Words Without Actions By Catherine Pulsifer

Not long ago, I was interviewing two people applying for the same position. When the first candidate was asked what her goals were, Becky replied that continuous learning was her goal. When asked what steps she had taken to accomplish her goal, Becky said that she was going to sign up for a course in the fall.

The next candidate had a similar goal, but, in this case, Rebecca had actually taken several courses to help her achieve what she wanted. This action showed not only did Rebecca have a goal; she had been implementing an action plan to achieve here desired results.

"Words without actions are the assassins of idealism." -- Herbert Hoover

In the end Rebecca had created stress for herself in using "words without action". When you find yourself in stressful situations, rather than using words to reduce your stress, take action to create less stress in your life.

A great way to take action is to set goals for your life. Setting goals and taking action can result in less stress in your life. It prepares you for other opportunities. It gives you a focus on the future rather than being stuck where you are.

So often people are stressed but do little to reduce their stress. Setting goals for yourself is the first step in changing your life. But more importantly, taking action towards achieving these goals will actually create less stress in your life, as you will see yourself progressing towards "a goal that you want".
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Catherine Pulsifer is one of the editors of Stress Relief by a Simple Life where you will find stories, thoughts, poems and inspirational quotes on simplicity, frugal living, free craft projects, stress and more.

Proven 10 Step Method To Achieve Your Dreams And Goals By Frank Gasiorowski

Goals and Challenges and the 10 Step Method.

Write Down your Dreams and Goals. Why would you write down your goals? People may say, "Well, I don't have to write down my goals, I know what they are."

The main reason to write down your Dreams and Goals is that the percentage of accomplishing them soars. When you have your goals in your mind, that's where they are, stuck in your mind. Actually, your goals and your dreams come from your heart and then to your mind. Science has theories about the heart / mind connection. When your dreams and goals are in your mind, you haven't made a physical link to achieving those ideas, Dreams or Goals.

When you write your goals and dreams down you have made a physical link to the outside world, you are doing something physical by putting them down on paper. You are bringing them from inside of yourself to the outside and into the real world. People refer to this as the inner and the outer.

Scientifically, you are creating neural pathways within your mind. These neural pathways are created and enable channels to form in your mind. The neural synapse fire off and travel faster and faster within your brain making roadways for the ideas to flow. It's like building muscles. You're essentially building the muscles or the neurons in your brain to achieve your goals. Once they're set up, opportunities will be recognized faster by your mind. You can see and grasp them because your mind is ready to accept them.

Challenges ...

Welcome challenges. Get up every day and look for the gifts that are going to come to you during the day. That will start your day on an upbeat. Everyday when you wake-up, it is a gift from your Creator. You start your day on a positive note to begin with by opening your eyes. Challenges may come up during the day and I don't want to minimize those at all. You can make them work for you as well. Here is a method that works.

A 10 Step Method to achieve your Goals ...

Here is a plan that I've used all my life. A world famous minister used this method. When a challenge or a problem would come up, he would think of at least ten ways to solve that problem. Start a brainstorming session with yourself and write down on paper, ten ways to solve that problem. Your answers can be as ridiculous as you want them to be because one of them may be the one that works.

An example of this is when a famous minister needed a million dollars for his church ministry. How could he accomplish this goal? Of course, the first way would be to have someone give him a million dollars. He also wrote down, get a million people to give him one dollar. This preacher wrote down the other 8 options that he thought of that would solve the task.

This plan solved his challenge. Over time, the minister achieved all 10 of his action brainstorming plans for a total of ten million dollars.

Come up with ten ways to solve any problem. Look for the challenges that come up and the ways to solve them. Write them all down. When the challenges come up and they will, it's such a blessing to have worked through them. You have already been through them on paper with the brainstorming session.

Challenges are doors that open up to new opportunities.
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Frank Gasiorowski has been teaching 90 Day Goals techniques as a speaker, workshop and seminar leader and Interview Host with Goals TV and Goals Radio. Get his free 90 Day Goals ezine at 90DayGoals.com

How to Get into Alignment with Your Goal By Martha Ruske

Many of us see the New Year as a time to turn over a new leaf. Maybe we let things go last year, and this seems like a way to start with a clean slate. This year it will be different, we tell ourselves. But will it?

Often we start out doing things the same way we've always done them, expecting different results. (One definition of insanity!) Maybe we haven't asked ourselves how we missed the mark last time. Or we set up inflexible goals - again. (You intend to go jogging every morning, but the 3rd day it's raining and you give up.) In this case there was a rush to action instead of anticipating possible roadblocks and coming up with alternatives first.

It doesn't hurt to have goals. People who have goals tend to achieve the results they want in their lives instead of going around in circles. But the classic "resolutions" usually smack of all-or-none thinking. They're abrupt, unforgiving, authoritarian, and usually don't work too well. And they generally focus on a perceived lack, something we don't like about ourselves, something that isn't good and doesn't measure up that we have to "fix."

