Own the Future

I can't hardly believe that I haven't posted on this blog for 21 months now, but I've decided it is well past time to revive it and get back to sharing tips, quotes and stories that inspire and motivate us to become better today than we have ever been before! So I hope you will come back often and leave a comment to share any insights you may have gained in your visit here or just to let us know that you dropped in.

Today I would like to share a quote that was e-mailed to me this morning by Brian Tracy:

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Nothing of significance is ever accomplished without first believe in yourself and your ability to do it. Dare to believe as you set and pursue the New Year's Resolutions you have made for 2012.

(You did write out your resolutions, didn't you? If not, read through my Celebrate 2008 blog series where I help you to gain a better understanding of why resolutions are important, how to set effective and exciting resolutions and tips and techniques for making sure you keep them throughout the whole year ... and beyond.)

How Do You Live?

While I was sick a couple of weeks ago, I watched a lot of movies because I really wasn't up to anything else. In one of the movies, I heard a quote that has always struck me as comical, but I think it aptly describes how many of us tend to live our lives.

"I don't know where we're goin' but there's no sense bein' late."

~ Tom Selleck as Matthew Quigley in Quigley Downunder

Many of us live our lives with no greater purpose than to earn enough money to pay our bills. We get up in the morning, chase the almighty dollar all day long, collapse in front of our T.V. for several hours at the end of the day, go to bed, and then repeat the cycle all over again the next day. Very few of us live our lives on purpose. And so we readily accept whatever purpose is handed to us.

"Most men lead lives of quiet desparation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

~ Henry David Thoreau

Start living your life instead of just going through the motions. And, if you are going to live your life, make it a life worth living! Instead of accepting whatever it is that life gives you, decide what you will have and go get it!

What is it that brings you the most joy and fulfillment in your life?
Are you doing it?

What do you want to be remembered for?
Are you accomplishing it?

Celebrate 2008! is my effort to inspire people to take action in their lives by setting goals to achieve the things they really want to achieve in their lives and stick with those goals until it happens. If you haven't set a goal or a resolution this year, please do so now. Do not go to your grave with your song unsung. None of us know how long we have to live, to breathe and to achieve so start today!

Reward Yourself!

How is everybody doing on their Celebrate 2008! goals and resolutions. Did you give up? Are you barely hanging in there? Or is it becoming easier as the tasks that lead you toward your goals turn into daily habits because you have been consistent in doing them? Whatever you are experiencing right now, I hope you renew your commitment to succeed today and push on through the difficult times. Trust me, it will get easier!

An often overlooked way of pushing through the difficult times is to set rewards along the way to keep you motivated. My wife has a desire to lose some weight right now. She has really wanted to try a diet service that sets you up on a meal plan and even provides the majority of the food you need to stick to the diet. She is really optimistic about the results that she would get with this service, but has hesitated because the price didn't really fit in our budget. That is when I offered her a deal.

My experience has been that proper eating will slow weight gain or maintain your current weight, but consistent daily exercise is required in order to lose weight. With her busy schedule, she has struggled to maintain a consistent exercise program these past two years with the exception of the physical toll of chasing after our three boys day in day out. I told her that I would provide the money for the diet service if she demonstrated her commitment to losing weight by exercising every day except Sunday for two solid weeks. I also warned her that it would probably require that she get up a little earlier (she is not much of a morning person) so she could get it in before the boys were up. In spite of that, she was really excited to get started - and she has done great!

My wife has come back to me many times and told me how good she feels now that she is exercising regularly again. Her mood has improved, she has more energy and she feels good about the accomplishment. She said it was rough starting out because she hadn't exercised in a while, but every day she pushes herself a little bit farther and a little bit harder. It isn't always easy and there are days when she procrastinates it and doesn't feel like doing it, but the promise of the reward keeps her moving.

Jack Canfield talks about this as rewarding your inner child. Here is an exerpt from an article of his:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your Inner Child

A big part of creating more success in life is rewarding yourself when you succeed. So, it’s important to reward your inner child as well. Every time you work hard to meet a goal, the part of you that just wants to have fun has to sit still and be good. However, just like any kid, if it knows it will be rewarded later with a treat, it will hang in there with you.

How can you reward your inner child?

• Take a 20-minute walk after an hour or two of concentrated work
• Go for walks in the morning with your spouse, friend, or significant other
• Take 20 minutes to listen to music and daydream
• Take most weekends totally off
• Take several weeklong vacations throughout the year
• Get regular massages
• Engage in daily meditation, exercise and yoga
• Take music lessons
• Go to movies, concerts and plays
• Listen to comedy tapes and watch the Comedy Network
• Listen to motivational audio programs when driving

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.freesuccessstrategies.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, if you aren't on track to succeeding with your goals, perhaps you need to set up a system of rewards for your inner child. The promise of achieving the goal isn't always enough to keep you going (in fact, it is rarely ever enough). Set up some monthly or even weekly rewards to motivate you. Reward yourself with every milestone you accomplish. It doesn't have to be an elaborate or expensive reward. Just make sure it is something you enjoy.

Review your success plan today and set up rewards to keep you going today!

Keeping the Faith

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

~ 2 Timothy 4:7

What course of action have you chosen to pursue in this new year? Weight loss? Getting out of debt? The Millionaire Marathon? Whatever course you have chosen, memorize this verse and say it out loud to yourself often, visualizing yourself victorious in the end. Do this daily and you will keep the faith, you will fight the fights that need fighting and you will finish your course and be a 2008 Champion!

