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Quick Methods to Identify Your Goals and Get Into Action

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goalWhat will we do today to ensure all our tomorrows yield the things we want? After all, as responsible, reasonable adults, we are well aware that we will only achieve the future we want through the actions we take in the present.  This is an easy idea to understand but incredibly difficult to implement and maintain.  The problems arise when (a) we only have a vague idea of what we want our future to look like; and (b)even if we have a fairly clear picture of our preferred future, we lack the drive and inspiration to make progress now to ensure the foundations are established for the future.

Let’s look at (a) first.  If we only have a vague idea of what we want our future to look like and we continue to act on this vague picture, then our results are also going to be vague because we will have lacked focus and direction.  This is why it’s so important to attempt to firm up the outline of our future.  Colouring everything in can be done on an ongoing basis, but without a clear outline, the colours (goals) will bleed (mingle). [Read more…] about Quick Methods to Identify Your Goals and Get Into Action

You Can Do It!

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birdsYou will have heard me say a number of times that we must never let the negative attitudes of others discourage us from pursuing our goals.  I’ve said it so many times because we hear negativity and discouragement so often that we need to be frequently reminded to keep going.  So, in the interests of counteracting any negativity you’ve experienced recently, this entire blog is given over to encouraging YOU!

YOU are the reason I set this blog and my Facebook page up, YOU are the reason I want to check in every day and to find everything I think will help you in your quest to achieve your goals.  So, this blog is especially for YOU!

I know it’s hard for you to keep going sometimes.  I know you feel tired, I know that you feel you’ve given all that you can, but, I also know that you’re the kind of person who will never give up because you know there’s more to you than the world is currently seeing.  That new person will OUT sooner or later, as there’s no way s/he’s staying cooped up inside!  So just give it that little bit more today, now, because I know you can…I know you will… [Read more…] about You Can Do It!

Beat Temptation and Achieve Your Goals!

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beat temptation

I absolutely adore chocolate, which as anyone who knows me will know is an understatement!  It’s my biggest temptation, the one thing that can see me tumble from the diet/healthy eating wagon if I’m feeling even just a little bit wobbly.  So you could say for me that chocolate poses a major temptation to achieving my health goals.

I know for certain that I’m not alone in feeling this way, we all have our pet temptations, things that will tempt us away from the unfamiliar or challenging goal path we are trying to negotiate.  But, as we know, overcoming our temptations can be a difficult task.  However, keeping on the straight and narrow will have the effect of strengthening our resolve to continue, whereas slipping away from our planned path tends to make us feel guilty and sometimes also a bit devil-may-care, resulting in us giving up on our goals altogether.

We think of temptation as something observable: that (delicious) bar of chocolate; that extra half an hour in bed so it’s too late for our morning jog; that extra cigarette, but, it’s the less tangible things that can really mess up our attempts to improve our lives. [Read more…] about Beat Temptation and Achieve Your Goals!

Half the year has gone, it’s time to Review, Celebrate, Plan & Do!

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julyMonday July 1st signalled the beginning of the second half of 2013, and if, like me, you’ve not only set goals, but also set milestones for your progress, then this date is very significant.  Obviously, being the half way point of the year, it allows us to take a sensible measure of how far we’ve advanced against our goals, and then to consider our plans for the next six months.

Alternatively, if you haven’t set any goals, then the half way point of the year is a good time to take stock of how your life has progressed during this period and to select a few meaningful goals so that the second half of the year brings deliberate direction to your life.

To start the process, it’s best to look back over the previous six months and review our progress so far.  This is relevant whether we’ve set goals or not, because even if we haven’t set goals, we will have progressed, albeit in an unplanned direction.  So what should we be looking for?

Well, there are a few things to highlight:

First and foremost, our successes!

Did you achieve any of your desired results between January and June?  [Read more…] about Half the year has gone, it’s time to Review, Celebrate, Plan & Do!

Do You Need Motivation?

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do you need motivation

Motivation, or lack of, to be more precise, is cited as a major cause of our inability to reach our goals.  We all feel that we need to be motivated to lose the weight, take the exercise, write the book, save the money etc.  But is this really the case?  Do we need a healthy dose of motivation in order to achieve any of these things?

The difficulty with a lack of motivation is that it can be wrapped in many different guises, and so we just assume that we’re not motivated, rather than thinking that there may be another reason for our lethargy.

Sometimes we just feel overwhelmed with the things we think we have to do and consequently, we fail to make a conscious decision on what we should progress and instead fall into the trap of doing nothing.  Ironically this is also a decision.  We have decided, albeit unconsciously, to do nothing.  Consequently the feeling of overwhelm not only continues, but is further compounded by guilt!

We often feel the pain of failing to make a conscious decision and then bemoan our  inability to move beyond the ‘something’ that is holding us back from taking action.  But what is this ‘something’?  Sometimes we’re not even sure that we know what’s causing the road block.  Maybe it’s tiredness, laziness, resentment (why should I do it, no one else is doing anything), boredom or overwhelm, as described above.  But, there could be many other emotions rattling around our heads, never really making themselves distinct enough for us to deal with directly.  They become a fusion of negative thoughts which ultimately result in inertia. [Read more…] about Do You Need Motivation?

Dealing with Negative People

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lightsStarting any kind of new venture can be stimulating, nerve-wracking, scary, exciting, daunting, overwhelming and many other adjectives that we may choose to apply, but the one thing that it’s not likely to be (particularly in the long-term) is easy.  For this reason, it’s always beneficial to have support from our families and friends.

Support can be in many forms, like being given the time and space necessary to learn what we need to know, encouragement to keep going when things aren’t progressing as well as we’d hoped, maybe a ‘sounding board’ for when we just need to let off some frustration, or someone to share our successes with when things are going well!

But unfortunately, support for our goals isn’t always forthcoming, especially in the early days.  In fact, quite often what we experience is the opposite.

How often have you been excited to embark on a new goal or project only to be discouraged by those you thought would share your excitement with you?  Unfortunately this experience is very common.  In fact, a lot of people seem to take delight in attempting to stop others pursuing their dreams and we have a whole array of words to describe these people: they are the Debbie-Downers, the Naysayers, the Pessimists, the Redlighters, and the Doubting Thomas(es)…

Sometimes their reactions can be hurtful, but before judging their response as an attempt to hold us back, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why they might react negatively to our plans.

They might think you will change

Some of your friends and family might have a subconscious fear that you might change, and if you change, you might not like them anymore, or they might not like you!  Well, it’s inevitable that if you continue to pursue your goals, you will change.  How could this possibly not be the case?  If you diet, you will lose weight, if you study, you will learn more, if you buy a house, your financial commitments will change, if you have a child, your time commitments will be different.  In other words, either you will have changed directly or you will be changed as a result of your changed circumstances. [Read more…] about Dealing with Negative People