Personal Goals Achievement

Are you feeling motivated to set some strong goals for this year? Write down those New Year’s resolutions and get going, right? Most people write down lofty resolutions that they think they should want and rarely stick to them, losing motivation and focus within three weeks of their “good intentions.”

This is a brand new year of limitless possibilities. Do you want to:

Increase your income?
Write a book?
Attract a relationship?
Start a new business?
Become a professional speaker?
Have more personal time?
Take a really great vacation?

I’ve got a gut feeling it’s going to be a GREAT year, a BIG SUCCESS year. So, forget writing down resolutions. They don’t work. In fact, the whole idea doesn’t really inspire action. So, let’s change that.

Start thinking about 3-5 things you want, really want for yourself this year. Not what you should want, or what you think would please others. Dream a little. Think big. What are you passionate about? Entertain several ideas that make you smile, excite you, make you giggle, make you feel really good inside, no holds barred. Remove all mental barriers to holding these ideas clearly in your mind.

Now, put your attention fully on one of the things you want for yourself this year. Visualize and see yourself already there, living it! Creative visialization is a powerful tool of attraction.Our minds cannot tell the difference between something real and something intensely imagined. Hold that picture in your mind. (Do this daily!)

Does this picture excite you – make you want to have it?

How would your life change if you got (achieved) this one thing you really want?

What would you have in your life that you don’t have now?

Now, the next step is very important. You must decide to go for it. Choose to have what you really want NOW, not someday or tomorrow. NOW. Say YES to yourself instead of saying no. Making the decision fuels your intent to take action.

3 Tips to Get on Track

1. On paper, clearly describe the 3-5 things you really want. I suggest using statements beginning with the phrase ” I intend to” vs. I want, I hope for, I wish to, I’d like, I desire etc. (too wishy-washy). Taking a stand with strong definitive statements reflects your commitment to succeed. (This first step is important in creating your road map to achieving your goals. If you don’t define the results you want, how do you know where you’re going?). Feel like being creative? Make a collage or dream board for a visual aid in keeping your focus.

2. Moving forward, break down your action steps into smaller steps over a shorter time period like 30 days. For example: your goal is to increase your income, your first step may be to explore options to generate more money. Another step may be to look at your skills and talents for further ideas. A third step may be choosing something you have always wanted to do, something that you love that has the potential for additional income. Maybe it’s a total change of career. The first month may be devoted to doing research and personal exploration.

3. Identify potential obstacles and struggles that could prevent you from reaching your goals. Develop strategies to keep yourself motivated and focused such as reading and listening to positive materials, surrounding yourself with encouraging, uplifting people, joining a mastermind group. HIRE A COACH! Note: let go of using the “money excuse” that you can’t afford to get what you want. Invest in your success. It costs money to make money. How much do you think NO is costing you to stay where you are?

5 Tips to Stay on Track

1. Resolve unfinished business. Either clear the past ( make apolgies, speak your mind, forgive someone or yourself) and let it go.

2. Stay strong if you’re feeling FEAR. Bring your attention back to the present. Fear creates uncertainty, worrisome and anxiety producing thoughts. (“What if” thinking, Am I going to be okay?) Fear looks at the future and worse case scenarios. Focus on past successes for confidence.

3. Eliminate negativity. Notice the chatter in your head. How do your emotions speak to you inside? What you think affects how you view a situation. Ever heard the phrase self-fulfilling prophecy? Your viewpoint affects your decisions and actions; therefore your attitude directly affects the outcome. Take a look at the people you associate with. Are they uplifting or do they bring you down? Be selective about who you’re with, being around consistently negative or fearful people is draining and disheartening.

4. Keep up your self-care. Taking good care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually is a key factor in staying strong and focused under pressure.

5. Celebrate along the way. Taking the time to recognize measurable successes motivates continual commitment to your goals.

“The big challenge is to become all that you have the possibility of becoming. You cannot believe what it does to the human spirit to maximize your human potential and stretch yourself to the limit.” Jim Rohn

1. Determine precisely what your goals are. What have you always hoped you could do, but have never had the time or money? What would you do if money and time were plentiful? What do you want to accomplish in the next five years? What do you wish you had done in the last five years? What do you feel God wants for your life that perhaps you aren’t doing?

