Your Daily Quote - Possibilities

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” 
― Thomas Merton

Your Daily Quote - Plans

“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.” 
― Allen Saunders

Your Daily Quote - Determination

Crystallize your goals. Make a plan for achieving them and set yourself a deadline. Then, with supreme confidence, determination and disregard for obstacles and other people's criticisms, carry out your plan.

Paul J. Meyer

How To Set Goals – Lessons From Napolean Hill & Tim Ferriss

by Keep Inspiring Me

A goal is a dream with a deadline — Napoleon Hill

Think And Grow Rich is “The Secret” for hustlers, for people who want to go out and make things happen for themselves, but just need a push in the right direction.

The process of goal setting taught in Think and Grow Rich can be distilled into the following points:

1. Determine exactly how much money you desire – don’t be vague.
2. Determine exactly what you intend to do in order to earn the money you desire. What value are you going to offer? Remember, there is no free lunch.
3. Establish an exact date for when you plan to possess the amount of money you desire.
4. Establish a definite plan for achieving your desire, and start right this moment, whether or not you feel you’re ready.
5. Write out a clear statement of how much money you are going to acquire (the amount from step 1), what you intend to do in exchange for the money (the value from step 2), the date you’ll acquire it by (the date from step 3), and your specific, actionable plan for reaching the desired monetary goal (the plan from step 4).
6. Twice daily, read your written statement out loud to yourself. Do it once in the morning, and once at night. While you read the statement, visualize yourself executing on your plan and visualize the money in your possession.

The goal setting principles above fit into a larger framework of what Hill calls creating “burning desire to win”, but it is essential to the framework presented in Think And Grow Rich. While Hill focuses on goal setting as it applies to financial success (the book is called Think and Grow Rich after all), the same principles can be applied to anything you want to achieve.

In The 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss describes how he went from working 100+ hours a week on his online supplements business to turning it into a passive income business that funded his travels and hobbies. He accomplished this by creating what he calls a “dreamline” for his ideal lifestyle.

*Note: Don’t let the catchy title fool you, the 4 Hour Work Week isn’t about only working 4 hours a week – it’s about rejecting social norms regarding how we “should” live and work. It’s about using out-of-the box thinking to minimize the work we don’t want to do, so we can spend time doing what we really want.

What Ferris calls a “dreamline” is essentially a list of things you want to acquire and/or accomplish, without concern for how exactly you will accomplish it. The idea is to not limit yourself to your preconceived notions of what is or isn’t possible, but to design an ideal lifestyle for yourself, figure out how much money you’ll need to accomplish that lifestyle, and then aim to create income streams that will support that lifestyle. Its about setting fixed deadlines for creating our dream lifestyle, rather than using a vague notion of “the future” to indefinitely defer what we truly want from life.

Here is an excerpt from the 4 Hour Work Week where Tim talks about creating a dreamline.

Create two timelines—six months and twelve months—and list up to five things you dream of having (including, but not limited to, material wants: house, car, clothing, etc.), being (be a great cook, be fluent in Chinese, etc.), and doing (visiting Thailand, tracing your roots overseas, racing ostriches, etc.), in that order.

For now, don’t concern yourself with how these things will be accomplished. That’s all covered later.

Consider the question: What would you do, day-to-day, if you had $100 million in the bank? If still blocked, fill in the five “doing” spots with the following:

• 1 place to visit
• 1 thing to do before you die (a memory of a lifetime)
• 1 thing to do daily
• 1 thing to do weekly
• 1 thing you’ve always wanted to learn

Chances are that the ultimate TMI figure will be lower than expected, and it will decrease over time as you trade more and more “having” for once-in-a-lifetime “doing.” 

The key takeaway from the 4 hour work week as far as goal setting goes, is not to let our preconceived notions of what is and what isn’t possible dictate our goals. Much too often, people set goals based on what they think is realistic.

