If it's a better life you're after then these simple steps will have you organized and on your way to fulfillment.
1. What do you want?
Make a list of everything you want.It sounds simple and actually it is. Many of us are just to busy to take the time out to sit down and work out what we actually want. This is an absolute priority if you want your life to be happier.
Sit down at a time you are unlikely to be interrupted and write a list of all the things you want out of your life. While writing your list, remember; If another human being has done it before. It stands to reason that anybody can.
2. Be specific.
You will find you have a page full of lovely things you want. Now you need to make them specific. To check whether you're being specific enough ask yourself. How you will I know when I have it? If it's a Ferrari you're after that's easy but it gets more complicated when things are a bit more vague like
'I want to spend more time with my family'
With this one you will need to shave it right down to specifics and word it like a task. Not "I want to" but "I will"
E.g. I will be home by 5.30 every week day night.
3. Be realistic
Make sure your goals are realistic. You won't have a Ferrari by Friday if you earn £3.50 an hour. (Unless you break the law, or win the lottery.) The first is inadvisable and the latter unlikely.
There is no reason however that you can't get one by 2010. You will have to spend the time and energy completing the small steps to get to the big one. It may be that you will have to retrain, start your own business etc. It's all do-able and far better than sitting around saying "I'll never be able to afford a Ferrari" If it's what you really want go and get it.
The other point about being realistic... Do you really want it? If you don't you won't have the inner push. If that's the case stop talking about it, let it go...
4. Choreograph the steps.
Now you know what you want you need to write down all the steps you need to take to get there.
Making changes in your life is always going to push you out of your comfort zone. But the good news is pushing you out there means you're growing and personal growth is always good. Being pro-active in your life is far less satisfying than letting it all happen to you.
Remember there is no such thing as 'can't' only 'I choose not to.' You are in the driving seat.
Making changes will make ripples in everyone else's life around you. For some people it is that alone that keeps them stuck. Most of us don't like to think that it's our ripples that are rocking someone else boat but to achieve a lovely life you're going to have to make ripples.
Successful people are rippling and rocking all day long and they barely notice it!
So make sure you write all those steps down. When will they be done by? Make sure they’re fixed in a timeframe. Deadlines are important they keep us moving forward and give us a sense of achievement.
5. Walk the steps
Do everything on your list and tick each task off as you complete them. This is when you start feeling the buzz. That buzz just gets better so keep your focus on the big goal as you complete each little step! Good luck and enjoy the fun!
You may or may not have a set of written goals. If you do not, then I strongly urge you to make a written set of goals and clarify what you want to achieve. Whatever the case, you may be struggling with achieving your goals in life. In this article, you will learn some techniques for achieving your goals.
Think of a time in your life when you achieved something you really wanted. Did you doubt it would happen and believe that you could not achieve it? Or did you have a solid sense of knowing that it would happen and doubt never entered into your mind?
It was the second wasn't it?
When Richard Branson set up Virgin Airways, did he sit in his office and wonder if it would ever work? Did Bill Gates sit in his office wondering if anyone would want to buy his Windows product? They may have done for a little while, but they did not let these doubts rule them. They knew their plans would work and that they would be successful.
When working to achieve your goals, you need that unerring sense of confidence and lack of doubt in yourself. You must know it is going to happen and that you will succeed. We are not talking about thinking you will succeed, believing you will succeed or knowing you will achieve your goal. They are all intellectual forms of Knowing, Knowing with a capital K; that solid feeling in the pit of your stomach that you will make happen and you cannot fail. Expect it to happen and know there is no other way. It will happen. This Knowing gives you drive and commitment to see you through to the success of your goal.
But how do you get this feeling? One of the best and most effective techniques is visualization.
You currently use the power of visualization, probably without even realizing it. Have you ever run through what you are going to say to someone before you have the conversation? Or seen yourself in your mind giving a presentation before you give it?
That is the power of visualization, and it is very potent. You can use it not only for your goals, but for any aspect of your life. Visualization is something most people are unused to directing. You will find initially that your attention will wander, but you have to pull it back to the task at hand. It is similar to building a muscle up through exercise - it takes time to strengthen it.
The exercise for visualizing your goals is very simple, and is as follows.
1) Select the goal that you wish to work on.
2) Picture an image of this goal in your mind.
3) Visualize yourself attaining your goal. Use all of your senses - touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste. Really feel your success with every fiber of your being and Know that your goal is as good as achieved.
4) Hold this image in your mind for a minimum of 10 minutes - remain focus and positive. Challenge any doubts that rise and replace them with positive words and images of success. If you get distracted or your mind wanders, bring your focus back to your goal.
