Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
Posts tagged goals
Your Vision of the Future Part Two
Jan 15th
“Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth.” ~Martin H. Fischer
Hey. Did you answer the question from the last entry? Let me repeat it: What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? What would you attempt to become or achieve or do, if you knew that it was impossible to fail? How did you do with that question? For me, I can still remember the first time that I heard this question, more than 20 years ago now, and how frightened I was by it. Yes, frightened.
It was frightening to me to put down on paper what I really wanted – the secret dreams of my heart, without knowing how I would accomplish them. Somehow it was safer if I kept these dreams locked up in my mind without even a piece of paper to incriminate me. Funny reaction I know, but some of you might also be finding some resistance to this question. The question does not ask you to formulate a plan, or be logical, or be reasonable – all of those things come later. What it does is presuppose that you will find a way and that the best way to proceed is to come from a place of certainty: I don’t know how I am going to get there, but I know that I will.
So, what was your answer? Write it down and let’s move on to the next question. Actually, before that, let’s do the “priming” that I had mentioned in the last entry. I have written about this before and any of you that have attended one of my live seminars have experienced priming first hand. As a recap, priming is a very powerful technique designed to help you to enter optimal, peak states. I’m not going to go over how it works today. Just follow these instructions – read these words:
Destiny Destined for Greatness Explorer Achievement Powerful Self Confident Successful Unstoppable Grateful Deeply Fulfilled Excited Adventure Satisfaction Playful Delight Ready to learn Fun Ready for new experiences Dreams Heart’s Desire Marvelous Gifts What Matters Most to Me What I truly want My Dreams My Passions My Loves
Great. Now let’s move on to question two. Question 2) Let’s create an inventory of your dreams. I want you to pretend that it is Christmas Eve and you have been very good indeed – Santa is going to bring you whatever you wish. This should be a comprehensive list that looks from today all the way forward to 20 or more years from now. I don’t want you to worry at all about how you will accomplish any of these goals. I don’t want you to put any limits on these goals. I just want you to dream, across all categories of your life, and write these things down.
I’ll give you some categories to help your creativity. Try to end up with at least a dozen notes in each of the following categories of goals. Spend anywhere from a minimum of 5 minutes to whatever amount of time feels right to you.
Goal Setting Categories:
- Your Physical Body Goals
- Personal Development Goals
- Family Goals
- Relationship Goals
- Business Goals
- Spiritual Goals
- Financial Goals
- Fun / Delight Goals
- Possessions
- Emotional Goals
Have fun! It is impossible to do this wrong and we will debrief the results next time.
Jack
“Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: “I am with you kid. Let’s go.”" ~Maya Angelou
New Year’s Resolutions Part Five
Jan 9th
“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.” ~Pietro Aretino
Well hello. I am looking out at a beautiful winter scene as I write this entry. I spent much of my youth in Chicago and the winters there were often quite extreme. I can remember one Christmas break from college, I was working at Amtrak between college semesters, and we had a nice cold snap. For two weeks the temperature hovered near 50 below zero (Fahrenheit) and with wind chill – wow! It turned out to be a real blessing for me. Amtrak could not turn off the diesel locomotives, it was so cold that they could not be restarted, so I was paid overtime everyday to stay and tend things. For a college kid, this extra money was a great gift. I am still grateful more than 30 years later.
I was thinking about this time today when others around me were complaining about the weather. Winter doesn’t bother me. I know it will end. I know it is a natural part of life and needed for all of the plants and animals that are native to this area to rest and rejuvenate. I also know that I cannot change it and I will not allow something that I cannot change or influence to have control of my moods. I was also thinking about how sweet spring will be after this cold winter. So, thanks winter!
I was also thinking that every rough patch in my life, and there were some very rough patches indeed, always had a gift for me – if I was smart enough to find it. Even looking back at the darkest times in my life, poor, getting divorced, living in the back of my car, fighting for custody of my daughter – there were gifts for me in that experience. Now I was not smart enough to see them, those gifts, at the time. It took years of growth and reflection before I could achieve that place. Today, when I find myself in a rough patch, I ask myself two questions: 1) What is great about this and 2) What could be great about this if I looked at it from the right perspective? And you know what? There always is a gift waiting for me!
Last time I had you put your 5 driving goals on the front of three by five index cards. Here’s why. I want you to put the following questions on the back of the index cards:
- Why is this goal important to me? Above and beyond the goal itself, what will the accomplishment of this goal allow me to do or be or experience or feel?
