Success In Abundance: resolutions

Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts

Let's Not Be the 80% Who Fail

Oh No! Is it really that time of year already?

You know... resolutions time!

That time of year where we must yank ourselves up by our own bootstraps, shake off the dust of the year left behind, and get serious.

But, get serious about what? Okay, so yes, it's been weeks, if not months of over indulging, over eating, over imbibing, and excess. Most likely it began with all that Halloween candy which led right into Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve!

Now, here I stand, in the new year wondering where those extra pounds came from, why I feel so tired, and YOWZA, how did my credit card balance get so high?!

My life's a mess - oh, and sheesh, one look around and so is my home!

Yep! It's time to get control of things and stop kidding myself. But, gosh, the list is a long one... where, oh where, do I begin?

Eat better?

Exercise more?

Spend less?

Save more?

Better self care?

To Succeed You Need a Compelling Reason Why! (By Anne O'Dwyer)

Why is it that so many new resolutions fail after a few weeks or months? Have you ever started a project full of enthusiasm only later to lose interest and abandon it. Do you always finish a book? Have you learnt that language you started, it seemed a great idea last summer! Did you keep up your gym membership for more than 6 months and did you use it regularly? How about your plan to lose weight, did you lose more that 2 pounds and keep the weight off?

Why do we start a new venture full of enthusiasm, and at the first few hurdles lose interest? The ANSWER is we need a compelling "reason why"! If you have a really important reason to continue you are likely to do so. Something really important that will keep you on track despite the hurdles, brick walls, or alternative distractions. You must continually visualize the final picture and think how important it will be to achieve it. Enjoy the feelings and satisfaction of the end result. This must happen daily or even hourly, really "see" how it will benefit you.

It is this that will drive you to success, you will be enlisting the help of your subconscious mind; which in fact is your willing servant waiting to help you achieve. However if you don't give it clear instructions about your desire it cannot help you. If sometimes you are positive and sometimes doubting how does it know what you aim is? There is no need to rely on will-power when you could have all the assistance you need. Just be single-minded about your end result. Your journey may change direction a little if you hit "road blocks" but concentrate on the end result to reach it like a laser beam.

For example it's not so much you want to lose 10 pounds or 3 stone but why do you want to lose weight, what difference will it make to your life, how will you feel, what great advantages will it give you? How will it affect relationships or in what fantastic ways will you gain.

When I was left with 3 children to bring up I used this method. I needed a teaching job to give me school holidays, I love children so it seemed the obvious solution but I didn't have an exam to my name, except in nursing. I set out to achieve my goal and in a few years was the proud owner of a teaching certificate. All this despite it meant a trip of 70 miles a day, and I didn't drive at the time! That is another story, but it is an example of what you can do if your desire is great enough.

I have since moved on to other things now the youngsters have flown the nest. I have learnt basic computer skills and set up a small internet business. So if you are doubting your ability to achieve your dreams, take heed, most things are possible if the desire is compelling enough.

If working at home with an internet business is your dream, affiliate marketing is the simplest starting-point online. Begin with the guidance of a coach and mentor with a proven track record. Someone who provides excellent products and great training in marketing. Believe in yourself and start earning commissions whilst you are learning the skill necessary.

http://ezinearticles.com/?To-Succeed-You-Need-a-Compelling-Reason-Why!&id=9584286

When's A Good Time to Set Goals and Resolutions?

Certain times of the year lend themselves to setting goals and resolutions; it might be the start of a new year, a particular birthday, Lent or simply a sense that it's time for something to change.

It can be a valuable exercise to reflect on the things that motivate us and then identify the positive results those achievements will bring into our lives. What ABC's will help you to stay focused on reaching your goals and resolutions?

Your resolution A's

Ambition can generate enough energy to remain enthusiastic and stay on track so that we stay focused on our goals. Whether we've decided to lose weight, stop smoking, learn another language or make significant plans for our future, the stepping-stones to reach those goals need to be clear enough for us to follow. Ensure that your goals are your own, that you're not implementing changes to placate, please or keep someone else happy. Doing things for others can work for a time, but it's often difficult and unsatisfying to sustain.

Allies can help us maintain our resolve; if you're starting a fitness regime it can help to train with others, but those friends or family need to be equally committed. With business goals a coach or mentor can be a valuable asset, making you answerable for your progress whilst reflecting on the direction you're aiming for. Occasional setbacks and slip-ups can be recovered from and treated as part of the ongoing learning experience, a temporary blip along the way.

