Power of hope

No matter how bad things seem to be at any moment of time, there is always hope. There is a saying "This too will pass"  I hope that todays story brings a small ray of hope to you this day!!! Jean Kerr said, "Hope is the feeling you have, that the feeling you have, isn't permanent." It is what we have when we know that we WILL eventually survive the night and bask in sunshine once again. It does not deny the present darkness, but it reminds us that dawn is coming. Brigadier General Robinson Risner ("Robbie") spent seven years as a POW at the "Hanoi Hilton," as prisoners of war called their North Viet Nam compound. There he discovered the power of hope. He spent four and a half years of that time in isolation. He endured ten months of total darkness. Those ten months were the longest of his life. When they boarded up his little seven-by- seven foot cell, shutting out the light, he wondered if he was going to make it. He had already been under intense physical and mental duress after years of confinement. And now, not a glimmer of light shone into his cell -- or into his soul. Robbie spent hours a day exercising and praying. But at times he felt he could nothing but scream. Not wanting to give his captors the satisfaction of knowing they'd broken him, he stuffed clothing into his mouth to muffle the noise as he screamed at the top of his lungs. One day Robbie got down on the floor and crawled under his bunk. He located a vent that let in outside air. As he pressed against the vent, he saw a faint glimmer of light reflected on the inside wall of the opening. Robbie put his eye next to the cement wall and discovered a minute crack in the construction. It allowed him to glimpse outside, but was so small that all he could see was one blade of grass. A single blade of grass and a faint ray of light. But when he stared at the sight, he felt a surge of joy, excitement and gratitude like he hadn't known in years. "It represented life, growth, and freedom," he later said, "and I knew God had not forgotten me." It was a tiny glimmer hope that sustained Robbie through an unbearable ordeal. The human spirit is strong. It seems to run forever on nothing but a morsel of hope. Without it, you have nothing. With it, nothing else matters.

YES YOU CAN!!!

"CANI" stands for Constant And Never-ending Improvement. It's an acronym that Tony developed more than a decade ago and he was influenced by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Dr. Deming is credited as one of the leaders who brought one of the first quality movements to the Japanese. His basic premise was that the secret to help the Japanese achieve world power and economic success was if every single person and organization commit to constant improvement.

The Japanese have a single word for "constant and never-ending improvement" and it's called "Kaizen." Kaizen is from the Japanese words Kai and Zen where "kai" means change and "zen" means good. Yes folks, change is good.

It is very easy to get caught up in your goals and desired end-outcomes...to the point of becoming overwhelmed. CANI offers a solution and a point of reference to focus your attention on. If all you did was improve one tiny aspect of your life every single day, you would achieve mastery in uncommon time.

This links in with many other thought teachers:

Waitley..power of 5.

Canfield...top 5

Amongst many others. 

Benefits of CANI include:

• Creates a personal and business momentum that will be hard for your competitors to catch up with.
• Personal satisfaction and fulfillment because it will cause you to grow personally.
• Leads to innovation. Innovation creates leverage.

Tony Robbins once said, "We only learn our limits by going beyond them." CANI! is a principle designed to encourage you to make small incremental improvements daily...and in doing so, you will be forced to find a way to go beyond your current set of self-imposed limitations.

Which areas of your life do you want to apply the principles of CANI! Today?

o Prosperity & Financial

o Family Relationships

o Friendship Building

o Health & Fitness

o Spirituality

o Recreation & Pleasure/Joy

o Education & Career Advancement

o Public Service/Volunteering

If you define your success as a "journey" rather than an end-destination, you can take comfort in the fact that personal growth and satisfaction can come from constant and never-ending improvement (CANI!).

Igniting lives on fire


www.fraserstirling.co.nz

LESSONS FROM A 3 MONTH OLD

The aim of my blogs are to challenge, inspire and motivation you gain a new perspective on certain things and to look at life from a fresh point-of-view. I have no doubt that they will be of great value in helping you pursue and achieve your dreams.

As I mentioned a while ago, our first-born son, Malachi, came into the world on the 29th of February 2012. 

From that very first day of his birth I have learnt several valuable lessons and some things I took for granted before have taken on a deeper meaning and significance. As I write this he is only 3 months old, but he has taught me so much already.

I know you’re probably wondering what a 3 month old baby can teach anyone. A lot – if you are willing to learn and you can see beyond the obvious.

One evening, when I was about to go to bed, I noticed our son, Malachi, trying to reach out to grab my jersey while he was having his bed time cuddles. . The jersey was just a few inches from him and he had his left hand stretched out towards it. He had a look of intense concentration on his face. There were other objects around which were within reach, but somehow the colours of my jumper had caught his attention.Watching him trying to get it, I had no doubt from the look on his face and the way his arm was stretched out that, at that time, stretching out for his object was the only thing on his mind.

I thought to myself “hey, he has started setting goals already!” Yes, I mean that. It may seem small, but when he started reaching for the jumper, to him it was a worthy goal. He decided that he wanted the phone. He was able to focus on it and decide on his own that stretching out was the best way to get it.

I found that fascinating. At 3 months old he was able to decide what he wanted, decide how to go about getting it and even able to focus all his attention and energy on getting it. I don’t know about you, but I think he was doing a lot better than most adults!

Over time he will find he has other means to reach out and get things. Instead of just stretching out he will be able to wiggle on his belly and get closer to the object. One day he will crawl..watch our Zippy!!!(Our Dog)

There is something to be learnt in this. When you decide to do something it is not necessary to immediately think about how to go about getting it. Sooner or later, once you start the project, you will find there are other ways to get what you wanted which you did not and could not know when you started.

Deciding what you want is always the most important step. “How” comes later and, if you ask me, is the easier part.

It did not take long for me to notice, however, that Malachi would lose interest in whatever he had been trying to get soon after getting it. Once he had it in his hands he’d suck on it for a while and then allow his attention to be drawn by something else around him.  

No sooner do you get the car you want and then you decide you want a Porsche next. 

Somehow having the object is not as motivating as striving to get it. Once one goal is accomplished, you want to reach out to the next.

