Planning To Amaze

"Don't let your fear paralyze you. Prepare yourself not only technically, but also emotionally." - Bob Weinstein

You have an upcoming party at your home and it probably has you pretty busy. You might be preparing the back yard for guests by getting new flowers planted, or the deck refinished. There is cleaning to do, food to prepare, and so much more.

There are so many things you are likely preparing for that sometimes you feel there is not enough time to get it all done. Hopefully the weather will cooperate as well.

What if something goes wrong?

With all of our planning and preparing should also be the knowledge your plans could go awry. This is the point at which our adventure begins. Dealing with bad weather, food not arriving on time, or some other unforeseen event.

This is the point at which we have to adjust.

Preparation must still occur because we can not sit still and expect greatness to happen. When you move, life moves with you and it is in that moment amazing things happen.

There will likely be obstacles to overcome. Your plans might not go as you had wished but amazing opportunity will present itself. It is in those moments we are given the ability to reach out and grab success.

You discover the ability to overcome and accomplish.

Be prepared to amaze others. Be prepared to amaze yourself. Planning is a good start but what you accomplish when the plan does not is why we plan in the first place.

Stay inspired my friends!

Strategy for Life

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them." -Denis Watley

We dream of things to come and have visions of what we want to accomplish in our life. But these dreams and visions remain just that if no action occurs. The act of taking a step towards them puts us on a journey that will eventually capture our real goal.

Yet how do we go about planning or executing a path towards those goals. In much of my reading, many of the principles I've learned come from business. It comes from those that have achieved in life with very basic steps. In today's article, I want to list these steps. Not in the 'business' vernacular, but in a way that you can adopt them in your own personal life.

For any goal to be met, you need to have a coherent strategy and method of executing those steps. Each of these are crucial in working together for success in achieving a goal or set of goals. Much of what I have read revolves around six steps through which a plan for success in achieving a goal is accomplished.

1. Develop a strategy; it may seem a very basic step, but many people go head long into something without figuring out first how to get there. When considering your vision, think about the following;

- What is the mission or purpose you want of your life?
- How does the goal fulfill that purpose?
- What lies beyond the goal or what do you envision once the goal is achieved?

2. Plan the strategy; now that you have an idea of what the strategy will be, plan how you will implement it. Translate the objectives into specific targets or short term action plans. You can even create a one-page block diagram that gives you a visual idea of where you are. With small and short action plans, accomplishing lots of little steps gives you encouragement and shows progress.

3. Align your life with the strategy; are those around you supportive and willing to come along on this journey. Giving those around you a sense of ownership and benefit will be a supportive network. If you hang around negative people, it only draws you down and hinders your ability to accomplish your goal.

4. Conduct your life with the goal in mind; find ways that will improve and boost your ability to accomplish each of the targets. In ex; if you like to read and the goal is being debt free, then reading sporting magazines all of the time isn't helping you achieve that. Maybe change subscriptions and start reading financial magazines and the like.

5. Monitor and Learn; many strategies to accomplishing something never end up looking exactly as they did when first developed. As you move forward, evaluate what is or is not working to help you achieve the goal. There is no hard fast rule that says you can't change. Change is great when applied to strengthen and improve your strategy.

6. Adapt the strategy; as you monitor and learn from your journey, write down and revise the written strategy. A lot of folks simply adjust and forget to rewrite the strategy. Then when they reach a point of being lost in their journey, they go back to the written strategy for guidance. If it is the old and original one, you will retrace steps that you either don't need to and shouldn't. This can cause you to become disheartened or discouraged. So write down, adapt the written strategy for it is your road map to where you are going.

So performing these steps doesn't require fancy charts and graphs or forms. It only requires commitment from you to take a step. It requires you to change some of what you are doing in life now and being bold to step out of the comfortable.

Once you begin moving and start seeing small accomplishments, the goal becomes much clearer and achievable. Develop a strategy for your life and achieve the seemingly impossible.

Stay inspired my friends!

Six is not Evil

"Seeing within changes one's outer vision." -Joseph Chilton Pearce

Wow, wasn't that another amazing Christmas Day celebration? It was full of family, friends, presents and eating; lots of eating. Hopefully you received that one special gift and more importantly, you gave someone that one special gift. Yet the day is over and the wrapping paper is bundled in trash bags awaiting the garbage man.

We have also fallen into that time period at the end of a year I call the quiet period. A time when the year is not quite over and not much more can be accomplished. Many people have taken time off and others are left working; seemingly there to only keep the office from burning down. A lull in what was a busy and full year.

It also becomes a time when we truly find moments to reflect on the year gone by. The New Year's resolutions made nearly 365 days ago are either distant memories or marked accomplishments on our goal list. Some may still be working on them, which is a good thing and please continue with them into the newest year arriving.

This time of year is also a good time to reflect on how we have lived our lives over the past year. Have we tried to be a good and decent person? Have we been loving and true to our family and friends? Have we treated everyone including strangers as we would want to be treated?

What I suggest during this quiet period is to take these next six days and make a list of six things you would like to improve upon next year. And do not think the number six to be evil, it is just a number. It is simply the number of days left to prepare yourself for the new coming year.

Take those six days and look for the good in a number such as six. Six days and you will also find there is goodness in other people. Six days to prepare yourself for the coming year. Six days to become a better person to others.

Stay inspired my friends.

Building St. Peters

St. Peter's Basilica Floor Plan

"To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time." -Leonard Bernstein

The other day I performed some volunteer work at my local church, theC3Church. It was one of those work events in which the talented church members in the construction industry put those talents to a grand plan. For me, its a matter of volunteering my back to assist them in bringing that plan to fruition.

This particular project is to rebuild a seating area by installing risers for those seated further back. Quite an undertaking when I first viewed the area and the work required. But to accomplish the task is this purpose of my article today; putting your plans into action.

Each of us has a dream or vision for what we want in life. Sometimes it is a well announced vision while many times it is quietly kept to ourself. The core thing to remember is that it takes action to put your plans on a course to accomplishment.

Look back at all of the great cathedrals built around the world. Most of these first grand buildings were built in the 1100 and 1200s AD. Even the grand St. Peter's Basilica in Rome was a vision at first. What followed was a plan followed then again by action.

I watched the lead people review the drawn plans, take measurements once, twice and discuss. Then action occurred and as we worked the plan started to become a reality. BELIEF in a vision takes you to the point of planning and preparing. You then must ACT upon the plan and begin moving forward with what you want to accomplish. Finally you come to REALIZE that vision.

We can dream and envision day in and day out about what we want in life. We can even sit at the drawing table creating plan after detailed plan on how to achieve it.

But in the end, if we want to view the grand Sistine Chapel ceiling of our life, we must begin by building the foundation. We must raise the walls in order to support our dreams. We must begin to act upon the plan.

Will you turn your dreams into plans today? Will you turn your plans into action? Will you?