You can also hold this successful image in your mind as you go about your day to day business. Keep the image there and focus on your success. You get what you focus on - and if you focus on achieving your goal, then you will get it. Visualization is a method of programming the subconscious mind for success.
With some goals you may want to keep them private. If you are trying to get fit and your friends know you have been less than energetic in the past when you tell them your goal, they will laugh and joke and not believe you. This doubt and disbelief can affect your belief in yourself and in your goal, which in turn can lead to failure to achieve the goal.
It is hard enough to overcome our own doubts and worries without having to also overcome those of the people around you. Keep any goals where you may be influenced by others to yourself and let the people around you see the successful end result.
Affirming Success
Another method for achieving your goals is to use affirmations, which means you repeat your goal again and again to yourself. This is another method of programming your subconscious mind, which is the source of all action.
An affirmation is a sentence or two that is written in a positive language with definite targets and timescales. A bad affirmation would be "I want to lose some weight". Your subconscious looks at this and since there is no timescale it will not leap into action. There is also no definite target so your subconscious does not know what to aim for. How is "some weight" defined? It is 10 pounds, but also 1 pound and also just 1 ounce.
A good affirmation is "I want to lose 10 pounds by the end of this year". This sends the right messages to your subconscious. It knows that you exactly how much you have to lose (10 pounds) and when this must be done by (the end of this year). You know precisely what you have to do and when it has to be done by.
If the goal is to lose 10 pounds by the end of the year, we need an action plan to get us to this goal and to make it happen. In this case the action plan may be to reduce our chocolate intake and increase the amount of fruits and vegetables we consume. The action plan is made up of a series of milestones. For example, if there are 5 months until the end of the year then our milestones would be to lose 2 pounds each month.
Little Steps
You may have a big goal such as "To have an income in excess of £100,000 a year by the time I am 35" (notice the goal is specific in both the timescale and the amount and does not put an upper limit on your earning potential.)
This goal can be very daunting to look at, perhaps even enough for you to give up and not strive to achieve it. To overcome this, you break your goal down into a number of smaller, more manageable steps.
Any large goal can be broken down into a number of sub-goals, which can then be broken down even further if necessary. Each of the sub-goals has an associated action plan with it. Using our income goal from above, sub-goals could be to understand taxation, to understand investment, to start your own company, and so on.
Smaller goals are easier for you to handle, and help you to stay on course to your main goal. You also get the satisfaction of regularly having successes and achieving goals, which does wonders for your belief in yourself.
All of your major goals and their associated sub-goals and action plans need to be regularly reviewed - ideally daily. This ensures you remain focused on your goals and instantly know if you start to drift away from your target. It allows you to adjust your goals and action plan according to whether things are working quicker or slower than planned. It also prevents you from repeating actions and carrying out tasks that are not necessary. It keeps the goals in the forefront of your mind, and does not allow you to forget about them.
Achieving our goals is something we all want to do, but it involves work. Rarely will they be given to us on a silver platter by a servant on bended knee. Achievement requires Knowing, drive and commitment, combined with careful and meticulous planning and a firm belief in ourselves. With unwavering belief and commitment there is nothing that you cannot achieve. Everything and anything is within your grasp - if you are willing to make the commitment to achieving it.
How you cope with your life is very much dependent on your attitude.If you truly understand and really know yourself and what works best for you, it can be a lot easier.However, accepting and appreciating what you can change and what you cannot change is not always easy.
Self Esteem
Self esteem, how you see yourself and how you feel about yourself is formed by so many things.This can be your relationships, your body image, your many roles and what you think others may think about you.This can all be shaped by the conditioning from your childhood, by your family and friends, workmates and also from your own comparison with other people.
People with low self image or self esteem are very much more susceptible to anxiety and depression disorders and increased mental and physical health problems.The key here is to focus on your successes and achievements in order to improve your self esteem.
Body image
It is well known that women spend more time worrying about how they look than men.Only 1 in 5 women are satisfied with their body weight and even less are happy about how they look.Almost half of all women over estimate their size and shape.Women are also subjected to what is perceived to be the images of perfection, by what is in the media.
Learning to live with and really appreciate your own body as it is now can be the key to having a healthy body image.Beauty does come from within, within yourself and how you see yourself.Learn to accept, like and love yourself with positive self talk and treating your body with the respect it really deserves.
Find the balance
It can be a juggling act between work, responsibilities and play.Balancing between yourself and others is not always easy.Do not put too much pressure on yourself to do everything at once. Start by making a commitment to yourself to pay special attention to the basics.Eating well, pleasurable physical exercise, letting go of old habits and conditioning that can deprive us of our health and self esteem and learning new techniques to help deal with the stress.