Be prepared to be adventurous at times. Sometimes detours and unexpected opportunities may take you off the straight and narrow, but they can also open up doors to a whole new set of experiences, introduce you to new contacts and enhance the scope of your success.

Your resolution B's

Believe you can or believe you can't and you're right! Trust in yourself, that you'll find a way or learn from the experience. Then you grow and add a better perspective to your expectations and way of thinking. Allow yourself to be inspired. My little book '101 Days of Inspiration' might help to keep the flame alight.

Balance is important in helping to alleviate stress and enable you to enjoy the many different areas of life; your work, family, friends and interests. When you enjoy the journey you're able to appreciate each step you take and the benefits of each stage of your progress, without losing sight of what's important in your life. Clear goals and resolutions should fit into the overall picture of your life, with measurable results to celebrate along the way.

Breaks can require slowing down and sometimes being prepared to take a little longer. But this can be a benefit in disguise, helping you to achieve what's important but equally allowing you to support your health and happiness along the way. Breaks often mean that upon your return you come back feeling refreshed, with better ideas and renewed energy and enthusiasm.

Your resolution C's

Staying in your comfort zone and parking your goals can be fine in times of stress or upheaval but be aware of how that 'zone' can gradually become smaller and start to reduce your ability to say 'yes' to new challenges and adventures. When you do say 'yes' it's often amazing how doors open, even for seemingly impossible goals.

Try something new everyday and become more aware of ways to regularly stretch yourself a little. Be receptive to opportunities; travel another route to work, try a different sandwich for lunch, invite a colleague out for a coffee. Simple things can keep your thinking flexible and receptive. Watch how your goals and resolutions then start to become easier to implement.

Compromise. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it, but sometimes a negotiation or compromise is required. For a time you may need to see your friends less frequently, go to bed a little earlier or make a few sacrifices. Goals may need some planning or readjustment to your thinking, but stick with the stepping-stones and enjoy the benefits that start to materialise.

Communicate regularly and include the people in your life. it's often the case that they then become a supportive part of your team, encouraging you along the way. Your goals and resolutions may even become a part of their mindset too.

Enjoy each opportunity to set goals and resolutions that improve the quality of your life. It's never too late to determine what you want, think it through and get started. Remember, today's not a dress rehearsal!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Whens-A-Good-Time-to-Set-Goals-and-Resolutions?&id=9816882

How To Overcome Being Unmotivated And Uninspired

Being unmotivated and uninspired is, unfortunately, a very easy pattern to fall into and can also be a harmful way of living. You begin to lie to yourself, make plans but never follow through. You make resolutions but then repeat the same habits. So how do you overcome this and get motivated?

Do you dislike taking the initiative, working or even going to the gym? Do you hate getting up early? Do you not have time for anything? Do you keep postponing the work you have to do? And often ask yourself why you keep procrastinating?

If any of these habits sound familiar to you, then you are unmotivated, uninspired, and even becoming a never-do-well. These patterns are the behaviors of a failure, and that is what you will be if you continue on this path. But why is a person lazy, unmotivated or uninspired?

Well, one of the reasons is because you are happy with dreaming. You want to be famous, rich, dating sexy partners, buy a yacht or a jet, own a luxury car, have a house, get a vacation home, and yet at the same time, you do not want to do anything. It is just a deep wish inside your fantasy!

Countless of people do not want to do anything, but they want to have everything.

You hate work. I understand. Just the idea of work makes you start throwing fits and building plans on how to avoid doing it. When you were a child, you hated waking up early, going to school, doing homework, studying but were forced to do all of these things by your parents anyway. Under their supervision, and over your young years, these habits were set up in your brain.

Nowadays even technology comes into play. No matter if personalized or not, it is created to make you feel unmotivated or uninspired most of the time. The reason I say this is because it has a downside. Its purpose, after all, is to reduce all hard work and get you things faster, easier and with minimal involvement.

The Path Full of Hopeful Intentions

The path to lacking in enthusiasm is full of hopeful intentions. You might say that you are going to get more done tomorrow, but feel just as uninterested and unimaginative when you wake up the day after as you did today.

These days, you can buy food, clothes, liquor, groceries, medicine, films, taxis, meetings and even sign agreements without moving from your couch. You can even talk to anyone from anyplace in the world visually, verbally, or textually.

