Setting Your Goals By Brian Tracy

Setting Your Goals
By Brian Tracy

Setting Goals
In numerous conversations with top salespeople over the years, we've found that they all have one thing in common. They have taken the time to sit down and create a clear blueprint for themselves and their future lives. Even if they started the process of goal setting and personal strategic planning with a little skepticism, they eventually become true believers.

Becoming a True Believer
Salespeople are amazed by the incredible power of goal setting and strategic planning. Believers often accomplish far more than they ever believed possible in selling and they ascribe their success to the deliberate process of thinking through every aspect of their work and their lives, developing a detailed, written road map, and continually working towards where they want to go.

The Definition of Happiness
Happiness has been defined as "The progressive achievement of a worthy ideal, or goal." When you work progressively, step-by-step toward something that is important, you generate a continuous feeling of success and achievement. You feel more positive and motivated. You feel more in control of your life, happier, and more fulfilled. Feeling like a winner, you will soon develop the psychological momentum that enables you to overcome obstacles and plough through adversity as you move toward achieving the goals that are most important to you.

Determine Your Values
Personal strategic planning begins with determining what you "believe in" and "stand for"-your values. Your values lie at the very core of everything you are as a human being. Your values are the unifying principles and core beliefs of your personality and your character. The virtues and qualities that you believe in are what constitute your person today.

Your values, virtues, and inner beliefs are the axle by which the wheel of your life turns. All improvements in your life begin with a clear definition of your personal values and then committing yourself to abide by them.

Fuzzy or Clear?
Successful people are successful because their values are very clear. Unsuccessful people are unsuccessful because their values are fuzzy. Complete failures have no real values at all.

Build Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem
Value clarification is the first step to improving your life and establishing your goals. It builds your self-confidence and self-esteem and defines your personal character. When you take the time to think through your fundamental values and then commit yourself to living your life consistent with them, you feel a surge of mental strength and well-being. You feel stronger, more capable, closely centered, and more competent. You will accomplish the goals you set for yourself.

Action Steps

1. Decide for yourself what makes you truly happy and then organize your life around it.
2. Determine your true values, what do you "believe in" and "stand for"?
3. Commit yourself to living your life consistent with your values.
4. Write down your goals and then make plans to achieve them.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit Brian's web site and take advantage of his FREE audio program offer.

Keeping Your Goals Fresh

Keep Your Goals Fresh In Your Mind
By Josh Hinds

Keep Your Goals Fresh In Your Mind - Most of us have goals, the question is how many of us actually follow-up and work those goals. What I mean is going a step further then just taking the time to write them down. With that said the question is how do we effectively work our goals list...

Here are a few techniques that work for me, hopefully you can adapt these to work for you. Add daily, weekly and monthly tasks to your overall goals. Make these tasks achievable yet enough to stretch you at the same time. The objective of achieving our goals is as much as what it makes of us to reach them, as it is what we actually get in attaining them. The main idea is that with each accomplished task, it's taking you closer to your overall dream.

Equally as important is to take evaluation of your progress along the way. Review your goals at least once a week, or at the very least once a month! It is the old out of mind, out of sight saying. Don't fall victim to it. Keep your goals fresh in your mind. If you can review your goals each day you're that much better off. It really is about keeping our objectives as fresh in our minds as possible.

-- To your success, Josh Hinds

So Many Dreams Are Waiting To Be Realized

So Many Dreams Are Waiting To Be Realized
By Josh Hinds

So many dreams are waiting to be realized - Maybe it's a business you've wanted to start, perhaps it's something as simple as growing a home garden, even still maybe it's a trip to another country you've always dreamed of visiting. Whatever it is you owe it to yourself to do what you have to make it a reality!

I'll readily admit that it's not always going to be an easy row to hoe. Anything worth doing in life rarely is. Pursuing your dream might require you doing without a few things (especially if the goal requires money to do it). It might require taking time away from other things. However, rest assured that when you commit to your goal and achieve it, the doing without you had to go through is well worth it.

