Your Daily Quote - Habit

“Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).” 
― Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

5 Tips to Stay Totally Committed to Your Goals

by David K. William | The Web Writer Spotlight

Most of us know what we really want to do in life but just haven’t pursued it because we are too attached to the comfort, safety or simplicity of our routines. However, if you truly want to grow and actualize your innermost dreams and capabilities, you must get to a point in life where commitment supersedes comfort. Here are five tips that will help you stay totally committed to a clear goal you’ve set, whether the goal is to make a career change to freelance writing in six months or build up your online income to $3,000 per month by the end of the year.

1. Desire hard

Napoleon Hill, in his classic book, Think and Grow Rich, says: "The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat." You need to deeply desire the actualization of your goal to make it happen. Sure, there will be good days and bad days along the way. There will also be times when you question your decisions and future, but if you can picture yourself achieving your goal and you really want to achieve it, chances are high you will stay committed to and achieve the goal. Miracles happen when you throw yourself fully into what you want to achieve.

2. Plan well

Stephen Covey, author of the best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, says: "All things are created twice. There's a mental or first creation, and a physical or second creation of all things. You have to make sure that the blueprint, the first creation, is really what you want, that you've thought everything through. Then you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind." You must plan well and map out the route to follow in order to accomplish your goals. Needless to say, the beaten adage still remains true: “Failing to plan, is planning to fail.”

3. Invest wisely

Deb McAlister-Holland, a freelance marketing professional in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, says the $5,000 she spent remodeling her home office was the best thing she ever did to realize her freelance dream and increase her productivity. "I love my home office. It has a big leather sofa, three walls covered with built-in bookshelves and storage cabinets, dedicated circuits for my computers, special lighting, and a soft hand-woven rug on the floor that's the perfect spot for my dog to nap while I work," she says. It’s important to arm yourself with the tools and knowledge you need to realize your dream. Arming yourself with the right tools and knowledge calls for wise investing―a material and immaterial effort that compels you stay true to your goal.

4. Sacrifice wholly

George Santayana, 20th century philosopher, poet, essayist and novelist, says: “Nothing so much enhances a good as to make sacrifices for it.” And he is right. A key sign that you are totally committed to something is when you are willing to make sacrifices for it. Army officers literary sacrifice their lives because they wholly believe and are committed to the greater good. Top-level athletes train and practice countless hours every day because they believe they can do better. If you believe in and are fully committed to your goal and mission, you will be willing to sacrifice. Step out of your comfort zone and trod the rocky path toward the realization of your dream.

5. Review regularly

Diana Scharf Hunt, renowned author and time-management guru, says: “Goals are dreams with deadlines.” Review your goal regularly to make sure you are making progress in the right sequence of time. Don’t allow your goal to fall by the wayside or let it be overtaken by time. Document everything and assess what you need to do to make things happen. If you are not making progress, tap into a support group to ensure you get all the help you need to realize your goal.

Source:

http://webwriterspotlight.com/5-tips-stay-totally-committed-your-goals

Your Daily Quote - Focus

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” 

~ Stephen Covey 

Character ethic vs Personality ethic

One of the main differentiations Steve Covey makes is between character (internal) andpersonality (external).

Unless they are aligned, you are not genuine or effective.

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE PLAN BACKWARDS

“Begin with the end in mind.” Stephen Covey

Successful people get results faster. But do they work more efficiently, or more effectively?

If you want to succeed, it’s not enough to work hard, and be constantly busy. You first need to have clarity of your goals, of your direction. Only when you know where you are going, you can identify what steps to take. Because otherwise it’s easy to get caught up in the “activity vicious circle”. And as an added “bonus”, if you are busy and work hard, but in the wrong direction, you will be moving further from your dreams, faster.

Every achievement starts with a plan, with a blueprint. When you go on a trip, before you even start planning the details, you decide on the destination. And only then you decide on the means of transport, what the stopovers are, and what to pack. When you build a house, the blueprint comes after the clarity of the concept – what kind of house, and what would be of high importance: functionality, number or size of the rooms, is it family–oriented, or what you want is creative peace and quiet?

And this vision ultimately reflects what is important to you in life.

So, here are the steps of drawing your plans, starting with the end result, the goal:

1.       Align your goal with your values – for what purpose do you want to achieve it?

What will YOU gain as a result of achieving that goal? Success, more time with the family, independence?

What is crucial is that what you want to achieve and what you do to get there, does not violate the criteria you have about what is supremely important to you. And that it contributes in a meaningful way to the vision you have of your life as a whole.

2.       Define what feeling achieving that goal will that give you: freedom, achievement, empowerment, love, recognition?

The stronger emotional attachment you have to the outcome of your actions, the more dedicated and motivated your unconscious, and conscious, minds are to achieving the results.

3.       What are the steps to get there?

Chunk down the final outcome into achievable, measurable and feasible steps. And beware of the “busy vs effective” approach.

4.       Now, write down the goal, in the present tense.

“It is 31 December 2015 and I have established a successful brand…”

As an essential part to step 4, it is very important to link the result to the feeling (of success, of freedom, of accomplishment, of contribution, of sharing love). Because this is your fuel to achieving a successful outcome, and battling through challenges, fears, unknown factors.

There are two reasons behind this power of your feelings. Tony Robbins often talks about the fact that we, as human beings, have two main drives in everything we do. We either do things to avoid pain, or to gain pleasure. Of course, in setting up your goals, you can factor in what will NOT happen if you do not achieve these goals. And, you can double-up the effect by adding the positive charge that the achievement will give you.

And, secondly, being in a positive state gives you access to multiple resources within you. Being in the state of happiness, feeling empowered, gives you not only the ability to believe in your own skills, but also the ability to reach for these skills when you need them the most, on your way to success.

So, get a pen and start defining your next achievement, and what it will mean to you.

Elena Alexandrova

Your Coach to Success

www.envisionlifedesign.com.au