Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
How To Believe In Yourself
If you have been beat down long enough, believing in yourself can seem impossible. When you have had people in your life who do not lift you up, you pretty much take over for them when they are not there. You proceed to discount your skills and abilities based on what other people have said. You are doing a great disservice to yourself and giving your power to someone else. To reach your goals in this life, believing in yourself is extremely important if you want to get anywhere. Those assumptions about who you are become a way of life. You will stay stuck in these patterns until you change the way you think.
Here are some simple ways to start learning how to believe in you:
1) Try Even When You Still Think You Can't Do It
Because you have pattern of not believing in yourself, this will take a little work. Make a vow to yourself today that you will try your best at any opportunity that comes your way. It does not matter if you have fallen on your face before or whether you think it's even possible. The important thing is to pledge to yourself that you will try no matter what the outcome may be. The worst thing to do to yourself is to assume you can't do it before even trying. Tell yourself right now that any effort to do better is not a waste of your precious time.
2) Establish Evidence For The Assumptions
Get some paper and start a list. List every one of those things you really believe about yourself and your abilities or the lack of them. List them whether they are large or small. Once you have that list go through each assumption and examine it. Ask yourself, "Is this true? What is the proof?" Then go and do whatever it is you feel you cannot. It does not matter if you do it better than anyone else. It only matters that you DO.
3) Recognize The Possibilities
A constant onslaught of self-defeating assumptions obviously puts you in the place of believing you cannot succeed. This goes back to the people in your life who have impressed their own beliefs on you. A silly bunch of girls in high school told you that you were fat and no one would ever want you. Guess what you have been doing since? Saying that same self-defeating comment to yourself. It is time to push beyond what you believe are your capabilities. This is a scary thought. It also will be a step in the direction of finding the belief in you. The assumptions you have about yourself may not be true. You have simply accepted these assumptions as truth without proof. Consider all the possibilities of each situation. Challenge the assumptions and have an open mind to the possibility that you could be wrong!
With every success, whether large or small, the belief in yourself will grow. That will be the push you need to keep stepping outside your comfort zone and attain the accomplishments you truly deserve.
James Boehm
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Living Your Life With Gratitude
Wake up each day and give gratitude for what you have. Instead of giving any thought at all to what you do not have in your life, just spend as much time as you possibly can each day giving thanks for all of the people, opportunities, material possessions, good health and any other things that you have in your life that make it so good. It is said that we take so much for granted that we sometimes forget to be thankful for the small things that make our lives so much richer. If you have ever been out of breath or under water for too long, the next breaths you take are that much sweeter.
Tell others how much you love and cherish them every chance you get. You may never see someone again so you always want to leave them by telling them just how special they are to you. When you are telling them how much you care about them and how thankful you are for having them in your life, give them specific examples of what you love about them the most.
Take the time to appreciate every little thing in your life. When the sun is shining, the grass is wet beneath your feet and your dog is barking, give thanks for these small miracles. Every moment we have is a gift. Use your time to show and tell others how important and special they are. Giving someone your time and kind words is the greatest gift of all.
Showing and feeling gratitude will give your life more meaning than you could ever imagine. Share this feeling with as many others as you can.
Everyday is a new experience. Some mornings as we awake the sun is shining, birds are chirping, there is a nice cool breeze blowing through the trees..... Yet there are other mornings, like that of today, when you are literally woke up by the sounds of crashing thunder, the sky is lit up with lightning, and the rain is pouring down. Power surges throughout the house. What incredible power God can display! Nature is truly remarkable...
Each morning, regardless as to the circumstances with the weather, employment, financial challenges, relationship issues, and so on, it is important that we see the good of our situation. To learn to appreciate the blessings that we currently have and get to experience. The fact that we are alive and have the incredible ability to grow, change, love, care, prosper, see, taste, touch, and live life! To have a roof over our head, food on the table, clothes to wear, car(s) to drive, and much, much more!
To live a life of gratitude is to spend time noticing that which you do have. Those in your life that you do love and they love you. All the opportunity and material pleasures that each of us have been blessed with. It is consciously making the decision to love life and embrace change. Every morning we are given another gift! How do you choose to use your gifts?
Many people seem to get caught up on the negative events, or circumstances, of their life experience instead of focusing on all the good. It is easier to see the negativity in our lives, as opposed to the positive. I challenge you today to unplug your mind from any negative, focus on the positive side of life. Not everything in life will be perfect. You won't always be able to keep a positive attitude. There are times on our journey when we will be confused and have a lack of understanding why certain events are occurring. However, all this will come to pass, and in the process you must be grateful for the person each adversity has molded you to become.
When you come to a place of understanding that we are constantly growing, that challenges and struggles are part of everyone's life, then you can learn to embrace these situations. You can learn to live a life of gratitude, giving praise for every blessing, big or small. Nobody said life was going to be easy, however, it sure is one heck of an experience. There is no better movie, than that of the one you are currently filming, everyday of your life.
We are a blessed people! Give God some praise this morning. Thank Him for all your blessings and start to live your life with more gratitude today!
Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change!
James Boehm
Tell others how much you love and cherish them every chance you get. You may never see someone again so you always want to leave them by telling them just how special they are to you. When you are telling them how much you care about them and how thankful you are for having them in your life, give them specific examples of what you love about them the most.
Take the time to appreciate every little thing in your life. When the sun is shining, the grass is wet beneath your feet and your dog is barking, give thanks for these small miracles. Every moment we have is a gift. Use your time to show and tell others how important and special they are. Giving someone your time and kind words is the greatest gift of all.
Showing and feeling gratitude will give your life more meaning than you could ever imagine. Share this feeling with as many others as you can.
Everyday is a new experience. Some mornings as we awake the sun is shining, birds are chirping, there is a nice cool breeze blowing through the trees..... Yet there are other mornings, like that of today, when you are literally woke up by the sounds of crashing thunder, the sky is lit up with lightning, and the rain is pouring down. Power surges throughout the house. What incredible power God can display! Nature is truly remarkable...
Each morning, regardless as to the circumstances with the weather, employment, financial challenges, relationship issues, and so on, it is important that we see the good of our situation. To learn to appreciate the blessings that we currently have and get to experience. The fact that we are alive and have the incredible ability to grow, change, love, care, prosper, see, taste, touch, and live life! To have a roof over our head, food on the table, clothes to wear, car(s) to drive, and much, much more!
To live a life of gratitude is to spend time noticing that which you do have. Those in your life that you do love and they love you. All the opportunity and material pleasures that each of us have been blessed with. It is consciously making the decision to love life and embrace change. Every morning we are given another gift! How do you choose to use your gifts?
Many people seem to get caught up on the negative events, or circumstances, of their life experience instead of focusing on all the good. It is easier to see the negativity in our lives, as opposed to the positive. I challenge you today to unplug your mind from any negative, focus on the positive side of life. Not everything in life will be perfect. You won't always be able to keep a positive attitude. There are times on our journey when we will be confused and have a lack of understanding why certain events are occurring. However, all this will come to pass, and in the process you must be grateful for the person each adversity has molded you to become.
When you come to a place of understanding that we are constantly growing, that challenges and struggles are part of everyone's life, then you can learn to embrace these situations. You can learn to live a life of gratitude, giving praise for every blessing, big or small. Nobody said life was going to be easy, however, it sure is one heck of an experience. There is no better movie, than that of the one you are currently filming, everyday of your life.
We are a blessed people! Give God some praise this morning. Thank Him for all your blessings and start to live your life with more gratitude today!
Change the way you look at things and the things you look at will change!
James Boehm
Thursday, June 7, 2012
9 Steps to Getting What YOU Want: Creating YOUR Reality
So you now have a goal you want so much you can taste it. You are living day-to-day thinking, breathing, and picturing the goal -- but alas, you have hit a road block. The barrier seems insurmountable. What do you do now?
Here are 9 techniques for facing fears and meeting challenges
1. Research How Others Overcame This Obstacle: This is often a straight forward approach for many people. If you come across an obstacle, see how others overcame it. The odds are, someone has already been in your type of situation and found a way out. Now all you need to do is find out how they overcame the situation and repeat it.
2. List The Blessings In Your Life: Using Gratitude To Overcome Obstacles Gratitude opens the heart and allows a healing to come in. Often simply listing your blessings from the smallest one to the largest one really helps. Include things such as being alive, breathing, being able to use your senses, etc.
3. Try Something Different: If what you have been doing isn't working, try a new approach. Often looking at a problem differently - or approaching it different will solve the issue.
4. Fear Room Technique: This is a synopsis of a technique is from How to Master Change in Your Life : 67 Ways to Handle Life's Toughest Moments by Mary Carroll Moore (page 76).
Imagine a dark, foggy room. You can't see in this room. It is dark, and very difficult to see in. Now imagine a truck with some hoses to suck out the fog and flood lights to brighten up the room. This takes a while, but after a few moments, you can see the room clearly and easily. What do you see? Write down as many details as you can.
What happens to your fears when the veils of illusion are removed and the light is shining on them?
