Success Is The Progressive Realization Of A Worth While Goal
Goals are the destinations we set our life toward. There can be no success until goals have been set. Most people never set their goals, and so they are forever wandering on life's sea. This is why we see so many failures. Ninety percent of the people in this world, never set goals for themselves. They let circumstances in their lives set the directions they travel. If you do not set goals for yourself, then people, events, and even things around you, will determine where you go or what you become. We have to be responsible and take charge of our own lives and destiny.
If we set a goal for ourselves, we will find that we automatically head toward that goal. Goals are the guidance system of our lives. A good example of this is the way many go shopping. If we just go to the Mall and shop, we will wander aimlessly from shop to shop and from counter to counter. But, if we go the Mall with a needed purchase in mind, we will go straight to the store that sells that item. Most people are just wandering around in the stores of life, without a firm reason for being there. When we live our lives in that way, we suddenly realize that life has passed us by.
How To Set Goals
To set a goal, we must first determine what it is that we desire. Goals have to be specific and detailed, or else they are just wishes.
I have found that the best way to set a goal for myself is to take the necessary time to find out what I really want. I suggest you find a place where you can be totally relaxed and private. Set down, with pencil and paper or your computer. Take a blank page, and let your mind think and dream of what you would do or have if money, time, or circumstances were not an object. Write every thing down that you dream of. Write every detail of size and color. Imagine what you would be doing if you had that item. Where would you Go? What would you do? Who would you like to see if you had that dream? Who would be impressed by it. Who would be proud of you for having attained it? Who would have to acknowledge that you are a success?
You Must Have More Than One Goal
It is important to realize that we have more than one aspect or needs in our lives. As human beings we are a three part being. We are made up as Body, Mind, and Soul.. Each of these can be further divided into three parts. The Body could be divided into minerals, water and air. The Mind could be divided into Thoughts, Education and instincts. The Soul could be divided into Spirit, emotions, and understanding.
If we neglect any one of these aspects or needs, then we will not function properly If we took our Body and concentrated on just the vitamins and mineral, and then neglected the water or air, our health would not be what it could be. We would be like a three legged stool, with one or two legs, shorter than the others. The stool would be unstable and likely to tip over. This is true of each of the Tricotomy of man.
Let's take the Body as an example of our goals. To have a balanced body we must study and learn what the body needs. Most of us today realize that we will become what we eat. If we load up on sugars or fats, our health will suffer. That being true, we read and study to make sure we put the right minerals and vitamins into our diet. We also should learn about the water and air legs of our three legged stool.
Health experts have learned that the body needs much more water that the average person drinks. Your goal might be to drink from 5 to 6 , glasses of water per day. One of the ways to do this would be to drink equal amounts of water for each liquid that you are now drinking. After a while you will find that you desire more and more of the water, and less and less of the coke, coffee, tea, or other liquids.
Then think about the Air, part of our Body. We might think that everybody breaths, and you would be correct. But what we might not realize is that the majority of people do not breath properly. The average person only uses the top part of their lungs. The bottom part only gets used if we are doing strenuous exercises or activities. That is why, when you do not exercise properly, that when you do exert yourself, it makes your lungs hurt. Become aware of your Body and try to make every breath a deep, lung filling breath. The result will be that your health will improve. There is also a type of breathing that athletes and martial artists use that will vastly improve your health. If you desire to learn more about this special type of breathing, drop me an email, and I'll share it with you.
Now! Just like you are made up of many parts or aspects, your happiness and well being has many aspects or parts to it also. If you do not understand this and have not set goals in all the areas of your life, then you will begin building a "three legged stool".
We all could name people that have concentrated on the making of money to the extent that their family life has suffered. Having a million dollars will not bring happiness unless you have someone that cares for you, to share it with. Having a loving family and not have the finances to support them will also be a failure.
For abundant happiness in life we must have goals in Health, Mind, Spiritual, and Financial, Family. We have already talked about our Health.