The other takeaway is to set both a short term and long term goals. You can write down a specific goal with a specific deadline, but if the end goal is 5, 10 years down the line, how do we measure progress in the meantime? Its important to create short term goals that you can start working towards right now, and to always give yourself less time than you think you’ll need to accomplish any given goal.

Conclusion

So now that we’ve looked at goal setting from the perspective of two authorities on the subject, what common elements can we draw here? Whether we’re talking about the great depression, or the modern internet era of remote working and the digital nomad, it looks like there are certain elements that remain universal truths when it comes to setting goals:

1. Don’t let your pre-conceived notions of what is and isn’t possible define your goals. Rather, describe what you want to achieve, and work backwards from that to create a plan to get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be).
2. Part of your goal setting should involve a plan of action to achieving your goal, starting from today.
3. Goals must be specific and exact in nature. They should state exactly what you want.
4. Goals must have a specific timeframe for accomplishment.
5. Goals should be written down so they’re concrete.
6. Re-visit your goals daily.

Just Do It: Tips for Avoiding Procrastination - Part 1 of 2

 By Michael Pitts and Jennifer Bennett - The Writing Center at GULC.

It’s 9:00 p.m. Your twenty-five page paper is due in exactly twelve hours, and you still have to write twenty pages, miraculously produce some sources you can actually cite, and maybe, if you’re lucky, squeeze in eight minutes for a quick proofread. A familiar feeling of panic is setting in, and you know you’ve got a long night ahead. This is not the first time you have pushed a paper deadline. You think, “How did I get myself into this situation again?” Then you remember that in the three months since the paper was assigned, you did everything you could to avoid working on the paper. And now, even though you have only twelve hours left, you’re still not doing what you know you should be – making a pot of black coffee and settling in to work. Instead, you’re staring into your refrigerator wondering if, despite having had dinner an hour ago, you’re already hungry enough to take a sandwich break. Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Most of us have been guilty of procrastination on one occasion or another, particularly when confronted with an unfamiliar writing task. The tendency to procrastinate may stem from anxiety, fear, embarrassment, or discomfort. The end result of procrastination may be a missed opportunity, a frustrated goal or a low quality work product. Whatever the causes or frequency of their occurrence, episodes of procrastination need not be terminal. With a small amount of reflection upon your particular modes of procrastination, you may be able to identify techniques that will help you enter the writing process with less stress. Here are some tips to help you end the vicious cycle of procrastination:

1. Break the Assignment Into Small Pieces
When you initially get a writing assignment, do you immediately think that you will be unable to finish such a big or complicated project? Do you panic at the thought of everything that will need to get done before a major assignment can be handed in? Stop. Try to remember that not everything has to be completed at once (unless you wait until the very end!). Make a list of the separate steps involved in the writing process (e.g., researching, generating a thesis statement, outlining, writing a first draft) and think of each step as an individual task. Just breaking up the idea of a paper in your mind can calm you down and help you feel more equipped to handle the task ahead. If you still procrastinate on the task after breaking it down, break it down even further. So, break “researching” down to “find ten relevant cases” and if that still seems unmanageable, break “find ten relevant cases” down to “run a Westlaw search.” Or, break “proofread” down to “check Bluebooking,” and if that still seems unmanageable, break it down still more to “make sure all case names are underlined.” Once your tasks are as simple as possible, you’re much more likely to sit down and complete them right away.

2. Make a Detailed To-Do List with Specific Deadlines
Is your only goal to complete the paper by the day it is due? Having a single, large goal with one deadline is a common mistake that facilitates procrastination. Break your assignment up into small tasks (see Tip # 1), then structure your to-do list around those specific tasks. For example, if you have completed your research and want to begin writing your first draft, set a goal of writing two pages a day, so that you can have a first draft in two weeks. Don’t forget to include specific personal goals in your planning. If you schedule time to exercise, do laundry, and go grocery shopping along with your project goals, you will increase your overall sense of control and your feeling of accomplishment. Remember to be realistic in your goal-setting – there’s no point in making overly optimistic to-do lists, because you’ll only feel discouraged if you don’t meet all your goals (nobody can write a first-draft, run five miles, walk the dog, and bake a layer cake in a single day). Finally, many people find that it helps to write a to-do list down and cross items off as they are completed – there is something intrinsically satisfying about marking off achievements, and this visual reminder of your progress is likely to inspire you to stay on task.