- How great will it feel when this goal is accomplished?
- What do I need to change about myself to ensure that I accomplish this goal?
- What is the most important thing that I need to do today, to move myself along the path of achieving this goal?
- What else can I do to make it even more certain that I will achieve this goal?
- What can I do to make sure that I have fun, a blast, as I work to achieve this goal?
So, add these questions to the back of the cards. Do you have that done? Great! Now here is the critical part. Keep the cards with you and every single day, at least a couple of times per day, review your goals, all five of them, and then flip the card over and answer the questions. Within a short time you will feel the difference, you will begin to find the answers you need, make the changes required and you are very likely to achieve those goals! I know lots of more techniques, but I know of none easier and more certain at the same time.
And now a bit of fun and trivia: Some of you know that I am related to Robert Burns the Scottish Poet and that I have visited his hometown and gravesite in Scotland. Did you know that when you sing, on New Year’s Eve, “Auld Lang Syne”you are singing one of Robert’s most beloved creations? Since this is the last entry that will talk about New Year’s Resolutions, at least for awhile, I thought it would be fun to give you the poem/song here (sing with gusto!):
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and days of auld lang syne?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
and days of auld lang syne?
CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since days of auld lang syne?
CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared,
since days of auld lang syne?
CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
and days of auld lang syne?
Till next time…Jack
“Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer.” ~Plutarch, Moralia
New Year’s Resolutions Part Four
Jan 8th
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.” ~Abraham Lincoln
Did you choose 5 marvelous goals for 2009? Great! Take a minute and review them against these questions.
- Are these goals really exciting? If they aren’t then change them until they are.
- Are these goals spread across all the areas of your life? Make sure that they are not all focusing on just one or two topics. Balance!
- Are these goals big enough to excite you when you think about them actually being completed?
- Are these goals small enough, or realistic enough, that you can believe that is truly possible to accomplish them before the end of the coming year? If you don’t believe it, you won’t achieve it.
There are many other great questions that can be used to fine tune goals. Those four are enough for this entry. Here is the last thing I will ask you to do today with your five goals: write each one of them, individually, on the front of a three by five index card. Then keep these five cards with you all of the time. We will cover shortly why this matters and what you will do with the cards to actually ensure that you achieve the goals that are written on them.
Till next time…Jack
“My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key to my destiny.” ~Elaine Maxwell
New Year’s Resolutions Part Three
Jan 5th
“Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.” ~Henry Ward Beecher
Happy 2009! Is this going to be a wonderful year for you and yours? I hope so. I certainly intend that this be the best year that I have experienced so far. How about you? What are your intentions? What are your goals? Would you like to make this your best year ever? Would you more than like it – would you love it – do you want it so much that you can taste it? Then read on (and make a habit of reading this blog. We are going to go on some great adventures together this year!)
Last time I shared my blogging goal. I must tell you that sharing that goal made me a little uneasy. When it was a private goal, I could easily make excuses to myself. But I am tired of making excuses to myself – I want to see my dreams living and breathing right in front of me and accomplishing that will take action and lots of it! So, I made a public commitment. I can feel the power of that commitment even as I write these words.
So, here are all of my Top Five Commitments for 2009
Health: I will return to my optimal bodyweight before the end of 2009.
Family: My wife and I will take our family to New York for a great vacation to celebrate my elder daughter’s completion of her graduate program.
Business: I will blog 5 days per week – every week of 2009.
Finances: I will earn more in 2009 than I ever have before – at least 25% more.
Fun: I will run in the USA’s largest cross-country race: The Living History Farms Seven Miler.
By the way, each of these resolutions or goals is what one of my old bosses called a “bhag” Bhag: a big hairy audacious goal – a goal of tremendous importance that a first may seem daunting or impossible, but upon reflect is realized to be so desirable that you will do whatever it takes to make it happen. I just love that term.
Are these all of my goals for 2009? Not even close. But these are the drivers – these are the goals that will ensure that all of the other ones get done. Next time, I will talk about how I will use these on a daily basis to make sure that I accomplish my goals for 2009 (and have a great time along the way!).
Bye for now…Jack
“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him. What he needs is not the discharge of tension at any cost, but the call of a potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled by him.” ~Victor Frankl
New Year’s Resolutions Part Two
Jan 2nd
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Greetings.
In my last entry I made a public commitment to blogging Monday thru Friday for an entire year. Why did I do this?
