Develop A Clear Vision & Plan For Your Future

Most people have a general idea about what they want for their lives. The capacity to relay that vision to others is the challenge. This is something that sets apart a leader from the rest.

The main quality that all leaders share is that they have a clear and exciting vision for the future, and the ability to communicate that vision.

Only a leader can think about the future and plan for the future each day.
Communicate Your Vision

Excellent leaders take the time to think through and develop a clear picture of how life will look in one, three and five-year increments.

Leaders have the ability to communicate this vision in such a way that others “buy in.” Eventually, others see this vision as belonging to them.
Motivate People To Give Their Best

It is the vision of the future possibilities, of what can be, that arouses emotion and motivates people to give their best.

The most powerful vision is always qualitative, aimed at and described in terms of values and mission. It is not a quantitative vision, described in terms of money and numbers.
Money Is Important

Of course, money is important. The decision and commitment to “be the best in the business,” though, is far more exciting.
Keep Your Cool

Another key to leadership success is for you to “keep your cool.”

A study at Stanford Business School examined the qualities that companies look for in promoting young managers toward senior executive positions, especially the position of Chief Executive Officer. The study concluded that there are two important qualities required for great success.

First, the ability to put together and function as part of a team.
All work is ultimately done by teams. A manager’s output is the output of the team. The ability to select team members, set objectives, delegate responsibility and finally, get the job done, is central to success in management.
Practice Patience Under Pressure

The second leadership quality required for rapid promotion is the ability to function well under pressure, especially in a crisis.

Keeping your cool in a crisis means to practice patience and self-control under difficult or disappointing circumstances.
All Eyes On You

The character and quality of a leader are often demonstrated in these critical moments under fire. In these moments everyone is watching, observing and taking notes.

Rudyard Kipling once said, “If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, then the world is yours and all that’s in it.”

Your job as a leader is to have a clear vision of where you want to go. Keep your cool when things go wrong, as they surely will.
Create Your Own Dream Future Board

Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, project forward 3-5 years and imagine your ideal future vision. What does it look like? What steps can you take right now to begin turning your future vision into your current reality?

A great tool to help visualize your future and focus on your goals is a vision board.

Also known as a dream board, the concept involves placing images of your ideal life, belongings, goals and affirmations onto a board or book.

Once created, you should look at it as often as possible to activate your reticular activating system. Notice the resources and opportunities necessary to make your dreams become part of your reality.

Doing so will also activate the Law of Attraction!

Second, resolve in advance that, no matter what happens, you will remain calm and cool. You will not become upset or angry. You will take a deep breath and focus on the solution rather than on the problem.

Leave a comment below stating one of your future goals and I’ll be sure to follow up with you!

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Finding Inner Peace

Finding inner peace is the path of letting go, even though, the path could be as hard or simple as a person makes the journey of self acceptance.

"He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe" ~ Marcus Aurelius

There are always many ups and downs in every one's life. Sometimes we get stuck in a world of confusion, wondering how we find a constant inner peace in our hearts and lives, when there is always something wrong in our lives or the lives of those we love.

What happens when we start to feel down or stressed?

First of all some kind of negative thought comes into our mind that gets us discouraged and anxious. The next thing that happens, is that we start believing in that thought. And feeding it with more arguments, which in turn gets us into a deeper state of confusion and sadness. Next thing we know, we find ourselves, there in that deep mud hole. We look around and all is doom and gloom.

What can we do so that this does not even happen?

1 - Accept what is: Life is unpredictable. Nothing is permanent, everything changes; and of course, a lot of things can happen that will transform who we are and have an impact on our life. The problem is that we need to be prepared to truly accept whatever comes and embrace it. This is what I have noticed with so many people, in that we focus and linger on things which we have no control over. Why worry about something that all the worrying in the world will not change? Why care about what other people think of us when we're not even sure what it is they are actually thinking? Yes, acceptance is a choice-a hard one most definitely, but a choice nonetheless. By practicing acceptance we learn to live in this changing world, where we never know what's going to happen next. Acceptance is like protecting ourselves with our own shields." You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give" ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

2 - Meditate: Meditation makes us mentally strong, and emotionally resilient. It reduces the tendency to react, increases the tendency to respond and is an effective way to de-stress our minds. If you are not meditating yet then, you are missing out on a very important activity that can change your life. When you have a lot on your mind and you feel like your thoughts are driving you crazy, meditation can help you find peace, calmness and more self acceptance. Meditation helps turning one's life into a more beautiful, harmonious and happy one. When mind, body and spirit are in harmony, then everything seems right with the world."Through concentration and meditation you become the boss of your mind, and gain the ability to tell it when to be active and when to stay silent" ~ Remez Sasson

3 - Spend time in nature: Nature calls you back to reality. We can't stop it from raining. We can't delay the setting sun. We can't set the temperature to a comfortable degree. When we are climbing a mountain, our muscles are going to burn. But with this surrender comes such relief! We awake from a dream and realize how little control we really have. We remember that hardship and lack of control are part of life, and accepting this reality makes it not only bearable, but possible to feel the joy of being alive. By being in nature we feel comfortable in our own skin, we experience our own quiet peace and strength, we sense the inner us that is the true us. The mask we present to the outer world is irrelevant for a time, and put in its proper place. Nature helps us to connect with this powerful, loving presence, whether we call it GOD, Earth Mother, the Great Mystery or any another name. Nature brings us closer to GOD, our own spirit and helps us to live lives of meaning and joy. "The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles." ~ Anne Frank

4 - Learn the power of a smile: A smile is a powerful key to living happy from the inside out. The simple act of smiling sends a message to your brain that you're happy. And when you're happy, your body pumps out all kinds of feel-good endorphins. Smiles are powerful and contagious. Don't hesitate to smile warmly at friends, family, colleagues and even strangers. Never stop smiling! God smiles on us each and every day. His love has no depth, his mercy no end. His arms are open wide, just step into them. "Smile and the world will smile with you."