5. Affirmations: There are many techniques on our Affirmations page. Sometimes simply repeating your goal over and over will bring you inside. I have have huge amounts of success using the 15x's a day technique where you write down a goal 15 times each day. Often this type of focusing will show me what I need in order to overcome the obstacle.
6. Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway: Simply feel the fear, fill yourself with as much love as you can muster, and do what you need to do anyways. Often this will get you through the process of doing something you are scared of that is recommended by your mentors.
7. Contemplation Technique: Do the exercise where you fill your self up with love and allow insights from spirit fill your consciousness with a solution to your problem.
8. Constant Reminder Technique: Find ways to remind yourself of your goals. Find an affirmation, saying, or song that matches your goal. Repeat them daily -- the more often the better. If you can't find a positive saying that supports your goal, make one up. Keep it simple and easy to repeat. Have it be positive. Play with it. Maybe sing it to a favorite tune. Then sing (or say) it again and again.
9. Simplify Everything: Examine your life in regard to your goals. Does everything in your life support your goals? Do you have beliefs, attitudes, habits or patterns that go against your goal? Get rid of the things in your life that do NOT support your goals. This will make your goals stronger and in line with everything you do.
Other methods of support are also available. Try Gemstone Therapy, Essential Oils, Feng Shui, Flower Essences, Herbs, and/or Massage. I have used all of these tools to overcome limitations.
James Boehm
Here are 9 techniques for facing fears and meeting challenges
1. Research How Others Overcame This Obstacle: This is often a straight forward approach for many people. If you come across an obstacle, see how others overcame it. The odds are, someone has already been in your type of situation and found a way out. Now all you need to do is find out how they overcame the situation and repeat it.
2. List The Blessings In Your Life: Using Gratitude To Overcome Obstacles Gratitude opens the heart and allows a healing to come in. Often simply listing your blessings from the smallest one to the largest one really helps. Include things such as being alive, breathing, being able to use your senses, etc.
3. Try Something Different: If what you have been doing isn't working, try a new approach. Often looking at a problem differently - or approaching it different will solve the issue.
4. Fear Room Technique: This is a synopsis of a technique is from How to Master Change in Your Life : 67 Ways to Handle Life's Toughest Moments by Mary Carroll Moore (page 76).
Imagine a dark, foggy room. You can't see in this room. It is dark, and very difficult to see in. Now imagine a truck with some hoses to suck out the fog and flood lights to brighten up the room. This takes a while, but after a few moments, you can see the room clearly and easily. What do you see? Write down as many details as you can.
What happens to your fears when the veils of illusion are removed and the light is shining on them?
5. Affirmations: There are many techniques on our Affirmations page. Sometimes simply repeating your goal over and over will bring you inside. I have have huge amounts of success using the 15x's a day technique where you write down a goal 15 times each day. Often this type of focusing will show me what I need in order to overcome the obstacle.
6. Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway: Simply feel the fear, fill yourself with as much love as you can muster, and do what you need to do anyways. Often this will get you through the process of doing something you are scared of that is recommended by your mentors.
7. Contemplation Technique: Do the exercise where you fill your self up with love and allow insights from spirit fill your consciousness with a solution to your problem.
8. Constant Reminder Technique: Find ways to remind yourself of your goals. Find an affirmation, saying, or song that matches your goal. Repeat them daily -- the more often the better. If you can't find a positive saying that supports your goal, make one up. Keep it simple and easy to repeat. Have it be positive. Play with it. Maybe sing it to a favorite tune. Then sing (or say) it again and again.
9. Simplify Everything: Examine your life in regard to your goals. Does everything in your life support your goals? Do you have beliefs, attitudes, habits or patterns that go against your goal? Get rid of the things in your life that do NOT support your goals. This will make your goals stronger and in line with everything you do.
Other methods of support are also available. Try Gemstone Therapy, Essential Oils, Feng Shui, Flower Essences, Herbs, and/or Massage. I have used all of these tools to overcome limitations.
James Boehm
Friday, January 7, 2011
My 10 Steps How To Create An Extraordinary Life
We all want to know who we are, what makes us unique and how we can succeed at the game of life. So My ten steps guide you from discovering your potential to realizing it out in the real world. They outline a step by step process for creating your destiny and winning at the game of life.
There is nothing magical about these ten steps, just as there is nothing magical about a set of winning moves in chess or how the notes are arranged in Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
Techniques for how to answer the most basic questions about ourselves ...
Who am I?
What makes me unique?
Where do I belong?
Who am I meant to become?
How can I make my dreams come true?
... are scattered across the globe in every culture. However, they are often buried so deep in folklore and rituals, that if you are not trained to see them, they are hard to recognize. As children we are steeped in stories about rites and ideas of how to live a life of greatness. But as we grow up, we often focus on the urgent demands of daily life and forget to think about how to find our own answers to the basic questions above.
Take a moment and think about it. Do you have a good answer to the simple questions above? If you are like most people, you may not even have a clue where to start.
So we developed a universal process to help our ten steps that work regardless of your age, race, religion, gender, culture or life experience. A process that defines every major step along the path, starting with learning who you are and deciding what to do with that knowledge. Once you have chosen the destiny you want, the next steps help you envision a path to take you there and acquire the life skills you need to excel at the life you have chosen. And once you have started on your journey, we guide you through the ups and downs along the way.
Take a moment to look over our ten steps to an extraordinary life and see if you think they will work for you.
1. Discover Your PotentialFiguring out what Your Potential is helps you solve the puzzle of who you are, what makes you unique and who you can become.
2. Choose Your DestinyIf you work out what your fate is and Choose Your Destiny, it helps you explore all the possibilities your potential offers and create a clear vision of who you want to become.
3. Identify Your Life pathMap Your Life Path and you can turn your vision of who you want to become into a plan to acquire the skills, knowledge, experiences and resources you need to do what you love.
4. Prepare For Your Destiny
Preparing For Your Destiny helps you get to work preparing for who you want to be and the extraordinary life you want to live.
5. Begin Your Adventure
Next, you need to start living the adventure you dream of by starting to use your gifts and talents to live your with purpose.
6. Overcome Your Obstacles
The sixth step helps you apply practical wisdom to overcome the obstacles that spring up along your way.
7. Face Your Challenges
Every life has challenges to* overcome, an extraordinary life gives you extraordinary challenges to deal with. assists you in dealing successfully with the problems, issues and needs on your path.
8. Find Your Treasure
This step helps you recognize opportunities, create meaning, and acquire all the things you seek in life.
9. Live An Extraordinary LifeHere is where you begin to live the life you want, and this step assists you in fine tuning the extraordinary life you have created.
10. Begin Your Next AdventureYou are ready to evolve, and with that comes to need to discover more about yourself so your extraordinary life can evolve with you.
The Next StepIf you are ready to discover who you are, the first step is learning more about how to ...
Solve The Puzzle of Who You Are
to be continued.......
James Boehm
There is nothing magical about these ten steps, just as there is nothing magical about a set of winning moves in chess or how the notes are arranged in Beethoven's 5th Symphony.
Techniques for how to answer the most basic questions about ourselves ...
Who am I?
What makes me unique?
Where do I belong?
Who am I meant to become?
How can I make my dreams come true?
... are scattered across the globe in every culture. However, they are often buried so deep in folklore and rituals, that if you are not trained to see them, they are hard to recognize. As children we are steeped in stories about rites and ideas of how to live a life of greatness. But as we grow up, we often focus on the urgent demands of daily life and forget to think about how to find our own answers to the basic questions above.
Take a moment and think about it. Do you have a good answer to the simple questions above? If you are like most people, you may not even have a clue where to start.
So we developed a universal process to help our ten steps that work regardless of your age, race, religion, gender, culture or life experience. A process that defines every major step along the path, starting with learning who you are and deciding what to do with that knowledge. Once you have chosen the destiny you want, the next steps help you envision a path to take you there and acquire the life skills you need to excel at the life you have chosen. And once you have started on your journey, we guide you through the ups and downs along the way.
Take a moment to look over our ten steps to an extraordinary life and see if you think they will work for you.
1. Discover Your PotentialFiguring out what Your Potential is helps you solve the puzzle of who you are, what makes you unique and who you can become.
2. Choose Your DestinyIf you work out what your fate is and Choose Your Destiny, it helps you explore all the possibilities your potential offers and create a clear vision of who you want to become.
3. Identify Your Life pathMap Your Life Path and you can turn your vision of who you want to become into a plan to acquire the skills, knowledge, experiences and resources you need to do what you love.
4. Prepare For Your Destiny
Preparing For Your Destiny helps you get to work preparing for who you want to be and the extraordinary life you want to live.
5. Begin Your Adventure
Next, you need to start living the adventure you dream of by starting to use your gifts and talents to live your with purpose.
6. Overcome Your Obstacles
The sixth step helps you apply practical wisdom to overcome the obstacles that spring up along your way.
7. Face Your Challenges
Every life has challenges to* overcome, an extraordinary life gives you extraordinary challenges to deal with. assists you in dealing successfully with the problems, issues and needs on your path.
8. Find Your Treasure
This step helps you recognize opportunities, create meaning, and acquire all the things you seek in life.
9. Live An Extraordinary LifeHere is where you begin to live the life you want, and this step assists you in fine tuning the extraordinary life you have created.