2. Ask yourself why you really want the things you determined in step 1). Is it to enhance your relationship with your family or with your Creator? To grow closer to those most important to you? Perhaps if it is financial, is it to better provide for those around you and leave more time for charity and ministry? Without understanding why we want the things we do, it is often difficult to really become motivated to get the things we want.

3. Write out a list of things that would need to change in your life in order for your goals to come true. Sometimes the only reason we don’t accomplish our goals is that we don’t have a written plan of what needs to be done. Without having the ability to review the goals regularly, we tend to lose our focus. Before we know it, a month or two has gone by, there is no progress, and we are frustrated that we are no closer to the realization of our goals.

4. Break each goal down into a series of minigoals-smaller accomplishments that, when all are completed, would result in the achievement of your primary goal. When you break your goals into smaller segments, the goals do not appear to be as formidable—just take things one minigoal at a time, and after awhile your primary goal will be accomplished.

5. Create a time frame for achieving each of your goals. Often we don’t achieve simply because we don’t create a time constraint. Give yourself a deadline and you will get more done. Remember when you were in college and you finished the semester-long paper the night before it was due-if not the very morning it was due? As much as we don’t like to admit it, we often need deadlines to help us achieve our goals.

6. Ask a trusted friend to hold you accountable in each area where you want to improve, grow, or achieve. This should preferably not be your husband or wife, but rather a same-sexed friend from whom you can easily take criticism and who will feel comfortably pushing you a little when you aren’t following through on your goals. When we involve others, we tend to feel a greater sense of urgency.

7. Celebrate each time you achieve one of your goals or minigoals. We humans tend to like celebration, and it can help motivate you to achieve the next goal on your list.

Bonus:

8. Once you have completed your goals and celebrated, look back over the process and ask yourself what you could have done to achieve your goal more smoothly or quickly. This is one of the most critical steps in the long-term realization of goals, because it can help us become more efficient at achieving our goals in the future.

I know your thinking…Okay John, 5+5 does not equal 5 so let me please explain. Let’s start with a question. How many times have you heard that you need to have a “long term” goal and be focused for the entire length of that “long term”? In this article, I am going to focus on a 5 year goal and explain how you will know if you are truly on track to achieve your 5 year goal in life.
In the equation, the answer 5 is your five-year goal and the 5+5 is the underlying secret to attaining that goal.

As I speak with numerous people on a daily basis, I hear their frustration about their goals that they’ve set and the lack of progress that they have made. As I say, “A mountain is built one pebble at a time and climbed one step at a time.”

The first “5″ in the equation represents the 5 people that you call our friends, associates, etc. I suggest that you make a list of the 5 people that you associate with on a regular basis, and then take a good look at it to see if they either have goals similar to yours or are progressing towards the achievement of a goal similar to your 5-year vision. A major key to unlock the secret to your future is to be 110% conscious of the fact that you will ultimately become who you associate with. For example, if you have dreams of becoming healthy and wealthy and your associates are overweight smokers that complain about working one-minute overtime, then I can predict the odds of you being healthy and wealthy is slim to none. Millions of people never attain their dreams, because their “friends” serve as “cement shoes” as they walk towards their goals in life. As I set my goals, I surround myself with people who are on the same path in life that I am on. If you truly internalize this same mindset, then you can achieve your goals in life.

The second “5″ in the equation is to take a personal inventory of the last 5 books that you have read or cd’s that you have listened to. Just for fun, the next time one of your friends complains about something…ask them what were the last 5 books that they have read or cd’s they have listened to. You will get one of two answers: I do not remember or I do not have the time to read. Your last 5 books that you read will determine where your focus or direction is in life. The average person reads 1 book a year after high school, which is the #1 reason why 95% of people are “dead broke at age 65″.

Even the greatest computer in the world needs to be programmed in order to perform its functions. We are all designed for greatness, but we need to be conscious of our associations and what we are reading or listening to on a daily basis will decide the level of greatness that we all reach. Decide today to focus on your 5 year goal and realize that your 5 friends and the 5 books/cd’s that you listen to will determine if you hit your Why or not. Success is simple, but not easy because it takes the ability to grow, stretch, search and learn to enjoy everyday as you progress towards your 5-year Dream.

I can actually predict your results?

