The Secret to Successful Goal Setting

Stop! Check this out before you make any more goals!

Don't be like everyone else; most people make their goals incorrectly. You know, like the guy down the street with the brand new jogging shoes and suit. You want to bet he doesn't make it from January to March?

The one goal that many people make is to get into shape. (A friend of mine told me, I'm always in shape, sometimes apple shaped, and sometimes pear shaped) Now be honest. How many years have you made that resolution?

With goals in hand, it's off to the gym we go!

You know it's one of those moments where you feel like you've been here before. It's time to clear the mind and hit the weights. You have a lot of toning-up to do so you walk over to the weights. And start your journey to body perfection. And by mid January you're so sore and tired you're ready to give up.

It's really bad when you start looking for excuses not to go to the gym. But hang on; a good excuse will be coming just around the corner! It doesn't matter what it is, like the man said "any old excuse will do." So yours comes and you stop going to the gym.

There's a better way than quitting!

The secret to success is not to set those big goals.

I know... everyone... and I mean everyone will tell you to write down your goals, that one big goal so you can keep it in front of you. You know the drill, put it on the refrigerator, bathroom mirror, beside you bed so it's the first and last thing you see every day.

Tell me the truth. Do you really look at those big goals once you start falling behind? After a few weeks of getting further behind don't you just avoid them like the strange people that live next door?

Are you ready for a better way?

You are!

Great!

Set small, achievable goals!

Don't do like they tell you; set a goal something like "I will lose 40 pounds in three months."

The problem here my friend is when you miss the mark on the goal, you get discouraged and quit. And this is not good. If you aren't careful you will create a habit of quitting. And a habit that is let go for too long is hard to break.

For a goal to be achievable it has to become part of your routine. And to be part of your routine, you must rewire your brain.

So we set small goals, get some victories and start reprogramming the mind.

Start with something like "I will exercise for 10 minutes three days a week."

After you get your brain reprogrammed to the exercise routine, then you make incremental increases to your workout set.

You will add one more rep to a work set, or another exercise routine. A simple progression with proper performance of the exercise and persistence wins in the long run.

Then one day you will look back and be amazed at where you came from... and you will know where you're going.

Just to condense it, start small, then do incremental increases to your workout set that you properly do, and be persistent. Don't give up.

Bob Beavil is an avid sports enthusiast who loves to SCUBA dive, kayak, sail, and lift a few weights. To read more on goal setting visit http://www.mastermusclebuilding.com/bodybuilders-goal-setting.php

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Minimalism for Families: Practical Minimalist Living Strategies to Simplify Your Home and Life

"Zoe's perspective of minimalism is pure joy. She brings years of experience as a mother and a wife to the table, paired with an ongoing love of the simpler life."--Brian Gardner, Founder of No Sidebar

"Minimalism for Families is a must-read for anyone wanting to explore minimalism but feels held back by 'having a family.' Zoe, a mother of four and a military wife, gives approachable, practical, actionable and direct advice. If you follow the guide set forth in Minimalism for Families, you'll be able to declutter every room in your house and maintain your simplified home once it's achieved."-- Rebecca Shern, MPH, RDN, Creator of minimalwellness.com

"Zoe Kim has written a book on minimalism for families that is practical, encouraging, and motivating. And I'm glad she did--we need more guidance like this in the world today."--Joshua Becker, founder of Becoming Minimalist

 

Organizing your home and leading a minimalist lifestyle can seem like a daydream for busy families―but it’s possible! Designed for families who want to declutter and embrace minimalism into their life and home, Minimalism for Families lays out a room-by-room strategy to conquer chaos and show your family how much more time, space, and energy you gain when you live with less.

Minimalism for Families contains:

  • An Introduction to Minimalism covering essential information including what minimalism is, its lifestyle benefits, and how to adopt and integrate the mindset into your life
  • A Plan for Every Room providing practical and realistic strategies for decluttering your family home one room at a time
  • Tips for Team Effort tactics for getting your family on board with minimalism, plus approaches to address resistance to minimalism as a lifestyle

Minimalism for Families features techniques to declutter and tidy up every room: Living Areas, Kitchen, Bedrooms, Home Office, Bathroom, Basements, Attics, and Other Storage Spaces.

Clean up your family home for a clear purpose with Minimalism for Families.