5 - Choose to help others: Care for others genuinely around you. What you put out, you really get back in life. Being caring allows us to have empathy for others and to live a life based on affection, love, and compassion for the people around us. When we make a positive impact in someone else's life, we also make a positive impact in our own lives. Any act of kindness and goodwill eases our way towards inner peace. When we start helping others, we stop thinking about our so-called problems and then we realize that our life is not so bad after all. Do something that's greater than you - something that helps someone else to be happy or to suffer less. "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." ~ Charles Dickens

6 - Never lose hope: Never give up. Never lose hope. Always have faith, it allows you to cope better during the trying times. Having hope is a personal decision, a bold conviction-a choice, and with hope we always have a path towards peace. Having hope is an active, decisive mindset etched into every single moment. No matter the haze and fog that clouds our vision, hope's laser cuts through, and never losing sight of her shimmering stars. Hope is something we can never afford to lose Who we really are is based on values we choose to live by, such as believing in the possible, believing in the goodness of others, and believing in the power of love and hope. When we decide to passionately pursue our greatest purpose, then we become the hope in our lives and manifest her greatest dreams, because we refuse to consider any other possibility. As Henry James put it, "Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."

7 - Embrace your beliefs: I am not here to favour any belief system over another, but whatever it is that you are believing in, hold it closely in your arms, accept it willingly and enthusiastically, as by being within your faith, peace will find its way into your heart. We all might have different opinion in regards to our belief systems, but one thing that we all have to acknowledge is that without a healthy and solid belief system, we won't be able to find a fair conscience which could show us the way towards peace and wisdom. "Faith is universal. Our specific methods for understanding it are arbitrary. In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves." ~ Dan Brown

8 - Live in the present moment: When we live fully in the present moment, our awareness becomes completely centred on the here and now. We won't worry about the future or thinking about the past. How often have you been worrying about things that have yet to come, or how often have you been beating yourself for mistakes that you've made, no matter how much time has passed? Too much time, I believe. Not only living in present moment has a significant effect on our emotional health, but also it has a great impact on our physical wellbeing. By living in present moment we live in acceptance; we accept life the way it is, not the way we wish, it should have been. And when we live in acceptance, we realize that everything is complete as it is. We can forgive ourselves for the mistakes we've made, and we can have peace in our hearts knowing that everything that should happen will. "If you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is."

Finding inner peace is not a simple or short path, but it is a process that we can all learn. It is a journey which needs to be appreciated every step of the way. We have to be willing to let go and step outside the box that we have accepted ourselves to be put into, in the first place and start from scratch. We have to be ready getting to know ourselves all over again and be willing to make mistakes. And most importantly, we have to realize that only we have control over our emotional responses and reactions and they can be changed for the better. And finally when serenity and unconditional love fill our hearts, we will accept that we cannot go back, and will not give up what we have now found, that peace that we seem to have been searching for our whole lives. "Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you." ~ Rumi

Inner peace resides within us at all times. It has been said the only thing that prevents the human mind from finding peace, is the human mind itself. "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."

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3 Underrated Tips To Achieve Work-Life Balance

Is finding a work-life balance something that you struggle with?

The first thing to understand about work-life balance is that most people have the wrong idea of what that actually means. They think that their whole life should be balanced. That they should have a little bit of work and a little bit of play and a little bit of time on the weekends, in order to improve their quality of life.

When thinking about your quality of life, you have to ask yourself:

What do you really want to do with your life?

If the answer is that you want to be really successful in your career, you have to start a little earlier, you have to work a little harder, and you have to work a little later.
How Do You Manage Your Time?

Here’s an interesting discovery:

Almost all successful people work 6 days a week. Average people work 40, maybe even 30 hours a week. Now aside from actual time spent at work, the real problem comes down to what you accomplish while you’re at work.

Most people spend 50% of their time doing non-work related activities while they’re in the office.

Browsing social media, checking email, taking long lunch breaks, and chatting with co-workers are all examples of time-wasting behaviors. When these activities turn into habits, it becomes harder to get all of your work done in order to focus on other aspects of your life.

Here’s the key to achieving work-life balance: Choose to manage your time.

Choosing to manage your time effectively is the starting point of overcoming previous programming and eliminating mental blocks to time management. You must decide, right here and now, to become an expert in time-management in order to improve your quality of life.
Work-Life Balance Tips

Your aim should be to manage your time so well, that people admire you and look to you as a role model for their own work habits.

Here are three tips for time management that will help you achieve a work-life balance and improve your quality of life:

1) Use The Power Of Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations, or positive self-talk, are commands that you pass from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind, that you either say out loud or to yourself, with emotion and enthusiasm to drive the words into your subconscious mind.

Sort of like instructing yourself to follow new operating instructions.