10. Begin Your Next AdventureYou are ready to evolve, and with that comes to need to discover more about yourself so your extraordinary life can evolve with you.
The Next StepIf you are ready to discover who you are, the first step is learning more about how to ...
Solve The Puzzle of Who You Are
to be continued.......
James Boehm
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Top 7 Steps to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Happen
There's still time to get your resolutions rolling... The first of the year gave you a blank piece of paper on which to write the next year of your life. New Year’s resolutions anyone?
The holidays may have widened your hips or piled on the credit card debt. That's why people say things like, "This year I'm definitely going to get back into my skinny jeans." Or, "I’m going to get rid of my debt and start saving once and for all." These declarations may give you an initial boost of inspiration, but most of them will soon disappear. In fact, studies show that most people's New Year’s resolutions have dropped away by February.
So what can you do to beat the odds? How can you really make your New Year’s resolutions happen? These 7 steps work to accomplish a resolution or any goal. Apply them this year, starting today, and make your resolutions come true!
1. Ask yourself: "What do I want to accomplish this year?"
As you look toward the year in front of you, what do you really want to accomplish? If you actually made your New Year’s resolutions happen, what would you gain? Look to key areas of your life for inspiration—career, family, health/fitness, money or romantic relationships. As I stated in the How to Set Goals That Stick Special Report, "Imagine that you’ve already completed the coming year with satisfaction and ease. What are you most proud of? What thrilled you the most?" From there, come up with ideas for your yearly goals.
If you’re drawing a blank, think about what you dislike in your life. On the career front, do your work hours stretch into the evening? Do you want to stop missing out on family dinners and outings? From a health/fitness point of view, are you tired of feeling low energy every day? Are the daily trips to the office vending machine taking their toll? Frustration and dissatisfaction can be great motivators for change.
By viewing what you want to move toward, or sorting through what you want to move away from, come up with several possible goals. Then narrow down your list and pick one to three final goals. Make them important. If you could only achieve three things this year, what would they be?
2. Ask why? Why did you pick these goals?
What's behind them? Connect to what's really driving you. As I said in my Special Report, "Set meaningful goals, not just any old goals." What goals would be meaningful to you this year? Be as specific as possible.
For example, if you want to save money, go beyond saying, "I want to save money because it would be great to have some extra cash." Wanting more money for the sole sake of having more money isn’t meaningful enough to keep most people going. Connect to something deeper. What's behind your desire for more money? Here’s one possibility: "I've always wanted to own a home. It’s time to take action toward that dream. I'm tired of renting and I want to lay down roots for my family. I also want to move to a nicer area that is safe and close to good schools for my children. I will use the money I save this year toward a down payment. I can definitely cut back on spending to buy a house!" When you clarify the "why" behind what you want you’ll feel much more driven and connected to your goal.
If you have no idea why you want something, dig deeper. Ask, "Why is this important to me? What would I get out of that? What would my family/friends/coworkers get out of that?" You can also ask another person or coach for insight.
If you keep coming up with nothing, maybe you need to reconsider whether you want that particular goal at all. Create a goal that has some passion behind it. Give yourself reasons to strive toward your aspirations.
3. Follow the "do what by when" formula.
Most New Year’s resolutions fail because they remain vague or wishful. Goals such as "I want to lose weight" aren’t tangible and will be difficult to make happen. If weight loss is a goal of yours (and you already know why you want to weigh less), make it specific. For example, "I want to lose 20 pounds by May 30, 2008." Using the "do what by when" formula clarifies exactly what you intend to do (lose 20 pounds) by a specific month, day and year (May 30, 2008). Then you can measure your success every time you jump on the scale.
Speaking of measuring, make sure you can count, measure or touch your progress. The above weight goal, for example, can be measured in pounds—20 to be exact. How will you know when you've met your goal? Define it in a measurable way. Do you want a promotion of 10% or 20% this year? Do you want to save $1,000 or $10,000? How much money do you need to earn each month to pay your bills? Without ways to measure your goals, they remain wishes.
Financial advisor and founder of Insideout Investing, Anna Choi, says, "You can manifest your goals better when they are specific, measurable, time-bound and achievable." To do that, apply the "do what by when" formula to quantify your goals. Then, to make those goals achievable, do the "rubber band" test.
4. Do the "rubber band" test.
The trick is to set ambitious goals that will stretch you without making you “snap.” In the November 2007 article, ''Top 3 Must-Do’s Before the New Year," I said, "Like a rubber band stretched between two fingers, the goal should have the right mix of tension and flexibility. Put enough stretch in your goal to make it enticing yet with a touch of slack to make it doable." Setting a challenging goal will encourage you to try harder and to go for it.
Anna Choi agrees, "It's important to set a goal you believe can happen. But it also has to be a stretch goal, versus a goal so ridiculously huge you feel deflated even looking at it." Peak performance comes from doing something tough but possible given your time frame.
A common New Year’s resolution is to learn a new language. But unless they are multi-lingual or languages come easily, most people won’t achieve this in a year. Try something more doable, such as “to attend Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 at the local community college by December 31, 2008.” You’ll still be working toward your long-term goal of being fluent by allowing yourself to get started. Overly lofty goals will have you giving up at the starting line. Ambitious goals will give you a challenge but allow you to get going right away.
5. Put your goals in writing.
Have you written down your goals for the New Year? If you haven’t, you're not alone. Research shows that in the U.S. fewer than 1% of people write down their goals. Why is this important? A noted 1953 study at Harvard University evaluated how many graduates had clear, specific goals in writing and supported with an action plan. Although the classmates being assessed were obviously bright, very few of them set goals. In fact, only 3% of graduates put their goals in writing.
What happened to this 3%? When questioned 20 years later, it turned out that this small group had had greater success than the rest. Those 3% of graduates who had put their goals in writing had built greater fortunes than the entire remaining 97% of alumni.
Taking a moment to put your goals in writing is worth it. Try it yourself. Put pen to paper (or fingers to key pad). The act of writing will cement your goals in your mind. It can also help you clarify your goals, think about them in a new light and direct your energy toward ways to make them happen. Display your written goals somewhere visible and review them daily. Post them on the corner of your computer desktop and put them on your refrigerator. Keep them alive and create a plan around each one.
6. Create a plan.
You know what your goals are. They’re clearly written with deadlines. Now go beyond wishes and hope to put meat on each of your goals with a solid plan. Your plan answers the question: "How will I make this happen?" For example, if your goal is to save $10,000 by October 31, 2008, set a plan for saving $1,000 per month. What systems will you put in place to achieve this? Will you have the money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into your retirement account? Will you cut back on buying clothing or eating out to reserve cash for savings?
Create milestones for each month. What’s the main thing you want to accomplish toward your goal in January? in February? in March? Then break each month down further. Underneath those milestones define specific actions needed to achieve them. Map out exact steps that are time-bound within the month. Put them in your schedule.
Celebrate small achievements along the way. If you've saved $2,000 by February (and have never saved money before), bravo! Take time to toast your progress. Let yourself know that you’re on track and let that progress motivate you to keep going. Getting even one dollar closer to your goal is better than adding one more dollar to your debt.
7. Take action… right away.
The most important thing is to begin. Never leave a planning or goal-setting session without taking at least one tangible action. Without action, your goals can’t take flight.
You’ve selected your top one to three goals for the year. You know why they are important in your heart of hearts. You've committed them to writing, and you have a plan. Way to go! Now keep going. Take that final step—action.
Start right away with at least one action you can take toward your goal today. Consider the goal "to lose 20 pounds by May 30, 2008." What small step can you take today toward that goal? For example, you schedule your first appointment with a trainer. Or you go to the gym for 30 minutes. Or you take a brisk 20-minute walk. Pick something so easy it would be almost impossible to fail. Stand up and take that single action.
Use your plan to plug action into your yearly, monthly, weekly and daily schedule. Look for consistent blocks of time when you can work toward your goal. It takes discipline. Life will get in the way. But staying the course will let you reap the rewards. Successful people know this. That’s why they make it a priority to focus and act on their goals regularly. You can do it too. When you arrive at your destination you’ll feel a great sense of satisfaction in your focused effort to make your goal happen.
James Boehm Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
The holidays may have widened your hips or piled on the credit card debt. That's why people say things like, "This year I'm definitely going to get back into my skinny jeans." Or, "I’m going to get rid of my debt and start saving once and for all." These declarations may give you an initial boost of inspiration, but most of them will soon disappear. In fact, studies show that most people's New Year’s resolutions have dropped away by February.
So what can you do to beat the odds? How can you really make your New Year’s resolutions happen? These 7 steps work to accomplish a resolution or any goal. Apply them this year, starting today, and make your resolutions come true!
1. Ask yourself: "What do I want to accomplish this year?"
As you look toward the year in front of you, what do you really want to accomplish? If you actually made your New Year’s resolutions happen, what would you gain? Look to key areas of your life for inspiration—career, family, health/fitness, money or romantic relationships. As I stated in the How to Set Goals That Stick Special Report, "Imagine that you’ve already completed the coming year with satisfaction and ease. What are you most proud of? What thrilled you the most?" From there, come up with ideas for your yearly goals.