3. Make a Time Schedule … 
You’ve probably got a daily planner (if you don’t have one, you need to get one, or the electronic equivalent). What do you write in your planner? Do you write, “Work on first draft” each day for a full month? Instead of setting aside this type of general time to write your paper, set aside a specific time period (i.e., “Monday 7-9: Write two pages for first draft”) and make yourself adhere to the schedule. Some writers find it easier to plan if they work backward. That is, set a deadline for the project and then work backward to set interim deadlines for defined tasks that need to be accomplished in order to meet the deadline. No matter which mode of scheduling you use, make sure you also schedule in some time to NOT work. The most important thing to remember when making a schedule is that writing is an intensely personal process, and everyone approaches it differently. Do you know that it takes you a long time to research but only a short time to proofread? Tailor your schedule accordingly. Do you know that you’ll be exhausted after finishing your first draft? Give yourself a day off instead of scheduling yourself to immediately start revising. It is often helpful to overestimate the amount of work you have so that you give yourself plenty of time to finish everything – i.e., if you think it will take you three to five hours to check for Bluebooking errors, err on the side of caution and schedule in six hours to Bluebook. Finishing something early is hugely satisfying; feeling as though you’re scrambling to complete a task that you didn’t give yourself enough time for can be frustrating and demoralizing.

4. …and Stick to It 
Do you ever sit down to write – filled with good intentions – only to find that an hour has somehow passed and you’ve yet to write a word? It’s far too easy to spend two hours “writing” without getting anything done at all. To make sure you’re actually writing when you’re “writing,” eliminate as many distractions as possible. Sign out of gchat, turn off the movie you’re watching in the background, and resist the urge to compulsively check your email every two minutes. If you really need to, turn off your Internet altogether or work in a coffee shop that doesn’t have Wi-Fi. If it still seems daunting to do nothing but write for a two-hour block, break that block down into smaller chunks of time. Set a kitchen timer or an alarm clock for a specific amount of time (say, fifteen minutes), and tell yourself you will do nothing but write until the alarm sounds. You will be amazed at how much you can achieve in fifteen minutes of solid, focused writing and, at the end of the fifteen minutes, you will often find that you are eager to continue writing. If you hit a wall at the end of the fifteen minutes, don’t become anxious – working for fifteen minutes then taking a short break might not seem productive, but it is a much better use of your time than two hours of reading food blogs, checking Facebook, and taking an inordinately long time to type your name and the date at the top of your blank page.
Source:
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/legal-writing-scholarship/writing-center/upload/kaavya-just-do-it-tips-for-avoiding-procrastination.pdf

Тhe 10 Commandments of Leadership

Becoming a great leader comes down to remembering and following these 10 simple rules

by GEOFFREY JAMES

A group of archaeologists digging through ancient corporate archives recently
uncovered two mysterious tablets (aka "wall plaques") engraved with the
following laws:

I. Thou shalt remain optimistic.

Since thy employees look to thee for leadership, thou must not let thy
worries and concerns cast a black cloud over everyone else, for that
way lies certain failure.

II. Thou shalt set a clear direction.

If thou wouldst be a leader, thou must create a vision in the minds
of your followers whence and whither thou art leading them. Fail
at this, and thy organization will wander into the wilderness.

III. Thou shalt create a workable plan.

While no plan should be engraved in stone and plans should be amended
when conditions change, if thou hast failed to plan, then verily thou hast
also planned to fail.

IV. Thou shalt secure sufficient resources.

While it is written truly that faith can move mountains, that faith must be
accompanied by bulldozers, dump trucks, and paid employees who know
how to use them.

V. Thou shalt listen more than talk.

Leadership doth not consist of giving lectures and then issuing orders.
Leadership consists of understand what others desire and harnessing that
desire to serve the common good.