 

About the author:  Zoë Kim stumbled upon voluntary simplicity and minimalism 6 years ago through Zero Waste Home. She's a regular mom of four who found herself stressed and exhausted, spending more time doing things with her stuff than doing things with her family. It was in that stress and exhaustion that her desire to live lighter was born. As she shed her layers of possessions she began to see the real cost of her stuff—and it was way overpriced!

Zoë Kim is the creator of The Minimalist Plate, a website that inspires families to own fewer possessions to make room for what matters most. She is also a contributor at The Huffington Post and No Sidebar.

She is passionate about helping other families let go of what’s weighing them down so they can find and experience the freedom in owning less.
She lives outside Atlanta with her family.

 

Available from Amazon or The Book Depository

Yes those are affiliate links.  If you buy the book through them
I will make several cents - with thanks.  It all helps!

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Smart Ways to Use Your Business Card

Successful networking is "all in the cards" with these 4 strategies.

Your business card is one of the most valuable networking tools you have in your quest for increased referrals. Can you envision a reality where 20 to 30 people in your word-of-mouth marketing circle carry your cards and have them ready to hand to prospects they're actually qualifying for you? I certainly can, and am excited every time I hear someone say, "Let me give you my friend's business card; oh, and by the way, may I have him (or her) give you a call?"

The business card is the most powerful single business tool--dollar for dollar--you can invest in. It's compact, energy-efficient, low-cost, low-tech, and keeps working for you hours, weeks and even years after it leaves your hands!

Some of the things your business card does is:

  • Tell people your name and the name of your business
  • Provide prospects with a way to contact you
  • Give others a taste of your work, style and personality
  • It can be so unusual or attractive or strange or charming or funny that it sticks in the memory like a great radio or television ad
  • It can be reused, as it passes from person to person, giving the same message to each person who comes in contact with it

The two main functions of your card are to gain business from the person you give it to and to get your name out to other people with whom the first person comes in contact with via referrals. With that in mind, let's take a look at the most effective ways to use your business cards. (For a complete look at how to make an effective business card, read It's in the Cards).

Make Your Cards Accessible in Every Situation
In short, don't leave home without them! It's a great idea to keep a small box of your cards in your glove box, just in case you find yourself in a situation where you need more than you've carried in your pocket or purse. In addition to my jacket pocket, I tuck them away in my briefcase, wallet and computer bag, just to make sure I never run out.

Keep an eye on your supply. The time to reorder is before you're in danger of running out.




In addition to being sure you have your cards on hand, be sure that your networking partners always have your cards. Check with them regularly to see if they need more, and be ready to provide them with whatever quantity they say they need in order to promote you.

Seek Situations to Exchange Business Cards
There are many opportunities in which you can pass on your card to prospective clients and customers as well as referral sources you wish to develop. Some are obvious; others are not. Whenever you have a one-on-one meeting with someone new or someone you haven't seen for a while, give her your business card. At mixers and social events, be sure you have plenty of cards when you go in. These are good places to extend the reach of your network.

Conventions and trade shows are another great venue for exchanging business cards. The vendors at the trade shows are anxious for you to take their card--don't make that a one-way street. Be sure you give them your card as well.

When you visit a non-competing business that might attract the same people you would like to have as customers, ask if you may leave a supply of cards to be handed out or made available. In most cases, a business that's complementary to your own is always looking for a networking partner. An example would be a sports nutritionist leaving a stack of cards at a martial arts studio. Be creative and consider even bringing your own cardholder to leave out.

International meetings and events can provide an opportunity to give out your business cards. Consider having your card printed double-sided, with English on one side and the language of the host country of the event on the other side.

Contacts at a Distance
Whenever you communicate with someone in writing, send a card if it's appropriate to the occasion. Enclose several cards in every packet of sales material you mail out. Along with your thank-you note to the businessperson whose referral brought you a major contract, include a business card to replace the one she gave away, plus several more.

After any telephone call in which business was discussed, follow up with a letter outlining the main points of your discussion and include one or more of your cards. E-mail is a great way to follow up, but a letter will actually allow you to include your business cards.

Special Tricks of the Trade
When giving out your card, hand-write something on one copy, such as your cell-phone number, a secondary e-mail address, etc. This will give that particular card a greater chance of being held onto. Be sure you give a couple of "clean" cards to that person, as well, and ask your new friend to pass one on to a potential customer.