So, are all of these things making you more or permanently unmotivated or uninspired?

Of course not! Because you still playing sports, hanging out, partying, going to pubs, meeting your friends, going on vacation, on dates, shopping, and all kind of other things in the name of fun.

Now, you realize that your laziness is selective. It is prejudice. It only focuses on certain aspects of your life, which you honestly find annoying. You dislike working, studying, learning, researching but love doing everything that is fun. So it is all about preference.

Being Unmotivated and Uninspired is an Excuse

Being unmotivated and uninspired, by definition, is not a disorder. It is not something you are suffering from but is rather an excuse. The truth is, you want to be successful, but you do not want to work for it.

But let's take the case of a dog chasing you, lazy or not lazy, you are going to run your ass off. Why?

Walking unmotivated or lazily, in that case, is not a choice. Here is a typical guy's example: If a girl calls you and says "Come on over" or "My parents are not home," you do not stay there wondering what it is you should do, you get up, take a shower, and make a run to her place. The laziness again disappears. Why? Well, this time is for fun!

So to be lethargic or unproductive is ultimately just a habit. People are unmotivated or unproductive when it is convenient for them. It is a personal choice based on the freedom you have. It is like when your boss orders you to finish and submit some work in two hours, you do not have the same convenience, so you do that work, or else you will get fired.

Likewise, if you study on the last day before your exam because you ran out of time, now you find yourself having no choice, or you will fail. Therefore when you do not have a choice, you are not unmotivated and uninspired anymore. But when you are on your own, you find it convenient to sabotage your own life.

Are You Truly in Charge

As a result, when it comes to things where you are in charge, which is your life, most of the time you seem not to care much. Despite what you feel or say, you do not want to be successful in reality, because those who do are working like hell.

Being lazy and uninterested takes advantage of your willpower. It is okay to feel down at times, and you might probably miss a day or two every once in a while, but you have to get back on the horse. You need to remember that not feeling motivated or inspired is a habit, not a personality trait.

But be honest with yourself. If you can work hard to get laid, maintain relationships, hang out with friends, party, actively be part of a social life, chat on Facebook, and play video games for hours on end, and the only things you are avoiding are somehow work-based, then you are lying to yourself.

So the truth is that most of us are unmotivated or uninspired because we have not yet taken full control of our lives. We are still unconsciously waiting for some authority, supervision, guidance or a manual to make us do things. We do not realize that we have moved past that phase, and it is not going to happen.

Three Ways to Change Your Patterns

There are at least three ways to change your unmotivated and uninspired patterns by creating particular habits that you can add to your routine to transform it.

Accept Control of Your Life

You are on your own. Your parents now are your supporters, and your friends see you as only an element of fun. Most of them have no interest or investment in your success. They do not care. They will be sad for a minute if you fail, but they will most certainly move on.

Therefore, unmotivated and uninspired, your life is right now in your hands only. You are its master. You are the captain! As a result, accept control of your life and actions.

Remember What You Have to Do

Remember what your parents had to do to get you where you are right now. Even then, you did not want to study or do chores. You rather desired to sleep and only have fun, but they pushed you.

So now, in their absence, since you are the master of your destiny, you have to push yourself. The responsibility is now yours. Get yourself up. Scream on yourself if need be or if you are wasting time. Punish yourself if you have to.

If you have plans for the day or tomorrow, but did not study, work or do whatever you were meant to, then drop those plans. Discipline yourself. Being unmotivated and uninspired is a choice. You are choosing not to work or study. And by making that choice, you are going against your evolution.

End the 'Being Unmotivated and Uninspired'

Usually, whenever you have some work to do, you tell yourself that you will start later, in 30 minutes, the afternoon or tomorrow. Meanwhile, in that time frame, you text messages, check out pictures or look at your social media.

You are surrounded by millions of choices, options, and sources which are pushing their content on you. It is addictive, great, compelling content and these companies' goals are your permanent subscription, and to get you hooked on it.

Now, these people are doing a fantastic job because it is their job. But because of them, you are screwing up your work and your life. You are being unmotivated and uninspired to do your stuff. But still, the blame falls on your head because you are the one who has to manage your time.

The truth is that most of us are consistently good at lying to ourselves. What do you gain from lying to yourself? You are in charge of your life. It only proves that you do not value yourself enough, that you see yourself as a has-been or never-will.