What kind of a commentary would this be if I simply said go for your dreams and left it at that without even offering a tip to achieve the dream? Not a very good one for sure. So here's what I do when I want to see a goal manifest itself in my life. First I write down what I want. I don't just write it down and shuffle it away though.

I post the goal clearly on the night stand that sits right next to my bed. I make a copy of it and stick it on my computer monitor (since I am always at the computer... lol). I find that keeping my 'dream' in plain site allows me to be better focused.

Keeping what we want fresh in our minds allows us to move quickly towards achieving it. Possibly even more importantly I make a clear mental picture that I can carry around with me. I don't simply say, "I want to go to the beach". That approach doesn't paint the kind of picture that will move us towards our goal. Instead I would say, "I will go to the beach at Gulf Shores, AL on the week of (insert date).

I will be sure to visit my grand parents that live there. I'll enjoy some good seafood at such and such a restaurant". Do you see the difference here? It's all in the way we visualize things. If we want to achieve our goals we simply have to be able to fully see ourselves accomplishing them.

-- To your success, Josh Hinds

The Mysterious Problem of Goals

The Mysterious Problem of Goals
By Matt Clarkson, Author of "Secrets of Meditation, Health and Manifestation"

Why is it that some people successfully achieve their goals and New Year's resolutions while others don't?

Why is it that sometimes we get what we want and other times we don't?

Since Tony Robbins, motivational guru after motivational guru has told us the same story:

1. Consciously decide what you want.
2. Write down your goals.
3. Take (massive) action in the direction of your goals.
4. Notice whether or not it's working and change your approach accordingly.

But there's something missing from that picture ...

Here's the problem:

Nearly everybody in the field of self-help assumes the conscious mind is in control of everything that happens in our lives.

Not so.

The conscious mind is only the tip of the iceberg. It believes it's always right. It likes to think it's in control, but it isn't.

It's just like something Sopan Greene said in this month's interview at SpiritualGrowthMonthly.com. I'm not quoting him exactly but he said something like:

'If the personality is like a 5-year-old child, the Higher Self is the wise adult.'

It's like visiting your friend who, let's say, happens to be a great financial advisor. He might give the very best financial advice. But would you make the same person responsible for planning your relationships, your kids'' education, and your career?

Of course not!

But that's exactly what we do when assume that our conscious mind is in charge of every part of our lives.

This helps to explain the mystery that's haunted self-help since the beginning ...

Why is it that 'goal setting' often **does not** work?

Have you ever had the experience of setting a goal, or thinking you wanted something and no matter how hard you tried, you never actualized it?

I know I have.

But maybe it wasn't the setback it appeared to be. I know if I'd 'achieved' half the goals I set, I'd probably be in a total mess right now! And that leads me to the secret no one else talks about ...

** There's often a big difference between what we think we want and what would deeply fulfil us. **

If your goal is not right for you at the deepest levels, then something inside you will not allow it to happen. For example ...

Maybe you'll find yourself losing interest in your goal. Maybe you'll start suffering from 'procrastination.' Maybe it will feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall.

But the fact remains, unless you seek the assistance of your Higher Self -- the part of you that knows much more than you do consciously -- you may *never know* why things aren't working.
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Matt Clarkson has created a free e-course teaching simple meditation exercises for busy people. You'll get audio meditations, tips and inspirational messages to help you calm the mind, improve health and find your path for 2005 and beyond. If your health and happiness are important, visit here now.

Goal Setting: 5 Simple Steps

Goal Setting: 5 Simple Steps
By Jeff Herring

One of the things that frustrated me while in school was that most of the psychology books specialized in complicating things. It's the same with many self-help books as well. I always wondered why relationships, change and meeting goals couldn't be made much more simple.

To that end, here are five simple steps to making goals attainable:

Write it down

We all carry around in our heads great ideas, intentions and goals. The problem is that is where they often remain - floating around in our heads, taking up space and never being acted upon, much less realized. If you really do want something to happen, write it down. In fact, the simple yet powerful act of writing down your goals automatically increases the chances of meeting them. This is because even the weakest ink is so much more powerful than the strongest memory.