Emotional acceptance
It is not always easy to understand our emotions and how they can be different from day to day, hour to hour.Some days it is a struggle and other days it can be a breeze.Even the most positive of people can, at times feel anxious or even depression.
The first step is to accept that it is normal to have fluctuating emotions and then if the balance is starting to be weighted in favor of negative emotions; it could be time to look at new strategies to make positive changes.
Take action
Having a great attitude is wonderful and an excellent start.Now start to turn that attitude into a balanced and healthy lifestyle by actually doing something different.If you do not know where to go for the right help, there are many, many resources that you have at your fingertips to get you on the right track. Research the Internet, read books, ask other people about what they did, seek out professional help.There is never a real reason for not finding something that will work for you. All you have to do is look around you and do not be afraid to ask for help.It is all about taking action and doing something different.
If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got.
Do you know all the things you want to have, do and be in life?Have you listed them? Not too many people do, but it's interesting, of the people who accomplish a lot in their life, most all have a list.
Though the years I have noticed that most highly successful, adventurous and accomplished people have a list of all the things they would like to do.And most of them did not know how they would accomplish all the things on the list when they initially wrote them down, yet they do it.
There is magic in a list of this sort; the people who do make a list eventually come up with ways to accomplish much or their entire list.And those who do not make a list usually don't even try to figure out how to do something.Even if you think about something it is not nearly as powerful as when you start by writing it down. This looks so simple, so why don't many people do this?
There are several reasons:
You don't think about it.
No one ever told you about doing it.
Why list things that are clearly out of your means? I don't have any experience in those things. But I bet you do have some things that you still think would be exciting, rewarding, fulfilling or just fun to do.We all do, but generally we push them aside as unattainable. Why don't you do a list for yourself now?Here's what to do and not do when making a list.
Do:
Think big
Dream big
Imagine
If money and resources were no object
Disregard perceived skills needed
Time is of no concern
People you want to meet
People you want to do something with
Something you have always wanted
Places you want to see/go
Activities you want to experience
Challenges that are calling you
Accomplishments you seek
Records to set
What you should have done before
No restrictive reasons
Think you are worthy
Don't:
Consider worry or fear
Consider doubts
Consider current situation
Consider knowledge, skill
Consider education or position
Consider social status
Consider your opinion of self
Analyze how
Listen to naysayers
Be 'reasonable'
Be 'logical'
OK you get the idea, get to it.
First, do a brain dump.Write down 100 things as fast as you can, don't think for 5 minutes. Just write whatever comes to mind quickly, abbreviate.However many you get down is good.Skip about 4 or 5 lines between items to allow room for step three.
Second, keep the list handy and look at it at least once a day for a week, adding whatever comes to mind.
Third, after each item write how you will benefit from accomplishing each item.Is it personal satisfaction, fulfillment, serving others, whatever you feel about it?What emotional feeling would be attached to its accomplishment?This helps support the item with reasons why, which is more powerful in your mind.
Setting into your mind the desire to do this will activate your inner thoughts.For some people it may take a while for some of the things to surface.Particularly if they have been emotionally buried deep in your mind. Then, look at the list at least once a week, daily is better.Read it over; think about what it would mean to fulfill each of the items.Say, 'what if I could . . . ?'
Don't allow negative critical thinking to come in, just dream and enjoy the possibility. Pick out one or two that you think you may be able to accomplish.What can you do right now to move towards it?Even just a small step, I can just be learning more about it.Do whatever you can at the time to move towards at least one item.
Look at the list on a regular basis to keep the ideas active in your subconscious.
The reason why you have not moved towards any of them up to this point is you have not formally stated them as desires. In the past you may have even negated the idea of attaining them.Don't close the door on any possibility, if you can't see yourself stepping out tomorrow to do something, let it be.Don't negate it forever, let it be a possibility that someway, somehow you can.
I'm not going to guarantee to you that they will magically come to be, but remember, the people who write down their wants and their goals get more of them than those who don't.Having great goals attract more energy than do small ones.Set your sights on grand ideas that are exciting, glorious, support personal growth, assist others, and expand human potential.Let your emotions get involved.
Protect your ideas, feelings and energy, be careful about sharing your grand ideas with people who are likely to negate them and any possibility of your accomplishing them.Only share them with people who you know to be supporting of big dreams.
You get what you expect to get, so expect big things.Plant the seeds of grand ideas, keep nurturing them while paying attention for messages and opportunities to move closer to them.Keep it up read the list often and imagine how it will feel to accomplish each one.
Your personal development is your responsibility, become active in your growth every day because you're worth it.