Begin by repeating positive affirmations over and over to yourself, “I am excellent at time management! I am excellent at time management!” Or “I have a work-life balance!”

My favorite time management affirmation is, “I use my time well. I use my time well. I use my time well.”

When you repeat positive affirmations over and over, they are eventually accepted by your subconscious mind and you will find that your external behaviors will start to reflect your internal programming.

2) Visualize Your Time Management Skills

Mental pictures almost immediately influence your subconscious mind. Begin to see yourself as well organized, efficient, and effective in time management.

Recall and recreate memories and pictures of yourself when you were performing at your best and getting through enormous amounts of work.

Through positive affirmations, you can create a picture of the coming event and see it unfolding perfectly in every respect. See yourself as calm, positive, happy and in complete control. See the other people doing and saying exactly what you would want them to do if the situation was perfect.

Play this picture of yourself over and over again on the screen of your mind.

3) Take Action Based On Your Visualizations
Now that you have visualized and concentrated on what your day and your future will look like with proper time management, it’s time to put it into action.

Do this by working the entire time you’re at work. When you walk into the office, you should work the entire time you’re there. Be pleasant and friendly to your co-workers, but get to work right away and work until you are finished.

By doing this, you’ll get on top of your work and will walk away feeling accomplished at the end of your day. When you don’t have lingering tasks to worry about, since you’ll have worked as hard as you could have during your time in the office, you’ll be left with plenty of quality time to spend with your friends and family after work.

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7 Fool-Proof Steps to Achieving Your Goals In 2017

Years ago Scranton University did a survey and found that as high as 92% of people who set their New Year resolutions fail to accomplish them. Only a small 8% of people managed to achieve their resolutions. Why is this so?

Everyone wants to be successful and accomplish their goals; unfortunately, most people fail to do so. And this article is going to show exactly how you can turn your goals into reality.

7 Steps to Achieving Your Goals In 2017

You are going to learn the 7-step strategy that you can use to improve your chances of hitting your goals greatly:


Step #1 – Create the Intention

The first step you need to do is to create the intention. Most people fail because they are not taking any action, or they forget about their goals.

In other words, they never have the intention in their mind. Thus, if you want to achieve what you want in life; build the intention by constantly thinking about your goals.

Successful people are successful because they cannot get their dreams and their goals out of their mind. They constantly think about what they want and what they want to accomplish.

When you think about what you want, you will activate the Law of Attraction and build the intention; hence, you are more likely to take action.

So what do you think about most of the time? Do you think about your goals and what can you do to achieve them all the time? Or do you think about what to eat for dinner, which movie to watch or what you should do over the weekend?

Action Steps: Create intention and reminders for your goals. Practice daily goal setting by writing down your goals every day. You have to review and visit your goals from time to time to program them into your subconscious mind.


Step #2 – Make your goals tangible

The next step you need to do is to make your goals tangible. For instance, you can use affirmations, creative visualization, and a vision board to do this.

You want to make your goals as real as possible. This is why a vision board is so powerful because whenever you look at the things that you want, you remind yourself and consciously think about them.

Most people’s goals are just too vague and they cannot tell if they have achieved them. For example, if your goal is to be happy, or to get rich, how can you measure it?

If it is not measurable, it is not tangible. If your goal is to get rich, how much money do you need in order to become rich? Make it specific and make it tangible.

Action Steps: Make sure your goals are something tangible that you can actually perform and measure. Make your goals actionable.


Step #3 – Practice the ‘Big 5’ Strategy

What you need to do here is to take 5 action steps that will move you toward your goals. No matter how big or small the steps, you must do it.

Action is the bridge that connects what you want and your reality. Without taking action or doing anything, there is no way you can manifest your dreams and your goals.

The action can be as small as making a phone call or sending an email. If you follow this method of doing 5 little things each day, within a year, you will have accomplished 1825 small victories.

Never underestimate the power of consistency. What you do every day is more important than what you do once in a while.

If you take small but consistent action each day, you will eventually reach your goals, as long as you never give up.

Action Steps: Create your plan and milestones to hit each month and each week. Write down the 5 things you need to do the following day the night before.


Step #4 – Improve Your Skills

Abraham Lincoln once said;


“GIVE ME SIX HOURS TO CHOP DOWN A TREE AND I WILL SPEND THE FIRST FOUR SHARPENING THE AXE.”

Sadly, most people never spend any time to improve their skills or knowledge. Most people never read a book after their school days.

Imagine if you read 2 books a month, after a year you will have read 24. And if you can learn something new and improve your skills by at least 1% from a single book, you will become the best in your industry within a few short years.

Why do you think successful people are able to produce remarkable results in their lives? It is through hard work, persistence and their will to constantly improve on what they do.

Action Steps: Commit to reading and learning for at least 30 minutes a day. If you can’t find time for this, just wake up 30 minutes earlier. By just investing 30 minutes into reading, you will have read about 2 books in a month and 24 books in a year. Can you see how this can positively impact your life?

Step #5 – Make A Public Declaration

One of the main reasons people fail to reach their goal is because they are not committed to it. They say they want to build an internet business at night, but when they reach home after working, they choose to watch TV and waste time on Facebook.

When you are interested, you will do what is convenient, but when you are committed; you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.

So make a public commitment so that you will be more committed toward your goals. You don’t have to shout to everyone and share your goals with everyone. Choose to share them with those who will support and inspire you.

You can share with your spouse, your friends, colleagues or even your boss. Put yourself on the line so that you cannot fail.