Another advantage to writing down your goals is that you now have them in front of you. Reading your goals on a regular basis can motivate you and keep you on course each day. We all have full days with lots of distractions. Having your goals right in front of you allows you to focus on the activities that push you toward your goals and tune out the distractions.

Break it down

This is the first place people often get stuck. You've set some attractive goals. Then you look at how much has to be done and how distant the goal seems to be, and you stop there. Break down your goals before you break down.

Many of the things we do on a regular basis are broken down into smaller chunks. A week has seven days, a day has 24 hours, an hour has 60 minutes and so on. Even a pizza is cut into slices and then eaten a bite at a time. Take your goals and break them down into small, manageable pieces that can be handled one at a time, a day at a time, a week at a time, and so on.

Take small steps

Here's the second spot where we tend to get stuck. Now that you have broken down your goals into manageable pieces, begin to take one small step at a time. As you begin to take and complete small steps, both your confidence and motivation will grow. Most people don't begin. You begin.

Take the next step

This is the third spot where people tend to get off course. You get off to a good start and then fail to follow through. Ask yourself "now that I have accomplished this step, what's the next step I need to take?" Then either take that step right away, or at least get started on it.

This builds your momentum and can carry you through to the completion of your goals.

Take one more step

This is sometimes called "going the extra mile," and it's the major difference between winners and champions. Winners take all of the steps listed above. Champions take an extra step, run one more block, lift one more weight, read one more page. When you don't believe you can take one more step and then do, that's when you become a champion.

So, here is what I'd like to invite you to do:

Choose a goal you would like to accomplish, write it down, break it down, begin to take small steps, take the next steps and then take the extra steps.

Then enjoy what you have accomplished.

For more tips and tools for achieving your goals visit Tools for Successful Living.

The 101 Goal Rush Challenge...

Create your phenomenal life NOW by taking my 101 Goal Rush Challenge!
By Mark Victor Hansen

I want to start you on a wonderful path of making your dreams reality. Before we set off on this path together, let me make one thing very clear": The word "goals" can be intimidating - it can feel so overbearing that it keeps people from beginning the process.

This is why I tell my audiences to pretend they are a kid again when they are thinking about their goals. What kid do you know that didn't have a bazillion things they wanted or wanted to do?

Why 101 goals?
Many people will tell you to write down your goals, but where I am different is I tell people to write down too many goals. Here's why:

1. Goals have different gestation periods. Some are accomplished quickly, some take many years.

2. When we reach a goal, it loses power and importance for us. We need plenty more to keep our conscious and subconscious mind at work!

3. The rule of the universe is abundance. Since you can have almost everything you really want, why settle for less?

Do your goals have to be accomplished tomorrow? Next week? This year? Of course not!

Your goals can be added to, subtracted from and achieved as you move through life.

Here is a checklist to ensure you're using a successful framework to set your 101 goals.

Your most important goals must be YOURS. Not your spouse's. Not your child's. Not your employer's. Yours. When you let other people determine your definition of success, your sabotaging your own future.

Your goals must MEAN something to you. Your reasons for charting a new course of action gives you the drive and energy to get up every morning.

Your goals must be SPECIFIC and MEASURABLE. Vague generalizations and wishy-washy statements aren't good enough. Be very specific! If you want to learn to swim make sure you write, "I am taking swimming lessons at my local community center." If you write, "I want to learn to swim," you may find yourself sinking in a boat on a lake and learning the hard way!

Your goals must be FLEXIBLE. A flexible plan keeps you from feeling suffocated and allows you to take advantage of genuine opportunities that walk in your future door.

Your goals must be CHALLENGING and EXCITING. Force yourself to jump out of your comfort zone to acquire that much needed energy and edge.

Your goals must be in ALIGNMENT with your values. Pay attention to your intuition, your gut. When you set a goal that contradicts your values, something inside will twinge.