Tips to Overcome Laziness and Lack of Inspiration

Look forward to doing the work as it is the fastest way to get more done.
Get enough sleep and try to get on a regular sleep cycle.
Start your day with positive self-talk and affirmations.
Figure out when it is your best time to work and then do most things during those times.
Stay away from social media to avoid being unmotivated and uninspired to act on more important.
Exercise at least three times a week to release endorphins which improve your overall mood.
Use a goal tracker to set specific goals for yourself and mark off when you do them.
Eat healthy as it can affect your overall energy.
Get help if you feel stuck.
Go easy on yourself as there are days that won't feel right.
Listen to energetic music that makes you feel active and productive.
Break your work into small steps, so you do not get too overwhelmed.
Change your environment to stay motivated and inspired.
Surround yourself with productive people who inspire you.
Expand your interests and skills not to find yourself being unmotivated and uninspired.
Fix a schedule for working and breaks.

The only way to overcome these habits is by taking action. You have to understand the value of time. If not, someone else will take your place or create your idea because they are not playing around. Remember that there are no excuses and surely no cure for being unmotivated and uninspired. The only solution is you and self-discipline. So start now!

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Overcome-Being-Unmotivated-And-Uninspired&id=9764346

Change Is Inevitable, So Expect It!

I am always surprised when individuals are shocked by normal life events. Many people seem to think that they can plan and orchestrate situations or individuals to match their wish lists. But that isn't reality. Change is inevitable and is often outside our sphere of control!

As we come to the end the year we usually acknowledge and reflect about what has occurred in the past twelve months. At the same time, we face a new year of resolutions and goals never knowing exactly what lies around the corner.

Do not be surprised by what might happen over the next twelve months:

1. Pregnancies are not always planned and even multiple births cannot be predicted at conception. The circumstances that occur during labour and delivery can bring laughter or tears. A new baby in the family affects every single leaf on the family tree - some more than others.

2. Deaths occur on their own terms. We cannot know how or when someone will die and even though we might hope that a life will go one forever - it won't. Each year my Christmas card list is smaller and I experience the loss of those who were emotionally close.

3. Illness can appear unexpectedly and drastically alter our lives. Even a "heavy cold" can prevent Queen Elizabeth from attending events in which she has participated for decades.

4. Weather can change rapidly. Storms might destroy property, kill dreams or even take lives and the damage leaves both tangible and intangible consequences.

5. Politics is designed as an engine of change and, even if you support the party in power, you might not like the legislation that is passed. If you don't, no need to worry. It is never long between elections.

6. Economy is affected by events that occur throughout the whole world. We have, for example, recently witnessed a significant downturn in the oil and gas industry because of supply and demand principles at a global level. The negative financial impact has trickled down through institutions to communities and families. But history knows that the economy moves in cycles and an upturn will occur in time.

7. The familiar evaporates. Out health or mobility deteriorates as we age. Businesses we have thought would be there forever will close. Friends move. Technology evolves.

8. Random acts by individuals can result in violence where innocent people are killed or maimed. The nightly news broadcasts tales of gang wars, senseless shootings and terrorist acts. Smattered between are stories of kindness, heroism and generosity.

9. Human fallibility causes each of us at times to say or do inappropriate things that are self-destructive or hurtful to others. But it is never too late to ask forgiveness and make positive change.

10. Values are transformed. When I was younger people would smoke in the house and put the cat out. Now laws require that people smoke outside and keep their cats inside!

We are never disappointed unless we have expectations. Unfortunately, we usually expect that things will stay the same and when they don't, we are upset. But change is inevitable.

The important thing is not what happens but how we respond to it. Do not merely focus on the negative events as there are so many good things that happen. We can be part of creating as well as enjoying them.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Change-Is-Inevitable,-So-Expect-It!&id=9634149

Using The Power of Small Changes to Make Our Lives More Dynamic

As a new year progresses, we frequently hear of broken New Year's resolutions to lose weight, renovate a house, learn a new language... Those who make these resolutions usually give up because they are unable to mobilize themselves for the hours of persistent effort required.

An interesting alternative approach to improving our lives is to think of small changes to make that do not require much time and effort but which imbue us with energy and will for making bigger changes. I call this using the "power of small changes." The following are some examples:

An acquaintance of mine had a really cluttered desk. He could not find the time to organize and file the clutter, nor could he think of anyone with the expertise to do it well.