Living the Dream

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."

~ James Dean

I don't know how many of you have seen it, but there is a fun family movie from the 90's called Casper. In that movie, Bill Pullman is a therapist who has a theory that the reason why there are ghosts around is that when people die their spirits have "unfinished business" that ties them to the mortal plane and doesn't allow them to cross over to the other side. It is a comical and entertaining movie, but I think it also touches on an important message of living life to its fullest and not dying with any "unfinished business." Let me share the following story of a woman named Rose who was determined to finish her business of living life:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that that lit up her entire being.

She said, "Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?" I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.

She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."

"No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

After class we walked to the student union building and share a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know."

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. "You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!"

"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change."

"Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing The Rose. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the years end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

None of us really know how long we have on this earth. Some of us could have several years. Some of us may only have a few days. You really don't know how much time you have left so why would you waste it? Dream big dreams and then go out and live them!

Celebrate 2008! - The Yoda Lesson

Now that you have your New Year's Resolutions formed and written down (you did make your resolutions, didn't you?) and you are beginning your efforts to achieve them, I would like to remind you of an important lesson taught by a little green man. In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Master Yoda was instructing Luke Skywalker in the ways of the force. Luke responded to Yoda's instruction to use the force to carry out a task by saying, "I'll try." Then came the popular quote:

"Try not. Do or do not, there is no try."

~ Yoda

As you embark on your journey to make 2008 the best year ever, you need to ask yourself:

What it is that you are going to try to do?

... and ...

What is it that you are going to do?

So many of us, when faced with a difficult or formidable task, say that we will try to do it. Think about what is going through your mind when you say that. You aren't picturing yourself as being victorious or even crossing the finish line. You doubt your ability to do it and are already planning to fail. But, at least you tried, right?

James Ray, one of the teachers featured in The Secret, teaches that trying is nothing more than failing with honor. People don't think much of someone who isn't willing to make an attempt. They don't think much more of a quitter. And we don't think much of them either. But, for some reason, we have learned to give some measure of glory to being a "tryer" - a person who mentally quits before we have even started. And, if we have quit mentally so early on, there is no way we can succeed on any level. But we gladly accept the pats on the back and sympathetic statements of "At least you tried."

Or perhaps they will tell you that "it isn't whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." This is very true if your true goal is just to be in the game and have fun. But sometimes we have to win!

If your health is at risk because of your weight problems, is it enough just to have fun while exercising?

If you are deep in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy, is it enough just to have fun making a budget and paying bills?

If you relationship with your spouse is on the rocks, is it enough just to have fun thinking of ways to revitalize your love for each other?

If you go to law school, is enough just to have fun taking the Bar Exam?

Whatever you set for your New Year's Resolutions this year, is it enough just to have fun pursuing them?

Sometimes it is not enough just to have fun. Sometimes you have to win, no matter what. If your child ran into the street chasing a ball and you saw a car speeding towards them, not paying attention, it wouldn't matter if you were barefoot and there was 100 feet of broken glass between you and your child - you would be committed to win that race to your child or die in the attempt! Are you just as committed to winning this year by accomplishing your resolutions?

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: 'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.'"

~ W.H. Murray from The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Will you commit yourself to your resolutions this year? This is a "Yes" or "No" question - there is no room for "I'll try."

If you choose to commit yourself, know why you are committed. Write down what pains and frustrations you are tired of experiencing regarding your resolution. Write down what pleasures and joys you are tired of being denied to you. This is your "Why" - your reasons for accomplishing your resolutions. Read them often. Let them drive your emotions until you are ready to DO or DIE! Do this and take daily action towards your resolutions and I bet that you DO!

Get Committed + Get Moving = Get Success!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 5

Welcome to the fifth and final installment of Celebrate 2008! I hope the information was interesting and helpful as you prepare to make this year the best year you have ever had. In case you missed any of the sections, or need to go back and review any of them, here are links to what we have covered so far:

Part 1 - History of New Year's Resolutions and the Challenge to Celebrate 2008!

Part 2 - Reasons Why People Do Not Set New Year's Resolutions and Reasons Why You Should

Part 3 - Steps to Setting Powerful Resolutions

Part 4 - Techniques & Strategies to Help You Accomplish Your Resolutions

I also have a more humorous post on New Year's Resolutions available on my other blog. Feel free to stop by and read Out With the Old, In With the New.

And now the 3 final pieces of advice:

1. Choose the Pain You Will Suffer

"We must all suffer one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret ways tons."

~Jim Rohn

If there is something that you are unhappy about in your life, it is most often you feeling the pain of regret. Most people default to this rather than make a conscious choice of what pain they will suffer. Even some of the most formidable goals can be achieved by establishing a few simple disciplines and practicing them every day. So make the choice of which pain you will suffer. I will tell you that the pain of regret rarely ends, but you hardly notice the pain of discipline after a while.

2. Set Resolutions All Year Long!

You don't have to wait for New Year's day to set your resolutions. That just happens to be a natural time to reflect and set new one's because it represents the end of a defined point in time and the beginning of another. The truth is that you should be setting and accomplishing resolutions all throughout the year. Never procrastinate the opportunity to start a new goal when you have the time and opportunity to do so and you wish to change something in your life. I don't advocate working on more than 2-3 goals at a time, however, because that will result in loss of focus and overwhelm. But set and achieve your goals all year long and reward yourself every time you accomplish one. That will make each year a year-long celebration.