Your goals must be WELL-BALANCED. Make sure you include areas that allow time to relax, have fun and enjoy.

Your goals must be REALISTIC. Be expansive but don't be ridiculous. If you're four feet tall, you'll probably never play in the NBA Your goals must include CONTRIBUTION. Unfortunately, many people get so wrapped up in perusing their goals that they don't have time in their lives to give something back to society. Build this into your goals program.

Your goals need to be SUPPORTED. Either selectivity share a few of your dreams with a number of people, or share all of them with a select few. In either case, you're creating a web of support and accountability for yourself.

ACTION STEP:

Go for the Gusto - 101 Goals!

You're now going to embark on the greatest exercise you've ever done. You're going to make your list of 101 goals. Take out your Future Diary, journal or workbook.

If your working in a journal or sheet of paper, number the lines 1-101. Turn on some relaxing music. Sit back and relax. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now, open your mind to ALL the possibilities. Limitations and restrictions have NO place in your life anymore. They don't exist.

As you begin to visualize EVERYTHING you want, write your goals down. I want you to start each goal with "I am" or "I will."

Ask yourself questions like:

What do I want to do?
What do I want to have?
Where do I want to go?
Where do I want to live? How many homes do I want to have?
What contributions do I want to make?
What do I want to learn? From whom? Where?
Who do I want to spend my time with?
How much do I want to earn, save and invest?
What's my idea net worth?
What will I do for fun and optimum health?

I further challenge you to write them in 20 minutes. Think like a kid... ask, ask, ask, ask! It you need more time, take it... keep going! You may want to be the president of your own company or get a 4-year free-ride scholarship to the university of your choice. But you may also want to learn to swim or write a book.

As you write your goals, don't go back and read them. If you do so, you'll probably find that you begin judging every goal - and yourself - for wanting them. Just write... then say to yourself: "This is so. I'm predicting and announcing it to myself."

Do it NOW! Change your LIFE!

Mark Victor Hansen
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Written by Mark Victor Hansen - Co-Author of the Chicken Soup For The Soul series of books. For many years Mark Victor Hansen has focused solely on helping people in all walks of life reshape their personal vision of what's possible for themselves. Visit www.MarkVictorHansen.com for his speaking schedule and current projects. Mark is also the co-author of "The One Minute Millionaire" book.

Goals Get You Going...

Goals Get You Going
By Les Brown

Goals give you a purpose for taking life on. People who live without goals have no purpose and it is obvious even in their body language. They are on permanent idle, they slouch, they list from side to side. Their conversations dawdle. They telephone you: "Hey, I'm just calling. I wasn't doing anything, so I thought I'd call you." Well, don't call ME. I'VE got things to do.

Many people just muddle through life. They don't read informational material, they don't even pay attention when they WATCH television. If you ask them what they are watching, they mumblemouth, "Nothin', I'm just lookin'."

What are your goals for your career? For your relationships? For your spiritual life? Develop a schedule for the next month, the next six months, the next year, five years and ten years. Write it all out.

Let's take one of the most common goals: You want to make more money. If that is your goal, then take some practical steps toward realizing it.

First, determine specifically how much money you want to make. Then, double that amount and make THAT your goal. Even if you don't reach the higher amount, you will probably still find yourself making more than your original goal.

Second, decide the amount of energy you are willing to expend to reach your goal. How many hours are you willing to work a day? How many jobs are you willing to hold down? What sort of work are you willing to do? A third step in this process is to develop a practical plan of action and get started immediately.

Chart out where you want to be in relation to your goal in the next month, six months, one year, five years and ten years. Get started today. Go apply for that second job NOW! Go enroll in that career training program NOW! Ask for that raise NOW!

And finally, make sure that you have all of this written down so that you can review it every morning and every night and envision yourself taking these steps, DOING THEM and SUCCEEDING!
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by Les Brown - As a renowned professional speaker, author and television personality, Les Brown has risen to national prominence by delivering a high energy message which tells people how to shake off mediocrity and live up to their greatness. Visit his web site at LesBrown.com.

