Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, 9

Have you ever heard the adage, “I will accomplish this even if it kills me”? Well, in my early years of goal setting and achieving… I almost died! I also missed a lot of other opportunities along the way.

I became so focused, so dogmatic about the goals I had set and my specific plans to achieve them that my blinders kept me from 1) seeing easier and faster routes to my destination, and 2) that some of the goals that were important earlier in the year or at the beginning of the decade were less important than I originally believed.

One of the greatest challenges to success is learning how to stay focused on your goals while remaining flexible enough to adapt to needed change.

Even though we have declared S.M.A.R.T. goals and designed a very specific strategic plan to achieve them, it is equally important to remain open and flexible along the way. If you look back at most of your defining moments, or the pivotal events that transformed your life, I bet most were unplanned and happened unexpectedly. Life is a mystery; you never know what might show up and you can’t be so myopic that you miss opportunities and solutions you couldn’t have even fathomed before.

Murphy’s Law and the T-shirt Philosophy

You know ol’ Murph right? The oh-too familiar friend who always seems to show up at your party at the most embarrassing and worst-possible times. Well Murphy lives to teach us this: If something can go wrong, it will. Don’t be too attached to the route you first charted, as you will undoubtedly be reevaluating and readjusting all along the way.

Imagine read more »

Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8

Wow! We have covered some incredible ground thus far! You have your ambitious and appropriate goals that are based on your strengths and opportunities and have been whole-life balanced. You know who you want to become, who you want to serve and you have the strategic plan of action to achieve all your worthy goals.

Now it is time to create an execution system to implement your plan in the real world—your world.

Some of the best of intentions and greatest plans have failed because there wasn’t a system of execution to see them through. When it comes down to it, your new plans, your new actions, your new behavior, have to be implemented into your monthly, weekly and ultimately daily routine. A routine is something you do every day without fail… and eventually without thinking about it.

Consider this: read more »

Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The difference between a dream or fantasy and a goal you will achieve is: 1) writing it down (what we have already done) and, 2) outlining a specific plan to achieve the goal (what we will do in this installment). Now it is time to formulate your strategic plan of action.

I explained early on in this series how goals work (you can review here). When you know what you are looking for, it gives your mind a ‘new set of eyes’ to see the world around you. You begin to notice the people, resources and even ideas needed for achieving your goal. But if your goal is defined only by an audacious and distant destination, your mind may be thrown off by elusiveness and ambiguity. It doesn’t know what to look for to help you get there.

The mind operates best with precise instructions. A three-digit lock has 18,333 potential combinations. When you have the specific three numbers in the right sequence, opening the lock is easy. If you don’t have the combination—or precise instructions—opening the lock is almost impossible. Making a specific and strategic plan of action provides the mind with the instructions it needs to get you to your desired destination.

Making a plan to accomplish your goals can be compared to planning a cross-country road trip. If you were going to travel across the country, say, from my hometown in San Diego to Manhattan, you would consider the following: read more »

Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

On your journey to achieving your goals, this one shift in your mindset can radically change how the world around you responds to and receives you.

The process of goal-setting can make you very myopic and ‘ME’-focused. If we really want to get what we want, we have to remember one of the oldest success principles: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Or as Zig Ziglar puts it: “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

What if that is true?

What if you knew for sure that everything you gave you would receive back tenfold? How much would you give? What would you give? How fast would you give it?

What do you want? What attributes do you need to accomplish your goals?

Do you need more courage? Who can you encourage?
Do you need more strength? Who can you help strengthen?
Do you need more belief? Who can you believe in?
Do you need more confidence? Who can you instill confidence in?
Do you need more love? Who can you love?

In the last installment we discovered read more »

Review: INTRO, GETTING READY & PARTS 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Typically, the first thought that comes to mind after writing down a goal is, “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” That, unfortunately, is not the right question to ask.

Let me give you an example—When I was single and ready to find my wife and be married, I made a long list of the qualities of the perfect woman (for me). I filled up more than 40 pages describing my wife to be in great detail—her personality, character, key attributes, attitudes and philosophies about life, tastes, interests, even what kind of family she’d come from, culture, and of course physical makeup down to the texture of her hair, etc. I wrote in depth what our life would be like and what we’d do together.

I then had my goal and it was specific, measureable, attainable (I hoped!), relevant and time-sensitive.

If I then asked, “What do I have to do to find and get this girl?,” I might still be on that butterfly chase. Jim Rohn taught me, “Success is not something you pursue. What you pursue eludes you. Success is something you attract by the person you become. If you want to have more, you must become more.”

So what I did was read more »