get Out Clauses Don’t Work
One of our biggest problems is that we don’t like to fail and, more importantly, we don’t like to be seen to fail. The problem with that train of thought, however, is that we then tend to set ourselves a goal but at the same time we create an excuse to keep as a ‘spare card’ we can use so that if we don’t succeed, we can blame something or somebody else. However, the more personal responsibility we take, the more in control we are and the more control we have, the more likely we will reach our goal as there will be no excuses to fall back on if we fail.
Therefore, taking responsibility for our actions equals success. It also makes us feel good about ourselves and rids us of negative personality traits such as anger, fear, resentment, hostility and doubt.
Replacing the Negative
If you’ve ever been around somebody who always appears to be ‘down on their luck’, you’ll have noticed that their whole personality seems to be riddled with negative comments and that they have nothing positive to say. It’s quite true that you can’t really hold both a positive and negative feeling at the same time, so by replacing the negative with a positive, it stops you from feeling unhappy as you have come to accept that you are now going to be solely responsible for how you feel, not other people or other external factors.
Accepting Responsibility
Once you accept total responsibility for everything that happens to you in life, you will soon discover that this also enables you to find solutions to life’s difficulties far more quickly.
For example, take work colleagues or someone you are in a personal relationship with. Say you’re having problems with them and it is causing you stress. A negative person who likes to apportion blame might say, “Since I met so and so, it’s been nothing but trouble” whereas somebody who accepts total responsibility might say, “Hang on a moment; I am responsible for having this person or these people in my life. I took that job or I embarked upon this relationship – no-one forced me to.” Therefore, if they’re not happy with the situation and have taken responsibility for it, they are also able to find the solution – in this case, by leaving the job or getting out of an unhealthy relationship.
Similarly, what about those who are feeling bitter because people earn more than they do. Well, whose fault is that? If you accept total responsibility, then you’ll look to do something about it if it’s important to you. Find out how you can earn more money. Speak to others and find out what it is they are doing differently to you then start applying all that knowledge to make the changes you need to make to create the kind of life you want.
In accepting responsibility, you are accepting a willingness to develop your character and in doing that, the stronger your character will become and your life will be improved as a consequence.
Source
In shouldering responsibility ourselves, we are giving ourselves the power to shape the outcome ourselves and are therefore taking an active and not a passive role in how the outcome turns out.
Realisation
It’s only when you accept that everything you are or ever will be is up to you, that you are able to get rid of the negativity of excuse making that can so often prevent you from succeeding. You may find yourself in your current position in both your personal and professional life and remain convinced that if all’s not going well, then it’s ‘so and so’s fault’. However, we all have free will which means that we are completely responsible for all of our successes and failures and of our happiness or state of unhappiness.
When we realise this it can, at first, seem like a huge responsibility which we are placing on our shoulders but when you rationalise it and accept that you are responsible for every action you take and every decision you make, that there is virtually nothing that you can’t achieve, have or accomplish if you accept that it’s within yourself and yourself only, to reach your ultimate goal.
Get Out Clauses Don’t Work
One of our biggest problems is that we don’t like to fail and, more importantly, we don’t like to be seen to fail. The problem with that train of thought, however, is that we then tend to set ourselves a goal but at the same time we create an excuse to keep as a ‘spare card’ we can use so that if we don’t succeed, we can blame something or somebody else. However, the more personal responsibility we take, the more in control we are and the more control we have, the more likely we will reach our goal as there will be no excuses to fall back on if we fail.
Therefore, taking responsibility for our actions equals success. It also makes us feel good about ourselves and rids us of negative personality traits such as anger, fear, resentment, hostility and doubt.
Replacing the Negative
If you’ve ever been around somebody who always appears to be ‘down on their luck’, you’ll have noticed that their whole personality seems to be riddled with negative comments and that they have nothing positive to say. It’s quite true that you can’t really hold both a positive and negative feeling at the same time, so by replacing the negative with a positive, it stops you from feeling unhappy as you have come to accept that you are now going to be solely responsible for how you feel, not other people or other external factors.
Accepting Responsibility
Once you accept total responsibility for everything that happens to you in life, you will soon discover that this also enables you to find solutions to life’s difficulties far more quickly.
For example, take work colleagues or someone you are in a personal relationship with. Say you’re having problems with them and it is causing you stress. A negative person who likes to apportion blame might say, “Since I met so and so, it’s been nothing but trouble” whereas somebody who accepts total responsibility might say, “Hang on a moment; I am responsible for having this person or these people in my life. I took that job or I embarked upon this relationship – no-one forced me to.” Therefore, if they’re not happy with the situation and have taken responsibility for it, they are also able to find the solution – in this case, by leaving the job or getting out of an unhealthy relationship.
Similarly, what about those who are feeling bitter because people earn more than they do. Well, whose fault is that? If you accept total responsibility, then you’ll look to do something about it if it’s important to you. Find out how you can earn more money. Speak to others and find out what it is they are doing differently to you then start applying all that knowledge to make the changes you need to make to create the kind of life you want.
In accepting responsibility, you are accepting a willingness to develop your character and in doing that, the stronger your character will become and your life will be improved as a consequence.
Source
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
The First Rule Of Success And Happiness
Every morning, as you open your eyes to see the light of another day, you should ask two simple questions: What am I doing today? Why am I doing it?
If you are happy with the answers you come up to both questions, get off the bed and enjoy the day. If you are struggling to find the right answers, close your eyes and go over the items on your “do” list a few times.