If you’re drawing a blank, think about what you dislike in your life. On the career front, do your work hours stretch into the evening? Do you want to stop missing out on family dinners and outings? From a health/fitness point of view, are you tired of feeling low energy every day? Are the daily trips to the office vending machine taking their toll? Frustration and dissatisfaction can be great motivators for change.
By viewing what you want to move toward, or sorting through what you want to move away from, come up with several possible goals. Then narrow down your list and pick one to three final goals. Make them important. If you could only achieve three things this year, what would they be?
2. Ask why? Why did you pick these goals?
What's behind them? Connect to what's really driving you. As I said in my Special Report, "Set meaningful goals, not just any old goals." What goals would be meaningful to you this year? Be as specific as possible.
For example, if you want to save money, go beyond saying, "I want to save money because it would be great to have some extra cash." Wanting more money for the sole sake of having more money isn’t meaningful enough to keep most people going. Connect to something deeper. What's behind your desire for more money? Here’s one possibility: "I've always wanted to own a home. It’s time to take action toward that dream. I'm tired of renting and I want to lay down roots for my family. I also want to move to a nicer area that is safe and close to good schools for my children. I will use the money I save this year toward a down payment. I can definitely cut back on spending to buy a house!" When you clarify the "why" behind what you want you’ll feel much more driven and connected to your goal.
If you have no idea why you want something, dig deeper. Ask, "Why is this important to me? What would I get out of that? What would my family/friends/coworkers get out of that?" You can also ask another person or coach for insight.
If you keep coming up with nothing, maybe you need to reconsider whether you want that particular goal at all. Create a goal that has some passion behind it. Give yourself reasons to strive toward your aspirations.
3. Follow the "do what by when" formula.
Most New Year’s resolutions fail because they remain vague or wishful. Goals such as "I want to lose weight" aren’t tangible and will be difficult to make happen. If weight loss is a goal of yours (and you already know why you want to weigh less), make it specific. For example, "I want to lose 20 pounds by May 30, 2008." Using the "do what by when" formula clarifies exactly what you intend to do (lose 20 pounds) by a specific month, day and year (May 30, 2008). Then you can measure your success every time you jump on the scale.
Speaking of measuring, make sure you can count, measure or touch your progress. The above weight goal, for example, can be measured in pounds—20 to be exact. How will you know when you've met your goal? Define it in a measurable way. Do you want a promotion of 10% or 20% this year? Do you want to save $1,000 or $10,000? How much money do you need to earn each month to pay your bills? Without ways to measure your goals, they remain wishes.
Financial advisor and founder of Insideout Investing, Anna Choi, says, "You can manifest your goals better when they are specific, measurable, time-bound and achievable." To do that, apply the "do what by when" formula to quantify your goals. Then, to make those goals achievable, do the "rubber band" test.
4. Do the "rubber band" test.
The trick is to set ambitious goals that will stretch you without making you “snap.” In the November 2007 article, ''Top 3 Must-Do’s Before the New Year," I said, "Like a rubber band stretched between two fingers, the goal should have the right mix of tension and flexibility. Put enough stretch in your goal to make it enticing yet with a touch of slack to make it doable." Setting a challenging goal will encourage you to try harder and to go for it.
Anna Choi agrees, "It's important to set a goal you believe can happen. But it also has to be a stretch goal, versus a goal so ridiculously huge you feel deflated even looking at it." Peak performance comes from doing something tough but possible given your time frame.
A common New Year’s resolution is to learn a new language. But unless they are multi-lingual or languages come easily, most people won’t achieve this in a year. Try something more doable, such as “to attend Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 at the local community college by December 31, 2008.” You’ll still be working toward your long-term goal of being fluent by allowing yourself to get started. Overly lofty goals will have you giving up at the starting line. Ambitious goals will give you a challenge but allow you to get going right away.
5. Put your goals in writing.
Have you written down your goals for the New Year? If you haven’t, you're not alone. Research shows that in the U.S. fewer than 1% of people write down their goals. Why is this important? A noted 1953 study at Harvard University evaluated how many graduates had clear, specific goals in writing and supported with an action plan. Although the classmates being assessed were obviously bright, very few of them set goals. In fact, only 3% of graduates put their goals in writing.
What happened to this 3%? When questioned 20 years later, it turned out that this small group had had greater success than the rest. Those 3% of graduates who had put their goals in writing had built greater fortunes than the entire remaining 97% of alumni.
Taking a moment to put your goals in writing is worth it. Try it yourself. Put pen to paper (or fingers to key pad). The act of writing will cement your goals in your mind. It can also help you clarify your goals, think about them in a new light and direct your energy toward ways to make them happen. Display your written goals somewhere visible and review them daily. Post them on the corner of your computer desktop and put them on your refrigerator. Keep them alive and create a plan around each one.
6. Create a plan.
You know what your goals are. They’re clearly written with deadlines. Now go beyond wishes and hope to put meat on each of your goals with a solid plan. Your plan answers the question: "How will I make this happen?" For example, if your goal is to save $10,000 by October 31, 2008, set a plan for saving $1,000 per month. What systems will you put in place to achieve this? Will you have the money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into your retirement account? Will you cut back on buying clothing or eating out to reserve cash for savings?
Create milestones for each month. What’s the main thing you want to accomplish toward your goal in January? in February? in March? Then break each month down further. Underneath those milestones define specific actions needed to achieve them. Map out exact steps that are time-bound within the month. Put them in your schedule.
Celebrate small achievements along the way. If you've saved $2,000 by February (and have never saved money before), bravo! Take time to toast your progress. Let yourself know that you’re on track and let that progress motivate you to keep going. Getting even one dollar closer to your goal is better than adding one more dollar to your debt.
7. Take action… right away.
The most important thing is to begin. Never leave a planning or goal-setting session without taking at least one tangible action. Without action, your goals can’t take flight.
You’ve selected your top one to three goals for the year. You know why they are important in your heart of hearts. You've committed them to writing, and you have a plan. Way to go! Now keep going. Take that final step—action.
Start right away with at least one action you can take toward your goal today. Consider the goal "to lose 20 pounds by May 30, 2008." What small step can you take today toward that goal? For example, you schedule your first appointment with a trainer. Or you go to the gym for 30 minutes. Or you take a brisk 20-minute walk. Pick something so easy it would be almost impossible to fail. Stand up and take that single action.
Use your plan to plug action into your yearly, monthly, weekly and daily schedule. Look for consistent blocks of time when you can work toward your goal. It takes discipline. Life will get in the way. But staying the course will let you reap the rewards. Successful people know this. That’s why they make it a priority to focus and act on their goals regularly. You can do it too. When you arrive at your destination you’ll feel a great sense of satisfaction in your focused effort to make your goal happen.
James Boehm Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
How To Believe In Yourself
If you have been beat down long enough, believing in yourself can seem impossible. When you have had people in your life who do not lift you up, you pretty much take over for them when they are not there. You proceed to discount your skills and abilities based on what other people have said. You are doing a great disservice to yourself and giving your power to someone else. To reach your goals in this life, believing in yourself is extremely important if you want to get anywhere. Those assumptions about who you are become a way of life. You will stay stuck in these patterns until you change the way you think.
Here are some simple ways to start learning how to believe in you:
1) Try Even When You Still Think You Can't Do It
Because you have pattern of not believing in yourself, this will take a little work. Make a vow to yourself today that you will try your best at any opportunity that comes your way. It does not matter if you have fallen on your face before or whether you think it's even possible. The important thing is to pledge to yourself that you will try no matter what the outcome may be. The worst thing to do to yourself is to assume you can't do it before even trying. Tell yourself right now that any effort to do better is not a waste of your precious time.
2) Establish Evidence For The Assumptions
Get some paper and start a list. List every one of those things you really believe about yourself and your abilities or the lack of them. List them whether they are large or small. Once you have that list go through each assumption and examine it. Ask yourself, "Is this true? What is the proof?" Then go and do whatever it is you feel you cannot. It does not matter if you do it better than anyone else. It only matters that you DO.
3) Recognize The Possibilities
A constant onslaught of self-defeating assumptions obviously puts you in the place of believing you cannot succeed. This goes back to the people in your life who have impressed their own beliefs on you. A silly bunch of girls in high school told you that you were fat and no one would ever want you. Guess what you have been doing since? Saying that same self-defeating comment to yourself. It is time to push beyond what you believe are your capabilities. This is a scary thought. It also will be a step in the direction of finding the belief in you. The assumptions you have about yourself may not be true. You have simply accepted these assumptions as truth without proof. Consider all the possibilities of each situation. Challenge the assumptions and have an open mind to the possibility that you could be wrong!
With every success, whether large or small, the belief in yourself will grow. That will be the push you need to keep stepping outside your comfort zone and attain the accomplishments you truly deserve.
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
Here are some simple ways to start learning how to believe in you:
1) Try Even When You Still Think You Can't Do It
Because you have pattern of not believing in yourself, this will take a little work. Make a vow to yourself today that you will try your best at any opportunity that comes your way. It does not matter if you have fallen on your face before or whether you think it's even possible. The important thing is to pledge to yourself that you will try no matter what the outcome may be. The worst thing to do to yourself is to assume you can't do it before even trying. Tell yourself right now that any effort to do better is not a waste of your precious time.
