Let's Connect!

Achieve Your Best Life

Live your life your way

belief

You Can Do It!

by

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!

Dealing with Negative People

by

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

Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

by

Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

Some time ago, I blogged about the importance of persistence in the battle to achieve our goals.  One of the things that I mentioned in that blog was that I, like everyone else, often succumb to my old bad habits or old ways of doing things at the expense of maintaining my new good habits.  I will have seen progress whilst instigating these new good habits, but, for whatever reason, I fall off the wagon and slowly, or sometimes quickly, drift back to my old ways.

I also went on to tell you that these days, I am much better at getting back on the wagon sooner, so, even though there may have been some ‘damage’, this can be limited by my ability to get back to my new good habits sooner rather than later.

And this is where I found myself recently.  In the last few months I’ve fallen off the weight control/healthy eating wagon.  Consequently I’ve gained some weight, lost some (read ‘a lot of’) muscle tone and am generally feeling more lethargic.  My clothes are tighter.  It then dawned on me that it was time to face the situation and get back on that wagon.

So, in the last few days, I have re-subscribed to myFitnessPal, which is the app I use on my phone to keep track of my food and exercise calories.  I’ve also been out for a few long walks and have been careful about what food I’ve allowed to pass my lips.  Everything has been recorded in the app. [Read more…] about Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

5 Things You Should Do To Improve Your Success Rate

by

believe

Check out this quick post to see what actions you should take to improve your success rate!

Take Personal Responsibility

Taking personal responsibility is THE number one requirement to achieving personal success.  The saying, “if it’s going to be, it has to be me” is right on point and its application or lack of, will make or break our success.

So what does taking personal responsibility mean?  I’m sure we all believe we take personal responsibility for our lives.  We go to work, pay the bills, get the children to school, arrange our social lives and even indulge in self development through courses at work and books etc, so what could be missing?

Well, we fail in the personal responsibility arena when we are guilty of blaming others and making excuses.  Using either of these tactics will look like defensiveness to others, which in itself is not a particularly endearing characteristic.  But more importantly, by shifting the blame onto others or the circumstances (deemed to be) outside our control, we are removing our ability to grow from the situation, and, if we don’t grow then we will be unable to demonstrate improved performance the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation. [Read more…] about 5 Things You Should Do To Improve Your Success Rate

How to set BIG Goals!

by

waterskiDavid J Schwartz, author of The Magic of Thinking Big sets us a challenge in his quote: “Think little goals and expect little achievements.  Think big goals and win big achievements.”

A great idea, but for many of us setting big goals is much easier said than done!

I think part of the problem with cajoling ourselves to make big goals, is our lack of belief in our ability to create a big, planned outcome.  These big ideas and plans are alien to us because they are so far removed from the world we live in right now, consequently it’s a huge mental leap to see ourselves living a completely (albeit desired) different life.  Additionally, for a lot of people, if they don’t know all the steps that are required to get to their ultimate outcome, then they’d rather not start.

So how can we overcome this inertia and actually make big goals, but fool ourselves into thinking that they aren’t as outlandish as they appear?  The trick, as we all know is to take baby steps, but again, this can be problematic if we’re not prepared to look far enough ahead and actually acknowledge that there is a big goal out there, somewhere in the future.  The technique I like to use is to think in stages, starting from “now” and then building on this.  Here’s a simple table of how building the goal iteratively might look, along with an indication of the possible timeframe:

Small Goal (short term) Bigger Goal (medium term) Biggest Goal (long term)
Within the next year Within the next 2 – 5 years Within the next 3 – 10 years

[Read more…] about How to set BIG Goals!

Are you thinking your way to success or failure?

by

Are you thinking your way to success or failure?

Are You Thinking Your Way to Success or Failure?

Do you ever wonder about the millions of thoughts and stimuli that cross your mind on a daily basis? The ‘background chatter’ or the ‘little voice in your head’ which is always switched on.     Sometimes the chatter is completely random and as quickly as thoughts come to mind, they simply disappear again, sometimes against our will…”I was going to tell you something, but it’s gone…”, and sometimes they stick, whether they’re good or bad, and there appears to be very little we can do to dislodge them, think of a song you don’t like, for example!

In the bestselling book ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill, he states that “Thoughts are things”, which on first reading sounds more than a little strange, after all, thoughts aren’t tangible and they don’t exist in the physical world, so how can they be ‘things’?  But, if we explore the concept a little further, and apply real-life examples to this notion, perhaps I can convince you that Mr Hill’s argument actually holds some truth.

Thoughts Are Things

It’s actually more the case that we are driven to behave in line with the thoughts which are predominant or most relentless in our minds.  Furthermore, it doesn’t really matter whether this is doing us good or ill, if we’re not consciously controlling our thoughts we will act accordingly.

However, there is a very positive side to this theory and that is that if we can control and channel our thoughts so that they are in line with the goals we want to achieve, then we can surely improve our chances of success.

But, by the very nature of being human, our existing thoughts (aka our beliefs) have been rattling around our brains for the whole time we’ve been on the planet, and therefore, our brains will automatically take the easiest (most familiar) choice when faced with a decision.  In other words, if we fail to actively walk the ‘correct’ road consciously (think the correct thoughts) often and persistently enough, our brains will automatically choose the familiar path and we will get more of our familiar results.  Good or bad. [Read more…] about Are you thinking your way to success or failure?