You may be surprised to discover that the reason you are unhappy is that your list of priorities is upside down. The top of the list may be filled with unimportant and trivial goals, while the important goals have been pushed down to the bottom of the list. Worse, the top of the list may be filled with the right goals — but not for you. For someone else who has been setting your agenda, while the goals that are important for you have been pushed down to the bottom of the list.
Is this what you really want?
Now is the time to open your eyes, see the light of the new day, and get your priorities right! That’s the first rule of success and happiness.
In a free society, the search for a successful and happy life—whatever set of goals it means to each and every one of us–is an innate pursuit. But resources and energies are limited. Different goals cannot be pursued at the same time. They must be carefully prioritized: the goal to be pursued first; the goal to be pursued second, and so on.
And that takes, first and foremost, the freedom in the broadest sense – political, economic, social, and personal – to live your own life rather than somebody else’s.
Then comes a careful consideration of the trade-offs, the sacrifice that comes with each and every choice.
The pursuit of a business opportunity comes with the sacrifice of a steady pay-check and a good sum out of any pocket money to acquire the necessary resources.
The pursuit of a college degree comes with the sacrifice of a full-time job and a good sum out of any pocket money to pay for tuition and books.
The pursuit of a career comes with the sacrifice of the time you could spend with your loved ones.
The pursuit of a marriage comes with the sacrifice of all the good things you could enjoy when single.
The pursuit of speculative investments comes with the sacrifice of the piece of mind that derived from money in the bank.
Addressing these trade-offs and coming up with a list of priorities worth pursuing isn’t an easy thing. It takes vision and foresight to rise over the hills of the present and gaze at the future and see the invisible – the challenges the future presents. Ie, to see the things that are important in each and every stage of your life, and the challenges the future brings your way.
Do you want to see yourself working for someone else and collecting a steady paycheck a few years down the road, or you want to have your own business?
Do you want to see yourself working with your hands or your mind?
Do you see yourself married or single?
Obviously, there are no universal answers to these questions. Some people will choose the former over the latter, while others will choose the later over the former.This means that success and happiness depend on what kind of life each individual wants to live, and whether that individual is prepared to stand the consequences of his or her choices.
People who do not want to make the sacrifices associated with college education, for instance, must be prepared to forgo the job opportunities and the benefits associated with jobs that set a college degree as a prerequisite.
Likewise, people who aren’t prepared to assume the risks associated with the pursuit of a business must be prepared to forgo the benefits that come with financial independence.
In short, getting priorities right is a mater of basic economics and basic philosophy.
Economics sets the objective parameters of the choices we make. It explains and estimates the sacrifices we make when we chose to pursue one goal over another. Philosophy sets the subjective parameters of choice and explains why each goal deserves to be on our “do list,” and whether the sacrifices involved are worth making.
Really interesting article, hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did!
Source
If you are happy with the answers you come up to both questions, get off the bed and enjoy the day. If you are struggling to find the right answers, close your eyes and go over the items on your “do” list a few times.
You may be surprised to discover that the reason you are unhappy is that your list of priorities is upside down. The top of the list may be filled with unimportant and trivial goals, while the important goals have been pushed down to the bottom of the list. Worse, the top of the list may be filled with the right goals — but not for you. For someone else who has been setting your agenda, while the goals that are important for you have been pushed down to the bottom of the list.
Is this what you really want?
Now is the time to open your eyes, see the light of the new day, and get your priorities right! That’s the first rule of success and happiness.
In a free society, the search for a successful and happy life—whatever set of goals it means to each and every one of us–is an innate pursuit. But resources and energies are limited. Different goals cannot be pursued at the same time. They must be carefully prioritized: the goal to be pursued first; the goal to be pursued second, and so on.
And that takes, first and foremost, the freedom in the broadest sense – political, economic, social, and personal – to live your own life rather than somebody else’s.
Then comes a careful consideration of the trade-offs, the sacrifice that comes with each and every choice.
The pursuit of a business opportunity comes with the sacrifice of a steady pay-check and a good sum out of any pocket money to acquire the necessary resources.
The pursuit of a college degree comes with the sacrifice of a full-time job and a good sum out of any pocket money to pay for tuition and books.
The pursuit of a career comes with the sacrifice of the time you could spend with your loved ones.
The pursuit of a marriage comes with the sacrifice of all the good things you could enjoy when single.
The pursuit of speculative investments comes with the sacrifice of the piece of mind that derived from money in the bank.
Addressing these trade-offs and coming up with a list of priorities worth pursuing isn’t an easy thing. It takes vision and foresight to rise over the hills of the present and gaze at the future and see the invisible – the challenges the future presents. Ie, to see the things that are important in each and every stage of your life, and the challenges the future brings your way.
Do you want to see yourself working for someone else and collecting a steady paycheck a few years down the road, or you want to have your own business?
Do you want to see yourself working with your hands or your mind?
Do you see yourself married or single?
Obviously, there are no universal answers to these questions. Some people will choose the former over the latter, while others will choose the later over the former.This means that success and happiness depend on what kind of life each individual wants to live, and whether that individual is prepared to stand the consequences of his or her choices.
People who do not want to make the sacrifices associated with college education, for instance, must be prepared to forgo the job opportunities and the benefits associated with jobs that set a college degree as a prerequisite.
Likewise, people who aren’t prepared to assume the risks associated with the pursuit of a business must be prepared to forgo the benefits that come with financial independence.
In short, getting priorities right is a mater of basic economics and basic philosophy.
Economics sets the objective parameters of the choices we make. It explains and estimates the sacrifices we make when we chose to pursue one goal over another. Philosophy sets the subjective parameters of choice and explains why each goal deserves to be on our “do list,” and whether the sacrifices involved are worth making.
Really interesting article, hope you enjoyed it just as much as I did!
Source
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