Setting Goals allows you to achieve more.

Author: preetisharma

What do you think about when the word goal comes up in conversation? Do you cringe and snort thinking to yourself “right, goals . . . whatever. What’s the point of making them if I won’t keep them?” Or, do your eyes light up as you tick off a long list of goals for the New Year that will be impossible to complete?

No matter if you have an optimistic or pessimistic outlook about your small business goals for this New Year, both outlooks have something in common and it is this: Unless you know how to set goals properly, you will fail to complete them. So let’s start by defining exactly what a goal is: A goal is something that is meaningful, powerful, and transformative. A goal is something that will change your life, your business, your career, or your family in some meaningful way.

A goal is fierce!

• A goal is clearly defined

• A goal is very specific

• A goal has an action plan and time line for completion

To be an accomplished goal setter, you must become a fearsome time manager by:

• Setting priorities

• Completing tasks on time

• Eliminating distractions

In other words, those who manage their time, manage their world.

Three Parts To Setting Goals That Stick

1. Activate Intentions. They key to getting your business goals to stick it to activate your intentions. That means to put down on a piece of paper what your goals are, and then to take one action on each goal immediately.

Seven Steps For Successful Activation

• Identify your goal, very clearly and specifically. Identify no more than 3-5 business goals to focus on. Be concrete. Put your business goal into words and be as precise about it as you can be.

• Think critically about whether or not this is actually a business goal that you want to accomplish this year. Make sure you know why this goal is meaningful.

• Thinking creatively about how to accomplish your goals. Think outside the box. Stretch the boundaries of possibilities. Engage others to brainstorm and ‘creategize’ with you. Think really far out. Consider outlandish and bazaar solutions.

• Next, identify your plan of action and create strategic action steps that will lead to goal completion.

• Then, and this is all so energetically important: schedule and take your first action step either now, or within the next five days. This one step will set the activation energy in motion. Since what we focus on happens, it is important to schedule and take a first step to create momentum immediately.

• Evaluate your activity and measure success every step along the way.

• Reward success.

2. Eliminate Distractions. Distractions are the worst enemy of time management, and are the number one reason why goals fail. When we allow distractions to take our time and attention away from our goals, the result is frustration, leading to feelings of being overwhelmed, to thoughts of not being able to do something, to failure. Be fierce about your goals and guard them with your time.

3. Fearsome Focus. Dave Lakhani, speaker, trainer, and author of the Power Of An Hour has come up with a fearsome focus strategy that works. In his book, he suggests focusing for an hour at a time on a specific action step of one of your business goals, no more, no less. He recommends that you block out time each day for this fearsome focus hour, and that you divide that focus time into 45 minutes fearsome focus, and 15 minutes doing something else. Below is a summary of his strategy.

• Write down action steps for what you intent to accomplish in your 45-minute fearsome focus time.

• Surround yourself with all the tools you need to get the job done before you begin.

• Don’t allow distractions.

• Launch into your project with gusto.

• Evaluate success along the way by reviewing steps, then immediately re-engage in fearsome focus.

• If distracted, instantly dismiss distraction and re-engage.

• Complete all action steps.

• Acknowledge completion and relax.

• Remain in fearsome focus for 45 minutes, and then do something different for 15 minutes. After an hour, move on to something else.

That’s it folks. These are the steps to take if you want to set goals that stick. All you need to do is activate, eliminate, and focus. Keep in mind, though, that it is ridiculous to spend time focusing on something you don’t intend to do. That’s a failed goal in the making. Instead, if you find that a goal no longer serves you, replace or revise it with one that does.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – How To Set Goals That Stick

All of us have at some stage had our struggles with relationships. It is inherent in the design of a relationship: two sets of values, two communication styles, two sets of emotional and sexual needs, two sets of expectations regarding relationships, etc. Is it any wonder that we get lost in this jungle? And the more intimate we are, the higher the stakes are and more expectations we have of our partners. Conflict seems to be a function of intimacy. The more energy we invest into someone, the more we expect that person to meet our needs, consciously or unconsciously.