I think that is healthy. In pushing ourselves to get something better we are always redefining our boundaries and pushing the bar higher and higher. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you should not be happy with what you have or what you have achieved.
I am saying no matter what you have or what you have achieved, you should realize that you can always do better. I think also that you should try to do more, not so much for the thing itself, but for what it does to you when you set a goal and achieve it.

Motivation essay - stretch beyond your comfort zone
Every time you stretch yourself beyond your comfort zone, something about you changes. You grow. Every time you grow, you are irreversibly “stretched” to a new level of thinking and being.
Many people are living corpses today because they have stopped growing. They wonder around in life aimlessly. They could live another 10, 20 or even 50 years, but they might as well be buried today because there is nothing worthwhile they are going to do with that time. They just exist. They’re just passing time.
“I ain’t goin’ out like that.” Every year that I live I want to do something I could not do the previous year. Every year has got to be better than the previous one. Otherwise, what’s the point? That is my philosophy, and I hope you will make it yours if you haven’t already.
Motivation essay - keep Growing
Reach out – set your goal, focus on it until you achieve it and then…set another goal! The harder the better.Never stop reaching out. Never stop growing. Never stop living!


Igniting lives on fire
www.fraserstirling.co.nz

Tips that keep you one step ahead of procrastination.

Someone asked me today, how do I keep focused on one thing at a time.  As I thought about this, I was reminded of the procrastination.
It takes deliberate strategies to avoid becoming our own worst enemy by procrastinating on our intended actions. Here are some tips, that will keep you one step ahead of procrastination. 

1) Time travel: How to counteract the irrationality of human nature.

We discount future rewards as less important than a task at hand, particularly if it's a more pleasant activity, and we really aren't very good at predicting how we'll feel in the future.

"Time travel" can help here. That is, we need to use concrete mental images of the future more often and more accurately, to represent the future as though it were happening in the present. For example, a person who is procrastinating on saving for retirement might imagine as vividly as possible living on his or her potential retirement savings. To make a future image like this more concrete and accurate, it may be important to set out some numbers for a budget and take into account the reality of the need for and increasing expense of health care in old age. Planning shouldn't be an abstract notion of "doing it tomorrow." Think about the task in the real context of the day, and think carefully about how these tasks make you feel. This strategy will help you prepare for tip #2. If you are unsure, then imaging what the finished product will be like.  What emotions will you be feeling?  


2) Don't give in to feeling good: Short-term gain v long-term pain. When self-regulation fails, it's often because short-term emotional repair takes precedence over our long-term goals. For example, a task at hand makes us feel anxious or overwhelmed, so we "give in to feel good," seeking immediate emotional relief, and we walk away, leaving the task for tomorrow. Here's where emotional intelligence is so important to procrastinating less. Learn to recognize that we can have negative emotions without acting on them. Stay put for a minute—don't walk away. Don't give in to "I'll feel more like it tomorrow." Acknowledge the negative emotions, but get started anyway. Progress on a goal provides the motivation for another step forward. Just get started; the negative emotions will pass. 


3) Reduce uncertainty and distractions. Planning is one thing; action is another. In fact, what can make a task aversive to us when we're simply making an intention or planning is how meaningful a goal is. The less meaningful the goal, the less likely we'll want to do the task. However, when it's time to act, aversive tasks—those we're most likely to procrastinate on—are those for which we're uncertain how to proceed. We're most likely to procrastinate on tasks that lack structure. This means that in addition to making your task concrete (see tip #1), it's important to reduce the uncertainty about how to proceed—and, when it's time to act, to reduce available distractions as well. Shut off your e-mail, isolate yourself as much as you can, and make sure the environment around you is working to strengthen your willpower and focus, not to undermine your efforts. Speaking of willpower… 


4) Willpower: How to make the most of the willpower muscle. A great deal of recent research clearly indicates that willpower is like a muscle. You can exhaust it more quickly than you might imagine and, when you do, you lose your ability to self-regulate your behavior. One immediate method to strengthen your resolve in order to keep you on task is to remind yourself of your values. This process of self-affirmation bolsters our flagging reserves of willpower. Another self-regulatory boost can come from mindfulness meditation. Attention is the first step in self-regulation, so learning to keep focused attention will help you procrastinate less by strengthening self-regulation.


Take action today.


Igniting Lives on Fire


www.fraserstirling.co.nz 

How do I stay motivated?

Recently I wrote about things that inspire me and I also shared a short clip that was filled with challenging messages. However many people still ask "How can I maintain my motivation over the long term?"
This seems to be quite a common dilemma for many people, so I wanted to address it here. Here are some tips for staying motivated:

Ride the momentum when it comes.
Sometimes you will just be clicking and sometimes you won’t. It’s OK. It’s how life is. When you aren’t clicking, plug away- Things come in seasons. As I was reminded of a story I used when I was growing up "Sunday is coming, meaning better things are on their way". When you are feeling good about how your work is going, ride the momentum and get as much out of it as you can!
It is true that motivation doesn’t last. We have to renew it each and every day. This doesn’t make motivation a bad thing; we just need to realize that in order to stay motivated, we’ll need to reapply it to our lives each and every day.

Zig Ziglar is famous for saying how we need to refill our motivation daily, much like we need to bath/ shower daily as it doesn't last.

Put good materials into your mind.
I can’t say this enough: Listen to audiotapes or CDs. Read good books. Read books that teach you new ideas and skills. Read books that tell the stories of successful people. Buy great music, and listen to it. Music gets you going and motivates you!These are simple principles that, when put to work regularly, will keep you motivated and change your life. Get going!

Turn your car in a mobile library- Listen to audio books and or CD's from great speakers.
Work hard enough to get results.
You can build on your motivation by getting results. The harder you work, the more results you will get; the more results you get, the more motivated you will become to get more. These things all build on one another.
Fuel your passion. (Ignite the fire within)
Emotion plays a big part in staying motivated. I don’t quite know how emotion works with motivation, but I do know that it works. Emotion is a powerful force in getting us going. Passion is an emotion, so fuel your passion. Set yourself on a course to have a consuming desire for your goal, whatever it is. Do whatever you can to feel emotion, and use it to your advantage.