Action Steps: Identify at least 3 people that you would like to share your goals and progress with. You have to create some form of commitment and accountability to put yourself into action.


Step #6 – Tracking Your Progress

This is a very important step that most people never do. They think that goal setting is a one-time job, and they forget about their goals a few days after they set them.

Never let this happen to you. You must consistently track your progress. Create a scoreboard for your actions and the results you are getting.

You should do this at least once a week. People who keep score on their goals are more committed; they know their standings, and they know what they need to do to hit their goals.

When you switch on the TV to watch a football match, the first thing you will check is the score. Imagine the football players playing without the score; do you think they will play as seriously?

When you know your progress and your score, you will understand if you are making progress or are you lacking behind. Your score will motivate you.

Action Steps: Create a scoreboard to track your progress each day. You just need to use a simple spreadsheet for this. It should be something easy to understand and simple to update.


Step #7 – Review Your Results
What happens when you take action but never get the results you want? And what happens if you don’t manage to reach your goals by the deadline?

This is where most people will give up and quit. Please understand that the main reason you set a goal is so that the goal can direct you and tell you what to do and where to go in your life.

If you fail to reach your goals, it does not mean that you have failed. As long as you are taking action and doing something to progress toward what you want in life, you are much better than when you first started.

The key is to make progress. Thus, if you did not reach your target, simply review your goals and create a new one.

Maybe you overestimated your ability or the time frame you set wasn’t reasonable. Review your goals and set out to accomplish them again.

Action Steps: Review your results each month or every quarter. If you hit your milestones, congratulations and keep moving forward. If you fail, do a post-mortem and find out where you can improve to get better results for the next term.


Conclusion
Achieving your goals can be something challenging especially if the goals you set are high. It doesn’t matter what your goals are. The most important thing is to make it challenging and make it fun.

Follow these 7 steps above and build a fool-proof strategy to achieve the things that you want in life.
So what do you think about this article? Do you think that these steps are useful to you? Share with me in the comment section below and let me know your thoughts.

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What I Learnt From No One Showing At My First Workshop

I have been working with a coach to create my creative transformation business and one of the first projects was my Wildly Intimate Woman workshop.

I easily found a yoga studio to host the workshop and worked with a designer to create the perfect flyer. I loved how everything was falling into place smoothly. I imagined many people showing up at the workshop. I ran Facebook ads that received many views and likes. I thought I was on the right track.

But there was a tiny voice that whispered to me. What if no one showed up? What if what I had to say wasn’t important? What if who I was wasn’t of value?

I shivered at these whispers. My response was to ignore this voice and keep doing what I had to do to make this workshop happen, even though a funny feeling stuck in my gut.

What I Learnt From No One Showing Up At My First Workshop

A week before the workshop, I received a call from the yoga studio. The lady who had burst with excitement at my workshop idea suddenly told me in a grim voice that no one had signed up.

My blood went cold. The tiny voice became louder. I told you so.

I gathered myself and told her I would actively promote my workshop even more aggressively. I stuck fliers around college campuses in the Bay Area and put up more Facebook ads.

I told myself everyday several times a day that my workshop was going to be successful and I was of value. I wrote affirmations about it every day leading up to the workshop.

The day before the workshop, I called the yoga studio again to check. I held my breath. Surely, a couple people must have signed up by then.


“I’M SORRY, NO ONE HAS SIGNED UP, PRIYANKA,” THE LADY SAID.

My whole body became stiff. My heart beat faster. My lips trembled. I wanted to cry. But I didn’t let myself. I asked her whether I should even come on the workshop day. She advised me to come in case people would show up the day of the workshop.

The morning of the workshop, I wanted to simply cancel the workshop. I wanted to run away. The voice became louder telling me I told you so over and over. I agreed with the voice. It was a logical point she was making. What was the point of showing up if no one came? I would only embarrass myself.

But something was deeply transforming in me. Deep in my body, I knew the answer. That I had to go. I had to show up for my desire no matter the outcome. I couldn’t run away.

I jumped into the shower. As the warm water drizzled down my soft skin, I began to sob uncontrollably. I turned off the faucet. But tears still washed my face clean. My whole body throbbed and shook.

After this, everything seemed to be a blur. I threw on my clothes, had a quick bite, and stuffed the goodie gift bags I brought for the workshop participants and my laptop in my car.

I parked my car, but still didn’t have the courage to walk into the yoga studio.

So I called the lady and she told me again the same thing. No one had showed up. As I walked inside, something shifted inside me. I felt the fear melting. I handed her one of the gift bags and thanked her for being supportive throughout the process.

Afterwards, I treated myself to lunch. I feasted on a delicious sandwich and smiled. This was actually alright. I was proud of myself for facing my fear and not running away. This is why my higher self wanted me to go anyway. These are the lessons she wanted me to learn.


1. Show up fully for your desire.

When a desire bubbles in your heart, it’s because your soul wants you to expand and grow. Your heart never desires anything that it doesn’t feel is possible. Live with it. Feel it. I have always desired to be a creative person. It’s what nourishes my soul. I feel happy, alive, and joyful when I write and involve myself in other creative pursuits.

The purpose of your soul is to grow and expand. How? When? Why? That is different for every single person. Next time, a desire arises in you, do not dismiss it. Sit with it. Close your eyes. Visualize your desire.

