By LeeDavidhcz
As a speaker in the area of goal setting and achievement I am often asked my opinion on what I believe are the keys to reaching one’s goal and objectives. While the answer to this question alone can take up a half-day seminar, allow me to spend the next few paragraphs covering the top ten.
However, before I get started, please realize the one thing that above all launches you towards your goals faster than all the top ten lists you will ever hear or read is consistency. All of your goals, dreams and aspirations are going to require not only effort but also a sustained effort. The best analogy I can give you is pushing a car. Most of you during the course of your life may have had to push a car that ran out of gas or broke down. You strained your muscles to get that car in motion. The sweat poured from your bow and finally the wheels began to turn. Once the 1200 pound car was in motion, the pushing became a bit easier. All you had to do is continue to put forth a little effort and you’d be at the gas station shortly. (Barring any hills of course). But if you would at any time stop pushing, even for a moment, you would have to put forth EXTRA effort again to get those wheels rolling.
Achieving your goals is much like pushing a car; you cannot work hard for a day or two and then stop. Pick up your goal again later and work for a day or two and then stop again. You need to put for the consistent effort that will get those wheels rolling. Then once you have that 1200-pound monster rolling forward at a good speed all you need to do is keep putting forth a little consistent effort. With this type of consistency you will reach your goals far faster than with the start and stop method so many people practice these days.
Here are ten of the ways you can focus that consistent effort to get even more out of the effort you put forth. I have found these ‘techniques’ very useful and honestly believe that if you put them to work for you that you too will reap their rewards.
1. Write your primary goals down. There is something that happens when you put pen to paper and write out your goals. It seems to activate your mind and your goals become ‘written’ into your sub-conscious, making your more aware of situations, people and events that will bring you to your goals faster.
2. Re-write your top tens goals daily. Each day re-write your top ten goals without looking at your previous lists. This process accomplishes two things.
a. Deeply imbeds your high priority goal into your sub-conscious.
b. Weeds out those goals that are really important TODAY. Those goals that are not truly high on your long-term priority list will not consistently remain in your top ten lists. This will help you focus on what is truly important rather than those whims all fall victim to.
3. Narrow your focus – by focusing on only a few goals at a time. Pick those goals that are truly yours and your hearts deepest desire. Then focus all your efforts like a laser beam upon their completion. Take the top ten and zero in on those three to five goals that mean the most to you. The three to five goals that you know you have the deepest desire to achieve.
4. Develop an action plan. Once you have determined what you want to accomplish you must now begin to lay out how you will go about accomplishing it. What skills do you need to develop? What contacts do you need to make? What steps do you need to take to get your from where you are today to where you are trying to get? Be aware that your plans may change as you go along gaining new insights and information. But you need to have a plan in order to know what comes next. The knowledge of what your going to do next will do wonders to keep you focused.
5. Envision your goal already achieved. The great achievers of yesterday and today all had one key-ability – the ability to see their goal as already accomplished. Be detailed in your vision of your goal; feel the pride of its accomplishment. What will your friends and associates say once you have reached your goal? The more detail and emotion you can insert into the vision of your accomplishment the more that vision will drive you towards its accomplishment.
6. Empower yourself with affirmations. When take the time daily to write down your top ten goals, write them as present tense personal affirmations. I.e. “I weigh 160 pounds,†rather than “I want to lose weight.†Or “I earn $10,000 a month,†rather than writing “I want to earn more money.†Then read these goals aloud. Stand tall; hold your shoulders straight and your head high. Then in a firm positive voice read your goals aloud. This will ignite the passions and pride within you. The passion to achieve your goal and the pride of what it will feel like to reach it.
7. Take daily action, no matter how small. Do not let a day go by that you do not take some sort of step towards your goal. This is where your consistency will pay big. Do not let the 1200-pound car stop rolling or your will have to push even harder just to get it moving again. Break your large goals down into smaller tasks and work one those tasks daily until complete.
8. Track your progress. You cannot effectively see that which you do not track, and you cannot change that which you cannot see. Create ways to see how far you are towards reaching your goal. Create charts and timelines so that you will see when you are falling behind or pulling ahead – make adjustments to your plans as necessary. A program like Microsoft Project is great for this, but use anything that will motivate you by allowing you to see where are along your road to success.