Esther Hicks has alot of details on the power of emotions.
Have a vision for your life.
The root word of motivation is motive. The definition of motive is, “a reason to act.” This is the cognitive or rational side of motivation. It is your vision. To stay motivated, you need to have a vision that is big enough to motivate you every day. Set out a vision and a strategy for getting there. Have a plan, and work the plan.
Get motivated every day.
Zig Ziglar was once confronted about being a “motivational speaker.” The guy said to him, “You guys come and get people hyped up, and then you leave, and the motivation goes away. It doesn’t last, and then you have to get motivated again.” Zig reminded the gentleman that baths are the same way, but we still think it is a good idea to take a bath every day!
It is true that motivation doesn’t last. We have to renew it each and every day. This doesn’t make motivation a bad thing; we just need to realize that in order to stay motivated, we’ll need to reapply it to our lives each and every day.

So make sure you take time today to see that you have fueled yourself with fuel that will help you attain your hearts desire.

Igniting the fire within.

Fraser

www.fraserstirling.co.nz

Do I have to???

I wish personal growth would just happen! I wish I would just get better and money would fall out of the sky. I wish my waist would get smaller even as I sit on the couch in front of a warm fire eating Breyer’s Vanilla Bean ice cream. Oh, how I wish it was easy!

Okay, enough whining, enough dreaming, enough lack of reality. I have it out of my system! The reality is that it is work to grow personally. The sooner we realize that, even lovingly embrace that, the sooner we jump on the highway of success! The fact is that we “have to” do some things!

In order to attain your goals and desires you have to...

You have to know what it is that you want.
Wanting personal growth isn’t enough. Do you want more money? How much? Do you want to lose weight? How much? Do you want a spouse? Who? Do you want to travel? Where? Do you want more freedom in your professional life? What would that look like? Clearly define in your mind what it is that you want! Once you do…

You have to decide that you really want it.
Do you really want it? That is the place to start, really, because I have realized working with people that many of them really don’t want what they think they want once I talk them through all of the issues. Is this what you really want or is it a dream you have to escape something else? For example, do you really want to quit your job and start your own company? Do you want the risk to reputation? The risk of capital loss? Do you want to work from six in the morning until nine at night, seven days a week for the next two to three years? Do you really want it? Yes? Proceed…

You have to be willing to sacrifice to get it.
What will you give up to get personal growth? I know what I have to give up to be able to fit into size 32 pants—mud pie! Now, you may not think that is so bad, but you don’t know how bad I love mud pie! I know that it is a sacrifice for me to get to the gym every day of the week (okay, I usually take two Sunday afternoon’s a month off). I know how much I write the check out for each month to belong to the gym—it would feed a small army. This is sacrifice, all of it. What are you willing to sacrifice to get personal growth in your life? Are you willing? Then proceed…

You have to be willing to be criticized.
Surprisingly, the average person doesn’t like the average achiever. Why? Because they make the average person feel, well, average. They resent that the achiever makes choices they don’t make, even though they could too. And they secretly resent that the achiever benefits from rewards that they don’t. It seems odd, but working with thousands of people over the years I have seen enough jealousy and envy to fill every seat in the Rose Bowl. Can you handle that to various degrees? Then see number five…

You have to decide you want it more than other pleasures.
What is more pleasurable: ice cream every night or a proper weight? What is more pleasurable: sitting on the couch or pounding away on a treadmill? What is more pleasurable: spending your money on the things you want right now or saving for later? What is more pleasurable: getting off at five every night or working endlessly on the weekends? What is more pleasurable: reading a favorite novel or a technical book? What is more pleasurable: four weeks of vacation or one? You get the point. In order to grow personally or professionally, there will have to be a desire to work hard in spite of the pleasures that call your name. And if you work it right, in the end there will be plenty of time to reward yourself with the pleasures of accomplishment. Do you want it more than other pleasures? Really? Then let’s move on…

You have to take a long-term approach.
Why do most people fail to accomplish their personal growth goals? Because they take a short-term approach. They know what to do. They do it for a week or a month, then they quit. Every January the gym gets so busy. Then February rolls around and I have no problem getting on the machines! In order to accomplish your personal growth goals, you absolutely, positively, must view it as a long-term goal. For example, when most people want to lose weight, what do they do? They change their diet until they lose it. Then what? They change it back and gain the weight back. Instead, they ought to say, I am changing the way I eat for the rest of my life and slowly but surely my weight will take care of itself. And it does! Are you capable of seeing your personal goals in the long term? Well then you are ready for number seven…

You have to diligently, methodically and relentlessly work at it.
Every day, every week, every year. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. For 25 years Zig Ziglar has read for three hours a day! No wonder he oozes information! That is diligence. That is methodical. That is relentless! Can you do the same for yourself in the area you want to grow in? Certainly! But will you? That is the question. If you do, you will achieve any dream you set forth for yourself!
You can achieve personal growth! It is entirely possible for you to live your dreams! Put the above to work and you will see them unfold before your very eyes! Just remember, it won’t just happen to you, you “have-to” do some things!

Doing the Have Tos helps ignite the fire within.

What do you believe?

I give myself the green light to move forward, and joyously embrace the new! - Louise L. Hay

The quote by Louise reminds me of our beliefs. We live up to the thoughts which we continually hold. Our beliefs need to change before we are able to move froward. Old beliefs must be replaced before we can make headway. This is what the above quote is referring to. We have to give ourselves permission to move on. It's not enough to know what we think or believe, we need to change the though process.

For us to move on we need to address the beliefs that brought us to where we are. They can simply be beliefs that we learn from others, parents, teachers and or our social group. They hold us where we are.

What are some beliefs?

I don't have time.

No one likes me.

No one has done it before.

Food makes me fat.

When we can identify where we are (beliefs) it is important to identify where we want to be so that this gives us freedom (permission) to form new ideas. Beliefs aren't bad, we simply need to acknowledge that they hold us where we are at this moment in time.