One evening he got the idea that instead of having all those papers, magazines, journals and books lying on his desk, he could put them in boxes. In a few minutes he was able to do this. He wrote notes on the boxes to quickly let him know what each contained. He dusted the desk and arranged his writing accessories neatly. When he sat down at this desk, he said he was amazed at how positive he felt. With the clutter, he felt inundated by things to be done. Now he felt more in control. It shocked him that for years he had endured this disorder, and all the negative emotions it spawned, when it was so easy to replace it with calm and vibrancy.

A colleague wanted to start an exercise program but kept putting it off. She could never find the time to get to a gym and was too weary from her other duties to do much exercise. She was lamenting to a friend that she feared her health was being impaired because of her lack of exercise. He asked her to start running on the spot there and then. She did it, and in three minutes she got more exercise than she had done in weeks. She made running on the spot her exercise program. She was able to get vigorous exercise in a few minutes a day, and there was no time wasted travelling to and from a gym, readying to get to the gym, etc.

In an office where several of us worked, there was old furniture stacked in a corner. One day it dawned on us that this pile was an eyesore, an utterly drab intrusion from the past. It contradicted the spirit of progress and possibilities we promoted in our work. We quickly found a place in the backyard for it, and in less than two hours the pile that had diminished our lives for over a year was gone.

Look around you and think of small changes to make that can help you feel much better, that life is more of something you create than just a clutter. Removing that broken clock that has been sitting on the wall for years, rearranging items in your bathroom or in your closet, packing away things strewn around your apartment, reorganizing the utensils in your kitchen, clearing the dinner table of a pile of papers stored on it for years, starting an exercise program like the one mentioned above... can often be done very quickly. But they have powerful effects, create a sense of order, make us feel more positive about life and give us more zest for getting things done.

I have constantly been pleasantly surprised by how these small changes make us feel sharply better and increase efficiency. Do not underestimate the "power of small changes" for creating the vibrancy, energy and will to help us attain bigger changes that make us more dynamic and successful.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-The-Power-of-Small-Changes-to-Make-Our-Lives-More-Dynamic&id=9372426

How to Work Through the Pain to Get to the Pleasure

Some, not all of us realize that we need to work through our experiences in a conscious fashion rather than analyze, over and over again in our minds what happened and tell ourselves, in our head, that we're okay and we're ready to move on. We tell ourselves such stories! Such tales of garbage.

The Ego is strong and wants to keep you petty and immature. The truth hurts sometimes, yes, it does free you from the constraints of your past history and allow you to see a different way to behave. This opportunity to see through a different lens rather than our own limiting view are the times when we access important information about ourselves and life that was always there but hidden. The learning process may not be easy, but it's full of lessons that bring us wisdom we can't find any other way.

The desire to press fast-forward leads to escapism, contradiction, and denial, all three of which prolong our difficulties and in some cases make them worse. Our willingness to be direct, clear, and courageous in the face of our circumstances gives us the tools to finding peace, understanding and love again, allowing us to move through the situation with resolutions not seen or available to us before.

Yes! I said resolutions! More than one. Armed with this understanding, you may begin to realize that trying to find the fast-forward button is probably not the best option, perhaps it's about pressing the pause button. When you truly grasp, deep down inside that the only way out of any situation in which you find yourself, whether it's easy or difficult is to go through it, you stop looking for ways to escape and start paying close attention to what is happening, in the moment.

This is the first step to shifting your current perspective and putting on a different lens. You, now present in this moment, realize that you are exactly where you need to be. You can now choose a course of action instead of doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. With this new found awareness comes something you didn't know before and will now help you make a better choice.

The process of awareness can be easy, gentle and kind or a hard hitting crack between the eyes, either way it depends on how willing you are to give up being right, making someone else wrong or dominating another and choose love, peace, or compassion instead.

Choose to see all perspectives. Get clear on what you would love in your life, is it getting along better with your spouse now that the kids are gone? Is it peace in your work relationships? Understanding yourself?

Love, passion, affinity, contentment, courage, all these feelings are available to you so are hate, annoyed, tense, fearful, guilt, shame. Positive thinking alone will not shift your perspective, but balanced thinking, which opens the heart to gratitude and love will. In the moment you might be ready to fire and employee but with perspective, balanced thinking, you'll see there's more going on than you thought.

When you feel the urge to press the fast-forward button, remember that you are not alone; we all instinctively avoid pain. But in doing so, we often prolong our pain and delay important opportunities to learn. As you choose to move forward in real time and see all sides of the circumstance, obstacle or challenge, ask yourself how does what I think stifle me or serve me?

