To Do List Programs -- Applications list

In the past I've written on some resources I use to 'get things done'. I'm big on using task lists / to do lists to stay on track. I'm a firm believer in the saying, "out of sight, out of mind" and so I find that keeping my task lists nearby helps to make sure things don't ever have the chance to get out of mind in the first place :-)

The folks at Solution Watch have put together their list of 25 To Do Lists to Stay Productive -- a collection of task list applications that are worth having a look at. Some are free, and some are not. In addition to looking over the main post be sure to check out their comments section on the post as folks have some other selections that might be worth checking out as well.

Incidentally, I use Remember The Milk quite a bit -- it is also mentioned on the list above.

-- To your goal setting success, Josh Hinds :-)

Goal Setting To Make You Happy By Terry Vermeylen

After years of research on happiness, money, life and goals, here are some of my key findings.

Researchers from the University of Illinois and Pennsylvania State declare that, in a 1985 survey, the Maasai of East Africa were almost equally satisfied with life as some of the 400 richest Americans on the Forbes list. The Maasai are a traditional herding people who have no electricity or running water and live in huts made of dung.

Goal: Realize that making huge amounts of money doesn’t necessarily buy happiness. Maybe it's time to stop competing with the neighbours for the flashiest car. Money, power, fame or status should not be treated as the goal, rather as resources towards more meaning and purpose. Perhaps the goal will be more freedom, control and health in your life.

People who are truly successful look at their values and live a rich and rewarding life created through healthy relationships, personal integrity, and discovery. They are not concerned with impressing others with wealth and status.

Goal: Spending more time with family, friends and the community can be an inexpensive yet incredibly rewarding experience as opposed to watching TV or shopping. Being honest with yourself and open to new adventures certainly adds spice to life as well.

People happiest in their jobs are the ones that remain truly engaged, learn something new everyday, and have a connection with different groups and networks.

Goal: Start learning new things. Discover your passions and build on them. Seek information. This is what leads to true meaning and purpose in ones career.

Summary: Being clear on your life goals leads to a much more satisfying life.

1) After basic needs are met, money doesn’t buy much more happiness.

2) Our relationships with others provide some of our greatest values and inspirations.

3) Connecting with your work and continuously seeking value adding information makes life much more satisfying.
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Terry Vermeylen is passionately driven to help others unlock their own barriers toward fulfillment, meaning and purpose. He is the founder of MyLifeChanges.com, an Internet value identification and goal setting enterprise.

The 5 C's of Success By Shawn Driscoll

“We must become the epitome—the embodiment — of success. We must radiate success before it will come to us. We must first become mentally, from an attitude standpoint, the people we wish to become.”— Earl Nightingale

There are 5 things that, when present, lead to sustainable success no matter the goal. Great athletes apply them, great business leaders apply them, and great people apply them, whether they know it or not. What are the 5 things?

* Clarity
* Competence
* Confidence
* Capacity
* Consistency

CLARITY...

The first order of business for achieving any measure of success is to get clear! You can only achieve what you can see. People often fear or resist clarity and focus. At work or in our personal lives, we try to be all things to all people. We fear that saying No to an opportunity or request will somehow limit us. But, successful people talk repeatedly about having a clear idea of where (and who) you want to be. The clearer you are on who you are, who you want to be, and what you want to be doing, the more you can see what is required to make it happen. That clarity allows you to make smart choices and take focused action toward the goal. Your challenge is to hold yourself accountable to being clear about who you are, who you are not, and what you are willing to do about it.

COMPETENCE...

Yes, great results come from a high level of mastery. Once you see clearly who you want to be and what you want to accomplish, you must invest in continuing to develop high levels of competence. Competence is basically the right mix of knowledge, skills, experience, and abilities required to succeed. Do you know what it takes to be successful in the areas you are growing toward? Where are you strong? Where are there gaps? And most importantly, how will you continue to stay current and competent as times change?

You may also want to determine how competent you are in the process of changing. You may have all the skills and knowledge required to do your dream job, but if you lack the competence to interview well and land that dream job, it won’t get you very far.

CONFIDENCE...

Confidence matters. First, it can fuel you to keep you going. Often, you take action toward your goal, but the results don’t come right way. Without confidence, you would probably give up before you had gained enough momentum to get results. Confidence bridges the gap between the early actions you take and the results you get. Secondly, confidence is incredibly attractive (again, not the ego piece). People are drawn toward confidence and want to be a part of it. They want to work with you, associate with you, help you. When your clarity is backed by those around you, you are on the road to success.