9. Celebrate Milestones. Another great reason to track your progress is so that you can set and celebrate your milestones. All large goals are made-up of smaller goals and milestones that you need to recognize and pat yourself on the back once you complete them. As you reach each of the milestones, applaud yourself. Pause to feel the accomplishment. As you savor this triumph you will believe more strongly that you will in fact reach your goal.
10. Network and surround yourself with a group of like-minded people. Surround yourself with those that will not only encourage your accomplishments but challenge you towards them as well. None of us will accomplish any big goal alone. You are going to need assistance from others.
Any time that I have put all ten of these techniques to work for me at the same time – I have reached my goal far faster than I could have imagined. Any one of these alone are a way to reach your goal faster but I would highly encourage you to put all ten of these steps in action today. If you do I know I will be hearing about your success in the very near future.
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By Sarah Pierce
There are lots of self-improvement advice available, but which ones are the best? Everyone would want to know what the best-kept secrets are to improving the self. All you have to do is to look in the right places.
A really good self-improvement advice is discipline! Discipline does not mean you lose freedom. One habit down means you get tenfold the benefit. It all depends on how much you are actually willing to let go of some things so you can gain something that would benefit your life more.
Now start by actually starting something! Whenever you are procrastinating, it is important to take a deep breath and avoid thinking negative thoughts. These negative thoughts can affect the way you do whatever you need to be done.
The next step is to try to enjoy what you are doing. Do you remember a time when you started on a hobby and you were able to stay up all night doing it? You can always find ways to motivate yourself to do something. You can think about the reward you're going to get at the end of the day, whether it is money, personal satisfaction, or something you are willing to do for yourself.
Another unique self-improvement advice is to visualize. This may sound so simple to do, but it is definitely effective. Visualization is the process of making a mental image with the goal of rebooting the mind. Visualization is based on the knowledge that the mind has a powerful effect on the body.
Visualizing can help you actualize what you tell yourself: "I can do this!" The first step is to fully relax yourself by imagining all muscles beginning to contract from your forehead down to your shoulders until your toes. The next step is to imagine you are crossing something like a bridge, to indicate to yourself that you are crossing over to your subconscious. You may then imagine the desired outcome of reaching your goals. The final step is to imagine that you have already reached that desired outcome.
A similar self-improvement advice is to try hypnosis. A therapist can help you with this. During a normal mental state, many individuals will not be able to admit certain bad habits. When you subconsciously face what needs to be improved in your life, you will have gotten rid of those negative habits you were never even aware.
The final self-improvement advice is meditation. This is very linked to the previous techniques mentioned. When you are trying to improve yourself and caught up in a roller coaster ride at the same time, meditation can help you clear your mind. A clearer mind means you'll be able to focus more on yourself and what you really want out of life.
To meditate, keep away from distraction and take long deep breaths while releasing all tense muscles. Mentally ask questions regarding who you really are. Ask yourself what you like to do, what made you proud of yourself, how content you really are in life and what is more important to you, and try to answer these questions everyday with actions.
Any self-improvement advice will only be effective if you are determined to change. You are your own boss when it comes to self-improvement. So be open to possibilities as much as possible!
Looking for self improvement advice online? Learn more about free new age and self- improvement ebooks here now. It's free!
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If we can't come up with top 10 ways to manage stress, then our priorities in the area of self improvement need readjusting. As somebody who happens to be around a lot of personal development adherents, I hear enough of this (in varied versions): "There is no such thing as stress". "Stress is a phantom of our own creation." I try not to dismiss them as personal development snobs. Because the fact is I agree with the metaphysical meaning of those statements.
The reality of today's life however is that people ARE looking for ways to manage stress. If everything were perfect, then we would surely not manufacture stress because we would be perfect at living the Truth that "we create our own reality". And who would be stupid enough to create stress? But the truth is, people DO create stress; Whether knowingly or mindlessly, is a different discussion.
Even if stress serves its own dysfunctional purpose, most people are smart enough to realize they do not want to be stressed for too long, as they start to value other things more than the stress they've created. So once you've decided that your stress needs to be calmed down, what do you turn to? I've outlined what I have discovered, through my own personal used-to-be chaotic life, and by observing other very proactive stress managers.
My top 10 Ways to Manage Stress
In no particular order:
1. Planning or time management
As the top Personal development teacher Jim Rohn likes to say, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail".