2) Establish Evidence For The Assumptions
Get some paper and start a list. List every one of those things you really believe about yourself and your abilities or the lack of them. List them whether they are large or small. Once you have that list go through each assumption and examine it. Ask yourself, "Is this true? What is the proof?" Then go and do whatever it is you feel you cannot. It does not matter if you do it better than anyone else. It only matters that you DO.
3) Recognize The Possibilities
A constant onslaught of self-defeating assumptions obviously puts you in the place of believing you cannot succeed. This goes back to the people in your life who have impressed their own beliefs on you. A silly bunch of girls in high school told you that you were fat and no one would ever want you. Guess what you have been doing since? Saying that same self-defeating comment to yourself. It is time to push beyond what you believe are your capabilities. This is a scary thought. It also will be a step in the direction of finding the belief in you. The assumptions you have about yourself may not be true. You have simply accepted these assumptions as truth without proof. Consider all the possibilities of each situation. Challenge the assumptions and have an open mind to the possibility that you could be wrong!
With every success, whether large or small, the belief in yourself will grow. That will be the push you need to keep stepping outside your comfort zone and attain the accomplishments you truly deserve.
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wherever You Are, Be There
One of the major reasons why we fail to find happiness or to create unique lifestyle is because we have not yet mastered the art of being.
While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office. And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home. We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us. We may be hearing the words, but we aren't absorbing the message. As we go through the day we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future possibilities.
We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we never even notice that today is slipping by. We go through the day rather than getting something from the day.
We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.
Lifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment, and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer.
Lifestyle is taking time to watch a sunset. Lifestyle is listening to silence. Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what we are in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.
Present Moment
How can one create anew in the moment, without reference to the past or the future? In this metaphor of surfing the wave and staying over your feet, we are talking about staying rooted where you ARE -- in the present moment -- rather than in the "past" (where you have been) or the "future" (where you are going). If you think about it, all fear derives from past experience being projected onto the future. When things arise in your present moment that remind you of something from the past, you can easily project that the past experience will repeat itself in the moments that follow the time of remembering that past. This is when you feel fear. It's inner talk that says, "It was like this before, so it will be like this again." If you experienced pain in the past, you expect it will be painful again. That is where the fear comes in. You want to avoid the pain. "I'm afraid that if this moment goes the way it went before, I'll experience what I experienced before, and I don't want to do that again."
The answer to this is to cut through the cords of memory, to interrupt the inner talk by saying out loud, "That was then. This is now." Boom! You are back in the present, able to choose anew in the present moment. When you say the word "now," you bring your attention into the present. Say "NOW" out loud, right now. Feel NOW. What is really happening NOW? Not what happened before, not what MIGHT happen later. What is really happening NOW? Do you see how you are in the habit of scaring yourself? Cultivate the practice of living NOW. Live each moment as the only moment that exists. NOW is the only place you can create anything. NOW is the only place you can choose anything. NOW is all you ever really have.
When we say the word "moment," it will be useful to define what we mean. A moment is an "event" that arises from the matrix of Infinite Mind. It contains everything within it for its natural fulfillment and completion. It is not measured by minutes, seconds, or hours. It is a unit of experience that may be very short or go on for some time. You can FEEL when a moment begins. You can FEEL when it completes. Every moment has a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion, like a phrase in speech or music. Think of it entering into your field of awareness, swelling into its fullness, and then receding as it completes. There is a wavelike quality to a moment. A wave emerges from the ocean, swells, moves forward, and then resolves back into the ocean. Just so with a moment. It emerges from the ocean of consciousness that is the Mind of the Creator. It swells upward into your perceptual field, and moves forward, then ebbs from your experience as it completes. There is background and foreground, and there are different waves overlapping. In the past, you were only peripherally aware of the background, as your attention was captured by the foreground, but now your senses will be broadened and deepened until you are like a bowl containing ALL of it -- all of the ocean and all of the waves upon its surface. You will be aware of all of it simultaneously and be able to move your attention to whatever you feel called to pay attention to, at will.
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
While we are home our thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges we face at the office. And when we are at the office we find ourselves worrying about problems at home. We go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to us. We may be hearing the words, but we aren't absorbing the message. As we go through the day we find ourselves focusing on past experiences or future possibilities.
We are so involved in yesterday and tomorrow that we never even notice that today is slipping by. We go through the day rather than getting something from the day.
We are everywhere at any given moment in time except living in that moment in time.
Lifestyle is learning to be wherever you are. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment, and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer.
Lifestyle is taking time to watch a sunset. Lifestyle is listening to silence. Lifestyle is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what we are and of what we are in the process of becoming. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.
Present Moment
How can one create anew in the moment, without reference to the past or the future? In this metaphor of surfing the wave and staying over your feet, we are talking about staying rooted where you ARE -- in the present moment -- rather than in the "past" (where you have been) or the "future" (where you are going). If you think about it, all fear derives from past experience being projected onto the future. When things arise in your present moment that remind you of something from the past, you can easily project that the past experience will repeat itself in the moments that follow the time of remembering that past. This is when you feel fear. It's inner talk that says, "It was like this before, so it will be like this again." If you experienced pain in the past, you expect it will be painful again. That is where the fear comes in. You want to avoid the pain. "I'm afraid that if this moment goes the way it went before, I'll experience what I experienced before, and I don't want to do that again."
The answer to this is to cut through the cords of memory, to interrupt the inner talk by saying out loud, "That was then. This is now." Boom! You are back in the present, able to choose anew in the present moment. When you say the word "now," you bring your attention into the present. Say "NOW" out loud, right now. Feel NOW. What is really happening NOW? Not what happened before, not what MIGHT happen later. What is really happening NOW? Do you see how you are in the habit of scaring yourself? Cultivate the practice of living NOW. Live each moment as the only moment that exists. NOW is the only place you can create anything. NOW is the only place you can choose anything. NOW is all you ever really have.
When we say the word "moment," it will be useful to define what we mean. A moment is an "event" that arises from the matrix of Infinite Mind. It contains everything within it for its natural fulfillment and completion. It is not measured by minutes, seconds, or hours. It is a unit of experience that may be very short or go on for some time. You can FEEL when a moment begins. You can FEEL when it completes. Every moment has a beginning, a middle, and a conclusion, like a phrase in speech or music. Think of it entering into your field of awareness, swelling into its fullness, and then receding as it completes. There is a wavelike quality to a moment. A wave emerges from the ocean, swells, moves forward, and then resolves back into the ocean. Just so with a moment. It emerges from the ocean of consciousness that is the Mind of the Creator. It swells upward into your perceptual field, and moves forward, then ebbs from your experience as it completes. There is background and foreground, and there are different waves overlapping. In the past, you were only peripherally aware of the background, as your attention was captured by the foreground, but now your senses will be broadened and deepened until you are like a bowl containing ALL of it -- all of the ocean and all of the waves upon its surface. You will be aware of all of it simultaneously and be able to move your attention to whatever you feel called to pay attention to, at will.
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Want Business or Personal Growth? Challenge Your Assumptions!
Assumptions make our lives easier. That’s both good news and bad. As creatures of habit, we seek efficiency through the use of assumptions in lieu of active thought to drive most of our behaviors. With few exceptions, what we do in any given 24-hour period demands little conscious thought because we’ve developed habits that help us accomplish all sorts of things.
For instance, while driving (even if you’re doing the speed limit), it’s quite common to pull your foot off the gas pedal when you see a police car ahead on the side of the road. In that instant, it seems like your foot has a mind of its own! What really happened is that you incorporated an assumption – that getting a ticket is a bad thing — to replace the thinking component of the “stimulus-thought-response” chain of events. In this example, no doubt, the assumption — or habit of thought — serves you well (this is the good news).
Unfortunately, however, that’s often not the case (this is the bad news). In a business, assumptions might include any of the following statements or beliefs:
“That won’t work here.”
“Change is risky.”
“I’ve seen this situation before.”
“We’re better than the competition.”
While some of our assumptions are useful in preventing us from having to consciously figure out the mechanics each time we confront a familiar situation, many habits of thought keep us from stretching our capabilities and trying new, and inventive, and possibly better ideas or techniques. Just like when you see a police car, these assumptions work silently, but powerfully to impact your behaviors and the behaviors of those around you.
Welcome to the “black box” of business and the enemy of business growth. Most business leaders don’t even know that it exists; yet it contains the keys to our own potential, our organizations’ potential, and our ability to get more of what we really want. Assumptions drive thinking, thinking drives behavior, and behavior drives results.
In late 2005 FORTUNE Magazine published a cover story about Andy Grove, one of Intel’s founders and most accomplished leaders. In describing one of the key characteristics that made Grove so successful, author Richard S. Tedlow wrote “Forcibly adapting himself to a succession of new realities, [Grove] has left a trail of discarded assumptions in his wake.” Grove’s ability to challenge “conventional wisdom” (just a euphemism for assumptions) paved the way for a number of seminal decisions at Intel including their move in the mid 1980’s to exit the memory business and focus on processors, and their decision to spend millions on a ground-breaking branding campaign called “Intel Inside” to brand an internal component of a computer.