After you get someone's card and have ended your time with her, make notes on the back of the card to jog your memory about something special that'll help you remember her. Don't do that in front of her, or you run the risk of making the impression that you are "forgetful." If you need to record information immediately during your discussion, such as telephone numbers or other data not on the card, use one of your own cards. You don't want her to think you view her card as scrap paper upon which to take notes.

At a restaurant, leave your card with the tip and write a personal thank-you note on the back or pay the highway toll for the Mercedes behind you, and leave your card for the driver!

The main thing when handing out your card is to keep in mind what an effective tool it can be. Take maximum advantage of its full potential. And never, ever, be caught out without it. And if you need a referral to a great graphic designer and printer, contact me--I have just the card for you!

Dr. Ivan Misner is Entrepreneur.com's "Networking" columnist and a New York Times bestselling author. He's also the founder and chairman of BNI, the world's largest referral organization with thousands of chapters in dozens of countries around the world. His latest book: Business Networking and Sex: Not What You Think.

 

7 Ways to Develop Emotional Mastery

It is commonly understood that to exercise mastery on one's emotions is to master life itself. Developing emotional mastery goes a long way beyond just being less reactive to upsetting situations to being able to create a steady flow of positive healthy emotions on a regular basis, impacting every aspect of our lives. When we change the way we see things, the things we see change.

Emotional mastery or emotional intelligence is simply being aware and able to manage, control and understand one's own emotions and behavior and understand the emotions and behavior of others around us.

Here are seven ways to develop master your emotions:

1. Conscious Breathing: Just as your breath changes under emotional duress, conscious breathing can help you manage your emotions. Panicky breathing puts the body in a tense state, increasing heart rate, creating a state of anxiety. Deep relaxed breathing, reduces the heart rate, evens out blood pressure, gets more oxygen into your system and has an overall calming effect on the body.

2. Movement: Emotional mastery comes with having control over and being able to create emotional states in the body. The fact that emotions are "feelings" tells us that emotions live inside our bodies. Certain body postures are associated with people who, for example, are depressed, and other body postures are associated with people who are ecstatic.

The facial feedback hypothesis in psychology, proves the release of dopamine in the brain, when an individual is smiling, creating a wave of 'happy' even when sad.

Just moving around the body, exercising, running, dancing is enough to shift your mood tremendously.

3. Refocus: What we focus on becomes bigger, in essence we fuel the thoughts we choose to focus on, magnifying the feeling behind the thought. By simply shifting our focus to move past the event, or to a more pleasant thought associated with the experience, we expand that pleasant feeling thought, and thus shift our emotional state.

4. Reframing: looking at the situation from a different perspective. Before settling on one and only one story that 'THIS is how it is', find other ways of looking at the situation. It is not mere talk that every cloud has a silver lining. This is how optimism is cultivated. See things from a different angle, one that eases your mind than tenses you up more. It's worth spending time on changing the way we feel, cause one change doesn't go in vain, it effects our future reactions as well.




5. Gratitude: Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is life transformational. Being grateful is like putting on special glasses they bring to light all the blessings in life, which were otherwise overlooked and never appreciated, even during the most trying times. Habituating appreciation for not just the things in your life but even so much as attempting to see good in everyone and everything can be empowering in shifting the way you look at things.

6. Never Assume: The point of the matter is that an emotional reaction is simply a physical reaction to a given situation based on the beliefs you harbor in your subconscious that was a result of a previous encounter of a similar experience. An example of this could be 'There is something wrong with me, that at every job, my colleagues don't like me '. This is a belief that is made strong every time a colleague forgets to greet you, or reply to your email. There is a lesson behind every emotional reaction, and to master emotions, one should cultivate the curiosity to understanding the root or core belief that pushes you to react in a certain way. Emotional reactions can teach us something about ourselves that when understood and changed can avoid similar reactions in the future.

7. Meditation: Emotional mastery goes hand in hand with self-mastery. At the core of self mastery is self awareness. Meditation is a great tool to objectively view emotions, thoughts, events and behaviors. Meditation simply inculcates the ability to become the awareness behind a thought, than the thought itself. It distances the person from the emotion or thought, in essence the observed becomes the observer, distancing from the emotion and gaining an understanding of where it arises from. Meditation quietness and brings the mind to an altered state of awareness where things make sense and where one experiences overwhelming states of calm, tranquility, peace and relaxation. Meditation however isn't just limited to sitting crossed legged, eyes closed and focused on the breath. Meditation can refer to anything that quietness and focuses the mind, from constant traffic of thoughts to one thing. This can be brought about by creating a pattern by repeating mantras, jogging, listening to music, or simply listening to the breath.