You should also have a concern for your mind. It is a horrible thing to wind up a vegetable or with a mind that does not function properly. Eating, drinking and breathing right have a lot to do with that. But another thing that should be done is to always be improving your mind by using it. Think! When was the last time you learned something new? Most people quit learning when they quit school. It does not matter how much education they managed to finish. When they stopped school, they stopped learning. That is not acceptable if you want to have a happy life. Make a goal to learn something today. Take a class or read a book. I am in my seventies and have started teaching myself computer programming. I do not say that to pat myself on the back, but to illustrate the fact that we can continue learning at any age, and should, if we want a fun filled, active, successful, life.
On the Spiritual side, I will not try to instruct you. But, you should be aware that we are and have, a spiritual side of us that needs to be fed, nourished and taken care of, if we would be happy. For myself, I am a believer in the Bible. This works for me. If you would like me to share more thoughts on this topic, let me know.
On the Family side, just let me say that we all need someone to love and to be loved by. It is the motivation that makes us do unusual things. I will work harder to give my children things, like a good education, than I ever would for myself. My wife knows that when she shares her wants with me, that they become my goals also. Humans are made to love and to be loved.
Now! Lets get to the financial side. This seems to be the side that most people are concerned with. But remember, if we neglect the other sides of our existence, we will not be as happy as we could be. The technique I will be sharing with you can be used in each one of these other aspects of our lives.
To set a financial goal, we must first determine how much we will need. To do that, find the time and place where you can relax and have some privacy. Even if you are married, I would recommend that you do this privately and then do it together, and then go back to your private place to do it again. That way your goals will properly be modified to include your partner's desires also.
In your private place, take a piece of paper or be in front of your computer with a blank page in a word processor. Then just relax and think what your lifestyle would be like, if money were not an object. Dream of what kind of car you would drive, what kind of home you would live in. Where and what kind of vacation you would take. Who would you help if you had the funds? What would you like to see or do? Just let your imagination run wild. List everything that comes to mind, no matter how weird or far-fetched it might be.
Now, take that list and arrange it in the order of importance. Put the things you want most on the top, let the others fall down the list somewhere. Do not put the most costly item at the top. Put something that would challenge you, but could still be attainable, with some effort. This list has become you goals in this one area of money or finances.
Now take that list and figure our how much you would have to make or be making, in order to have these things. Sometimes you do not have to have a million dollars in the bank, just to live like a millionaire. If you had a consistent monthly income equal to what a millionaire would have off the interest on his millions, you could life like he does. The result should be a dollar amount that you need in cash, for security, and also a dollar amount that your monthly income should be at in order to live the life style of your dreams. Now, how can you increase your income to reach these goals?
There are many way to accomplish this. It might be investments in real-estate or the stock marked. It might be trading the stock market or the Forex market. It might be starting a business. That business might be operated from your home or even from your computer. I have done all these things and continue doing some of them today. Of the investment type of businesses, I favor the Forex Markets best. It is fast paced and can be very lucrative. But it can also be very costly, if you do not know what you are doing. Of the home businesses, I favor the internet kind the most. I have successfully operated from my home for a number of years, working Multi-level type businesses. I also love promoting and building business that are only done through the medium of the internet. You need to decide what suits you best. Are you comfortable, or even able to invest? Do you like and understand computers? Do you like dealing with people? If you do not like what you are doing, then you can not be happy.
If you are "broke" when starting out, that would limit some of the things you could start with. If completely broke, you might start with a yard sale, or a part time job, just to get the financial start. If you already have, and like a computer. there are businesses that can be started with zero investment, and even built with zero cost. Some of those concepts will be taught on this web site. If you want my personal advice on one, just ask.
What ever type of business that you have decided is the game you will be competing in, get some expert advice on how to proceed. Every business will have experts. Also every business will have "con-artists" It is very hard to determine which is which. Understand that most sales letters, or sales web sites are selling you the "sizzle", not the stake. We humans make most of our decisions on our emotions, rather than facts. If you want the truth, you have to disregard your emotions and base your decision on the facts.