What made Grove different (and so successful at Intel) is that he actively sought ways to force himself to challenge his assumptions and beliefs – in effect continually pushing and expanding his comfort zone. It was the modus operandi of his personal growth and his ability to lead Intel so successfully for so long.
Can you identify the modus operandi for strategic growth in your organization? When is the last time you consciously pushed to expand your comfort zone – by definition making yourself and those surrounding you uncomfortable in the process? Can you find a way to regularly challenge your own assumptions and beliefs? If not, might it make sense to find someone who will?
For sure, assumptions make our lives easier and more comfortable. It’s up to you however, to decide what you’d like to do with them to drive growth, to make your organization more competitive, and to improve yourself personally.
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
For instance, while driving (even if you’re doing the speed limit), it’s quite common to pull your foot off the gas pedal when you see a police car ahead on the side of the road. In that instant, it seems like your foot has a mind of its own! What really happened is that you incorporated an assumption – that getting a ticket is a bad thing — to replace the thinking component of the “stimulus-thought-response” chain of events. In this example, no doubt, the assumption — or habit of thought — serves you well (this is the good news).
Unfortunately, however, that’s often not the case (this is the bad news). In a business, assumptions might include any of the following statements or beliefs:
“That won’t work here.”
“Change is risky.”
“I’ve seen this situation before.”
“We’re better than the competition.”
While some of our assumptions are useful in preventing us from having to consciously figure out the mechanics each time we confront a familiar situation, many habits of thought keep us from stretching our capabilities and trying new, and inventive, and possibly better ideas or techniques. Just like when you see a police car, these assumptions work silently, but powerfully to impact your behaviors and the behaviors of those around you.
Welcome to the “black box” of business and the enemy of business growth. Most business leaders don’t even know that it exists; yet it contains the keys to our own potential, our organizations’ potential, and our ability to get more of what we really want. Assumptions drive thinking, thinking drives behavior, and behavior drives results.
In late 2005 FORTUNE Magazine published a cover story about Andy Grove, one of Intel’s founders and most accomplished leaders. In describing one of the key characteristics that made Grove so successful, author Richard S. Tedlow wrote “Forcibly adapting himself to a succession of new realities, [Grove] has left a trail of discarded assumptions in his wake.” Grove’s ability to challenge “conventional wisdom” (just a euphemism for assumptions) paved the way for a number of seminal decisions at Intel including their move in the mid 1980’s to exit the memory business and focus on processors, and their decision to spend millions on a ground-breaking branding campaign called “Intel Inside” to brand an internal component of a computer.
What made Grove different (and so successful at Intel) is that he actively sought ways to force himself to challenge his assumptions and beliefs – in effect continually pushing and expanding his comfort zone. It was the modus operandi of his personal growth and his ability to lead Intel so successfully for so long.
Can you identify the modus operandi for strategic growth in your organization? When is the last time you consciously pushed to expand your comfort zone – by definition making yourself and those surrounding you uncomfortable in the process? Can you find a way to regularly challenge your own assumptions and beliefs? If not, might it make sense to find someone who will?
For sure, assumptions make our lives easier and more comfortable. It’s up to you however, to decide what you’d like to do with them to drive growth, to make your organization more competitive, and to improve yourself personally.
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good.
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Power of Vision
Throughout time, successful people have always had vision. Vision is one of the most important elements to being successful. The Ancient Writer states it this way, "Where there is no vision, the people perish….” Vision keeps us on track. It even shows us where the track is. So, if vision is so important to success and happiness then where do we get it? That is not an easy question. One way is to ask yourself where you want to be ten years down the road? What will you have accomplished? Where will you live? Who will be with you? Questions like these will help you discover your inner vision for your life.
I believe that there are two elements we have to keep in mind if we are to be successful with our vision. One, the vision needs to be a challenging vision to stretch you and your team (REMEMBER: In order to reach your vision, you are going to need to get people on board with it which means you have to lead them. Every great leader has a vision that is worthy of following and the confidence and integrity to get people to follow them).
When I think about a leader with a challenging vision, I think of President John F. Kennedy. In 1961, he stood before the nation and said, "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." That would be a challenging vision for NASA to repeat today let alone in 1961.
Let me remind you where we were when JFK made that statement. In 1961, we had just successfully launched Alan Shepherd into space as the first American into space. Up until that point we had had failure after failure. It was a miracle we didn't kill Alan Shepherd in the attempt to get him up there. Rocket after rocket had blown up in our faces. The Soviet Union was stomping on us in the space race.
Then, we have one success and President Kennedy said we are going to the moon. Our scientist probably wanted to send him to the moon. What an outrageous statement. Did we know how to accomplish it? Probably not. Was it possible? Some of them probably weren't sure. But what happened at 4:17 P.M. in the afternoon on Sunday July 20, 1969? The spacecraft ever so smoothly landed on the lunar surface. Neil Armstrong called back to earth, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Later, as he and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of Eagle onto the moon, Neil said, "That is one small step for man one giant leap for mankind." We had done it! We had landed two men on the moon and we did return them safely back home to earth. You see, a challenging vision isn't one you necessarily have all the answers to at the beginning, but one that will stretch you to accomplish something you didn't know you were capable of. It makes you stronger and better.
The second thing we have to keep in mind in order to make our sales vision a reality is the courage to put it into action. Michele Borba tells a story about Rocky Lyons. When Rocky was five years old, he and his mother Kelly were traveling in their pickup truck down a country two lane road. Rocky was asleep with his legs resting on his mother's lap. When they turned onto a narrow bridge, the truck hit a pothole. Trying to get the truck out of a rut, Kelly sped up and turned the steering wheel. Rocky's foot got caught between the steering wheel and Kelly's leg and she lost control of the vehicle. The truck tumbled over a 20-foot ravine.
The crash woke up Rocky. He looked at his mother and said, "What happened, Mama?" Kelly was hurt bad. She was covered with blood. Rocky said, "I'll get you out, Mama." He crawled out the window and tried to pull his mother out of the truck. It didn't work. He climbed back into the truck and somehow used his 40-pound body to push his 104-pound mother out of the wreckage.
Rocky was planning on climbing to the top of the ravine to get help for his mother. Fearing he would get hurt, Kelly refused to let him go by himself. Inch by inch they struggled along. Rocky not only had a vision to save his mother, he also knew how to motivate her to success. He told his mother to remember that little train. He was referring to the train in that children's classic The Little Engine that Could. In Rocky's own version of that famous line, he kept motivating his mother by saying, "I know you can, I know you can."
Well, they made it to the top and Rocky flagged down a vehicle. They got Kelly to the hospital and after 8 hours of surgery and 344 stitches, she was put back together. She looks much different today then she did before the crash. BUT SHE IS ALIVE! She is alive because a five-year-old boy had a vision to save his mother and the courage to put it into action. Rocky just did what he had to do. He wasn't trying to be a hero. He just did what he was called to do. That is what sales vision is all about. A challenging vision which will get you out of your comfort zone and the courage to put it into action.
What is your vision? Is it to change the entire world or just your corner of it? Whatever it is; wherever it is, GET THAT SALES VISION AND MAKE IT HAPPEN! Take some time right this moment to think about and answer the following questions. Then, come up with 3 action steps to start the ball rolling towards your vision.
1. If you knew you could not fail, what would you want to accomplish?
2. Where do you want to be in your sales career in five years?
3. Where do you want to be with your relationships in five years?
4. If you were able to hear the eulogy at your funeral, what would you like to be said about you?
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good
I believe that there are two elements we have to keep in mind if we are to be successful with our vision. One, the vision needs to be a challenging vision to stretch you and your team (REMEMBER: In order to reach your vision, you are going to need to get people on board with it which means you have to lead them. Every great leader has a vision that is worthy of following and the confidence and integrity to get people to follow them).
When I think about a leader with a challenging vision, I think of President John F. Kennedy. In 1961, he stood before the nation and said, "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." That would be a challenging vision for NASA to repeat today let alone in 1961.
Let me remind you where we were when JFK made that statement. In 1961, we had just successfully launched Alan Shepherd into space as the first American into space. Up until that point we had had failure after failure. It was a miracle we didn't kill Alan Shepherd in the attempt to get him up there. Rocket after rocket had blown up in our faces. The Soviet Union was stomping on us in the space race.
Then, we have one success and President Kennedy said we are going to the moon. Our scientist probably wanted to send him to the moon. What an outrageous statement. Did we know how to accomplish it? Probably not. Was it possible? Some of them probably weren't sure. But what happened at 4:17 P.M. in the afternoon on Sunday July 20, 1969? The spacecraft ever so smoothly landed on the lunar surface. Neil Armstrong called back to earth, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Later, as he and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of Eagle onto the moon, Neil said, "That is one small step for man one giant leap for mankind." We had done it! We had landed two men on the moon and we did return them safely back home to earth. You see, a challenging vision isn't one you necessarily have all the answers to at the beginning, but one that will stretch you to accomplish something you didn't know you were capable of. It makes you stronger and better.