3. Get Enthusiastic and Get Going!

"Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn."
~John Wesley

You have great opportunities ahead of you. But these opportunities rarely jump into your lap and say, "Here I am!" You have to seize them and make the most of them. One way to do this is to make and keep resolutions or goals. There is no time like the present to take action and change your life. And if you fire up with enthusiasm, people will be amazed by what you accomplish. So fire up, people, and get going now! Get out there and Celebrate 2008!

We've come to the end of our journey, but I hope that this will not be the end of our relationship. My intention is to continue posting stories, quotes and information on this blog every day of 2008 so that you may benefit from that information as I find it or experience my own successes. I promise that the posts will be shorter ... most of the time. So, please come back often and feel free to comment. Share what is working or has worked for you on any given topic so that others may gain and learn from your experiences also. Have a great year!

-------------------------------------

Wait! I know I said this would only be a 5-part series, but I came across some information that is very important and very useful in accomplishing your resolutions this year. Read The Yoda Lesson for a slight verbal and mental shift that will make a difference between failure and success with your resolutions!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 4

Today, as promised, we will speak of some tips and techniques that will help you stick to your resolutions. The key to keeping any resolution lies in your mental and emotional states. I love to watch and play sports because this is one place where you can see the truth of that statement over and over again. Players who have their head in the game and who play it with high enthusiasm and determination achieve incredible victories - even in areas where they may be physically out-matched. So any time you are struggling with a resolution or goal, check to see where you are mentally and emotionally and you may find the solution to your problems.

Keep a Success Journal

One of the greatest tools you can have when working towards any goal is a journal. It is essential for recording your ideas, your success, your failures and what you learned from them, tracking your progress, etc. A success journal can be as simple and as inexpensive as a 3-ring binder with notebook paper in it or a spiral-bound notebook. It can also be a more expensive blank, hard-bound book - whatever works best for you. Jim Rohn, a favorite speaker and author of mine, prefers to use more expensive books. He says: "The reason why I spend so much money for my journals is to press me to find something valuable to put in them." Your success journal will not only be valuable to you but also inspirational to others who read them and see how you accomplished your goals and dreams.

Measure Your Dedication

In the thesaurus, synonyms for the word "resolution" are aim, boldness, constancy, courage, dauntlessness, decidedness, decision, declaration, dedication, determination, doggedness, earnestness, energy, firmness, fixed purpose, fortitude, guts, heart, immovability, intent, intention, judgment, mettle, moxie, obstinacy, perseverance, pluck, purpose, purposefulness, purposiveness, relentlessness, resoluteness, resolve, settlement, sincerity, spirit, spunk, staunchness, staying power, steadfastness, stubbornness, tenacity, verdict, will, and willpower. Does this accurately describe the way you set and keep your resolutions? I suspect that most of us set and work on our resolutions in a way described by one of the two antonyms the thesaurus listed: half-heartedness.

This is a good list of qualities to determine how dedicated you are to achieving the resolution you set. Ask yourself questions like:
Do I have a definite aim to shoot for?
Am I bold enough to move outside my "comfort zone" to achieve it?
Will I be constant in my efforts to accomplish it?
Do I have the courage to overcome any and all obstacles that arise?
Will I be dauntless no matter how hard it gets?
Have I made the decision to accomplish this resolution? (Note: The word "decide" comes from the Latin word "decidere" which means "to cut off from." So, when you truly decide, you cut yourself from any other option including quitting and failure.)
Do you have the dedication to see your resolution through?
Are you determined to succeed no matter what?
Are you earnest in your intention to change your life?
Do you have the energy to go after your resolution with enthusiasm?
Are you firm in your decision to do this?
Are you fixed in your purpose so that nothing can knock you off course?
You get the idea. Pick out the words above that speak to you and that you would like to describe you and your pursuit of accomplishing your resolution. Write down your questions and rate yourself on a scale of 1 - 10. Then ask yourself, "What can I do right now to make this a '10'?" Record the answers in your success journal. Ask these questions again and again throughout your resolution-achieving process so that you are always aware of where your emotional and mental levels lie and do what you can to keep yourself as close to a "10" as possible.

One great example of dedication is Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Playoffs. Michael Jordan, as most of you know, played basketball at a level that made him virtually unstoppable. What made this game different from all other games was that, just hours before the game, Michael could barely pull himself out of his hotel bed as he was suffering from food-poisoning, the flu or both. Most players would have sat out the game being in that sort of condition, but not Michael. Though his body protested, his head and his heart were in the game and in it to win. Michael had ice on his head during time-outs. By the end of the game, his teammate, Scottie Pippen, was practically carrying him off the floor. But, in spite of the physical challenges and difficulties, Michael scored 33 points, had 7 rebounds and 5 assists and played 44 minutes of the game. Is there any question here of whether or not he was a dedicated player? It is no wonder that he said, "If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

Keep Your Goals In Front of You

Yesterday, I mentioned that we would talk about why a written goal is so much more powerful than just keeping it in your head. One reason why this is so is because every time you write down your goal statement you drive it deep into your subconscious. It tells your subconscious that you are serious and your subconscious will work for you by feeding you ideas and inspiration and make you aware of resources and opportunities that become available to you.
Review your goals (or even better, rewrite them) every morning and every evening of every day. Take 5-10 minutes to visualize and see yourself accomplishing your goal. Feel the feelings associated with your accomplishment. Hear the sounds. Smell the smells. Experience the joy! The more senses you get involved, the more real you make it, the more you believe it both consciously and subconsciously.