Remember that to move on into new things/ areas we first must accept that our beliefs brought us here. In order to move you we must change the beliefs we hold.

What thoughts are you holding? Did you need to do some rewriting of your thoughts?

Remember to ignite the fire within.

Fraser

How to stay motivated

Just been on holiday with no TV, radio.....internet...zippo...nothing and I was still highly motivated, and was reminded of this great article by Chris Widener.

Some time ago, someone wrote me an email and said, “I would love to know what motivates YOU!” So I took them up on it and I want to tell you how I stay motivated.

It is a valid question, this one of what motivates me. After all, each and every day I have to stay on the top of my game whether it is because I am giving a speech, marketing my materials or just trying to keep my kids energized!

As I thought about it, I realized again just how simple life can be if you put the right processes in place. I realized that me staying motivated revolves around a few basic things that I do. And they are things that ANYBODY can do. So if I can stay motivated, you can too! If you want to stay motivated, try these basics that I use to keep myself motivated:

• Read good books and magazines. I am an information junkie! I read all of the time. I don’t care what you say; you cannot be successful without reading! I read books, magazines, etc., all of the time. I read a breadth of information so as to develop myself on a wide variety of topics. Keep reading them on a regular basis throughout the month and not just in reading binges.

• Listen to good information. Get yourself into some good tapes. Listen to what others have to say. Give yourself a budget to spend on materials that will make you into a motivated animal! Above all, as you listen, apply the truths to your life in your head and they will become what you live.

• Maintain a positive group of friends and colleagues. I broke this rule one day and went to coffee with a real downer. I am still recovering from him! One of the best things you can do is to surround yourself with positive people who will build you up and encourage you to pursue your dreams. They will be honest with you, yes, but they will also challenge you to shoot for the stars!

• Focus clearly on my goals. I know where I am going and what I want to accomplish. They are firmly rooted in my mind and heart. Because of this, my mind and heart are in an attitude of motivation all of the time. I want to hit my goals and since they are present in my heart and mind, I put my energies into them.

• Discipline myself to live out my priorities. Most of the time, this takes plain old hard work. We have to discipline ourselves and as we do we find ourselves becoming more and more motivated. If we discipline ourselves, it gives us wins and victories, which makes us feel good, which motivates us for further action. If we don’t discipline ourselves, we feel defeated and we fall into a downward spiral of despair.

Are you keeping yourself motivated? You can. I know you can because I have seen these principles and actions work in my own life. Take a moment right now and see if you are living out the principles for keeping motivated:

- Do you regularly read good books and magazines?
- Do you regularly listen to good material?
- Do you surround yourself with positive and supportive people?
- Do you know and focus on your goals?
- Do you discipline yourself to action even when you don’t feel like it?

Commit yourself to these and you will find that you become a much more motivated person. This is what I do, and why I can continue to motivate others!

Upward and onward my friends!

How to set goals that will motivate you?

It is easy to set goals, but before long they can be discarded and we are back to where we were. So what do you do in order to set goals that are going to keep you moving towards your worthy ideal?

Resolve today to make the coming year the very best year of your life. Resolve today to draw a line under your past and to focus very clearly on your future. Resolve today that you are going to set goals, make plans, take actions and achieve more in the coming year than perhaps you have ever accomplished in any one single year before.

One of the great rules for success is this: "It doesn't matter where you're coming from; all that really matters is where you're going!"

No matter what you have done or accomplished in the past, "that was then and this is now."

The very best days, weeks, months and years of your life lie ahead. The most exciting accomplishments and the greatest achievements are still to come. As Shakespeare said, "The past is merely a prelude."

As it happens, everyone has goals. But some people seem to accomplish their goals far more systematically and with greater assurance than others. Why is this? The answer is simple. People who accomplish goals at a higher rate than the average are people who use a systematic, proven method of goal setting and goal attainment.

Perhaps the two most important qualities of success are focus and concentration. Focus means knowing exactly what it is you want and concentration means having the discipline to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, until it is complete.

If you have these qualities, and both of these qualities are learned through practice, you can accomplish virtually anything. There are no limits on your future if you can focus and concentrate every hour of every single day.

The starting point of setting goals for the coming year is for you to project forward and think back. Practice what we call "Back from the Future" thinking. Project forward to the end of the next twelve months and ask yourself, "If everything happens perfectly, what will it look like?"

The one quality of men and women who become leaders in their own lives and societies, throughout all of history is the quality of vision. They have the ability to visualize. They can see the future well in advance of it becoming a reality. They can then see the steps that they will need to take to get from where they are to where they want to go.

So if your next twelve months were ideal, in every respect, what would happen or, what would have happened, at the end of that twelve month period?
You need to set goals that are multi-dimensional. You need to set goals for every part of your life so that you function like a well-oiled machine, like a balanced wheel that goes around smoothly in every respect. You need goals for your health, for your career, for your finances, for your relationships, for your personal and professional development, for your community and for your spiritual growth. Nothing happens by accident. Everything happens for a reason. And you are the "primary creative force" in your own life. You are the reason. Things are happening in your life because you make them happen, not because you sit around and wait for them to happen.

Here is the basic seven-step model of goal setting. You can use this like breathing in and breathing out on a regular basis to accelerate your attainment of any goal you can imagine for yourself.

Step number one is for you to decide exactly what you want. This immediately moves you into a separate category of people because most people have no idea of what they really want. Clarity is the most important single quality of goal-setting and perhaps the most important single quality of success. Decide exactly what you want in each area of your life. Instead of fuzzy goals like more money, better health and happiness, be specific about exactly how much more money you want to earn in a specific period of time and combine that with exactly what level of health and fitness you desire.

Most people are unconsciously preoccupied with the fear of failure. It is the greatest single obstacle to success in adult life. And the fear of failure can work on you unconsciously by blocking you from setting clear specific goals. Why? Well, if you don't set clear, specific goals, then you can't fail to achieve them. So your subconscious mind is actually protecting you by helping you to avoid failure.