This balanced thinking will lower your stress and increase your vitality, comprehension and enthusiasm.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Work-Through-the-Pain-to-Get-to-the-Pleasure&id=9390065

A Resolution's Timing Problem

Goals and resolutions are very similar. Both represent desirable results we want to achieve. Why, then, do resolutions have a 97% failure rate, while goals form the foundation of most success strategies? The differences between the two, although subtle, are significant. And this article is one of several designed to explore those differences.

Law of Gestation

Both goals and resolutions are designed to lead to actions, which are supposed to generate desired results. However, the two deal with the time needed to achieve those results differently. Before I go into that difference, let me explain something called the Law of Gestation. This law states that everything needs a period of time to manifest. We can easily see this in nature; plant a seed, and it takes some period of time, usually days, before a sprout appears. The same applies to ideas and desires. After you plant a desire, you have to let enough time go by to allow that desire to manifest.

A resolution does not have this time period built in. A person forms a resolution and acts upon it; however, since a resolution does not have a time frame as part of its structure, the person does not know how long is needed for results. Given the tendency of our culture towards immediate satisfaction, the person then becomes impatient for immediate results. Seeing none, they say the resolution has failed, and forget about it.

A goal, on the other hand, has a time element built into it, if it is properly formed. (A properly formed goal has the SMART properties, of which Time is the last). So a person works towards a goal but knows that some time must elapse before manifestation occurs. This inspires patience and persistence, both of which are needed to achieve goals. Even if the time estimate is off, the person recognizes that some time must pass, and so is willing to wait for results.

Time Frames

A second problem with the lack of time awareness in resolutions is the lack of flexibility of approach. Different time frames require different approaches. A short term goal, something which is less than a year, is more action oriented. A medium term goal, which should take between one and five years, is more amenable to planning before action. And a long term goal, which includes an estimate of more than five years, lends itself to a more developmental approach.

However, resolutions are almost always immediate, which means they demand immediate actions and immediate results. The lack of planning and development inherent in the resolution making process means that any efforts towards reaching the resolution are more likely to be stopped before the necessary time passes.

Patience is Key

So how do we make resolutions more time sensitive? The key is to fight the drive towards immediacy. Take the time needed to understand the process needed to reach the desired result, making your resolutions more goal-like by incorporating an awareness of the time needed to see results, and by adapting your actions towards that time frame. A little thought about timing can have amazing effects on your success rate.

http://ezinearticles.com/?A-Resolutions-Timing-Problem&id=9310661

Tips To Stay Focused On Your Goals This Year

Most people begin the year with new resolutions or goals, unfortunately only a few achieve them. In fact, new studies reveal that less than 10% of people who set goals achieve them. What does this small category of people do differently? One reason people fail to achieve their goals is because they lack focus. With so many activities competing for our attention it is easy to be distracted from those productive ones that directly impact on our goals, positively. Here are three suggestions on how you can focus on your goals this year to ensure that you achieve them.

Carefully think through your goals

As much as you need to be realistic, you should also be sincere with yourself. What is the real reason behind the goals you have set? For instance, why do you want to travel to at least 10 countries before the first quarter? Is it a borrowed goal? In what ways would it benefit you? Do you have all the necessary resources? By honestly examining your motives, you find strong convictions to keep you going even as things get tough. Also, you would be more willing to dedicate your resources towards achieving them.

Be accountable

Another way you can stay focused on your goals this year is through accountability. One way of being accountable is by collaborating with people with the same goals as you. For instance, if you plan to increase your savings, you could join a transparent, well structured group established for that purpose. Most traders use this means to achieve their financial goals. You could also share your plans with people you know have succeeded in the area of your focus and ask them to keep you accountable. By doing so, you would benefit from their valuable experiences and much needed encouragements. Some people turn to the internet community for accountability purposes, by blogging on their journeys, for example. Staying focused on your goals requires commitment; being accountable makes the whole process a bit easy.

Develop the right attitude

What happens when your zeal fades or when you are confronted with threats, most, beyond your control? Will you quit or will you still forge ahead? People who achieve their goals actually factor in these events, and when they happen don't abandon their plans. Find new ways to inspire yourself. Let the progress you would have made, no matter how little inspire you. Rather than focus on the challenges you will face, think of new ways to solve them. You need to develop the right attitudes of persistence, diligence and strong determination to pull through.