How does it feel? Indulge all your senses. Touch. Smell. See. Hear. Taste. How does your heart feel? How is your body responding?

Give yourself the time and space to do this. It doesn’t matter how your desire will be manifested or even if it will be manifested. There is peace and beauty in just feeling the desire and it’s taking you on a path you don’t even realize at the moment.

By showing up for my workshop even though no one had showed up, my fear of being seen melted away and I’m now excited to forge forward with new ideas and workshops.

2. Face your fear, instead of running away.

Up to the day of the workshop, my standard impulse of running away from what scares and pushes my comfort zone raged. I really wanted to run away because I didn’t want to face my fear. It is uncomfortable and sweaty and sticky. But something clicked in my head.

I had to change how I was feeling inside in order to change my circumstances. Instead of viewing it as a roadblock, I saw it as an opportunity for change. Something needed to be changed inside me. There was a reason I was not living my life according to my truth.

Facing your fears allows you to see the patterns in your thinking that created your self-belief so you can flip those opportunities as moments for change and adopt a new self-belief that serves you.

Remember as Pema Chodron said:


“NOTHING EVER GOES AWAY UNTIL IT HAS TAUGHT US WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW.”


3. Your self-worth and value is not determined by the outcome.

One of the most important lessons I learned from this experience that my value and self-worth are not linked to the outcome of this workshop or any external person or thing.

The fact that I showed up fully for my desire is most important and my value and true state of abundance comes from inside.

You can tap into that inner feeling and state of abundance and richness anytime and that will reflect in your external world eventually. New channels and experiences will open up and take you on an even more meaningful journey.

4. Surrender deeply to the process.
Surrendering and letting go does not mean that you are giving up in any way. It is about pouring all your energy and consciousness in the moment in front of you and releasing what happened yesterday and is to happen tomorrow.

It means you are letting your energy guide your actions. It is about being in sync with your higher self and going with the flow with a gentle trust.

This process and preparation period exists because you are not fully ready to call and accept your heart’s deepest desires. You’re not ready to call in that perfect job, relationship, or large sum of money into your life.

So you are in transition. You are going through a divine process of preparation.

It means diving in even deeper with yourself and having the patience to see the beauty of this gorgeous process. It means committing to your inner growth and evolution even more passionately.

Because when that desire does finally arrive, you will be the person you need to be to fully accept and enjoy that desire. Your higher self knew this all along. The journey and destination will be that much sweeter.


Summary
Here’s a quick recap on what I learnt from no one showing up at my first workshop:
Show up fully for your desire
Face your fear, instead of running away
Your self-worth and value is not determined by the outcome
Surrender deeply to the process
Has this article helped you? Leave a comment below.

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7 Fool-Proof Steps to Achieving Your Goals In 2017

Years ago Scranton University did a survey and found that as high as 92% of people who set their New Year resolutions fail to accomplish them. Only a small 8% of people managed to achieve their resolutions. Why is this so?

Everyone wants to be successful and accomplish their goals; unfortunately, most people fail to do so. And this article is going to show exactly how you can turn your goals into reality.


7 Steps to Achieving Your Goals In 2017

You are going to learn the 7-step strategy that you can use to improve your chances of hitting your goals greatly:

Step #1 – Create the Intention

The first step you need to do is to create the intention. Most people fail because they are not taking any action, or they forget about their goals.

In other words, they never have the intention in their mind. Thus, if you want to achieve what you want in life; build the intention by constantly thinking about your goals.

Successful people are successful because they cannot get their dreams and their goals out of their mind. They constantly think about what they want and what they want to accomplish.

When you think about what you want, you will activate the Law of Attraction and build the intention; hence, you are more likely to take action.

So what do you think about most of the time? Do you think about your goals and what can you do to achieve them all the time? Or do you think about what to eat for dinner, which movie to watch or what you should do over the weekend?

Action Steps: Create intention and reminders for your goals. Practice daily goal setting by writing down your goals every day. You have to review and visit your goals from time to time to program them into your subconscious mind.


Step #2 – Make your goals tangible

The next step you need to do is to make your goals tangible. For instance, you can use affirmations, creative visualization, and a vision board to do this.

You want to make your goals as real as possible. This is why a vision board is so powerful because whenever you look at the things that you want, you remind yourself and consciously think about them.

Most people’s goals are just too vague and they cannot tell if they have achieved them. For example, if your goal is to be happy, or to get rich, how can you measure it?

If it is not measurable, it is not tangible. If your goal is to get rich, how much money do you need in order to become rich? Make it specific and make it tangible.

Action Steps: Make sure your goals are something tangible that you can actually perform and measure. Make your goals actionable.


Step #3 – Practice the ‘Big 5’ Strategy

What you need to do here is to take 5 action steps that will move you toward your goals. No matter how big or small the steps, you must do it.

Action is the bridge that connects what you want and your reality. Without taking action or doing anything, there is no way you can manifest your dreams and your goals.

The action can be as small as making a phone call or sending an email. If you follow this method of doing 5 little things each day, within a year, you will have accomplished 1825 small victories.

Never underestimate the power of consistency. What you do every day is more important than what you do once in a while.

If you take small but consistent action each day, you will eventually reach your goals, as long as you never give up.

Action Steps: Create your plan and milestones to hit each month and each week. Write down the 5 things you need to do the following day the night before.