You must resist and overcome this tendency by having the courage to be bold and specific about exactly what you want. This is step number one.

Step number two is for you to write it down. Only three percent of living Americans, or adults anywhere for that matter, have written goals. Everyone else that thinks about a written goal and plans to write them down, someday. But they never get around to it. Most people spend more time making a list of groceries before they go shopping or planning a vacation than they do in planning their lives. But again, this is not for you. Success begins with a pad of paper, a pen and a few minutes of your time. One of the most important keys to success is to "think on paper."

All successful people "think on paper." And here are two important points. If you cannot write it down clearly and specifically on a piece of paper, then it means that you are not really clear about it yourself. Perhaps you don't even want it. What is worse, it may be that you are afraid that you may not attain it. Nonetheless, a goal that is written down is merely a fantasy or a wish. A goal that is clearly written and described on a piece of paper takes on a power of its own, it is now something concrete that you can touch and feel and work with.

The second principle of writing goals down is that something miraculous happens between the head and the hand. When you actually write a goal down, it is as if you are programming it into your subconscious mind and activating a whole series of mental powers that will enable you to accomplish more than you ever dreamed of. By writing it down you intensify your desire for the goal and you increase your belief that the goal is possible. You begin to expect to achieve the goal and you start to attract people and circumstances into your life that are consistent with the attainment of the goal. Writing your goal down is one of the most amazing of all goal-setting skills and it is a key to your success.

The third step is for you to set a deadline. If it is a large goal, set a series of sub-deadlines. A deadline acts as a "forcing system" on your subconscious mind and begins to move you toward your goal rapidly while it moves your goal toward you.

Sometimes people ask me, "What if I set a goal and I don't achieve it by the deadline?" The answer is simple. Set another deadline. Remember, a deadline is a guess-timate of when you will achieve it. Sometimes you will achieve your goal well in advance of your deadline. Sometimes goals will take much longer than you expect. But you must have a target time before you set off.

It is like making a reservation at a restaurant. You may be five minutes early or five minutes late, but you always have a specific time for which your dinner is reserved.
The fourth step is for you to make a list of everything you could possibly think of that you will have to do to achieve your goal. The more comprehensive your list, the more motivated you will become, the more intense will be your desire and the more you will believe it possible.

One of the things that hold people back is even if they get to the point of a written goal; they do not take the time to lay out a list of all the little things they will have to do to get there. And with additional experience, you will add new items to your list until it finally becomes complete.

The fifth step of goal setting is for you to take your list and organize it into a plan. A plan is really quite simple. It is a list organized by priority and importance. You decide what you will do first and what you will do later. You decide what is more important and what is less important. And most of all, you decide upon the one thing that is more important than anything else that you can do immediately to begin moving more rapidly towards your goal.

Step number six is for you to "take action!" This is the big killer for most people. They are procrastinators. They have great ideas combined with great hopes and dreams. They may even get to the point of writing down their goals. But when it comes to taking action, they always have a reason or excuse to procrastinate to put it off until a later time. However, as the Bible says, "Faith without deeds is dead."

It is when you launch toward your goal that you begin to feel the desire and power that goes along with goal setting. And once you have launched toward your goal, it is much easier for you to continue moving in that direction.

Step number seven is for you to do something every day to move you toward your major goal. Never let a day go by without you engaging in some action that helps you move another step in the direction of what you really, really want in life.

Remember, you can't hit a target that you can't see. And if you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. The simple seven step act of deciding exactly what you want, writing it down, setting a deadline, making a list, organizing the list into a plan, taking action on the most important item on your list and then doing something every day towards your goal will change your life and your future in ways that you cannot even dream of today.

Making the Day...making the week better

It is so easy to get tied up and get buried under all the have to for the day and week. Today I thought I would share some ideas to make the most of today and the week and to make it even better.

What are you doing right now to further your highest-priority goals?

1. Write it down. You’ve heard it before, but the truth is writing down your goals forces you to get clear about what you want. Use a pen and paper (you can transfer it to your computer later). That simple physical act helps cement the desire in your brain. The more time you spend on this the better...make it clear. Remember to use present tense.

2. Find a replacement. In The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy explains one way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good one. What can you choose to add to your life that will fill the void left by eliminating a bad habit? For example, replace TV time with family time, candy with fresh fruit, talk radio with inspiring audios. Jack Canfield also uses this concept in the success principles.

3. Tell someone. Talking about your goal—or sharing with others to encourage and help you by providing resources and information you may need. Napoleon Hill calls this the mastermind team. Get a group pf 4 people and hold each other accountable.

4. Take baby steps every day. Just like Bill Murray in What About Bob, even small steps taken toward your goal consistently will move you in the right direction. Once you experience a few small wins, taking bigger steps becomes easier.

5. Take BIG steps, too. Don’t take all year to do what you can accomplish in a day. Once you’ve written down your list of goals for the year, figure out which goals could be accomplished this month—or even today.

Make sure you take steps daily...momentum.

Remain focused!!!

You Must Live In The Moment

Living in the moment means focusing entirely on what you're doing and nothing else. By living in the moment and putting your whole focus on the present moment situation you are in, you allow your mind to increase in focus on the tasks you are performing and achieving the best from it. Your creative energy will increase and allow you to exhibit greater control over the creative process. Your enjoyment from the tasks you are performing will also increase immeasurably, as you feel good about what you're doing and experience mental ecstasy from living in "the zone" of peak performance.

You Must Follow A Plan Of Action

By following a plan of action, you allow your focus to increase. This is because you are following a set plan with a clear structure which allows your focus to increase on that. You can contrast this with a situation in which there is no structure and no plan - the focus will obviously then be all over the place, leading to little discipline of the mind. So by following a set plan of action, you allow for your focus to increase and the magnetism of your thoughts to increase as a result. Next to this, is the requirement to follow a diligence plan. This is a plan which follows the laws of diligent action, which are incredibly specific. The actions must lead to a pure return on investment, by performed with full concentration and focus, and follow the laws of thought magnetism. When doing that, the return on investment will always increase and grow larger as time goes on.