Keep an index card with your goals written on them in your wallet. Write them on the back of your business card. Have a card with your goals on them taped to the dashboard of your car, the bathroom mirror, the bottom of your computer monitor, the backside of your front door - everywhere you can think of so that you encounter them again and again and again throughout the day.

Dream Board

Another way to keep your goals in front of you is a dream board. This is a bulletin board or posters filled with pictures that relate to your goal. If your resolution this year is to make more money so that you can save up for your dream vacation, cut out pictures from travel brochures of your destination, the means by which you will travel (cruise ship?), and the activities you will participate in while you are there. If you are trying to get in shape or lose weight, cut out pictures of people who are trim, fit or have the ideal body shape you are shooting for. Paste your head over theirs - just make sure it is a picture where you are smiling. Put your dream board someplace where you will see it every day - preferably several times a day - and use it to recharge your vision often!

Chart Your Progress

Make a large poster with the days of the month at the top and a list of your daily activities on the left side. Use bold colors to fill in the days that you successfully accomplish your tasks to give you a visual picture of how you are doing. Just like a check-list, it is compelling to have a tool such as this because you will feel this strong urge to fill in those spaces and you will be more motivated to accomplish your daily tasks. Post it up on your bedroom wall where it is nice and visible so it is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you see when you go to sleep.

Get an Accountability Partner

If you are only accountable to yourself, you will find it so much easier to quit on your goals. You can rationalize away your own guilt, can't you? After all, you have done it so many times before. Make yourself accountable to others, however, and it becomes so much harder. You will find that you won't want to let them down. Some people will say that you shouldn't tell others about your goals because most people are negative and will only tear you down and tell you that you can't or won't make it. I believe, however, that other people are essential to your success. So choose a positive person (or several people) who believes in you to be your accountability partner. Ask them not only to be your cheerleader throughout the process, but also the stern coach who will kick you in the butt when you need it the most. When you have all your closest friends asking you how it is coming on the book you are writing, the exercise program you are starting or your dream to learn to play the piano, you will do all you can to give them a positive report every time.

The best accountability partner you can get is one who is doing it with you. When you have a walking partner or an exercise partner who will not let you sleep in but drags you out every morning at 6 a.m. sharp to go the gym, there is no way you can fail! (And if they aren't going to let you sleep in when you are tired, there is no way you are going to let them sleep in after all the times they dragged you out of your bed kicking and screaming, right?)

Procrastinate Procrastination! - Schedule It

When you feel like putting off your goal-achieving activities for any reason - whether it is because you're tired, you just want to relax a while, whatever it is - make a decision to procrastinate procrastination. Put off the putting off until later that day or even tomorrow. Schedule a time to watch T.V., surf the internet, play video games, do some recreational reading, etc. and keep that appointment. If you don't keep it, you will have even a greater desire to procrastinate on your goals because you will feel like you have been cheated on your "me" time to sit back and relax.

Procrastinate Procrastination! - Eliminate It

How do you motivate yourself in that moment when you really feel like putting off your goal activities? Easy! Just write down the answers to 3 simple questions:

1. Where are you and what are you doing? You may notice a pattern of locations and activities that have been making it difficult for you to get motivated. I found that laying on the living room couch, curled up in a ball to get warm was not the best place to motivate myself to get up and get moving in the morning (even though I had moved from the bed to the couch). Even sitting on the couch was dangerous because I would soon lay my head back and fall back asleep in seconds. So I started avoiding the couch like the plague!

2. What do you want to do? Now this isn't where you say, "I want to go back to bed and get more sleep!" This is where you write down what you want to accomplish in terms of your resolutions and goals. You may think you need a little more sleep, but what you really want is to go hit the gym so that you can drop those 20 pounds! You want to tighten that tush and those abs so that when you look in the mirror you will see your body curve in all the right places! You want those bulges to be on your biceps again rather than on your waistline! What is it that you really want to do?

3. How will you feel while doing it? You may you feel more energized because you are exercising again. You may feel more powerful because you conquered your weaker self. You may feel more joy in knowing that you are on the way to achieving your goal. Decide how you will feel and you are more likely to experience that feeling.

Once you have answered these three questions, you will feel more motivated to work on your goal. The reason for this is that you have already seen yourself doing it in your mind while you answered the questions, didn't you? And where the mind goes, the body will follow. You still had your mind thinking about bed and sleep so that is where you wanted to be. Now that you are thinking and seeing yourself exercise and having fun and losing weight, that is what you want to do. Trust me. It works!

Procrastinate Procrastination! - Shift Your Focus

Mike Litman, a mentor of mine, taught me an important concept in overcoming procrastination or doing those activities that you really don't feel like doing in any given moment. Some people get up on those cold, windy, rainy mornings, look outside at the weather, crack their jaws with a mighty yawn, decide it's not worth it and head back to bed. Other people get up on those cold, windy, rainy mornings, look outside at the weather, crack their jaws with a mighty yawn, throw on their gym clothes and minutes later they are at the gym enjoying a great workout. What is the difference here? It's their focus!