Commitment, Persistence, Victory! By Jeff Keller

Commitment, Persistence, Victory!
By Jeff Keller

I used to think that I knew what commitment and persistence meant. Trying hard. Making a lot of attempts. However, I didn't grasp the true meaning of these concepts until I read a small book entitled, The Ultimate Secret To Getting Absolutely Everything You Want, by Mike Hernacki.

Commitment is the essence of The Ultimate Secret. According to the author, the key to getting what you want is the "willingness to do whatever it takes" to accomplish your objective. Now, before your mind jumps to conclusions, let me add that in saying "whatever it takes," I exclude all actions which are illegal, unethical or which harm other people.

So, exactly what do I mean by this "willingness?" Let me explain further. It's a mental attitude which says: if the process to reach my goal takes five steps, I'll do those five steps; if it requires 1,005 steps, I'll do those 1,005 steps. Of course, at the outset of any endeavor, you usually won't know exactly how many steps will be required to reach your goal. This doesn't matter.

To succeed, all that's necessary is that you make a commitment to do whatever it takes -- regardless of the number of steps involved.

Where does persistence fit in? Persistent action follows commitment -- that is, you first must be committed to something before you will persist to achieve it. Once you have made a commitment to achieve your goal, then you will follow through with relentless determination and action until you attain the desired result.

The "Magic" of Commitment

When you make a commitment and are willing to do whatever it takes, you begin to attract the people and circumstances necessary to accomplish your goal. For instance, once you devote yourself to becoming, say, a best-selling author, you might suddenly "bump into" a literary agent or "discover" a television program offering advice on this very topic. It's not as if these resources never existed before, it's just that your mind never focused on finding them.

Once you commit yourself to something, you create a mental picture of what it would be like to achieve it. Then, your mind immediately goes to work, like a magnet, attracting events and circumstances that will help bring your picture into reality. This is not an overnight process, however; you must be active and seize the opportunities as they appear.

The magic that flows from commitment has never been more eloquently or more accurately described than in the following words by W. N. Murray: "Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.... The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would otherwise never have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way."

Another miraculous feature of the power of commitment is that you don't need to know up front how to achieve your goal. Having a plan will greatly assist you, but it is not essential that every step be mapped out in advance. In fact, when you have the willingness to do whatever it takes, the right steps are often suddenly revealed to you.

A Word of Caution

Before you get too excited about waltzing easily toward your goals, I caution you. Even with a commitment, everything will not be rosy on your path. Life will test you to see how serious you are about achieving your objective. Obstacles will arise. You'll make mistakes, and suffer disappointments and setbacks, some of which may be quite severe and even tempt you to abandon your goal. That's when it becomes important to follow the sage wisdom of Winston Churchill, who said: "Never, never, never give up." Or the advice provided by Madonna in one of her hit songs: "You get up again ... over and over!" If you have made a commitment to accomplish a goal, you can overcome temporary defeats ... and triumph.

Now, let's assume you have a goal in mind. The next question to ask yourself is: Am I willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal? If your answer is: I'll do just about anything, except that I won't do _____, you are not willing to do whatever it takes. And the likelihood is that you will be derailed and not achieve your objective.

Take Action!

Now that you've learned about the power of commitment, it's time to apply the principle. So, go ahead. Select a goal that you have a burning desire to achieve. Make a commitment to do whatever it takes to achieve this goal. Start moving forward and get ready to notice and take advantage of all opportunities that come your way. Then follow through with persistent action and get ready to succeed!

-- Jeff Keller
(c) Attitude is Everything, Inc.
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Jeff Keller is a motivational speaker and author of the best-selling book, Attitude is Everything. He's also released a fabulous audio program called "Success from Soup to Nuts". For more information about his motivational presentations and resources, go to www.AttitudeIsEverything.com

Chart Your Course... It Makes All The Difference

Chart Your Course... It Makes All The Difference
By Josh Hinds

Chart your course - Allow me to pose the following question to you. What do you think would happen if a ship set out to sea on a long voyage yet didn't have the proper navigation system in place?