When you have a big goal, are you confident that you are ready, willing, and able to achieve it? Are you confident in the skills you possess and do you willingly acknowledge your own strengths. Do you effectively balance being humble, with being confident?

CAPACITY...

Capacity refers to the time, energy, resources and ‘space’ you need to achieve what you’ve set out to do. People who are really successful make sure they clear the decks of any competing priorities or projects that drain their capacity. They create the time needed to work on the goal. They maintain their energy by taking care of themselves and finding ways to keep their ‘gas tank’ full.

They access and leverage all the available resources (people, money, tools, knowledge, etc..) in their life to help move them forward. Achieving success in career, life, or business requires a high level of focus and lining up the resources required to make it happen. What amount of time, energy, money, and other resources are you putting into your success? In what ways could you direct more of your capacity into your primary goals and let go of the rest?

CONSISTENCY...

Consistent effort is the final key to success. And consistency is two-fold. Top athletes know that they must continue to develop their game and they consistently work on their game. Success requires consistent daily action toward the goal. The other piece is making sure that the action you take is consistent with the goal itself.

Does the action you are taking make sense given your definition of success? Getting a new job takes 6 months, on average. Starting and growing a new business takes 3-5 years. And that’s with consistent and focused action. Working in fits and starts will create inconsistent results. It just makes sense. How consistent are you in directing your efforts toward success?

3-2-1 ACTION!

First, rate yourself on the 5 C’s of success. You could create a graph and rate each area on a scale from 1-5. Any area you rate lower than a 3 requires a plan.

Secondly, celebrate those areas where you are solid. If you don’t celebrate your successes, no one else will!

Finally, what one major change or shift will you make this month to get yourself on the path to success?
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Shawn Driscoll, owner of Succeed Coaching & Development, partners with motivated professionals to dramatically improve the quality of their career and lives. She challenges clients to stop struggling and sacrificing in the name of making a living and inspires them to re-define success on their own terms. Visit her at www.SucceedCoaching.com.

Josh's Thoughts:

The following point reminded me of something my buddy, Mike Litman refers to -- the idea avalanche. The basic idea behind it is that many folks, entrepreneurs in particular are susceptible to going from new idea to idea, without ever fully realizing the success they would achieve had they remained fully focussed on their current venture.

Fully take in the thoughts shared below and make an honest commitment to yourself not to get off track -- your personal success may very well depend on it.

"successful people talk repeatedly about having a clear idea of where (and who) you want to be. The clearer you are on who you are, who you want to be, and what you want to be doing, the more you can see what is required to make it happen. That clarity allows you to make smart choices and take focused action toward the goal."

-- To your goal-setting success, Josh Hinds

Nurturing Goals and Dreams By Wendy Betterini

One of the most powerful things we can do for ourselves is make a conscious effort to nurture our goals and dreams. After all, isn't nurturing care what makes everything grow? Think of the nurturing energy you provide to your children, your pets, your spouse, and even your own personal development. Without nurturing care, living things will die.

Our dreams and goals are certainly living things, breathed into being by our own thoughts. It is vital to nurture them and encourage them to grow and thrive, or else they will surely perish. Though this may sound like common sense advice, it's amazing how many of us don't do this.

Following are the six ways to keep your dreams alive, and even better - make them thrive!

Provide a Fertile Foundation - If you begin planting your dreams in a heart and mind that is polluted with negativity or scattered with doubts, they will not be able to thrive properly. Before beginning the planting process, sweep away all unnecessary debris that could stunt the growth of your dreams. If it's too late and you've already planted the ideas, you can simply uproot them momentarily and begin again with fresh soil.

Feed Them - The most important sustenance you can feed to your dreams is love. Treat your dreams like your most precious creations. Hold them close to your heart and continue to breathe loving life into them. Hold them in a place of prominence in your mind and continue to believe in them. Dreams and goals must be fed with positive thoughts at least daily, preferably several times a day. Give them nourishing snacks of happy encouragement and watch them grow fat and happy.

Water Them - Water is the bearer of emotion and feeling. Lend as much emotional feeling to your dreams as you can, because emotion is what gives your dreams energy and animation. Visualize the outcome of your dreams and goals, and infuse this vision with emotion. Feel the joy and satisfaction of realizing your dreams. Embrace them and shed happy tears for their beauty. Feel your heart lift with awe and thanksgiving, and allow those feelings to infuse your dreams with the power to become real.

Give Them Light - Let the light shine upon your dreams, in the form of inspiration and optimism. Jealously guard your dreams from negativity like a mother bear guards her cubs from danger. If others put your dreams down, the absolute worst thing you could do is to agree with them. Honor your dreams no matter what, no matter how stupid or worthless others may think they are. What others think does not matter, only your own opinion counts. Holding your dreams in high regard will always keep a positive light shining upon them.