VI. Thou shalt not hold meetings without agendas.

Before each meeting send out a decree defining what will be discussed and
for how long. Then adhere to thy own decree as if the productivity of the
entire team depended on it. For verily it doth.

VII. Thou shalt not criticize in public.

Though thy staff and colleagues consist of fools and rogues, public shaming
creates resentment. Should a follower deserve a reprimand, provide it in the
privacy of thy office.

VIII. Thou shalt not ask an employee to do something that thou wouldst not
 do thyself.

Truly great leaders, should they perceive a scrap of litter on the floor of a
hallway, will bend down, pick it up and throw it into the trash.

IX. Thou shalt not make of thyself a bottleneck.

If thou insist upon making every final decision, the progress of thy organization
will grind to a halt. If thou canst not delegate, thou hast no business pretending
to be a leader.

X. Thou shalt give thy team the credit.

True leaders accept the blame when things go awry and take no credit when things
go right. Thy rightful reward will the love and commitment of those who continue
to work for thee.

Source:

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-10-commandments-of-leadership.html

Your Six Core Needs - Contribution, part 7 of 7

As discussed in the previous post, the last two human needs – growth and contribution, are needs of the spirit. And meeting them is what ultimately accomplishes our mission, our feeling of a fulfilled life, as human beings.

The need for contribution is one that I believe takes most time to mature in terms of how we meet it. Its scale grows with the person, and takes different proportions depending on the person’s achievements in life, and their social engagement.

What contribution means for a little toddler is helping mum put the toys away, or wash the dishes. Or make a cake – it is a most tangible achievement, and very rewarding, indeed! Then the child moves into the community of its class and school. You know those active children that take part in every committee at school, give their voice at every meeting and want to change the world? They certainly are meeting their need for significance, but also there is the need for contribution met in an ecological, sustainable, resourceful way. When you start doing things for the greater good and not only for your personal satisfaction, this is when you are moving in the right direction of self-fulfillment. Because sooner or later this need will start working on your conscience, and will expect that you give it due attention and effort.

Adults contribute to society in many ways – the head of the family looks after his children, protects his wife and name; we all give our best as employees, business owners, housewives. Family, workplace, immediate community are, most often, grateful beneficiaries of our commitment, dedication, ability and desire to give and not only grow ourselves, but help grow. And the more we meet the need to contribute, the bigger the contribution becomes with every step.

Alternatively, if there is a disharmony between our need and what we actually accomplish, we revert to unresourceful behavioural patterns. We anaesthetise ourselves by watching TV, playing games, watching mindless movies, and having a drink… or five.

It is equally important to find the resourceful ways to contribute to your relationship. If you cannot figure out what to bring into that special environment/community of two, you may fall into a sabotaging withdrawal. Or even into an aggressive attitude, that tries to cover up for the emptiness and lack of clarity on how you can make yourself useful, how you can act and grow so that you feel like you have created, and keep building up, a noteworthy entity.

A relationship based on trust and desire to learn more about the other partner, and contribute to their world, is one that vows for longevity. Contribution starts with a little gesture of generosity, and moves onto selfless acts of responding to the needs of your partner. The next step is to be proactive, to anticipate what will work and make this partnership bigger, of higher grandeur, more mature.

So start listening and noticing – what are your partner’s needs, what works and what needs improvement. Where do you see this relationship in a month? In five years? In 50? How can the two of you turn into two wise, knowledgeable people who cannot only sense each other’s needs and step in when needed, but take this wisdom to a state of living in harmony, and teaching others how to achieve it? Because once you start doing it and applying it every step of the way, the next stage will be to teach it, to spread it. So that you can contribute even further and help create more happy and fulfilled couples.

Elena Alexandrova-Long

Your Coach to Success

www.envisionlifedesign.com.au

Your Daily Quote - Planning

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.” 
Douglas H. Everett

Anthony Robbins Motivation - Tony Robbins 5 Steps To Take Control Of You...