Several things might happen actually...

The ship might float aimlessly until the captain decided to give up and come back home. Another thing that might occur is that given enough time it may actually stumble upon its destination.

In each of the examples the end result could have been much different had the crew simply took the time to properly chart their course prior to setting out to sea.

Proper planning does take time, but the extra effort can make a huge difference with regards to our outcome.

The same rule applies when it comes to our own lives. Charting our course is basically the same thing as keeping a clear list of goals.

My friend, believe me when I tell you that the clearer an idea of where you want to go that you have in place, the better your chances will be of actually reaching your destination!

-- Here's to your success, Josh Hinds

(c) all rights reserved

Setting Means Getting By Tom Hopkins

Setting Means Getting
By Tom Hopkins

The average human being has the ability to achieve almost anything. Lack of basic capability is rarely the problem, but rather finding our what you want and being willing to sacrifice, change, and grow to satisfy the want.

In the sales training seminars I conduct throughout the country, I teach a 20-step system of goal setting to help people achieve and I firmly believe it can be applied to all walks of life.

Here it is:

1. If it's not in writing, it's not a goal. An unwritten want is a wish, a dream, a never-happen. If it's in writing, it's a commitment.

2. If it's not specific, it's not a goal. Broad desires and lofty aims have no effect. It must be concrete.

3. Goals must be believable. If you don't believe you can achieve a goal, you won't pay the price for it.

4. An effective goal is an exciting challenge. It must demand your best and a bit more or it isn't going to change your ways and elevate your lifestyle.

5. Goals must be adjusted to new information. Adjust them down if they become unbelievable or up if they're too easy.

6. Dynamic goals guide our choices. If you want it badly enough, you'll turn off the TV and get to it. Goals will show you the right way to go on most decisions.

7. Don't set short-term goals for more than 90 days. If you set a short-term goal that takes more than 90 days, you may lose interest.

8. Maintain a balance between long-term and short-term goals. Long-term goals tend to be hidden in a fog of the future, so have some short-term goals ... like clothes, cars, vacations - to keep your excitement up.

9. Include your loved ones in your goals. Involve them and they'll buck you up when you need encouragement.

10. Set goals in all areas of your life. Have other goals besides career objectives.

11. Your goals must harmonize. Whenever you detect a conflict, set priorities that will eliminate the conflict.

12. Review your goals regularly. Remember, long-term goals can only be achieved if they are the culmination of short-term goals.

13. Set vivid goals. Define not only what you want but by when you want it, and concentrate on it for a few moments every day.

14. Don't chisel your goals in granite. Sometimes you have to change goals to conform to your growing awareness of what's really important in your life.

15. Reach out into the future. The idea of goal setting is to plan your life rather than taking it as it comes. Begin by setting 20-year goals. Then 10-year, five-year, 30-month, 12-month, monthly, weekly, and finally goals for tomorrow and each day for the coming week.

16. Have a set of goals for every day, and review results each night.

17. Train yourself to crave your goals. Visualize yourself possessing what you've set your goals for.

18. Set activity goals, not production goals. Activity will lead to production by itself.

19. Understand luck, and make it work for you. Expect good things to happen, and they probably will.

20. Start now. Give goal-setting two hours of concentrated focus through today. Then set aside 10 minutes a day for the next 21 days to review and revise. After that, two minutes a day and one hour a week is all it will take to keep you on track.

Try this system if you want to achieve your goals and within 21 days you'll be well on your way to an immensely greater and richer future.
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Tom Hopkins International
7531 E. 2nd St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Tel: (480) 949-0786 or 800/528-0446 Fax: (480) 949-1590
http://www.tomhopkins.com - Visit our website for a great "Tip of the Day"

If it relates to Goal Setting...

If it relates to goal setting you'll find it here! Be sure to check back often... To your success, Josh Hinds :-)

P.S. If you've got any advice you'd like to share that relates to goals, goal setting, or achieving ones goals by all means use the comment section to do so.