Prune Them - Our dreams and goals will often change over time, just as we do. The older and wiser we get, we might realize that the dreams of our youth might not suit us as we are today. Periodically, take some time to re-evaluate your dreams and goals. Take a closer look at them and decide if any aspects might be pruned away or revised slightly. Goal-setting is rarely a one-time activity. Rather, we need to consistently evaluate our progress, and adjust our actions accordingly.

Give Them Room to Grow - Part of the pruning process described above is what will create more room for your dreams to grow bigger and better. But you can also take a look at whether your original dreams were self-limiting in any way. Perhaps you held back out of fear or hesitation, and now you feel you are capable of more.

Remove all doubts and uncertainties and make as much room for your dreams as you can. Once they begin to grow and take shape, they will expand and fill the space you provided for them. At that point, you might need to readjust everything again and make even more room. One can hope, right? :-)
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Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer who strives to motivate, uplift, and inspire you to make your dreams a reality. Visit her website, WingsForTheHeart.com for more positive thoughts to help you on your journey.


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Advice on Creating Obtainable Goals

I ran across an interesting article dealing with goal setting called, Creating Realistic Obtainable Goals. Be sure to read the entire thing yourself, but in the meantime here are a few things that stuck out in my mind when I read it.

“The more effectively you can measure a goal, the more likely you are to complete the goal because progress itself is a tremendous encourager.”

Well said, success begets success – so it is with goal setting :-)

“You also need an accomplishment-point if the goal can be measured in that way. Formulate a plan of action with a deadline that enables you to measure your progress in incremental steps.”

In previous advice shared here we've heard it said that, "a goal without some sort of deadline is at best a wish." And that's worth thinking about!

-- To your goal setting success, Josh Hinds

Goal-Setting Advice: We All Start Somewhere By Jill Koenig

Do you remember your first job?

When I was in grade school, I earned money shoveling snow, mowing people's lawns, washing cars and picking up dog poop for neighbors. I still carry with me the lessons I learned back then. I learned to be willing and eager to work hard. I learned that if you care about people and do a great job, people will hire you again. I learned that if people like you, they will recommend you to their friends and peers.

People forget sometimes that every great achievement began with a goal and was backed by commitment, hard work, persistence and gradual improvement. To illustrate this, I started to keep a list of first jobs that famous people have worked. When you look at them now, you cannot imagine they ever did anything other then what they do now.

But we all start somewhere. Here is a list of some famous people and their first jobs:

* Madeline Albright, former US Sec of State
first job: Dept Store Bra Sales Clerk

* Alan Dershowitz, Author, Attorney
first job: Deli Factory Worker

* Michael Eisner, former CEO Disney
first job: Camp Counselor

* Nancy Grace, CNN Host, Attorney
first job: Sears Candy Clerk

* Jay Leno, Comedian, Host of The Tonight Show
first job: McDonalds

* Cal Ripken, jr, Former Major League Baseball player
first job: Errand Boy in Minor League Clubhouse

* Tony Robbins, Author, Motivational Speaker
first job: Janitor

* Gene Simmons, KISS Rock Star
first job: Paper Boy

* Russell Simmons, Founder Def Jam Records
first job: fast food- Orange Julius

* George Steinbrenner, owner NY Yankees
first job: Raising Chickens

* Isiah Thomas, Former NBA Basketball Player
first job: Shoe Shine Boy

* Donald Trump, Real Estate Investor
first job: Collected Soda Bottles, then Rent Money for father

* Oprah Winfrey, Billionaire, Talk Show Host
first job: Radio Station Announcer

Many millionaires started as paper boys or worked in fast food. There were many humble beginnings from people who went on to change the world. These people were born with greatness inside them, just like you have greatness inside you. These people progressed, improved themselves, worked hard and grew into their greatness. These people never gave up on their dreams.

No matter your current occupation, what you do is not who you are. We all have to start somewhere.

The people who rise to greatness in anything follow their bliss. They don't squander their time. They get started and keep on keeping on.

What gift or passion do you posses that you have been yearning to develop or pursue?

What secret dreams do you harbor that you haven't started yet?

What are you waiting for?

Set your goals and get it going.

Make your move.

No one else can do it for you.

Take the next step.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig
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Jill Koenig is America's top Goal Strategist. A Best Selling Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker, she is an expert on the subject of Goal Achievement, Time Management, and Business Success. She is the founder of GoalGuru.com.