5 + 5 = Your Dream

Changing Lives one heart at a Time,

John Di Lemme

http://www.FindYourWhy.com

Goal setting activities are crucial when you are deciding what you want your life to become many years from now. Two of the benefits you will receive as a result of defining and setting major goals in life are peace of mind and focus.

Here are some of the goal setting activities that are of importance.

1. Use your mind and talents fully. Maximize what has been given you. If you are aware that you are capable of things that other people are not, make it work to your advantage.

2. Have more purpose and direction in life. Believe it or not, there are many people who only discover what they want in life in later years. Think of all the time that was wasted. It is important to have specific goals early on in life to be able to have more time to work on them and bring them into reality.

3. Make better decisions. Do not be hasty in whatever endeavors you encounter in life. Not all things have to be decided on instantly. Think fully before making any decision that you might regret later on.

4. Be more organized and effective. Take note that not all people who are always rushing things and on the go are the most effective people. There are other considerations in life that have to be neatly planned to have an effective result. Sit down for a moment and make a schedule or plan.

5. Do more for yourself and others. Too much and too less of giving and taking is not always good. There are times when we have to balance these factors. Know which one needs your attention more, yourself or others? Although it is not always a problem, you have to have equal time set for both.

6. Have greater confidence and self-worth. One of the greatest threats that can pull you down is lack of self-confidence and self-worth. If you do not have that belief in yourself, why should others put their faith in you? Other people that are lacking in talent and resources can get through by oozing self-confidence to help them pursue their goals.

7. Feel more fulfilled. Be happy with the simple things that you have attained in a day. Do not set aside small victories as something that are worthless. All achievements should make you feel proud. Pat yourself on the back once in awhile when achieving these seemingly insignificant victories.

8. Be more enthusiastic and motivated. Face each day as a day different from the last. Try to make each day a work of art, a masterpiece.

9. Accomplish uncommon projects. Nothing can compare with the feeling when you have done something that few others have. Try to be successful in things that other people are shying away from.

10. Always want more. Do not be satisfied with what you have. Try to get more out of life.

Once you have completed one goal, be sure to replace it with something else. Goal setting achievements are a life-long process. You have all the time in the world to do what you want. This way you will always reap the benefits of what your goal settings has provided.

If you have some resolutions for the New Year or if you set some goals for yourself or your business for the next year, here are some ways to keep yourself on track and focused.

1. Less is more. Have 3 or 4 resolutions at the most. Any more than this will make them hard to focus on. If the resolutions you have can be achieved in less than a year, create others once you have accomplished these.

2. Visualize success. Know what accomplishing your resolution(s) will do for you. Day dream about it. How does it look and feel? Reaching your dream only happens if you are motivated enough to stick with it. If you don’t keep thinking about how much you want it and how good you will feel once you either accomplish it or make it a habit (or get rid of a habit!), you will lose interest.

3. Write them down. Here is another way to stay focused on your resolutions. There is something more permanent about the written page than just having it in your head. Sometimes just the act of writing it down is enough to keep you on track and focused.

4. Tell someone. Have a friend, a mentor, or a coach hold you accountable. Once you tell someone else it is just downright embarrassing to admit you didn’t stick with it. Sometimes we know that is the only way we’ll get it done. Some people are motivated completely by the positive aspect of getting it done and others need the fear of the consequences of not accomplishing it. Both can help you.

5. Post them. Put a copy of your resolution(s) where you see it/them frequently. Just seeing the list will continually remind you of what you are trying to do. Where can you put the list so you see it continually? How about the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator door?!

6. Read them. Say them out loud at least once a day. Make a little ritual of this. Do it at the same time every day. This would be a good time to visualize your success too (2). The more you think about your resolutions the more in focus they become.

7. Take action. Ask yourself at the beginning of the day what one action can you take today to keep you making progress on your resolution(s)? Moving forward one step at a time is what you are after.

8. Hire an expert. An expert can help you to overcome blocks, improve the way you are approaching the tasks or just boost your spirits. Depending on your resolution an expert might be a coach, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, or an organizer.

9. Use affirmations. Create a positive statement that you can use when the voice in your head tells you that you are not going to achieve whatever you are striving for. When you become aware that the voice is telling you can’t do it, substitute your affirmation.

10. Reward yourself. Give yourself something special when you cross a milestone or survive a particularly difficult period in your journey to achieving your resolution. Celebrate successes along the way and feel good about what you have done.