The five C's start with your Capture list. Writing down your action items. The question is what to do with this list, and for what purpose you accomplish these tasks.

How will you improve your thinking and planning, to get better results?

Your Daily Quote - Successful Spirit

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...” 
― Wilfred Peterson

Your Daily Quote - Plan Your Life

"I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change." -- Jim Rohn

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

The Mistake Smart People Make: Being In Motion vs. Taking Action

Motion vs. Action

Motion is when you’re busy doing something, but that task will never produce an outcome by itself. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will get you a result.

Here are some examples…

• If I outline 20 ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually write and publish an article, that’s action.
• If I email 10 new leads for my business and start conversations with them, that’s motion. If they actually buy something and turn into a customer, that’s action.
• If I search for a better diet plan and read a few books on the topic, that’s motion. If I actually eat a healthy meal, that’s action.
• If I go to the gym and ask about getting a personal trainer, that’s motion. If I actually step under the bar and start squatting, that’s action.
• If I study for a test or prepare for a research project, that’s motion. If I actually take the test or write my research paper, that’s action.

Sometimes motion is good because it allows you to prepare and strategize and learn. But motion will never — by itself — lead to the result you are looking to achieve.

It doesn’t matter how many times you go talk to the personal trainer, that motion will never get you in shape. Only the action of working out will get you the result you’re looking to achieve.

Why Smart People Find Themselves in Motion

If motion doesn’t lead to results, why do we do it?

Sometimes we do it because we actually need to plan or learn more. But more often than not, we do it because motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure. Most of us are experts at avoiding criticism. It doesn’t feel good to fail or to be judged publicly, so we tend to avoid situations where that might happen.

And that’s the biggest reason why you slip into motion rather than taking action: you want to delay failure.

Yes, I’d like to get in shape. But, I don’t want to look stupid in the gym, so I’ll just talk to the trainer about their rates instead.

Yes, I’d like to land more clients for my business. But, if I ask for the sale, I might get turned down. So maybe I should just email 10 potential clients instead.

Yes, I’d like to lose weight. But, I don’t want to be the weird one who eats healthy at lunch. So maybe I should just plan some healthy meals when I get home instead.

It’s very easy to do these things and convince yourself that you’re still moving in the right direction.

“I’ve got conversations going with 4 potential clients right now. This is good. We’re moving in the right direction.”

“I brainstormed some ideas for that book I want to write. This is coming together.”

Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. And when preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something.

Ideas for Taking Action

I’m sure there are many strategies for taking action, but I can think of two that have worked for me.

1. Set a schedule for your actions.

Every Monday and every Thursday, I write a new article and publish it to the world. It’s just what happens on those days. It’s my schedule. I love Mondays and Thursdays because I know that I will always produce something on those days. I’ll get a result. That’s a good feeling.

For weightlifting, I train on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That’s the schedule every week. I’m not planning workout exercises. I’m not researching workout programs. I’m simply working out. Action, not motion.

For on–going goals and lifestyle changes, I think this is the best approach. Set a schedule for your actions and stick to it.

2. Pick a date to shift you from motion to action.

For some goals, setting a daily or weekly schedule doesn’t work as well.

This is the case if you’re doing something that is only going to happen once: like releasing your new book, or launching a new product, or taking a big exam, or submitting a major project.

These things require some planning up front (motion). They also require plenty of action to complete them. For example, you could set a schedule each week to write each chapter of your book. But for the book launch itself, you could spend weeks or months planning different venues, locations, and so on.

In a situation like this, I find that it’s best to simply pick a date. Put something on the calendar. Make it public. This is when X is happening.

For big projects or one–time goals, I think this is the best approach. Force yourself out of motion and into action by setting a hard deadline.

Choose Action

Never mistake activity for achievement.
—John Wooden

Motion will never produce a final result. Action will.

When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result.

Are you doing something? Or are you just preparing to do it?

Are you in motion? Or are you taking action?

Source: http://jamesclear.com/taking-action