Step #4 – Improve Your Skills

Abraham Lincoln once said;

“GIVE ME SIX HOURS TO CHOP DOWN A TREE AND I WILL SPEND THE FIRST FOUR SHARPENING THE AXE.”

Sadly, most people never spend any time to improve their skills or knowledge. Most people never read a book after their school days.

Imagine if you read 2 books a month, after a year you will have read 24. And if you can learn something new and improve your skills by at least 1% from a single book, you will become the best in your industry within a few short years.

Why do you think successful people are able to produce remarkable results in their lives? It is through hard work, persistence and their will to constantly improve on what they do.

Action Steps: Commit to reading and learning for at least 30 minutes a day. If you can’t find time for this, just wake up 30 minutes earlier. By just investing 30 minutes into reading, you will have read about 2 books in a month and 24 books in a year. Can you see how this can positively impact your life?

Step #5 – Make A Public Declaration
One of the main reasons people fail to reach their goal is because they are not committed to it. They say they want to build an internet business at night, but when they reach home after working, they choose to watch TV and waste time on Facebook.

When you are interested, you will do what is convenient, but when you are committed; you will do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.

So make a public commitment so that you will be more committed toward your goals. You don’t have to shout to everyone and share your goals with everyone. Choose to share them with those who will support and inspire you.

You can share with your spouse, your friends, colleagues or even your boss. Put yourself on the line so that you cannot fail.

Action Steps: Identify at least 3 people that you would like to share your goals and progress with. You have to create some form of commitment and accountability to put yourself into action.


Step #6 – Tracking Your Progress

This is a very important step that most people never do. They think that goal setting is a one-time job, and they forget about their goals a few days after they set them.

Never let this happen to you. You must consistently track your progress. Create a scoreboard for your actions and the results you are getting.

You should do this at least once a week. People who keep score on their goals are more committed; they know their standings, and they know what they need to do to hit their goals.

When you switch on the TV to watch a football match, the first thing you will check is the score. Imagine the football players playing without the score; do you think they will play as seriously?

When you know your progress and your score, you will understand if you are making progress or are you lacking behind. Your score will motivate you.

Action Steps: Create a scoreboard to track your progress each day. You just need to use a simple spreadsheet for this. It should be something easy to understand and simple to update.


Step #7 – Review Your Results

What happens when you take action but never get the results you want? And what happens if you don’t manage to reach your goals by the deadline?

This is where most people will give up and quit. Please understand that the main reason you set a goal is so that the goal can direct you and tell you what to do and where to go in your life.

If you fail to reach your goals, it does not mean that you have failed. As long as you are taking action and doing something to progress toward what you want in life, you are much better than when you first started.

The key is to make progress. Thus, if you did not reach your target, simply review your goals and create a new one.

Maybe you overestimated your ability or the time frame you set wasn’t reasonable. Review your goals and set out to accomplish them again.

Action Steps: Review your results each month or every quarter. If you hit your milestones, congratulations and keep moving forward. If you fail, do a post-mortem and find out where you can improve to get better results for the next term.


Conclusion

Achieving your goals can be something challenging especially if the goals you set are high. It doesn’t matter what your goals are. The most important thing is to make it challenging and make it fun.

Follow these 7 steps above and build a fool-proof strategy to achieve the things that you want in life.
So what do you think about this article? Do you think that these steps are useful to you? Share with me in the comment section below and let me know your thoughts.

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How to Build Self Confidence: 6 Essential and Timeless Tips

“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.”
Helen Keller

“Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Brian Tracy

“Confidence is courage at ease.”
Daniel Maher

I believe that one of the most common wishes is simply to feel more confident in various situations in life.

But how?

Confident friends may say: “Well, just be confident, man!”. However, to a person that doesn’t feel that confident this piece of advice may not be very helpful. At all.

There are however some time-tested and timeless advice. And in this article I’ll explore some of those tips. You can learn much more about becoming more sure of yourself and building your inner strength and assertiveness in my 12-week Self-Esteem Course.

Now, I hope you will find something useful in this article to help you improve and maintain your own levels of confidence.

1. Take action. Get it done.

“Having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense.”
Thomas A. Bennett

“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.”
Thomas Carlyle

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
Dale Carnegie

The most important step in building self confidence is simply to take action. Working on something and getting it done. Sitting at home and thinking about it will just make you feel worse. Simple. But not always easy to do. To make it a bit easier, here are a three of my favourite ways to make it easier to take action:
Be present. This will help you snap out of over thinking and just go and do whatever you want to get done. This is probably the best tip I have found so far for taking more action since it puts you in a state where you feel little emotional resistance to the work you’ll do. And it puts you in state where the right actions often just seem to flow out of you in a focused but relaxed way and without much effort. One of the simplest ways to connect with the present moment is just to keep your focus on your breathing for a minute or two.
Lighten up. One way to dissuade yourself from taking action is to take whatever you are about to do too seriously. That makes it feel too big, too difficult and too scary. If you on the other hand relax a bit and lighten up you often realise that those problems and negative feelings are just something you are creating in your own mind. With a lighter state of mind your tasks seems lighter and become easier to get started with. Have a look at Lighten Up! for more on this.
Really, really want it. Then taking action isn’t something you have to force. Taking action becomes a very natural thing. It’s something you can’t wait to do.

2. Face your fear.

“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear.”
William Jennings Bryan

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

Look, I could tell you to do affirmations or other exercises for months in front of your mirror. It may have a positive effect. Just like preparing yourself it may help you to take action with more confidence.