The person who decides it's not worth it and heads back to bed is the person who is focused on the process. They are thinking about how cold it will be to go outside, how tired they will feel just starting their workout, how their muscles will burn as the work up a sweat and then how much colder they will be going back out in that weather all sweaty to go home. Brrr! I am getting cold just writing about it and even I wouldn't mind a nice, warm bed right now.

The person who goes to the gym isn't thinking so much about the process as they are focusing on the results. They are thinking how good they will look in their bathing suit. How good it will feel to put on that dress that is two sizes smaller without feeling like they were stuffed into it. The admiring look their spouse will give them when they walk into a room. The joy of chasing kids around the playground without feeling out of breath. The pleasure of living long and actively well into their golden years because of the exercise habit they had established in 2008. When you don't feel like doing something, focus on the results you will accomplish and allow the feelings of enjoying the benefits motivate you to action!

Make the Process Fun!

One reason why people don't follow through on their resolutions and goals is because they aren't having any fun. They want to lose the weight, but they don't particularly enjoy getting up early. They would much rather stay up watching their favorite T.V. shows. And if you are going to be up that late you have to eat a snack because you get hungry that long after a meal. My wife found a way to beat this by having me arrange the family room in such a way that her she could see the T.V. from her treadmill. Then she had me buy her a pair of wireless headphones on eBay so that she was the only person who would hear anything. After that she would set the DVR to record all her favorite shows. She went to bed at a decent hour, got up the next morning at 5:30 a.m., threw on her exercise clothes, and went for very brisk walks while the kids slept and enjoyed her favorite T.V. shows at the same time. The kids never woke up because the headphones eliminated the need to turn the volume up. Plus, she never had to sit through the commercials because she could fast-forward through them.

The Mary Poppins Principle

If the tasks that you have selected to achieve your resolution ever end up feeling a little bit tedious and boring, apply the Mary Poppins principle! "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and - SNAP! - the job's a game!" Make it fun and challenging. Establish your personal "bests" in different areas of your tasks and try to beat them. Don't allow it to become mundane. Have fun with it!

These are just a few of the ideas that are out there that will help you stay committed and focused on achieving your resolutions this year. Come back to The Millionaire Marathon blog throughout the year for more ideas, tips, and coaching on how to go for your dreams and get them.

You now have everything you need to set your New Year's Resolutions and to achieve them. Have you written anything down yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Get started!

Have a happy New Year, everyone! I hope that 2008 will be your best year ever (at least until you get to 2009)! I know you can make it so! Have fun but stay safe tonight!







Oh, wait! I did promise you 5 days of information, didn't I? Come back tomorrow for Celebrate 2008! - Part 5 where I will give you some final bits of advice. I'll see you tomorrow morning!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 3

As I promised yesterday, these next couple of days will be used to focus on how to set powerful resolutions and make them stick. I am sure you have realized that New Year's Resolutions are nothing more than a goal or goals to improve some aspect of your life set at the beginning of the year. So what we are really talking about today is effective goal-setting techniques.

"Success is the progressive achievement of a worthy ideal or goal."

~Earl Nightingale

I would also say that this is a good definition for happiness since I don't know too many happy failures. I love the quote above by Mr. Nightingale, but I want you to take notice of the word "worthy." There are people who achieve a goal and still are not very happy. You can often see this in situations where a man works hard to create a future for his family but neglects them in doing so, which can often result in divorce. When setting resolutions, select those goals that are worthy and complimentary to your total life picture. The pursuit of these goals is the road to happiness.

Steps to Setting Powerful Resolutions

1. Write down what it is that you want

The first step in making any journey is to know where it is that you want to go.

"The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The key word in this step is "want." You want to determine what it is that you want - not what your parents want, not what your spouse wants, not what your boss wants; what you want! You should be working towards your goals and dreams; not somebody else's. When you are working toward and achieving what you want, you will rarely run short on motivation and drive.

A great way of determining what you want is to create a Want List. At the top of a piece of paper, write down "I want ..." and finish that sentence in as many different ways as you possibly can. See if you can get up to 100 or more "wants." Don't worry about what you think is realistic for you to be, do or have. Let your imagination run wild! Describe your ideal life. Who do you want to be? What do you want to do? What do you want to see? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to meet?

Consider the following categories while making your list:
Romance
Children
Health & Fitness
Family
Community / Legacy
Fun
Friends
Relaxation
Personal Development
Environment
Spiritual
Financial
Career & Work
Home

Whatever you put down, make sure it is something that YOU want! And come back and add to this list as often as you think of something else.

2. Prioritize your Wish List

After you have a healthy-sized list, write in the margin to the left how soon you want to accomplish these goals. Put the number 1 for those wants you would like to accomplish in one year or less, 3 for those you want to do within 1-3 years, 5 for your wants you want done in 4-5 years and so on. This gives you tentative deadline for the goals you will set and an order to pursue them in.

3. Select one of your short-term goals that really excites you

Since we are setting a New Year's Resolution, you will want to focus on the 1-year wants. Take a moment and visualize each one individually and consider what it would be like to achieve each one. Select the one that excites you the most because this will stack the deck in your favor in terms of achieving it.