In conclusion, we are in conscious control of how we feel. Developing the ability to deal with, change or create emotions leads to emotional mastery.

Beejal Parmar Founder & Senior Partner, True Aim Solutions

"The better you know yourself, the greater you will succeed, the happier you will be!" We help our clients discover what they need to know about themselves and others to achieve greater success and happiness in their career, business and life by providing various personality assessments and training needs analysis.

>>> We invite you to take our COMPLIMENTARY 3-minute test to discover the secrets of your personality and receive the FREE 'Personality Success Keys Guide'. Please take a moment to visit our website: http://PersonalitySuccessBlueprint.com

Working well with others

 

A 20-year study at Stanford University examined the career paths of thousands of executives to determine the qualities they had developed that enabled them to move ahead rapidly. Researchers concluded that there were two primary skills that were indispensable for men and women who were promoted to positions of great responsibility.

The first was the ability to function well in a crisis. It was the ability of the executive to keep his or her cool when the company or the department faced serious challenges or setbacks. It was the ability to calmly analyze the facts, gather information, reach conclusions, make decisions, and then mobilize other people to respond effectively and solve the problem.

The second skill these fast-trackers had developed was the ability to use their knowledge and talents to contribute to the success of a group of people in accomplishing a specific, common goal. In other words, they knew how to function well as a member of a team.

In this sense, you and your spouse are a team. When you volunteer in any charitable organization, all the people you work with are members of a team. If you have a social circle and you plan activities together, you are functioning as a team. And, of course, you and your coworkers make up a team.

Over the last few decades, the concept of teamwork in business has been evolving.

We came out of World War II with a strict "command and control" mentality. Most of the heads of American corporations, large and small, had been military officers, of various ranks, during the war. They brought their training into the workplace. Their approach to management was the pyramid style, with the president at the top, the senior executives below him, the junior executives below them, and so on - all the way down to the workers and support staff who made up the base of the pyramid. The orders traveled in one direction: downward. Information filtered up slowly. People were expected to do their job, collect their paycheck, and be satisfied.

However, with the advent of the computer age and, thus, the increasing complexity of even the smallest business operation, this management approach is changing. Just about every employee now has critical skills and knowledge that contribute to the overall success of a business.

For example, in our office, our receptionist has been promoted to the position of "front-office manager." Some years ago, when I started in business, the job of the receptionist was to answer the telephone and direct the callers to the appropriate people. Today, however, her job is far more complicated.

Since she is the first contact most customers have with our business, her personality and temperament are extremely important. The prospective client who telephones begins forming an impression of us the instant the telephone is answered. Then, because we do so many things, she must tactfully ascertain exactly how the caller may be best served and who to direct the call to. She also handles requests for further information and follow-up phone calls.

Her ability to handle these calls effectively, to direct calls to the right people, to take accurate messages, and to act as the core person in a network of communications, makes her job so important that it is essential for her to sit in on all staff meetings and be aware of everything that is going on.

Your job, too, probably requires you to know a lot about what is going on in the rest of the company. And the fastest and most accurate way of keeping current is to develop and maintain a network of contacts, an informal team of people within your workplace who keep you informed and who you keep informed in turn.

The old methods of command and control now exist only at old-line companies, many of which are fighting for their very survival. Today, men and women want to thoroughly understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. People are no longer satisfied to be cogs in a big machine. They want to have an integral role in achieving goals that they participated in setting in the first place.




If you want to achieve anything of consequence in business, you need the help and cooperation of lots of people. Your main objective should be to structure everything you do in such a way that, because you are constantly cooperating and working well with others, they are continually open to helping you achieve your goals as well.

Remember, in all your interactions with your team, to be supportive and helpful. The best team players I have ever seen are those whose comments to the other members of the team are in the form of suggestions on how things can be done better. The best team members are always offering to help other people after the meeting to get on top of some aspect of their work. This focus on collaboration and cooperation is seen by everybody and marks you as a person to be both liked and respected.

Many men and women have kicked their careers into the stratosphere by taking on a small responsibility and doing such a good job with it that they came to the attention of important people both inside and outside their organizations.