But what if relationships are not designed to make you happy until you ride off into the sunset? Would you still want one? What would the purpose of a relationship be then? And if you know a relationship will sometimes make you happy and sometimes dog-miserable, how would you define a successful relationship?

For me the answer is written in the forecourt of the temple of Apollo at Delphi: Know Thyself. There is no other place in our lives where we are given the chance to learn who we are with such clarity, as in the image that our intimate partners reflect back at us. And what we see isn’t always pretty.

One way of deepening our self knowledge is through the ancient analytical system of astrology. Through this lens one can look at how we employ the various parts of our psyche in an intimate relationship. And of course, once one sees one’s own behavioural patterns clearly, one can make conscious choices on which ones to keep, which to discard and which to change.

Using the elements of an astrological analysis, one would look at a person’s core personality, their emotional needs, their communication style, their relationship preferences and their sexual drivers.

There is a common belief that good communication is the number one prerequisite for a successful relationship. But somehow we humans seem to have a lot of trouble with the simple mechanics of sending and receiving a message! Could it be that our habitual communication style needs to be adapted in order to be more finely tuned to that of our partner’s? For example, if our communication style has the characteristics of the earth element, we would be talking straight, matter-of-factly and to the point. If we then encounter someone who has more of a water element emphasis, we would have to adapt our style to a more feelings-based approach, so that they feel heard and validated.

In the process of exploring our communication style, we would of course also take a look at how we listen, as well! It is also helpful to negotiate beforehand what the rules of engagement are, when encountering a conflict situation.

Through any type of self-exploration, we become more aware of the mechanics of our own mind. With more knowledge of ourselves, we are set free from being a victim of  living a life by default and we can make conscious choices that enable us to become our best possible selves. Sometimes relationship trouble is just what we need in order to kick-start a journey towards a more conscious life.

And what greater success story is there than having a more balanced, healthier and conscious outlook on life? Perhaps Eckhart Tolle has a point when he says that relationships aren’t there to make us happy, they are there to make us conscious.

Written by Babett Baer, Counselling Astrologer and director of AstroDate

For more information and to contact Babett, click here.

I want to envisage that every day is my last day of existence
I want to be wealthy in the intangible things, Those valuable things that feed our souls
I want to experience emotionally
I want to hope, care, be angry, laugh all at the same time
I want to be confident, humble and fear all at the same time
I want to chase my dreams with every inch of my soul

And while I chase my dreams

I don’t want to forget the flowers blossoming at my feet
I want happiness to dwell in my bones, my heart and my soul
I want to live life with all my senses
In each second I want to taste life
I want to inhale, exhale, touch, hear, see and feel
This is what I want
This is my life and this is how I choose to live it.

By Chani Macauley

Submit your own poems by emailing: editor@secrets2success.co.za

Henry Ford

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of, or at least minimise your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not going anywhere relationships or friendships. 

Observe the relationships around you.  Pay close attention.

Which ones lift and which ones lean?

Which ones encourage and which one discourage?

Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill?

When you leave certain people, do you feel better or feel worse?

Which ones always have drama or don’t really understand, know or appreciate you?

The  more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Remember that the people we hang out with will have an impact on both our lives and our income.  And so, we must be careful to choose them carefully, as well as the information with which we feed our minds.  We should not share our dreams with negative people, nor feed them with negative thoughts.

So – who is in your front row?

Have your read our 10 Tips to Banish Negativity?

“If there are a hundred steps
In thy path to success
And ye have not reached it
In ninety-nine of them
Do not conclude
That the journey is a failure.
Press on and up…
the prizes are generally at the end of an effort,
not at its beginning…
and not to go on
is to miss them.
Be valiant… have faith in yourself.
Success belongs to him
who dares to win it.”

George S. Forest

Submitted by: Impatient Leo

Have an inspirational quote or story to share?  Email editor@secrets2success.co.za

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over.”  I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”
My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”
“Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”
“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “Please turn around.”
“It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden.” We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path.  Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow.  Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
“Who did this?” I asked Carolyn.
“Just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”, was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of life.  That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time–often just one baby-step at time–and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.

We can change the world .

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted t o Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.

Anon

‘Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement.”

Henry Ford