It reminds me of how I used to clean my room as a kid. I wouldn't pick up after myself, but I'd let my room get really messy. The mess would get overwhelming and I'd stay home all day Saturday to clean (Punishment.). But I wouldn't just straighten up; I'd scrub all the surfaces. I wouldn't just put things away; I'd dump out all the drawers and rearrange everything. I wouldn't just put the dirty clothes in the wash; I'd put all my clothes in the wash. It began to dawn on me that this was excessive (and a bit obsessive) and too much work. Plus it didn't make me feel any better.

The feeling I had was that I wasn't OK the way I was and that everything needed a drastic overhaul. Sound familiar? Think of the makeovers that you see on TV. I often wonder what happens to those people after a team has worked on them; how do they sustain the change? Something may have changed on the outside, but the inside is still the same.

I think there's a better way to look at ourselves and the changes we want to make. Rather than makeover, or fixing, think in terms of "alignment." Your being wants to be in alignment. It's a natural process. Little adjustments can yield big results over time.

Let's assume that exercise / weight loss is a goal for you this year, because that is such a common focus. How can you be more aligned with your goal?

I suggest taking a "systems approach" - don't look at your goal in isolation, but use other areas of your life to support the goal.

First, rate your level of satisfaction with various areas of your life on a scale of 0-10, zero being "not satisfied at all" and 10 being "totally satisfied." These are the areas to look at: career; money; health / self care; friends and family; significant other; personal growth; fun; physical environment. Write down a score for each one. You could also jot down a few words to remind yourself why you chose the score you did.

Typically you'll have some areas of your life with fairly high ratings, say 7 or 8, and some areas where you don't really feel satisfied at all. Remember, this is not based on some arbitrary scale, but rather on how satisfied YOU feel.

Suppose, for our example, you have low ratings in health / self care, family and friends, and fun. What are some of the things that you could do in these areas to increase your satisfaction AND support your goal of exercise / weight loss?

• In health / self care, beyond the obvious food plan and exercise, you could get a massage, go to a sauna, have a really good haircut, buy a new outfit - something that can help you feel good about yourself even though you're not at the weight you want to be. Anything that contributes to your self-esteem will be helpful for your weight loss goal.

• In the area of fun - and this can be a really hard area for some people - if your leisure time is spent doing sedentary things like going to the movies or watching TV, do something more active like dancing. If that's too big a step, you could try walking to your local café instead of driving, for example. Or walk to the movies.

• If you want to increase your level of satisfaction in the area of friends / family you could get together once a week to make a new recipe that fits into your food plan, or make a date to meet in a neighboring town you're not familiar with and walk the streets.

None of these specific suggestions may appeal to you, but you get the idea. Let your whole life support you in what you want to accomplish, and try some things you haven't done before. If you focus only on what you're eating, or your exercise routine at the gym, you'll have an external focus that might be hard to sustain.

But if you align the various areas of your life to your goal, you're more likely to succeed and see a shift in your attitude and the way you see your life.
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Martha Ruske is a marriage and family therapist in California. She currently works with people in long-term recovery from alcoholism, helping them step out into the fuller life they deserve. Sign up for the newsletter and get a free workbook at IntentionalPath.com.

From Goal Setting To Goal Getting By Greg Johnson

A show of hands, please; How many of you out there cringe when you hear the phrase: New Year's Resolution? Or even better, do you remember how you felt the last time someone asked you what your 2 year or 5 year plan was? What about "Where do you see yourself in five years from now?"

I don't know about you, but it always makes me squirm. Seems like no matter who you are, our goals in life, both long and short are something we all have difficulties owning up to. And this is what makes us squirm.

And when we do set goals for ourselves, regardless of our pre- ferred method of mapping it all out, a HUGE determining factor in whether or not we achieve the end result we desire is how we talk to ourself on an internal level.

For example... Let's say (seeing as how we just started a new year and all) that you made a resolution to quit smoking, or lose weight, or exercise more, whatever. Once you make that goal, do you ever sit down and develop a strategy for how you will attain the end result you want? Can you close your eyes and visualize what your life would be like once you achieved your goal?

Most importantly, how do you FEEL about that goal? This is really the crux of the matter folks, the first step in moving from goal setting to goal getting is revamping (in some cases eliminating) internal thoughts, and feelings that contradict the goal you've set out to achieve.

If I choose to quit smoking, and I close my eyes and try and visualize myself smoke-free, but the first thought that pops into my head while I'm visualizing is "Yeah, but in order to get there I'm going to end up losing half of my friends because I'm so cranky when I don't smoke!"