Author:  Brian Tracy

 

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3 Powerful Tips for Making this Your Best Year Ever

With the new year just around the corner, there are three powerful tips I'd like to share with you that'll not only make this your best year ever, but will lay the essential groundwork for abundance and prosperity beyond your wildest dreams for you and your loved ones in the years to come.

Here they are:

Powerful Tip #1 - Get your health in order.

In his book "The Art of Money Getting or Golden Rules for Making Money", the infamous P. T. Barnum wrote:

"The foundation of success in life is good health: that is the substratum fortune; it is also the basis of happiness. A person cannot accumulate a fortune very well when he is sick. He has no ambition; no incentive; no force. Of course, there are those who have bad health and cannot help it: you cannot expect that such persons can accumulate wealth, but there are a great many in poor health who need not be so."

How true...

Good health *is* the very foundation upon which wealth is built.

As a matter of fact...

As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it in his book "The Conduct of Life":

"The first wealth is health."

Because, as he went on to explain:

"Sickness is poor-spirited, and cannot serve any one: it must husband its resources to live. But health or fullness answers its own ends and has to spare, runs over, and inundates the neighborhoods and creeks of other men's necessities."




Hmmm...

Just about says it all, doesn't it? 🙂

The bottom line is...

Just as it'd be far easier for you to build a house when you're healthy than when you're not...

Wealth, success, happiness, and love are a whole heck of a lot easier to "build" when you're healthy than when you're not.

It's that simple. 🙂

Powerful Tip #2 - Decide what you want to be when you grow up.

Let me ask you...

When you think of Bill Gates, what do you think of?

Software, right?

When you think of Warren Buffet, what do you think of?

Investments, right?

When you think of Michael Dell, what do you think of?

Computers, right?

When you think of Donald Trump, what do you think of?

Real estate, right?

When you think of Sam Walton, what do you think of?

Discount stores, right?

When you think of J. K. Rowling, what do you think of?

Books, right?

When you think of Ray Kroc, what do you think of?

Fast food, right?

When you think of Wayne Huizenga, what do you think of?

Garbage, right?

When you think of Oprah Winfrey, what do you think of?

Television, right?

When you think of Tiger Woods, what do you think of?

Golf, right?

Now...

Think about it...

Besides having "a lot" of money, by most anyone's standards, what do *all* these "rich" folks have in common?

The answer?

Simple...

They all made their "money", at least initially, just as all great fortunes have been made, in *ONE* business or profession, *NOT* ten different businesses or professions, *ONE* business or profession.

In other words...

They got rich by deciding what they wanted to be when they grew up, choosing the *ONE* business or profession they wanted to be in, and then they focused on that *ONE* business or profession until they "made it".

Therefore...

If "riches" and "wealth" are what *you* want...

That's *exactly* what you must do as well!

Decide what it is you want to be when you grow up...

Choose the *ONE* business or profession you want to be in...

Then focus *exclusively* on that *ONE* business or profession until you "make it"!

Powerful Tip #3 - Spend more high-quality time with your loved ones NOW!

I can't even begin to tell you how many people have emailed me, over the last several years, telling me they wanted a million dollars so they can spend more time with their loved ones, more often than not their children.

Yep...

I can see it now...

There they are in one room, beating their head against their computer monitor trying to figure out how to make a million dollars on the Internet, while their son or daughter quietly sits in another room wondering why mommy or daddy won't play with them.

Ridiculous?

Sure is.

Farfetched?

Not in the least.

As a matter of fact...

Sadly...

That's *exactly* how the vast majority of people spend their entire lives...

Don't you be one of them!

Here's the deal...

You don't need a million dollars to spend more time with your loved ones.

As a matter of fact...

You don't need any money at all to spend more time with them!

Father and child, pivotal parenting

All you need is to make the commitment and the time to do so.

With that thought in mind...

I wish you and your loved ones the absolute best of holiday seasons and a wealthy, healthy, successful, and happy New Year!
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© Tony Mase - All Rights Reserved

Tony Mase is a serious student of the works of Wallace D. Wattles and the publisher of the "The Personal Power Course: Ten Lessons in Constructive Science, Teaching You How to Use Your Own Subconscious Energies for Health, Prosperity and Personal Achievement" ebook by Wallace D. Wattles..