When we focus on our goals to achieve them, we place ourselves in a position where we are more in control of our lives. However, what is equally as important as what we achieve is who we become in the process - self confident, driven and focused people will conveniently take on more challenging tasks.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-To-Stay-Focused-On-Your-Goals-This-Year&id=9311270

How to Gamify Your Productivity

You have to work your butt off to be successful. Here’s how to make the grind fun

Let’s face it: Regardless of how much you love what you do, or how much you love improving yourself, much of your time is going to be spent grinding it out. Doing what you don’t necessarily feel like doing. Going to the gym when you don’t feel like it. Getting up really early to put in a couple of extra hours working on an important project. Not watching the movie on the plane so you can grind out a few extra hours on your laptop. Skipping Sunday football so you can do some head-down work to get a jump-start on the week. I call these little moments the big separators between success and average.

What do successful people and unsuccessful people have in common? They both hate to do what it takes to be successful; successful people just do it anyway. When others are watching American Idol, they grind. When others are meeting for happy hour, they stay at the office grinding. When others are sleeping in, they get up to grind. When others get tired, they grind out a few more reps, a few more phone calls, a few more pages of writing, a few more practice sessions…. They just OUT-GRIND everyone around them.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell concluded that the people at the top don’t just work harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder. They what? Yeah, they grind!

The problem is, the grind is tedious, mundane, arduous and boring. And when our attention and interest wane because we’re, well, less than excited, we suffer our greatest threat to achievement—it’s called drift. You don’t fall off-course, you drift, ever so slightly, until you look up days, weeks or even years later and realize that, oh crud, you are WAY off your intended direction. And now it’s too late, you are too far behind to catch up—you have a heart attack, get a divorce or have to file for bankruptcy.

This drift tendency is a natural and normal human condition. It happens to all of us, all the time. It’s the No. 1 reason people don’t achieve their resolutions or the goals they set. It’s not for lack of intention; it is also not for lack of starting. Everyone starts. Everyone makes resolutions, signs up for gym memberships, starts new prospecting routines, begins a weekly date night ritual, starts eating healthy, and then what? Yeah, they drift.

Thus, to prevent it, you have to learn to master the mundane. And to master the mundane, you have to make it stimulating and fun.

How? Drugs. Well, one drug, in particular. I’m going to show you how to use the greatest performance-enhancing drug ever discovered. It will give you a radical, unfair personal achievement advantage.

What’s the drug? Anabolic steroids? HGH? Andro? EPO? Nah, way more powerful than all those is… dopamine.

Dopamine is the ultimate pleasure and motivation drug. And good news! You don’t have to travel to the seedy part of town to get your drug from some trigger-happy drug dealer. No, your drug dealer is God. You have a pantry full of dopamine, bottled up and just waiting to be pulled off the shelves for your enhanced performance use.

So how do you break into your dopamine drug closet? GAMES!

Nothing captivates the human attention and engagement like a game. It activates all sorts of human faculties: competition, reward, incentive, real-time evidence of progress, recognition, etc. All these pump the mojo drug into our system. We love our dopamine. It has a totally engrossing and intoxicating effect on us. That’s why kids, and adults, can spend countless hours—losing all sense of time—playing with their Xbox, PlayStation or Wii. It’s also why we love sports, board games, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, Angry Birds and the like. All these games give us big hits on the dopamine pipe.

Gaming stimulates all your emotional and psychological motivations. You can use that fact to your productive advantage.

This is not a new idea; organizations like Weight Watchers, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and military organizations have been using this approach to motivate people for years. But now we want to apply game mechanics to your day-to-day key performance behaviors—to help you overcome crippling procrastination, creative avoidance and sheer boredom. So here’s what you need to do.

Let’s use the simple, three-step formula from my book The Compound Effect.

One, decide what your BIG 3 goals are. Not 50, 10 or five goals, but the BIG 3 goals that if you achieved them would make this year the best year of your life to date. That’s Step 1.

Step 2: Identify the one to two key behaviors that are most important to accomplishing each of your BIG 3 goals. There are only one or two behaviors that, if you did them day in and day out, day after day, would totally transform your results. This is true of your diet, fitness, leadership, sales, marriage, parenting… any area. So it’s critically important to identify those one or two key behaviors and then focus on performing them day in and day out. Oh, but there’s the trouble. These behaviors become laborious, tedious and boring. Thus you start to drift right back into mediocrity. But not you, not now.