4. Write out an effective goal statement

This is a very important step and may take a little time both to explain and to do. It is all about turning your wishes into powerfully defined goals. You may have heard it said that an unwritten goal is only a wish. That is absolutely true! We will discuss more of the power that a written goal carries and how having it written down can help you achieve it in tomorrow's section. For now, let's look at putting your dreams down on paper as a powerful, effective goal statement.

The first step is to turn your wishes into S.M.A.R.T. goals. S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Tangible.

To make your goals Specific, you need to answer the six "W" questions:
Who - Who is involved?
What - What do you want to accomplish?
Where - Identify the location where this will take place
When - Identify a time frame to accomplish it in
Which - Identify requirements and constraints
Why - Write down specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal

Measurable means setting the criteria for measuring progress towards & the achievement of your goal. Ways to do this are to answer the questions How much? How many? How long? and How will I know when it is accomplished?

The Attainable aspect of your goal is fairly simple. The truth of the matter is that you can attain most any goal when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to grow, develop and carry out those steps. So, ultimately, there is nothing you cannot do if you work hard enough, smart enough and/or long enough.

Realistic means that your goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. I must warn you not to set your goals too low. The reason for this is that high goals exert higher motivational force than low goals. Setting a goal such as "lose 5 pounds" are not nearly as exciting as "lose 25 pounds." You must set realistic ones based on your situation, but set a goal that will challenge you and cause you to stretch and grow.

Tangible means that your goal can be experienced with one of the five senses (i.e. taste, touch, sight, smell or hearing). If you set intangible goals such as development of personality characteristics or changing behavior patterns, these can often be tied to tangible goals or measurements. What this means is that if you set the resolution to be kinder to others this year, you have an intangible goal. Tying this goal to a goal of giving three different compliments to three different people every single day satisfies the goal of being kinder with a tangible means (hearing) of measurement.

Once you have determined the S.M.A.R.T. aspects of your goal, you are ready to write your goal statement. When you write it down, state it in the positive. This means writing down "I will put $100 in savings each month" rather than "I won't overspend my budget this year." You also want to state your goal in the present. Stating it in the present means writing your goal down as if it has already happened. This stimulates your subconscious mind and increases your level of belief that it will be accomplished.

5. Make a plan to achieve your goal

Once you have your goal statement, it is time to break it down into smaller, more achievable steps or step goals. Most people experience difficulty in achieving large tasks like writing a novel or losing 25 pounds. It is daunting and it becomes a motivational killer because you don't ever believe you will get there. It is just too big to focus on. Step goals like writing two pages per day or losing three pounds per month are more believable and, therefore, more achievable. So identify smaller step goals and assign a reward for each time you reach a milestone.

Once you have your step goals written down with their rewards, start listing every single activity that you can think of that you will need to accomplish to achieve each step goal. Write down the monthly, weekly or even daily activities that you will need to do - whatever spacing works best for you. I will warn you, however, that the greater the length of time between your activities, the weaker your motivation is to take the next step. Daily activities work the best because consistent daily steps make for successful habits that will drive you to the accomplishment of your goal. But, again, do what is best for you and your life schedule.

Once you have your periodic activities listed, prioritize them in a manner that will optimize your goal-achieving process.

Take time to identify foreseeable obstacles as well and what you will do to overcome them when the time comes. You may not think of everything up front, but doing this will leave you much better prepared for the ones you do think of. The others you will deal with as you encounter them.

6. Identify the price that must be paid and determine to pay it

"To be successful, you must decide exactly what you want to accomplish, then resolve to pay the price to get it."

~Bunker Hunt

Probably one of the major reasons why many people give up on their goals is they don't identify the price they must pay up front and determine to pay that price no matter what. Achieving a goal means making changes in your life - oftentimes, changes in some long-standing habits. This is never easy, comfortable or free. There is an emotional price, a physical price, a social price, a personal price and/or a financial price. You must make that determination to pay it or, when the going gets tough, you will most likely quit. Don't let that happen. Figure out what the price may be up front. It may mean giving up snacks and sweets. It may mean spending less time watching T.V. or hanging out with friends. It may mean earlier mornings or later nights. Whatever the cost may be, figure it out for yourself and establish an iron will to pay it no matter how tempting it may ever be to just give in.

7. Establish a Tracking & Accountability System

Set up a way to track your progress on your goal. Whether it means a spreadsheet on your computer, a calendar, a notebook - whatever works best. You need to have a way to see where you are at all times, how you are doing on any given day and where you can improve. Then share this with someone you trust. Become accountable to them so that they can help keep you motivated and honest with yourself. The reason I said someone you trust is because you need to give them "push-ability." You need to trust them to give you that kick in the pants when you need it. And when they give you that kick, keep in mind that it is because they love you and they want to see you succeed.

Those are the seven steps to setting highly effective and powerful goals. Some of these steps may take a little bit of time to establish, but it will be time well spent in preparing you and setting you up to accomplish your goals and dreams. Spend the necessary time to complete the steps above, but do them quickly so that you don't over-analyze any of them. To do so would result in "paralysis by analysis" and all you will have is a well-thought out idea of something you could have accomplished if you had acted while you were still excited about it.

Once you have your goal written down, your plan in place to achieve it and your tracking and accountability system established, the only thing that is left is to act. Do something, anything as quickly as possible. Get the ball rolling. Procrastination is the "silent killer" of your success and the longer you wait to start, the harder it will be to get going. So while the fire is still burning, while the enthusiasm is still high, take action! Do it now!!!