1) When I commit in public I am more likely to take the action. I have more motivation to fulfill my promises to others than I have to fulfill my promises to myself. (This is a very common response. At least initially, it is easier to use this than to change this.)
2) I want to get a number of books published – books that I have been working on for years. By writing every day, I intend to get these finished.
3) I want to instill the habit of writing everyday. Some days I may feel like it. Some days I may not. However I feel, however easy or hard writing may be that day, I intend to show up and do my best. This will be a great change for me.
4) I have received so many benefits from blogging already, even with my fitful writing efforts. New clients, speaking engagements, much greater credibility – all of these and more have come about because I have blogged. If I received so many rewards with a little blogging, how much more might I expect with a lot of blogging?
5) A Monday thru Friday focus on blogging will also naturally drive me to complete the other projects in my business growth plans. My own products for sale, affiliate sales, newsletter releases, website enhancement – all of these will be driven and in some ways demanded by regular blogging.
So that is the explanation of the blogging commitment. I also initially decided to set a goal, a resolution, in 5 categories of my life. Those categories are:
My Five Commitments / Categories for 2009
Health
Family
Business
Finances
Fun
I will share more about these in later entries. For now, for you, if you could focus on and create one great goal in each of those five areas for yourself, what would those goals be?
Till next time…Jack
“Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits.” ~Author Unknown
Goals Part 4
Oct 12th
“Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.” ~Larry Lorenzoni
I recently had a birthday and I found myself in a very self-reflective mood that day. I believe that I have significant control over my emotional states and reactions and I could have changed this one, since it showed up unplanned, but I decided to go with self-reflection and see what it offered me.
It offered me this: What could I do – achieve, by my next birthday, that would be a wonderful gift to myself? I found this exciting to think about. I have an entire year to work. Now, what can I do in that time, for me, that will make my next birthday a real treat? This was fun! I spent the next hour or so walking around and doing a mini-goal setting session.
What could I achieve related to:
My body – my physical health?
My finances – my savings and investments?
My business – my coaching and writing and speaking?
My family?
My skills and talents – my toolbox of things that I know how to do?
It isn’t that I haven’t looked at all of these things many times in the past. I have. I am a dedicated and habitual goal setter. The difference was that I was looking at the achieving of the goals as a gift – a gift to myself! This change in perspective was powerful for me! Instead of looking at my goals as something that I needed to do, now I had added the feeling that achieving these things was something I got to do and it was a gift. I felt different and more empowered.
So, let me ask you this: What would you like to achieve, before your next birthday, that would be a gift to yourself? What would you like to do that once done, would make you feel great, or proud, or free, or satisfied or whatever way you would like to feel? Try this. If you only have a few days until your birthday, then choose something small – perhaps something you have been procrastinating – and do it and get it done and then on your birthday – celebrate!
If you have more time, then you can go thru an entire goals setting process as I am laying it out here and add the perspective of a gift to yourself. I believe it will make a difference for both you and I.
Till next time…Jack
“Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.” ~Jennifer Yane
Goals Part 2
Sep 4th
“Establishing goals is all right if you don’t let them deprive you of interesting detours.” ~Doug Larson
The last entry told you that we would be doing dreaming together as part of goal setting. Tis true we will. There is great power in your dreams and I want you to have that power. It is the power to get past the things that have stopped you before. It is the power to get yourself to take the actions that you must in order to change your dreams into your reality. It is the power to put of procrastination and take action right away. Power. Power for good lives in your dreams and that is why we start goal setting with dreaming – we want, we need that energy to get past the obstacles that will absolutely come up.
For today, I just want to ask you a few questions, questions to prime you for the work we will be doing together:
1) Where are you in your life? Are you on track for where you want to be or have you gotten derailed somewhere along the line?
2) If you knew that you could not possibly fail, what would you be doing for a living?
3) When you look at your life right now – are you living your dreams?
4) When you look at your life right now – is this the life you wanted or is this the life someone else wanted for you?
5) Are there any big dreams that you have given up on? Why?
Give those some thought. Write down the answers. If most people set their goals for the year 5 minutes before New Years Eve, while drunk, and never review them again until the next New Years Eve; we are going to follow a path that ensures much better results and more fun. And you might start to get excited now – it’s okay. There is power in goal setting and once you have been thru the process once, your life is forever changed for the better.
Till next time…Jack
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.” ~George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) an Irish playwright – the only person awarded both the Nobel Prize for Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938) – perhaps best known for his play and movie Pygmalion