What just happened? After telling myself through visualization that I want to quit smoking, I immediately told myself to strike that thought, forget it, because I don't want people to dislike me.

Whenever you catch yourself having these thoughts, you need to stop yourself, and say aloud "Forget that. I WILL do this." or "Cancel! I WILL do this without putting an emotional strain on my personal relationships."

It's terribly terribly crucial for you to learn to cut down on negative self talk as much as possible, folks.

You can't get to your end result if you keep telling yourself there is a new obstacle every time you daydream about what it will be like to live in your desired outcome!

That's probably the most difficult aspect of Goal Getting. The second and final step is much easier:

Every morning when you get up, ask yourself one question: "What will I do today to get closer to achieving my goal?" Answer that question. Post the question on your bathroom mirror, or the front of the coffee pot, do whatever you have to do to get that message in front of you each and every morning you wake up. Answer the question, and then do it.

So what have you learned? Hopefully by now you've realized:

* Goal Setting and Goal Getting Really Aren't That Different.

* The way you 'talk' to yourself is a determining factor in

whether or not you get what you want out of life...

And finally, you've realized that just as the title of this article was fluff - and goal-setting and goal-getting CAN be the same thing - Hopefully you realize in order to get your goals ACTION MUST BE TAKEN... And choosing not to act is an action in and of itself. Choosing to dwell on what-ifs and the worries of how you will get there, is an ACTION, and not a productive one either!

Think, Act, and Be Progressive with your dreams!
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Greg is the founder of E-Motivated.com. Head on over to this Goal Setting System Resource Site now, to discover more about some of the truly unusual, and extremely effective methods you can use to get exactly what you want out of life with as little of your valuable time as possible!

5 Simple Steps to Make 2006 the Best Year Ever! By Fracka Future

So how was your 2005? Was it by far the best year of your life? I mean over the top, you can’t wait for more? If you are like most people, you probably answered no. If you had the choice of spending the same 365 days and just surviving it or having the best year of your life, which would you choose? Of course you would choose the best year of your life! You know what you would prefer, you always get the same 365 days each year, so what is getting in the way and how do we get it out of there?

First, let’s start with the question, how did you do on your Top 3 goals in 2005? Most people don’t even have a top one goal, let alone a history of what they did on their top 3 goals. Well, let’s turn that around right now.

Step 1: (Spend only 30 seconds on this. REALLY!) Pick your number one goal in each of the following categories. Physical, Financial, and Relationship. STOP! Do it now. We are talking only 30 seconds and then write the goals down.

If you had achieved these 3 goals in 2005, do you think 2005 would have been your best year ever? If you answer is anything but YES, redo Step 1 with bigger goals.

We have done it. In only 30 seconds. Can you believe it? Finally, you are starting your new year off with actual targets that will make your 2006 the best year ever. How much better do you feel knowing you now have clear targets to go after? It kind of takes the anxiety out and allows you to get down to business. You know what you want, now let’s get you there with Steps 2 through 5. Remember, you have only 4 and ½ minutes left.

Step 2: Turn your Top 3 Goals into your Top 3 one year goals. If you can not complete your Top 3 Goals in one year, reduce them down to where you can complete them in one year. Make sure you don’t reduce them down to the point where they don’t inspire you, but just enough to make them one year goals.

Step 3: Choose 3 people to hold you accountable to your top 3 Goals, one person for each goal. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. We jump from goal to goal never achieving any of them. Once you achieve one of your goals, the new ideas that you will start having will be 1000 times greater then the ideas you are having right now. Just know that these goals you just wrote down ARE the ones that are truly important to you, because you were not given enough time to think about choosing them. They were already there.

Step 4: Get out a blank piece of paper. Choose one of the persons that will be holding you accountable. Write Dear at the top of the paper. Followed by. I, promise to consistently make progress on for the entire year of 2006 until it is achieved. I will give you monthly updates on my progress. Sign your name on the bottom. Do the same thing with your other 2 goals.

Step 5: Give those papers to the respective persons and post your goals in a location where you can review them daily. Update your new accountability buddies on your progress and look out 2006.

Congratulations on completing this exercise. I hope it took you 5 minutes or less. It is actually better the quicker you do it. It prevents all the second guessing that naturally takes place. If you skipped over these exercises you will never understand their power. It’s like the difference between imagining you are standing at the edge of a cliff and actually standing at the edge of a cliff.

Once you achieve any of your top 3 goals, you will be flooded by ideas that are 1000’s of times better than before you started on these goals. You can not imagine what you will have access to once you complete just one of these goals. Good luck on your best year ever!
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Fracka Future, founder of Accountability Buddy, is dedicated to helping people achieve that which is most important to them. Accountability Buddy uses technology you already know to remind you, track your goals, and build a team of friends to help you achieve your goals. For a two-week free trial click here!