Come back tomorrow for Celebrate 2008! - Part 4 and learn a number of techniques and strategies that will help you keep those resolutions all year long until you have accomplished them. I'll see you then!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 2

Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that less than 50% of Americans even set resolutions, and, out of those that do set them, only 15% ever accomplish them. In fact, one could say that the only resolution most people keep is to NOT keep their New Year's Resolutions. Are you ready to change all that? Good! First, let's deal with the problem of people not setting New Year's Resolutions.

Why People Do Not Set New Year's Resolutions

There are a variety of reasons why people don't set their resolutions. They may include:

They don't really know what they want.

I believe people know more what they want than they realize. Most people are complaining about something in life. If you are unhappy with a situation like being in debt, having too many bills to pay, being overweight or the house is always a mess then you obviously want the opposite of that situation. This means you want to pay off your debts, reduce your expenses or increase your income, exercise more and lose weight, and establish a better organization system in your home or teach your kids/spouse/yourself to put things away and develop better and/or more consistent cleaning habits. So what is it that you want?

They are too busy or disorganized to set them.

These are the people that say they will set their resolutions when they get around to it. I can understand this because I have been guilty of using this reason myself. The one thing I have going for me is that my birthday falls on February 5 and I tend to look back on the past year of my life at this point as well. I have often realized that another year has passed without much improvement or accomplishment in the areas I wanted to improve or accomplish in. Sometimes I set resolutions for My New Year of Life at this point. Other times, I am still to busy. Most people, I imagine, just never get around to it at all. If you don't take the time to make plans to improve your life right now, why would you expect tomorrow or the next day to be any different?

They feel overwhelmed when they set them.

Some people feel like it has to be all or nothing. They must change everything they don't like about their life right now or why should they bother. So they set as many resolutions as they can think of ... and then never achieve anything because they are torn in so many different directions. That would be like throwing the "Hail Mary" pass in football on every play. You will never win that way. Just like a sequence of well-executed football plays that eat up a little bit of yardage at a time can result in big wins, a small number of resolutions (or even just one at a time) will ultimately result in massive life improvements if done consistently.

Another type of overwhelm, aside from having too much to work on, can be not knowing where to start. This is very similar to not knowing what you want in that most people really do know where to start. They just don't acknowledge it. If you want to lose weight, it isn't a question of which exercise would be most beneficial for you, it is a question of establishing a consistent, daily exercise habit and see what works best for you. Most people seem to think that life is Ready! Aim! Fire! when most successful people in any area of life have learned that it really is Ready! Fire! Aim! Ready means knowing what you want, Fire means taking action on it, and Aim means adjusting your course of action based on the results you get.

FEAR

This can mean fear of failure, fear of rejection or fear of the unknown. We are creatures of comfort and habit. We create our "comfort zone" and are very reluctant to venture outside of it. Setting a resolution for anything means change and change means venturing outside your current "comfort zone." For most people, the only time they expand their "comfort zone" is when it has become too constricting to be comfortable anymore. What people do not realize is that we can never truly leave our "comfort zone." The borders are flexible; not rigid. They allow us to push out, and, if we stay out there long enough, the border expands to that point so we are no longer pushing. It is like Mark Twain said: "Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain."

They are too content with just "getting by"

These are the people who do not truly understand the importance and power of resolutions. They don't feel that changing their life is important. The truth of the matter is that things that do not change, adapt and improve DIE! Just think how different your life would be if you were in the same state that you were in when you entered this world:
--- You would starve because you never learned to feed yourself.
--- You would be immobilized because you never learned to crawl or walk.
--- You would be uneducated because you never learned to read or write or even think for yourself.
Now you may say that is ridiculous, but so is thinking that just "getting by" is a good state to remain in. Life is about change, growth, development and improvement. Setting a resolution is the first step to making those changes and improvements a reality.

The most common reason you may hear from people who do not set resolutions is most likely to be:

Resolutions do not work!

WRONG!!! You just never learned how to do it effectively! A resolution is a tool for life improvement. Like any tool, you must learn how to use it properly for it to work. That will be our focus in the next couple of days.

Those are a few of the reasons, or more accurately named - EXCUSES, that people give for not setting New Year's Resolutions. Maybe some of those sound familiar to you due to your own experience. If so, I hope I have shared some information that will encourage you to never use those excuses again. Now, let me leave you with a few of the benefits of setting resolutions. You may have gleaned some of your own from the paragraphs above, but here are a few more:

Reasons to Set New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions give you a target to aim for!

As I mentioned earlier, life is about changing, growing, progressing and developing. Resolutions enable you to set the direction for that growth. It not only gives your conscious mind something to focus on, but, if done properly, also puts your subconscious mind to work, which helps you accomplish your resolutions much, much faster.

Resolutions help you concentrate your time and effort!

Some people of us trudge through every single day wishing for something better. Then in the quiet of the evening, when the voices of discontent clamor the loudest, we drown them out through the use of television, narcotics and alcohol. When you have a resolution, you are able to focus on the way things will be when you are done instead of the unhappy state of things as they are now. You have an objective to focus on and to plan your days' activities by.

Resolutions provide motivation, persistence and desire!

