Make Your Resolutions a Reality

Happy New Year!

Every year you set new goals for yourself. If you’re like most people, by February, your resolve is waning, and by May you don’t even remember your resolutions. Then, on Dec. 31, you berate yourself saying, How did I waste a whole year?

My passion is helping people get more out of each day, rather than repeating themselves, therefore today I have listed some ideas to help.
This year can be different! Pick only two or three strategies from the list below and implement them today. Then, instead of scolding yourself on Dec. 31, 2012, you’ll be able to say, Look how much I accomplished this year!

• 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.  Review them often- daily is best. 

• 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, sweets with fresh fruit, talk radio with inspiring audios.Have a personal Professional Development plan with a list of books and audios you would liek to read or listen to. 

• Tell someone. Talking about your goal—even if it seems huge and impossible—allows others to encourage and help you by providing resources and information you may need. Napoleon Hill refers to a mastermind team.  This is an amazing thing to use. 

• Take baby steps every day. 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.

• Take some BIG steps. 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.

• Decide and act. Mental hurdles may keep you from making decisions and taking action. Get over it! Make a list of all the reasons you want to accomplish your stated goal. Refer to that list when indecision or inaction threatens to take control.

• Team up. Even if you don’t share the same goal, having a “success buddy” can keep you accountable. Meet weekly (in person or by phone) to check in on and encourage each other.

• Celebrate your successes. Every time you reach a milestone, acknowledge your accomplishments in a positive way. For example, if you drop a dress size, buy a new outfit. If you pick up a new client, have dinner with a mentor. Celebrating your success will keep you focused on the larger goal.

I hope you have a great year and remember to let me know how you get on as you make strides in your year.

www.fraserstirling.co.nz

Igniting Lives on Fire 

TIME IS TICKING

Its New years eve and I go thinking about time as I was looking back over the year.  I then was reminded of this great article by one of my mentors and chose to share it. 

Clock of Time By Napoleon Hill The hands of the Clock of Time are moving swiftly onward! We cry out, "Backward, turn backward O Time in your flight," but Time does not heed your cries. It is later than you think! Arouse yourself, fellow wayfarer; awake and take possession of your own mind while you still have enough Time to become, during the yet unexpired future, that which you would have liked to have been in the past. Make the most of your present allotment of Time, with the hope that you will not have to reincarnate in order to do the job all over again because of neglect. You have been warned! Now the responsibility is YOURS. There is a simple test by which you may judge whether or not you have been using your Time to best advantage. If you have attained peace of mind and material opulence sufficient for your needs, your Time has been properly used. If you have not attained these blessings, your Time has not been properly used, and you should begin now to search for the circumstances in connection with which you have fallen short. The truly great people have no such reality as "idle time," because they keep their minds geared eternally to patterns of constructive thought. By this profound use of their Time, they develop an alert sixth sense through which they look, listen, and see from within. If negative thoughts stray into the minds of the truly great, these thoughts are immediately transmuted into positive thoughts and exercised by positive physical action appropriate to their nature. Tick, tick, tick - the pendulum of the Clock of Time is swinging rapidly! The entire face of civilization is undergoing an uplifting operation. Mr. Right and Mr. Wrong are engaged in mortal combat for supremacy. The Time has come for everyone to stand up and be counted. The use each of us makes of his individual allotment of Time will tell whose side each of us is on - Mr. Right's or Mr. Wrong's. Something has speeded up the Clock of Time so rapidly that the last half of the twentieth century will reveal to mankind more individual opportunities for self-improvement that have been revealed during the entire past of man's existence. Your share of these vast OPPORTUNITIES may be embraced and used only by the way you relate yourself to TIME! Source: You Can Work Your Own Miracles. Fawcett Columbine Book. 1971. Pgs. 119 & 120.

Failure is Good

Its been a truly blessed Christmas. I was watching the Dawn Treader (Narnia Series)yesterday and was reminded of many personal attributes as I watched it.  One of them is the ability to bounce back after failure. If everything we attempted in life were achieved with a minimum of effort and came out exactly as planned, how little we would learn -- and how boring life would be! And how arrogant we would become if we succeeded at everything we attempted. Failure allows us to develop the essential quality of humility. It is not easy -- when you are the person experiencing failure -- to accept it philosophically, serene in the knowledge that this is one of life’s great learning experiences.

But it is. Nature’s ways are not always easily understood, but they are repetitive and therefore predictable. You can be absolutely certain that when you feel you are being most unfairly tested, you are being prepared for great achievement. As you enjoy a prolonged break, take some time to reflect on whats lessons you can learn from over the past few year and make plans to made steady improvements in 2012. Igniting the Fire within www.fraserstirling.co.nz

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I MUCK UP?

The other day I spoke about making mistakes. While making a mistake isn't bad, repeating the same one over and over is. We must learn from the things we do. Your failure may prove to be an asset, provided you know why you failed. There are a few occasions during our brief time on earth when most of us experience great flashes of insight, great moments of truth that forever change the course of our lives. Most of those experiences result from spectacular failures, not from outstanding successes. It is from the failures that so tested and dismayed us that we learn the most lasting lessons. When you are the unwilling recipient of a great moment of truth, extract the useful lessons and then put the entire episode behind you. Learn from your failures, forget about them, and move on to better things. Take time today to think over what you have done throughout he day. SAsk yourself what worked and what could I have done better. Igniting the fire within. www.fraserstirling.co.nz

loved ones

Recently, the news of Lucas the young boy who unfortunately drowned while in his grandparents care

has been a topic of discussion throughout the country. As I have been reflecting on what his family is

experiencing, I have been thinking of how I treat my loved ones. Am I truly making the most of the time

I have with them? or, am I too busy filling my day and weeks with ‘must do’s’, or am I making time to

enjoy those people who are special to me?

We never know how long we have with these significant people in our lives. Therefore, this month take

some time to think about the important people in your lives and what you can do to show you care, no

matter how big or small.

To realise the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.

To realise the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.

To realise the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realise the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realise the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the bus.

To realise the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.

To realise the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special

in your life.

Remember, time waits for no-one.

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow is a mystery.

Today is a gift. That's why it is called ‘the present’.

Fraser Stirling (fraser.stirling@gmail.com Life Coach)

Opportunity

Every day we are greated with an opportunity. We have a choice of either to pursue these or ignore and carry on with the same old same old and wonder why we are still in the same place as we were last week, last month and before we know it last year. Just because something may appear as a road block to our path way, it in fact may be an opportunity. We are either sitting and waiting for life to happen but hopefully you are out there making it happen. Every day we have the choice to make a walk happen, make the apple into our lunch, make the walk to the work place rather than driving to the door. Every decision we make is either moving us closer to or further away from our chosen desination...it is your opportunity with every decision.