The second thing we have to keep in mind in order to make our sales vision a reality is the courage to put it into action. Michele Borba tells a story about Rocky Lyons. When Rocky was five years old, he and his mother Kelly were traveling in their pickup truck down a country two lane road. Rocky was asleep with his legs resting on his mother's lap. When they turned onto a narrow bridge, the truck hit a pothole. Trying to get the truck out of a rut, Kelly sped up and turned the steering wheel. Rocky's foot got caught between the steering wheel and Kelly's leg and she lost control of the vehicle. The truck tumbled over a 20-foot ravine.
The crash woke up Rocky. He looked at his mother and said, "What happened, Mama?" Kelly was hurt bad. She was covered with blood. Rocky said, "I'll get you out, Mama." He crawled out the window and tried to pull his mother out of the truck. It didn't work. He climbed back into the truck and somehow used his 40-pound body to push his 104-pound mother out of the wreckage.
Rocky was planning on climbing to the top of the ravine to get help for his mother. Fearing he would get hurt, Kelly refused to let him go by himself. Inch by inch they struggled along. Rocky not only had a vision to save his mother, he also knew how to motivate her to success. He told his mother to remember that little train. He was referring to the train in that children's classic The Little Engine that Could. In Rocky's own version of that famous line, he kept motivating his mother by saying, "I know you can, I know you can."
Well, they made it to the top and Rocky flagged down a vehicle. They got Kelly to the hospital and after 8 hours of surgery and 344 stitches, she was put back together. She looks much different today then she did before the crash. BUT SHE IS ALIVE! She is alive because a five-year-old boy had a vision to save his mother and the courage to put it into action. Rocky just did what he had to do. He wasn't trying to be a hero. He just did what he was called to do. That is what sales vision is all about. A challenging vision which will get you out of your comfort zone and the courage to put it into action.
What is your vision? Is it to change the entire world or just your corner of it? Whatever it is; wherever it is, GET THAT SALES VISION AND MAKE IT HAPPEN! Take some time right this moment to think about and answer the following questions. Then, come up with 3 action steps to start the ball rolling towards your vision.
1. If you knew you could not fail, what would you want to accomplish?
2. Where do you want to be in your sales career in five years?
3. Where do you want to be with your relationships in five years?
4. If you were able to hear the eulogy at your funeral, what would you like to be said about you?
Every Month A Million and the Daily Dose Of Good
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Abundance Mindset - Do You Have It?
In this world there is opportunity all around you. Do you see it? Can you hear it? Perhaps you can feel it. Either way it’s there for the taking when you are ready. If you don’t move through the world from this perspective then you are setting yourself up for failure.
To have the most success in any endeavor you must adopt the viewpoint that you have limitless options for your life. If you don’t succeed with one opportunity then you brush it off knowing there’s another one right around the corner waiting for you.
Instead of operating from a place of ‘fear’ or ‘loss’, try operating from a position of gain. If you see a job you want, a person you want to meet or have a new idea that you want to leap forward on-then abandon all fear and go for it.
Think about this.. If you’re constantly running from things that scare or intimidate you, you’ll be running for the rest of your life.
Most people who consider themselves truly happy & successful typically share a common mindset and that’s a mindset of abundance as opposed to a mindset of scarcity. This means that they are not afraid to approach something that catches their eye and equally are not afraid to walk away from something if it doesn’t meet their criteria. In their eyes, they don’t believe in wasting their time, as they know ‘what works’ is only a matter of time away, so they keep moving forward.
The fact of the matter is that the world is filled with opportunities to get anything you want out of life. Every Month A Million is one of them.
Here with my Daily Dose Of Good I'm going to help you adopt the Abundance Mindset so that you can:
Find THE perfect job
Meet ANYONE with ease
Live ANYWHERE you want
Achieve ANY goal you desire
Live the LIFE you have always wanted
Having a “The Abundance Mindset” means rising above the norm. It means that you do the things that the unsuccessful / unhappy people would never do.
Like asking your boss for that much deserved raise. Hiring a coach to reach that next level in life. Starting that new business you’ve always dreamed about. Asking for help. Ending that relationship that is no longer serving you. Moving to that place you have always though about and wanted. You get the idea..
Finally, truly embracing this mentality means CHALLENGING yourself to do the uncomfortable things that most people wouldn’t bother doing.
This means that when you see something you want, you ignore that little negative voice inside your head that likes to focus on everything that’s negative and can go wrong. Instead you replace that voice with the powerful one that reminds you of how much can go right!
I will have much more on how to adopt the Abundance mindset for yourself in future post.
To have the most success in any endeavor you must adopt the viewpoint that you have limitless options for your life. If you don’t succeed with one opportunity then you brush it off knowing there’s another one right around the corner waiting for you.
Instead of operating from a place of ‘fear’ or ‘loss’, try operating from a position of gain. If you see a job you want, a person you want to meet or have a new idea that you want to leap forward on-then abandon all fear and go for it.
Think about this.. If you’re constantly running from things that scare or intimidate you, you’ll be running for the rest of your life.
Most people who consider themselves truly happy & successful typically share a common mindset and that’s a mindset of abundance as opposed to a mindset of scarcity. This means that they are not afraid to approach something that catches their eye and equally are not afraid to walk away from something if it doesn’t meet their criteria. In their eyes, they don’t believe in wasting their time, as they know ‘what works’ is only a matter of time away, so they keep moving forward.
The fact of the matter is that the world is filled with opportunities to get anything you want out of life. Every Month A Million is one of them.
Here with my Daily Dose Of Good I'm going to help you adopt the Abundance Mindset so that you can:
Find THE perfect job
Meet ANYONE with ease
Live ANYWHERE you want
Achieve ANY goal you desire
Live the LIFE you have always wanted
Having a “The Abundance Mindset” means rising above the norm. It means that you do the things that the unsuccessful / unhappy people would never do.
Like asking your boss for that much deserved raise. Hiring a coach to reach that next level in life. Starting that new business you’ve always dreamed about. Asking for help. Ending that relationship that is no longer serving you. Moving to that place you have always though about and wanted. You get the idea..
Finally, truly embracing this mentality means CHALLENGING yourself to do the uncomfortable things that most people wouldn’t bother doing.
This means that when you see something you want, you ignore that little negative voice inside your head that likes to focus on everything that’s negative and can go wrong. Instead you replace that voice with the powerful one that reminds you of how much can go right!
I will have much more on how to adopt the Abundance mindset for yourself in future post.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Get Your Life "UNSTUCK"
Are there things you would love to do but when you
start thinking about how you could move toward them,
you get stuck? If so then you are not alone. It’s so easy
to get bogged down with the many reasons why it just
isn’t a realistic aspiration or goal; why ‘now’ is not the
best time and why it’s much easier to just do nothing.
I doubt there is a person on this planet who hasn’t
dreamt about doing something which seemed, at the
time, so much bigger than them and for which they
could rattle off many reason’s “why not”. The difference
between those who go on to make their dreams a reality
is not that they are just very lucky, that they are born
with a silver spoon in their mouth or with an immunity
to fear. Nope. The difference is that the doer’s
move forward despite their fears and objections.
Unfortunately you can’t make fear go away by
wishing it away. The only way to get rid of the
fear of doing something is to go out and do it.
What holds us back in life most often is our own
limiting beliefs. Our imagination has a field day,
fueled by self-doubt, of all the dreadful things that might
happen if we fail to achieve our goals and how
humiliating it would be but how often have you seen
someone ridiculed and shamed for doing their best?
More likely you admire their tenacity and courage for
giving it a go.
Of course we can always choose to stay inside our
comfort zone because in there, we don’t have limiting
beliefs about failing or looking stupid or
risking our social status. Comfort zones are… surprise,
surprise… comfortable!
“What’s so wrong with comfortable?” I hear you mutter.
Well as comfortable as you might like to be, we humans
are born to grow, develop and learn. As kids we were
constantly trying things we hadn’t tried before and in the
process we learned more about ourselves, our abilities
and the world. We developed new skills we didn’t think
we could (when my son was five years old he was
adamant he would “never ever ever“ master the art of
tying his shoe laces!) and as we did, we grew more
capable and confident.
I’ve met very few people who relish failure and yet it is
from making mistakes and failing that we learn. Think
back to a time when you failed and ask yourself what
you gained from the experience and if you think you
didn’t gain anything, think again! We learn far more
from our failures than from our successes. The lessons
our failures teach us equip us to deal with the challenges
of the future; they strengthen our muscles for life. The
hurdles you come to in your life are for jumping and your
doubts about your own limitations are your biggest
hurdle of all!
“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible
objections must first be removed” Samuel Johnson
My point is that when we don’t continually seek to grow
in new ways and develop ourselves we are, in essence,
selling ourselves short. We stagnate – those ‘life muscles’
wither - and so depriving ourselves and the world of our
full potential.
So, what is it that might inspire you to embrace a sense
of adventure in your life? Are you up for even just taking
another look at those aspirations you have floating
around in your head or perhaps those really big dreams
hidden deep under your bed?