You Must Follow The Laws Of Thought Magnetism

These are essentially, the Laws of Your Mind. The mind operates on certain laws, and complementing these laws will allow you to achieve exceptional levels of success extremely quickly. When you complement the laws correctly, you will have a high level of thought magnetism: your thoughts will seem to flow easily and enlarge quickly to allow you to achieve your goals.

The mind will become a lot more quieter and success will seem to come from all corners out of nowhere. All of this will happen when thought magnetism is maintained. It also dramatically increases the effectiveness of living in the moment and following a set plan of action. Everything will lead to a positive result for you, and it will seem miraculous to put it mildly.


Fraser

Same old same old?

The new year seems an age ago and I guess many of you you are thinking already same old same old.
Unless we do something different we will end up with the same result...therefore we must change and be and do what we want.

"We generate our own environment. We get exactly what we deserve. How can we resent a life we've created ourselves? Who's to blame, who's to credit but us? Who can change it, anytime we wish, but us?"
— Richard Bach

Every one of us lives in two Environments— our Outer Environment and our Inner Environment. Your Outer Environment consists of your Home and Work lives; your Inner Environment consists of your Emotional and Spiritual lives.
Your Quality of Life

Your Outer Environment is the physical environment you can see and touch. You can’t see your Inner Environment directly; you can only see the effects of it.

The only two things that determine your quality of life are: the quality of your communication with the world outside of you, and the quality of your communication with the world inside of you.

We live in two worlds. We experience our Outer Environment, but who’s the experiencer? You. You experience the Outer through the Inner: with your emotions, spirit, soul and mind.
Break Out of Your Familiar Zone

During my live seminars, I ask people: "How many people feel that CLUTTER is a problem in your life?" About 75% of the hands go up.

Why do we have such a problem with clutter? While I could give you a lot of surface answers, it always comes down to fear.

Fear keeps us in our Familiar Zone. You've heard a million times that you need to "get out of your comfort zone". But consider this:

Let’s say you're driving down the road of life with one foot on the brake. You're aware that you're holding yourself back, and you don't like it. You wouldn't be reading this right now if that weren't true.

So here's my question to you: Is the feeling of going down the road of life with your foot on the brake comfortable?

You and I both know that it isn't comfortable at all. In fact, it's decidedly UNcomfortable. It is, however, familiar.

When you look at that word "familiar", what does that word look like to you?

Right—family.

Family is the root of the word familiar. Some people in my seminars say "family-liar!" The point is:

You don't need to break out of your "comfort zone" – because your "comfort zone" doesn’t exist.

What you need is to break out of your FAMILIAR Zone.

You may be familiar with clutter.

You may be familiar with holding yourself back from the success you're capable of.

You may be familiar with stopping yourself from success.

Most people are.

But you're probably not comfortable with it, let alone happy about it.

Exercise: Break Out of Your Familiar Zone

Answer these questions:

1. What parts of my life am I familiar with, that I am tired of?

2. What would I like to change about my life?

3. What would I like to change about my business?

4. Who can help me make these changes?

5. How will I benefit from making these changes?

6. What will I have to GIVE UP to make these changes?

7. Am I willing to give up something in order to have what I really want?

2011..what will you do?

For those of you who know me well know that I spend a lot of time reflecting on where I have been and what I can to to make it better.

Therefore for the New year I thought I would share an idea of what you could do to reflect on 10 and look ahead to 11.

Have fun and make it the best ever.

Here's to the New Year
May it be a great one.

Try This End of Year Exercise...


As we approach the New Year, it is a valuable practice to set aside some personal time to look back on 2010 and assess where we have been, and to look ahead at 2011 and lay out where we are going. I have created the following exercises to help you walk through this reflective process, and hope you make the commitment to yourself to complete it. Enjoy!

2010 Assessment
What are your disappointments, failures, and breakdowns?

Let's acknowledge what these items are. All failures are feedback. This is an opportunity to learn from them and let them go, or carry them forward and make a new promise or commitment. Reverend Michael Beckwith offers three strategies for change to keep in mind:

* Accept what is
* Harvest the good
* Forgive all the rest

What are your successes, wins, and accomplishments?

This is a chance to celebrate and own who you have become this year. Where did you step into your power and greatness? Please don't skimp on these. The little stuff counts. No modesty allowed. Let's validate all your accomplishments. You might want to look through your organizer and any of your files to help remind you. Remember to looks at your accomplishments in all the aspects of your life, such as:

* Health
* Relationships
* Finances
* Career/Creative expression
* Spirituality

What have you learned about yourself and your life? What insights have you gained?

True insights have the transformational capability of shifting us into a new, more alive place. As we are blessed with insights, it is important to nurture and deepen these new understandings. Inventory your learnings in the last year in the following categories:

* Growth in understanding
* New perspectives
* Letting go
* Shifts in beliefs

What are you grateful for?

This list might include some of the above, as well as things you truly appreciate about the people, the things, and the circumstances in your life last year. And don’t forget to include the things you appreciate about yourself. There is a basic principle: whatever you appreciate and give thanks for will increase in your life.

How will you celebrate and honor 2010?

This is an opportunity to do something that honors all you have done, been through, and grown this past year. What’s something special that you would like to do for yourself? What would be a powerful way to celebrate? What would be fun? Celebrating is a way to bring completion, and there are countless ways to do it. The key is to choose something, plan it, and do it.


2011 New Year Creation

This is your vision or dream for 2011. Picture yourself one year from today, one year into the future, having had an incredible year. Think about what kinds of things might have happened during the past year, and what it was like for you. Now write a short story about who you were and what you accomplished in 2011, as if you were writing it at the end of 2011.

Some things you might include:

* What was the year like for you?

* What did you feel energy and excitement around?

* What did you accomplish? What did you get? What did you do? Who were you being?

* Who was in your life and who was not?

* Where are you financially?

* Where are you spiritually?

* What has changed in your physical environment?

* What were the big fun things you did?

* What is the condition of your career?

* How is your love life?

* What’s one outrageous or wacky element to your vision?