If you have come this far, you now know what you want, and how many dollars it will take to satisfy that want. You have discovered your type of business that you want to build, and are ready to start. Take your goal list and take the top item. Ask yourself, "what would I have to do, in order to have that item?" If you are selling a product in your business, what is the profit of one item sold, and how many would you have to sell in one months time, in order to have that goal. Now take the number of sales that have to be made, and divide that by four and then that by seven. You now have how many sales have to be made daily and weekly, in order to have your goal. Now you need to determine how many people you have to speak to, or how many advertising dollars, or how much time on the internet, you have to give, in order to make that one sale. Those figures are your real goals.
If you have done your home work, you will realize that the goals that you set, when broken down into daily tasks, are very easy to accomplish.
Here is the plan in a nutshell!
THE SECRET OF GETTING AHEAD
IS GETTING STARTED
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THE SECRET OF GETTING STARTED
IS BREAKING YOUR COMPLEX,
OVERWHELMING TASKS INTO
SMALL MANAGEABLE TASKS,
THEN STARTING ON THE FIRST ONE!
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Success Is An Attitude
Success is and Attitude that says you will never quit, no matter what happens. We have to be like Luke in the old movie "Cool Hand Luke", played by Steve McQueen. When Luke was sent to prison, he encountered a huge man that tried to beat him to a pulp. When Luke was knocked down, he got right back up and kept getting up, until the man quit beating on him. He never gave up. He never quit. He wound up making a great friend of the bully that gave him such a hard time. You will find that life is like that. If we never give up our goals, never compromise our ideals, but just keep on keeping on, we become winners. We become successful.
One more illustration. To earn the coveted Black Belt in Karate, it is required that you learn thousands of techniques. It takes many hours and even years to become proficient in that art. At any time, or any class, the student may quit or leave, and never come back. If he stays, and keeps learning, he one day will be given the opportunity to take the Black Belt Test. What will happen in that testing is that the prospect will be examined on his attitudes towards his fellow man, towards Karate (We want no bullies) and his skills in the art. To demonstrate these skill, will take many hours, and sometimes even days of testing to complete. At the end of the examination, the student is then given the opportunity to demonstrate his fighting skills. He must fight a student of equal rank, in both point, or sport Karate, and then full contact Karate. Then fight a number of students at the same time. One! Two! Three! Four! It does not matter how many, the one being tested must never quit. He then fights against knives, staffs and other martial arts weapons. In these fights, he is not allowed to take the weapon from his opponent. He must just survive. Then the student is given the opportunity to fight against black belts. Sometimes one, or two, or thee, or even four.. Again he must survive. The last fight will be against the Grand Master, or Sensei himself. This is the most brutal one. The student is so tired that he can not even keep his guard up. His blows are weak and with no power. He may be stumbling and not even able to stand up. BUT = HE MUST NOT QUIT! If he at any time refuses to get up, or refuses to return to the fight, he is disqualified, and may never have the opportunity to take that test again. I have seen many students that quit the training before they became black belts. I have NEVER seen a student that started the testing and quit before he won that coveted Black Belt. By the time you have completed that training, "To Quit" is not in your vocabulary. If we take that attitude into our lives, toward our goals, we will always be winners.
SUCCESS IS AN ATTITUDE
To build your attitude, practice reading good books and listening to tapes on that topic.
Below is a list of some of the books that deal with this topic.
The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol
Over the Top by Zig Ziglar Psycho-Cybernetics 2000 by Bobbe Sommer,
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Enthusiasm Makes The Difference by Norman Vincent Peale
Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins
Below is a list of some of the tapes that can be had from Nightingale Conant
Take Charge of Your Life, by Jim Rohn
The Psychology of Winning by Denis E. Waitley
The Science of Personal Achievement by Napoleon Hill