Of course just dreaming big doesn’t change anything. For
things to change action is required and that’s where we
so often get stuck. Those who are most successful at
living their dreams master the art of shifting their
sights from the big canvas to the immediate
actions they need to take to get there. They don’t
wait for opportunity to knock, the go and find it. They
don’t just dream - they ‘do!’
So now you may be thinking, “Okay, so I have this idea
about something I’ve always wanted to do (or be) but it
does seem like a bloody big leap from where I am now.
Where do I begin? How do I begin?”
Following is a summary of the steps you should take
when working on clarifying and then moving
forward to accomplish your goals and dreams.
1. Write It Down & Share It!
“Everything that is was once imagined” Ted Joans
Firstly I suggest that you get out a piece of paper and just
write down what it is that has captured your imagination.
As Stephen Covey, author of the best-selling “7 Habits of
Highly Effective People” said, “Begin with the end in mind”.
Not everyone dreams of flying to the moon or ending
apartheid. What inspires and excites you? Perhaps you
dream of changing career, running a little B&B in the
country somewhere, running a marathon or maybe just
learning the guitar. Whatever it is, I’ll bet it’s something
you would be good at if you focused your energy on it.
So write it down in as much detail as you can. Imagine
what it would feel like to accomplish this goal or live
this dream – what would that be like for you? And then,
scary as it can be, share it with someone. The very act
of sharing it gives it more substance, deepens your
commitment to it and helps to bring it more into
reality in your mind’s eye.
2. Identify The First Few Steps
Next start writing an action plan for what steps need to
be taken to start you moving in the direction of its
creation. What needs to be done first? What can you
read? Who can you email, speak or write to? Perhaps
you need to do some ‘homework’ to find out what those
steps will be. Don’t wait for the time to be free - set the
time aside and do it.
3. Take A Step Forward – However Small!
As Martin Luther King Jr. suggested, “Take the first step
in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just
take the first step”. The very process of taking some
action, however small, creates a forward momentum.
Great things don’t happen from wishful thinking but
from action – so get moving!
4. Get A Support System Around You
As you step closer the mountain it can look even more
overwhelming than it did before, but don’t let all those
reasons “why not” stop you. I highly recommend that
you get a support structure around you that will help you
move forward when you get stuck.
And as you can see you have to look no more. We here at
Every Month a Million with our Daily Dose of Good
are your support structure.
Ask friends for their support (particularly during those
times you have setbacks – which you will – and those
voices of doom and gloom in your head get on the
loudspeaker!), read books that inspire you, find a
mentor that’s already walked the path ahead of you, join
an association of like minded people who are doing
similar stuff, get a coach, (me) and very important, tune
out to those people in your life who do not encourage
and support you (they’d rather you remain stuck to
justify where they are!).
That is exactly what we are here at Every Month a Million
Ultimately you really can’t go wrong by “giving it a go”.
Those who you regard as the greatest of people have but
remember that nothing great would have ever been
achieved if it had first required a guarantee of
success.
YOUR WORLD IS AS BIG (OR AS SMALL) AS
YOU MAKE IT!
Imagine your life fifty or so years from now and how you
might feel looking back on how you lived those years –
who you were as a person and what you did (or didn’t
do!). What would bring you the greatest sense of
fulfillment and joy? So invest in yourself some time to
think about what it is that you would love to do, small or
big, how you would feel to have at least given it a go!
Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid of standing still.
start thinking about how you could move toward them,
you get stuck? If so then you are not alone. It’s so easy
to get bogged down with the many reasons why it just
isn’t a realistic aspiration or goal; why ‘now’ is not the
best time and why it’s much easier to just do nothing.
I doubt there is a person on this planet who hasn’t
dreamt about doing something which seemed, at the
time, so much bigger than them and for which they
could rattle off many reason’s “why not”. The difference
between those who go on to make their dreams a reality
is not that they are just very lucky, that they are born
with a silver spoon in their mouth or with an immunity
to fear. Nope. The difference is that the doer’s
move forward despite their fears and objections.
Unfortunately you can’t make fear go away by
wishing it away. The only way to get rid of the
fear of doing something is to go out and do it.
What holds us back in life most often is our own
limiting beliefs. Our imagination has a field day,
fueled by self-doubt, of all the dreadful things that might
happen if we fail to achieve our goals and how
humiliating it would be but how often have you seen
someone ridiculed and shamed for doing their best?
More likely you admire their tenacity and courage for
giving it a go.
Of course we can always choose to stay inside our
comfort zone because in there, we don’t have limiting
beliefs about failing or looking stupid or
risking our social status. Comfort zones are… surprise,
surprise… comfortable!
“What’s so wrong with comfortable?” I hear you mutter.
Well as comfortable as you might like to be, we humans
are born to grow, develop and learn. As kids we were
constantly trying things we hadn’t tried before and in the
process we learned more about ourselves, our abilities
and the world. We developed new skills we didn’t think
we could (when my son was five years old he was
adamant he would “never ever ever“ master the art of
tying his shoe laces!) and as we did, we grew more
capable and confident.
I’ve met very few people who relish failure and yet it is
from making mistakes and failing that we learn. Think
back to a time when you failed and ask yourself what
you gained from the experience and if you think you
didn’t gain anything, think again! We learn far more
from our failures than from our successes. The lessons
our failures teach us equip us to deal with the challenges
of the future; they strengthen our muscles for life. The
hurdles you come to in your life are for jumping and your
doubts about your own limitations are your biggest
hurdle of all!
“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible
objections must first be removed” Samuel Johnson
My point is that when we don’t continually seek to grow
in new ways and develop ourselves we are, in essence,
selling ourselves short. We stagnate – those ‘life muscles’
wither - and so depriving ourselves and the world of our
full potential.
So, what is it that might inspire you to embrace a sense
of adventure in your life? Are you up for even just taking
another look at those aspirations you have floating
around in your head or perhaps those really big dreams
hidden deep under your bed?
Of course just dreaming big doesn’t change anything. For
things to change action is required and that’s where we
so often get stuck. Those who are most successful at
living their dreams master the art of shifting their
sights from the big canvas to the immediate
actions they need to take to get there. They don’t
wait for opportunity to knock, the go and find it. They
don’t just dream - they ‘do!’
So now you may be thinking, “Okay, so I have this idea
about something I’ve always wanted to do (or be) but it
does seem like a bloody big leap from where I am now.
Where do I begin? How do I begin?”
Following is a summary of the steps you should take
when working on clarifying and then moving
forward to accomplish your goals and dreams.
1. Write It Down & Share It!
“Everything that is was once imagined” Ted Joans
Firstly I suggest that you get out a piece of paper and just
write down what it is that has captured your imagination.
As Stephen Covey, author of the best-selling “7 Habits of
Highly Effective People” said, “Begin with the end in mind”.
Not everyone dreams of flying to the moon or ending
apartheid. What inspires and excites you? Perhaps you
dream of changing career, running a little B&B in the
country somewhere, running a marathon or maybe just
learning the guitar. Whatever it is, I’ll bet it’s something
you would be good at if you focused your energy on it.
So write it down in as much detail as you can. Imagine
what it would feel like to accomplish this goal or live
this dream – what would that be like for you? And then,
scary as it can be, share it with someone. The very act
of sharing it gives it more substance, deepens your
commitment to it and helps to bring it more into
reality in your mind’s eye.
2. Identify The First Few Steps
Next start writing an action plan for what steps need to
be taken to start you moving in the direction of its
creation. What needs to be done first? What can you
read? Who can you email, speak or write to? Perhaps
you need to do some ‘homework’ to find out what those
steps will be. Don’t wait for the time to be free - set the
time aside and do it.
3. Take A Step Forward – However Small!
As Martin Luther King Jr. suggested, “Take the first step
in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just
take the first step”. The very process of taking some
action, however small, creates a forward momentum.
Great things don’t happen from wishful thinking but
from action – so get moving!
4. Get A Support System Around You
As you step closer the mountain it can look even more
overwhelming than it did before, but don’t let all those
reasons “why not” stop you. I highly recommend that
you get a support structure around you that will help you
move forward when you get stuck.
And as you can see you have to look no more. We here at
Every Month a Million with our Daily Dose of Good
are your support structure.
Ask friends for their support (particularly during those
times you have setbacks – which you will – and those
voices of doom and gloom in your head get on the
loudspeaker!), read books that inspire you, find a
mentor that’s already walked the path ahead of you, join
an association of like minded people who are doing
similar stuff, get a coach, (me) and very important, tune
out to those people in your life who do not encourage
and support you (they’d rather you remain stuck to
justify where they are!).
That is exactly what we are here at Every Month a Million
Ultimately you really can’t go wrong by “giving it a go”.
Those who you regard as the greatest of people have but
remember that nothing great would have ever been
achieved if it had first required a guarantee of
success.
YOUR WORLD IS AS BIG (OR AS SMALL) AS
YOU MAKE IT!
Imagine your life fifty or so years from now and how you
might feel looking back on how you lived those years –
who you were as a person and what you did (or didn’t
do!). What would bring you the greatest sense of
fulfillment and joy? So invest in yourself some time to
think about what it is that you would love to do, small or
big, how you would feel to have at least given it a go!
Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid of standing still.
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