Very few things happen to us by surprise. Most things that end up stressing us could have been
avoided if we'd carefully planned our time well in advance. On paper. Maintaining a daily/weekly planner
sounds unattractive and mundane, but is the best thing you could do to avoid becoming overwhelmed with workloads. And, this leads us to the next best invention since sliced bread.
2. Outsource, outsource, outsource.
The 4-hour Work Week author Timothy Ferris puts it best, "what is it costing you financially, emotionally and physically to postpone action? Don't only evaluate the potential downside of action. It is equally as important to measure the atrocious cost of inaction". I dislike cleaning and organizing my house. I used to procrastinate doing it, and felt "badly" every time I remembered I was procrastinating that area of my life. So now I have a friend come over and do it for me. I forgo eating out at expensive restaurants so I can afford to pay her. So, what frivolous things are you spending money on (including those shoes and that jewelry and those boytoys you keep buying) that you could give up in order to pay somebody to do what you hate doing?
Why fill yourself with self-hatred every time you see your unorganized house, your lawn that needed mowing 2 weeks ago, your bookkeeping that hasn't been touch in 9 months?
3. Eat right
Another of what I use as my top 10 ways to manage stress is feeding my body right: right food, rightly. I'm one of those hypoglycemic people, so if I allow myself to get too hungry, I'll definitely be too angry. As well, eating the wrong foods, such as too much refined foods, irritates not only my GI tract, but also my moods.
4. Exercise eg. yoga, running
I aim to do at least an hour a day, 5-6 days a week, in the gym. When I fall off my exercise regimen, especially if I don't exercise at all for a week or more straight, I feel my stress levels rising. Scientific backing has it that exercising produces endorphins -- brain chemicals that produce overall feelings of euphoria. Exercises such as yoga also help in causing one to calm the mind, focus internally and become centered.
5. Relaxing music
Instead of blasting the TV with incredibly negative news that skew my view of the world and cause me even more irritation, I like to sometimes just put on calming relaxing music and let it play in the background.
6. Laughter
Every night I tape a comedy show that I know I can watch whenever I need a dose of laughter. Laughter is our body's built in stress-buster. Laughter has even been documented to lower blood pressure. In his book, Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious, Sigmund Freud describes laughter as the body's way of safely releasing anxiety, aggression, fear, and anger. Researchers tell us that laughing decreases stress hormones including adrenaline, cortisol, epinephrine, dopac, and the growth hormone allowing them to return to normal levels. These stress hormones constrict blood vessels causing high blood pressure and heart problems.
7. Massage
Most people do not realize that when we stress out, the stress localizes in certain areas of our body. Next time you feel yourself getting angry, agitated or frustrated, take the time to observe what area of your body is experiencing the sensation. For most of us, its the neck, shoulder, back etc. Physical stress will also cause certain areas of our bodies to tense up. An outstanding, professional massage therapist will easily identify what areas of your body feel tense and tight. They will then be able to work their magic fingers to help relieve tension in those areas. A good one hour professional massage is a gift I give myself every couple of weeks.
8.Unwind drive/bike away
Another of my favorite top 10 ways to manage stress is to just get away from it all. Many people I know will get in the car and just take a drive down the highway, take a bike ride, or even take a weekend country-drive
as a way to de-stress.
9. Meditate
Of the most useful top 10 ways to manage stress, meditation is hands down the most effective I've used. Whatever it is that meditation does to the body, only people who meditate regularly know. Regular meditation, at least 15 minutes twice a day not only helps me feel extremely happy most of the time, it helps my creative juices flow with ease. I feel incredibly spiritually nourished.
10.Time out/Nap/Sleep
And the last of my top 10 ways to manage stress... Go to bed! I once read from a self improvement teacher that, you want to always rest before you get tired. Well, most of us don't do it, or feel that we can't afford to do it. But what's worse is that most people won't even rest WHEN they are stressed out and tired. They just keep on going. But over time they'll get overwhelmed, burned out and perhaps crush and burn.
Taking a time out can be invaluable; whether that is by taking a nap or a long bath, or reading an enjoyable novel, or just giving oneself a long night of sleep for once. Of course, taking a real vacation is one of the best ways to get rid of our grouchiness.
For more information on how to manage stress for self improvement, please visit author's free informational website at http://www.self-improvement-to-personal-development.com/manage-stress.html
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