* What did you let go of?

* What did you take less seriously?

* What old rules or limiting beliefs did you eliminate?

Include anything else you might think of that stands out for the year. When finished, print a copy, seal it in an envelope, and file it somewhere in your home or office for you to read in one year. Mark down on your calendar one year from today where you have filed this envelope, so you can find it and read it on that day. And have fun with this.

As always, I’m here to support you in your journey, and would enjoy knowing how you’re doing and get any feedback you may have


Fraser

Thriving on What Is

I have just finished my Level 2 coaching and have been thinking about what is next on my journey....

It is so easy to look around at life and assume that life needs fixing to make it right. We don't have to go much farther than the evening news to notice what's wrong with the world: the violence, hunger, corruption, environmental issues and so on. We want to do something to be a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem, whether it is through outer social action, through financial support good organizations or through working on ourselves. We notice so little change from our actions and wonder what else can be done. We pray, we meditate, we wonder...

The orientation of seeing a world that needs fixing to be the "right" world can actually be deconstructed if we are willing to explore that. The beginning point is in the realization that we are thinking that we know what a "right" world would look like. We think that rape and murder and awful things like that can obviously be known to be "wrong" and a "right" world would not contain things like that. But look again at the way that we know this... what is it based on? Do we really have the big picture, or are we making judgments about right and wrong based on our own personal tendency to want to avoid pain and move towards pleasure? Of course we want to avoid pain and wishing that others avoid pain too is just an extension of our own preferences to include the world. In a way, if my neighbor is hurting, I am hurting with him or her. We are all in this together.

But if we look at our own lives with honesty and open-mindedness, is it clear that avoidance of pain is the "right" thing for us personally? Have pain and suffering played a role in our lives that in hindsight we respect? Most often the answer is yes. If we look deeply into the painful points in our history, these are the growing points, the places where new energy and new life has had an opportunity to enter our lives because the old patterns have been destroyed or disrupted by some loss, accident, crime or sickness. These things make us move on, even if it is through touching into the depths of despair.

Meanwhile life just is what it is. Without our having decided that it is supposed to look a certain way, or end up a certain way, it just is what it is. Not only that but also, it just ends up the way it ends up. Far from being the invitation to idleness that this may initially seem (but really is not at all) the above are just plain statements of what is so, at least before our judging/thinking minds get started. When I look into this it seems clear that we really don't know what should or shouldn't be happening in ourselves or in the world. Just because we may feel a dark emotion and start behaving badly towards our loved ones, do we know that this is "wrong"? Do we actually know that we are a bad person because this has occurred? Could the experience instead be looked at as developmentally necessary, helpful and illuminating? Could this alternate perspective actually be a way out of the endless repetition of our patterns?

Do we know for sure that the car accident or the crime in today's news should not have happened? The latest war casualties? Although mind will claim to be sure that these things are wrong, are we certain that they really are? Are we certain that something critical won't be changed by this "bad" happening that will make all the difference in some significant "good" happening later that we care even more about? Do we know for sure that the critical world situation (being a threat to our survival as a species) is not exactly the circumstance that will motivate a positive response that otherwise would not have been dreamed of?

Accepting our own not-knowing gives us entry into a new relationship with the world and with our own selves. If we don't spend all of our energies resisting what is, we can open up a deeper relationship to it. Our own dark feelings become pointers into whatever in us is still needing to be awakened. The negative situations in the world become as important a part of things as the positives, maybe more, as we accept them as having a part to play.

Without resisting what is, we are able to connect more fully with ourselves and our world, and through this deeper contact we are nourished. While mind was busy resisting the "wrongness" in ourselves and our world, our heart connection was jammed-up with judgment. Through acceptance of what is, we can begin to feel more deeply and be nourished not only by the positive happenings in ourselves and in life, but also by the negatives. They are also being welcomed in our open-heartedness, and through this welcoming we are able to thrive in the world as it is, rather than starve in a mentally constructed world of lack and disconnection.

What could be a more perfect example of thriving on what is, than the summer flowers.

What better example of us each doing our own part and tending to our own blossoming without judgment about whether it is "right" or "wrong" or if its going to end well or not. The flowers all just end up on the compost heap and back into the soil!

Sure, ok, they don't have these minds to contend with, it's true, so maybe its totally easy for them. But they show up in our gardens and homes as an example of the extraordinary yet fleeting beauty that we experience in this thing called life, and how little we need to refer to our ideas about right and wrong or good or bad to come to blossom in a totally unique, natural and easeful way. We draw nourishment from the ground of all that has come and gone before us into our own expression of who we are, and then let that go back again to the ground. Just the way it is.

Till next time....

Stop Start or maintaining progress?

As we head into the holiday period it is easy to relax and say make excuses for not making progress towards our worthy ideal.

Therefore this week I decided to explore ways to maintain momentum.

STEPS TO MAINTAIN MOMENTUM

1. Keep the vision and goals out front.

You need to have a burning vision, a reason why you are going to work your business, a reason why you are going to make the next approach and a reason why you will place that next ad for your web site or product. Take this vision and keep it out front. Keep it where you will see it every day, where it will always beyond your mind. Write it down, visualize it and gather photos that remind you of your vision.

2. Remind team members about the vision.

Don’t just keep the vision in front of yourself, keep the vision out front of your whole team, so that everyone knows where they are going, and every knows WHY they are going in that direction. Continually recasting the vision for your team will be an important part of your maintaining momentum.

3. Develop consistency in your efforts.

You need to be continuously moving. Don’t get some momentum going and then think you can stop and your business will grow on its own. You’ve clearly been doing something right to create momentum – so don’t stop doing those things. Set your self a pace that you can keep consistently. Determine what activities you need to do to reach your goals and commit to daily action on those activities.

If you are calling potential customers, determine a number of approach calls that you can make each day and determine a number of follow up calls you can make each day. Then follow through on that commitment. How often will you post to your blog? How often will you work out? Whatever area you have momentum in, determine the activities you need to do on a daily basis; Then don’t stop. You won’t need to work as hard as you did when you were creating the momentum, but you will have to work much more consistently.