But to be frank, if you don’t listen to the quotes above and face your fears you won’t experience any better self confidence on a deeper and more fundamental level. Having experiences where you face your fear is what really builds self confidence. There is no way around it.

However, there are ways to face your fears that do not include that much shaking of the knees. There are ways to make it easier for yourself.
Be curious. When you are stuck in fear you are closed up. You tend to create division in your world and mind. You create barriers between you and other things/people. When you shift to being curious your perceptions go SWOOSH! and the world just opens up. Curiosity is filled with anticipation and enthusiasm. It opens you up. And when you are open and enthusiastic then you have more fun things to think about than focusing on your fear. How do you become more curious? One way is to remember how life has become more fun in the past thanks to your curiosity and to remember all the cool things it helped you to discover and experience.
Realize that fear is often based on unhelpful interpretation. As humans we like to look for patterns. The problem is just that we often find negative and not so helpful patterns in our lives based on just one or two experiences. Or by misjudging situations. Or through some silly miscommunication. When you get too identified with your thoughts you’ll believe anything they tell you. A more helpful practise may be to not take your thoughts too seriously. A lot of the time they and your memory are pretty inaccurate.


3. Understand in what order things happen.

One of my favourite snippets of movie-dialogue is this one from the 1999 film “Three Kings”.

In this scene Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) wants the small team to save a fellow soldier and steal Saddam’s gold just after the first Gulf War has ended.

The young soldier Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze) has his doubts about the plan:

Archie Gates: You’re scared, right?
Conrad Vig: Maybe.
Archie Gates: The way it works is, you do the thing you’re scared shit less of, and you get the courage AFTER you do it, not before you do it.
Conrad Vig: That’s a dumb ass way to work. It should be the other way around.
Archie Gates: I know. That’s the way it works.

Great movie. Great little piece of dialogue. Even though it may not be what people want to hear.

The thing is, when you do things you don’t just build confidence in your ability to handle different situations. You also experience progressive desensitisation. What that means is that situations – like for example public speaking or maybe just showing your latest blog-post to an audience out there – that made you feel all shaky become more and more normal in your life. It is not longer something you psyche yourself up to do. It just becomes normal. Like tying your shoes, hanging out with your friends or taking a shower.

It may seem scary now. But after having done whatever you fear a few to a dozen times or so you may think: “Is that it?”. You almost feel disappointed of how anticlimactic it has become. You may even get a bit angry with yourself and wonder why you avoided doing it for so long.


4. Prepare.

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self- confidence is preparation.”
Arthur Ashe

When you know nothing of what you are about to do it’s very easy to get lost in vague, foggy fear and start building big horror scenarios in your mind of what may happen if you give it a try.

Preparing yourself and educating yourself can be a big help here. By for example rehearsing and rewriting your speech over and over you can pretty much learn it by heart. By doing research you can find breathing techniques that can quickly make your calmer and present. Or simple visualisation techniques that make you feel more confident and positive as you step out on the stage.

This is obviously more work than not doing anything about the speech at all before you start giving it. But it can make a huge difference in your confidence levels if you take the time to prepare yourself. And of course, the speech and the delivery of it will most likely be a lot better too.

So prepare and you will feel more comfortable and confident. Just don’t make the mistake of getting stuck in the preparation phase and using it as a way to avoid taking action and the possible pain that it may result in.

5. Realise that failure or being wrong will not kill you.

“Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong.”
Peter T. Mcintyre

“I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn’t fall down.”
Allen H. Neuharth

Again, you have to face your fear. Because it is only then that you discover the thing that billions of people throughout history have discovered before you. Failure won’t kill you. Nor will being wrong. The sky will not fall down. That’s just what people that haven’t faced their fear yet think.

The thing is to re-frame failure from being something that makes your legs shake to something useful and important for the growth of your self confidence and your overall growth as a human being. Here are four ways that failure can help you out:
You learn. Instead of seeing failure as something horrible you can start to view it more as a learning experience. When standing in the middle of a failure, you can ask yourself questions like: What’s awesome about this situation? What can I learn from this situation?
You gain experiences you could not get any other way. Â Ideally, you probably want to learn from other people’s mistakes and failures. That’s not always easy to do though. Sometimes you just have to fail on your own to learn a lesson and to gain an experience no one can relate to you in mere words.
You become stronger. Every time you fail you become more accustomed to it. You realise more and more that it’s not the end of the world. And, again, you get desensitised. You can handle things that would have been very hard to handle a few years back. Failing can also a have an exhilarating component because even though you failed you at least took a chance. You didn’t just sit on you hands doing nothing. And that took quite a bit of courage and determination.
Your chances of succeeding increases. Every time you fail you can learn and increase your inner strength. So every failure can make you more and more likely to succeed.

And remember, the world doesn’t revolve around you. You may like to think so. But it doesn’t. People really don’t care that much about what you do. They have their own life, problems and worries that the world revolves around them to focus on. They don’t think that much about you or are constantly monitoring what you do wrong or when you fail.

Maybe a disappointing thought. But a liberating and relieving one too because now you can let go of that worry that everyone is watching you.