Step 3 of what I call my “massive transformation formula” is to track your performance. This is where we apply game mechanics to break open the medicine cabinet and pour dopamine—the true performance-enhancing drug—into our system.

So I’ll give you some examples. I’m not a big fan of all the phone apps and other complicated games people have created for this purpose. I like super-simple and physically visible systems.

Game On!

Let’s look at how well games work to track your progress. We start with:

• A goal, your mission, your crusade. For Candy Land, the goal is reaching Candy Castle. In Monopoly, it is bankrupting your competitors and ending up with all the cash. In Angry Birds, it is getting rid of the pesky pigs. For your productivity, that is achieving one of your BIG 3.

• Your task lies in the how of accomplishing your goal. In Candy Land, it is progressing through Candy Land and avoiding obstacles. In Monopoly, it is buying property and charging rent. In Angry Birds, it is attacking the pigs. For you, it is the key behavior you need to perform to achieve one of your BIG 3.

• To track your progress, games come with a board, console, app or storyline plot to progress through. This is where you need to get inventive. How will you track progress in your epic mission to achieve your BIG goal?

I have used many different devices. When it is something I need to track throughout the day and not just at the end of the day, I use devices like a stopwatch. If I am tracking the amount of time I am engaged in my No. 1 behavior, timing it to win points on my game board actually helps me succeed.

Another is a big calendar that I post up on my wall. Again, I like very physical and visual devices. If it is in an app buried in my phone, it is easily forgotten, avoided or made secret, which doesn’t help me or leverage public accountability. Maybe I’d track the number of days I do my stretch routine, or my core exercises, or I get in at least one 90-minute work session. When I complete it, I love to put a big fat red X up in victory, where I can see it all day. Not doing it, on the other hand, will haunt me all day. And once I have a string of big, fat red X’s going, I won’t want to break the chain. You will be way more motivated to do what you need to do and way more satisfied with yourself when you do. Every time you scratch one of those big fat X’s on your “game board,” you’ll get a big toke on the dopamine pipe.

Another device I have used is a pocketful of pennies. Let’s say my goal, my mission, my great crusade, is trying to improve the intimacy in my marriage. Maybe my bride feels loved when I express my appreciation for her, and doing so progresses me through the game toward the goal. To track my performance, I start the day with 10 pennies in my left pocket. The goal is to move them all to the right pocket. Every time I say or do something to express my sincere, heartfelt appreciation, I move one penny from the left pocket to the right one. Now, like any game, I have to avoid obstacles. The obstacles are if I say anything negative, sarcastic or critical. If I slip up, I have to take a penny from the right pocket and put it back in the left. At the end of the day, I will know if I’ve won or lost the daily battle in increasing the intimacy in my marriage by whether I have 10 pennies in my right pocket, or not.

Here is a game I helped a single dad friend of mine create. He was complaining that he couldn’t get one of his daughters to clean her room or his son to do his assigned reading. He tried every threat and pressure tactic he could muster. Nothing worked. And his household was one of constant lecturing and aggravation. So I helped him make a game of it. We took an old Candy Land board and gave each of them three ways they could get daily points—points associated with the key behaviors… including chores that dad wanted them to perform, but couldn’t get them to do. If they did all three, they got to move one space on the board. We also created some extra-credit ways they could move two spaces, even three spaces in a day. Well, let me tell you, the attitude, motivation and performance did a dramatic 180. Now they were excited, fired-up and fully focused on doing their three things to get their points. The entire previous experience of drudgery and threat and anger and complaining turned into fun, excitement and full-throttle engagement.

The last few parts of constructing your game:

Create a reward if you achieve your goal, your mission. I’ve used a special bottle of wine I would not normally allow myself, all the way up to a new watch I would not normally justify spending money on. By the way, my improved performance, the achievement of my big goal, always paid for the reward by a factor of 10 or more. It just provides a little something to look forward to at the end of the epic battle… if I win.

I’m often asked how I keep myself motivated. I do everything I can to keep everything I have to do to be productive as fun, stimulating and gamified as possible. Hey, life is a game, like it or not. You have two choices: You can either sit in the bleachers eating hot dogs and Cracker Jacks or take the field, stretch your skills, display your honed abilities and live out your potential. Which will you choose?

http://www.success.com/article/how-to-gamify-your-productivity

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