4. Beware of the sprint/stop syndrome.

One problem people often face when they create momentum is that they fall into the sprint/stop syndrome. This is when people go break neck speed towards their goals for short time and then stop. This is acting like the hare from the “Tortoise and the Hare fable”. In that fable the Tortoise wins the race by continually moving forward, beating out the Hare who does a sprint/stop style of race.

There are many motivations for this sort of attitude. People may stop because they want to reward themselves, so they take a week off or go on a vacation; they may stop because they get stressed out and need a break; they may collapse from exhaustion; or they may get so many sales they have to spend a week catching up on paperwork that got behind. All of these are equally dangerous. In each case you have broken the consistency of action and put your momentum in jeopardy. Sure it may seem like you are still acting, that paperwork needed to be done after all, right? Even in this case you are moving away from action that moves your business forward and are focusing on action that only maintains the current position.

5. Creating balance in your life.

Working hard and consistent at your business, but don’t burn yourself out. Creating balance will allow you to maintain your energy. Allow time for personal development; allow time for spiritual growth, and make sure you stay physically active. Develop a pace to life, one that is aggressive and forward moving, but one that you can maintain for long periods of time without needing to collapse or take a significant rest. It is good to rest, but take short rests, take a little time here and there, at most a day here and a day there, but you shouldn’t need to be taking days off to recover from you pace – if you do, you’ve been working too hard.

Momentum can be your best friend as you work towards personal or business goals. There are deliberate steps you can take towards building momentum and maintaining it. Now get started!

Brillant study tips

Reader Deanna Gamez writes: I see you’re an expert at reading books and implementing them. You wrote about how you do this in the October 2009 issue of SUCCESS, “Accomplish More by Doing Less.” Your third tipwas to learn less, study more and you gave a general idea of your method for studying books. Could you please expand on that subject?

There is a significant difference between learning and improving.
The difference is results.

Have you ever been to a seminar, listened to an audio program or read a book that promised life transforming results in 90 days or less… and it didn’t happen?

It wasn’t that the material didn’t work; YOU didn’t do the work. It’s not what you learn; it’s what you DO with what you learn. Doing has to follow learning.

Knowing what to do is not the same as doing what you know. There are a lot of people who read all the books (or blogs!) and go to all the seminars, but their life never improves. The world is filled with broke geniuses.

“There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.” – Morpheus, The Matrix

I will walk you through my process of how I turn learning into study and study into improvement/results.

Selection

I break my yearly goal achievement plans into four quarterly themes. In each quarter I focus on a particular area of my life or skill I want to improve (e.g., marriage, health, keynote speaking, interviewing, etc.).

I research online and reach out to my personal network for recommendations on the best resources for improving that discipline or skill.

I then buy the top 5 books, the top 3 audio programs and sign up for (at least) one seminar on that topic during that quarter.

Action: Pick a skill you want to study and implement the 5-3-1 program now.

Book Study

I don’t just read a book—I consume it. When I am done with the book it looks as if it’s been through a meat grinder.

I will underline, circle, star, inscribe bolded exclamation marks, dogear, highlight, put sticky tabs all over it and write notes in the margins, at the end of chapters and in the back of the book.

Don’t treat a book like a piece of fragile museum art—treat it like a workbook. Make your mark in it. A book is meant to be used, not just viewed.

Action: Don’t attempt to do everything suggested in the book. Reduce the book down to the best three ideas for you. Now pick one idea that you will implement this week. Write what it is and set a time to review the results a week later. Practice that idea for a few weeks until you have mastered it or it has produced the results you sought, then (maybe) pick another idea and practice it for another week to three weeks.

If all you did was implement, measure, review and improve upon one idea from every book you read your results would improve dramatically. I think you would be surprised how little impact all your learning has had on your life up until now.

Process: To fully squeeze all the benefit from the book, I go back through the book and pull out all the notes, highlights and underlined key points and transfer them to my Knowledge Bank. My Knowledge Bank consists of a document system organized by topic (leadership, sales, fitness, nutrition, communication, etc.). This is why I have virtually unlimited access to the best ideas because I have every key idea I have ever studied, thought or discovered organized by topic.

Audio Study

I load the entire program into my car system. I will listen to an audio program (if I like it the first run through) at least five to six times. This is a key point. A single run-through will have very little impact. Each time you will hear it differently as will be thinking and experiencing different things in your life.

It is better to listen to a single program that you like over and over again (deepening your experience), than it is to move on to the next program (shallow impact). I’ve mentioned before that I have listened to Jim Rohn’s Challenge to Succeed program 50 to 60 times. I have it in my car right now. This is why I recommend, if you liked The Compound Effect audio program I recommend listening to it at least five to six times over so you don’t just hear it, but it seeps into your consciousness.

Action: The same as a book—best three ideas from entire program and one idea implemented, reviewed and improved upon this week.

Process: As I am listening to it in my car, when a key point comes up or I get an idea I use my iPhone to audio-record that quote or idea. Later I will process those notes and transfer them into the appropriate files in my Knowledge Bank.

Seminar Study

All my seminar notes go in my journal, not the materials given at the seminar. One of the most important tips I can give you about attending and benefiting from seminars is to pay attention to what great ideas are being delivered from stage, but also what ideas well up inside of you. There is an incredible dynamic that happens when you enter an environment of higher-minded learning with hundreds of active participants. It creates an elevated environment that will stimulate your own inner creativity. Pay attention and document what ideas surface for you, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with what is being discussed on stage. The ideas that arise from within you can be the best benefits you will gain from the seminar.

Action: Same action plan as a book or audio program—best three ideas and the implementation of one this week.

Process: Transfer the notes from your journal into the files of your Knowledge Bank.

Mastery is the study of the one-percents. Look for the little distinctions and the little improvements in the areas you desire improvement.

Summary:

Study – focus your areas to improve.

Extract – pick out 3 best ideas.

Act – implement one now.

Measure – track improvement.

Improve - adjust, practice and act again with improvements.