6. Get to know who you are and what you want out of life.

“The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.”
Napoleon Hill

“Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you can’t do this or that. That’s nonsense. Make up your mind, you’ll never use crutches or a stick, then have a go at everything. Go to school, join in all the games you can. Go anywhere you want to. But never, never let them persuade you that things are too difficult or impossible.”
Douglas Bader

To build and find more confidence in yourself you have to get to know yourself better. Go exploring. Face some of your fears. Fail over and over and understand that it isn’t really that big of a deal. Grow stronger through such experiences and also become more internally relaxed. Figure out what really excites you by simply trying a whole bunch of stuff out.

When you know more about who you are and what you want out of life – not other people say you want – you will have more confidence in yourself and what you can do.

What other people say or think will have less of an impact than it used to because you know who you are better than they do. And since you have had all these experiences, since you have taken time to really get to know yourself and stretch yourself you will trust your own opinion and ability more than anything outside of you. You become stable and centred in yourself.



This will of course take time. It may be something that never really ends. So you might as well get started now.

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10 Daily Affirmations to Energise and Inspire You

The Morning Cycle: Anxiety, Dread, Negativity


“The only pressure I’m under is the pressure I’ve put on myself.”

Mark Messier

I would go to bed every night promising myself that everything will be okay and that my life is generally pretty good and that I’m reasonably successful. I’d remind myself of all the wonderful things that are happening and how grateful I should feel.

Then morning would come, as it always does, and I’d wake up with anxiety and dread. I would have a dozen terrible thoughts running through my head and literally feel heavy from the weight of these thoughts while still laying in bed! (Do thoughts actually have weight? I’m betting the negative ones do!)

Even before I’d rouse myself to start a new day and see what actually transpires, my thoughts had already made up stories that scared me to even face the day.

What if I have a car accident (one of my worst fears)? What if I have a disease I don’t know about? What if I lose someone I love today? What if this or that awful thing comes to be, what am I to do?

And on and on these negative thoughts would circulate my head as I showered and dressed and got ready for my day. I would wear a fake smile, look all happy and smart on the outside, and go about my day, feeling anything but peaceful.

By mid day, the morning’s anxious thoughts would dissipate and the busyness of the day would take over, but I’d be physically depleted from fighting this war in my head every single morning.

How I Found My Way out of Negativity

Then a few years ago, I stumbled upon something called “positive affirmations“, these first-person present-tense mantras or statements that you repeat over and over to cultivate a positive calm state of mind.

The skeptic in me poked fun at affirmations for the longest time, but the curiosity was thankfully stronger so I gave them a try. Every day, I’d start repeating three simple affirmations before even getting out of bed.

“I am feeling strong and healthy today. I am grateful and happy for my life. I trust myself.”

I did this for a week and let’s just say, by the end of that week, I could no longer justifiably make fun of positive affirmations! They worked miracles in my mind.

So I’m here to tell you today that you are not alone.

If you wake up with anxiety and stress, you are not alone.

If you think of all that could go wrong before the day has even started, you are not alone.

If your first thoughts in the morning are not peaceful, you are not alone.

Millions of people wake up with stress and anxiety every day. Science and medicine has researched and proven the harmful effects of negative thoughts and stress.

Stress and anxiety can have serious negative long-term effects on your physical health, your mental well being, your relationships, your job performance, your finances and your opportunities in life. Don’t let it do that to you!

Ready to heal your negativity?

“If you realised how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.” – Peace Pilgrim

You know the worst part? Most people don’t ever learn that changing their thoughts is within their complete power. So they remain slaves to their own thoughts – most of which are negative.

It turns out that you can choose your thoughts and if you can choose, then choose positive thoughts. It is a skill that you can develop at any age and stage in your life.

You have the brainpower, the smarts, and all the tools that you need to decide which thoughts you allow and which ones you forbid. It’s marvellous really when you get the hang of it.

The most effective tool to use to direct the right thoughts in and the wrong ones out is daily affirmations. When you learn how to incorporate daily affirmations into your life, first, you become aware.

You become aware of your thoughts and of what is going on in your head. You become aware of your natural tendency to think negative thoughts in certain (or most) situations.

Awareness helps you identify when the patterns are happening so that you can then use affirmations to reverse such patterns.

With the power of daily affirmations, the energy flow of your thoughts changes. You will infuse more positive energy into your mind and become aware of the potential negative energy surrounding you.

10 Daily Affirmations to Memorise Now


“I am safe. All is well. Everything comes to me at the right time.” ~Louise Hay

If daily tools are not quick and easy to use, we’re not likely to stick with them even if the benefits are huge. That’s why I pulled together a list of only 10 short and easy-to-memorise daily affirmations that are both effective and energising in helping you feel inner peace and excitement. It is best to say these first thing in the morning. Repeat each affirmation three times and do this for one week to start getting results.
I am enough.
I wake up happy and productive.
I accept my true identity.
I trust myself and my decisions.
I love and approve of myself.
I am worthy of happiness and respect.
I bring great energy to all things I do.
My body is healing itself all the time.
Gratitude is my default emotion in all things.
My life serves a purpose.

I included mostly first-person affirmations, because they’re generally the simplest ones to start with. You can memorise the list in pairs at first. Memorise two then another two and then keep adding. Or you can pick and choose your favourite affirmations from the list and only use those.

Remember: You are important. You are capable. You are smart. And you are worthy of love and happiness. Your thoughts may lie to you until you start to drive the negative thoughts out and focus on the positive ones. Affirmations can help you do this and much more. Give yourself another chance. Let affirmations be the start of your happiness now.

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