My wife and I were talking about the reasons why we don't work on our resolutions as often as we should. One thing we both realized is that we don't want to work on them when we consistently don't work on them. But when are working on our resolutions and achieving those small daily victories, our emotions are saying, "Yeah, baby! Hit me again! I want some more of that!" The motivation, persistence and desire come in the doing and the doing comes from having a resolution to shoot for.

Resolutions help you establish priorities!

How many of you have gone to bed at night feeling like you should have accomplished more that day. The house needed cleaned up, you needed to work on your home-based business, you should have exercised, the house needed to be cleaned up, you wanted to write for your blog that day, or you should have spent more time with your kids and/or your significant other. But, instead, you chose to relax in front of the T.V., and now it is too late to do anything. I know I have been guilty of that on many occasions. Resolutions enable you to set down what is important in your life. And, if you choose to work on them before the relaxing (or at least add time to relax to your daily schedule and keep to that time limit so you can work on your resolutions), then your life will improve by leaps and bounds.

Just don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that your priorities are set in stone for the whole year. There are times when your circumstance will change unexpectedly (and sometimes not so unexpectedly) that will require a rearrangement of your priorities.

For example, you may have set the resolution to practice the guitar for one hour every day to get better at playing it. Once your wife has the baby though, you can no longer practice at home because it wakes the baby or your wife who is getting so little sleep as it is. You may have to change the priority to taking the baby for an hour while you are at home so the misses can get some rest and settle for a half hour practice at work as part of your lunch break.

Or perhaps the expectant mother had planned to walk every day to stay in shape and keep her weight gain down during her pregnancy. Now the doctor has put her on bed rest with two months to go. As frustrating as this may be, it would be foolish, not to mention dangerous, to violate the doctor's orders. It would be better to for her to make her and the baby's health the priority by following the doctor's orders and temporarily postponing the exercise and weight loss resolution until after the baby is born and the doctor has given the O.K. to continue.

Resolutions provide a road map from where you are to where you want to be!

When you set your resolutions you not only know where your life is going but you also have a plan for how to get there. It may only be a partial plan to get you started and head you in the right direction, but, just like driving in the dark where your headlights illuminate only so many feet in front of you, the rest of the road will appear before you as you travel. And there will be times when the Construction Detours of Life will force you to take a different road than you had planned. But, just as if you had to take a detour on the way to work, you don't just throw your hands in the air and say, "That's it! They closed my road! I'm not going in to work today or not even until the road re-opens!" You would simply re-route your journey so that you still arrive at your destination.

So those are just a few major reasons why resolutions are so important and beneficial for each and every one of us. If you think of some others, please share them in the comments section below so that we all may benefit from your insights.

Celebrate 2008! will continue tomorrow in Part 3 as we talk about how to set powerful resolutions that stick!

Celebrate 2008! - Part 1

In just a few days we will be celebrating on of the world's oldest holidays - the beginning of a new year. The earliest records of its celebration date back to approximately 4,000 years ago. The Babylonians celebrated it on March 23 back then and their civilization is credited with introducing the practice of New Year's Resolutions. Their common resolution was to return something that they had borrowed from a friend, family member or neighbor.

The Roman Empire used a different calendar and they celebrated their New Year on January 1 by exchanging gifts. In fact, the first month was named for the Roman god, Janus, the god of beginnings and endings and the guardian of gates, doors and doorways. He was always depicted as having two faces - one facing forward looking to the future and one facing back towards the past. The common resolution among the Romans was to seek forgiveness from their enemies.

January 1st is just around the corner and I am sure that many of us are preparing to uphold the age-old tradition of making (and breaking) New Year's Resolutions. While many of us may make our resolutions out of a sense of tradition, I am certain that many more would actually like to see those changes occur in our lives. The reason I believe this so strongly is because the top three resolutions that people make each year have to do with three major problems in today's society. The most popular type of resolutions that people make are health-related goals. These include losing weight, exercising more, stop smoking and so on. Financial resolutions come in a close second with increasing savings, getting out of debt, avoiding excessive spending, etc. The third most popular type of resolutions are relationship goals. These resolutions may be to make amends with friends or family members, try to be more patient with coworkers, improve your communications skills, and so on. Do any of these sound like ones you have made?

The sad fact is that this ancient tradition is a declining one. Now less than 50% of Americans even make a resolution. Why is that? Probably because only 15% of those that make them ever manage to keep them. Most of them die out before the end of January. For those die-hards who make it make it past the first month, very few survive past June.

A Department of Labor survey of adults asked what the biggest issue was that prevented people from keeping their New Year's Resolutions. The top three answers were procrastination (33%), lack of self-discipline (24%) and no game plan (19%).

Do people just not understand what a resolution really is? If you look it up in the dictionary it says that a resolution is "the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc." In short, it is a decision to change your life for the better because the decisions we make AND ACT ON today will determine the type of future we will live tomorrow!

I challenge you to CELEBRATE the coming new year. I'm not talking about going out and partying hearty well past midnight on December 31. I mean really celebrate this new year from January 1 through December 31 by making it the best year of your life so far! And the best way to do this is to make AND KEEP your New Year's Resolutions.

Over the next four days I will be covering topics that will help you to gain a better understanding of why resolutions are important, how to set effective and exciting resolutions and tips and techniques for making sure you keep them throughout the whole year ... and beyond. So come back tomorrow for Part 2 of Celebrate 2008!