Set Your Goals

“Success will be within your reach only when you start reaching out for it.” ― Stephen Richards

There are articles I have written and others you have read where we speak of setting goals in your life. Sometimes we do a good job of explaining why and how to do just that. Sometimes we do not do a good job doing that as well.

Setting goals can be hard, frustrating and difficult. Achieving those goals in the end will seem effortless in comparison to just getting started. Again though, how should you even start?

The author and blogger Michael Hyatt wrote a very good "Beginner’s Guide to Goal Setting" to help each of us get started. I recommend you reading his short article. To give you a glimpse into the article, he states the five basics shown below.

1. Keep them few in number.
2. Make them “smart.”
--- Specific
--- Measurable
--- Actionable
--- Realistic
--- Time-bound
3. Write them down.
4. Review them frequently.
5. Share them selectively.

The questions become;

...will you write your goals down?
...will you remind yourself of what you wrote down?
...will you allow yourself to actually achieve them?

Each of us can benefit by setting goals. They can be five, ten year long goals. But they can also be short, one or two month goals. Achieving the short term ones when aligned with your long term goals will send you down a path of success.

Try it.

Take the challenge and write down one realistic one-month goal. Tape a copy on your bedroom mirror. Place one on the kitchen refrigerator. Tape one on your car dashboard. Tack another to your office work desk. Put reminders in places where it will remind you of the goal set.

Now achieve it.

Small goals will lead to bigger goals achieved. You can achieve.

Stay inspired my friends.

Seven Days

"Find a job you like and you add five days to every week." ~ H. Jackson Brown

It is the start of a Friday work day for some of us, others are well into it and others are much further into their weekend already. The day is one that so many people look forward to in anticipation. It is a day looked forward to on Monday.

In contrast, Monday is the dreaded day by those settling into their Sunday evening.

We spend nearly five days in a sour mood just waiting for two days...the weekend. One could quantify it loosely and state that we spend over 70% of our life in misery or just short of 30% in happiness.

Doesn't that seem a bit wasteful of your life?

Why not try to enjoy the entire week instead of taking only those two precious weekend days? I don't want to suggest that the weekend and time off is a bad thing. Quite the contrary, having time away from work is good and allows you to renew yourself. But you can do that during the week as well.

The work day doesn't have to be miserable, but you have to like your job in order to get over it. If you don't like your job, then make movement, change jobs, change careers, do something.

Get back that 70% of your life.

For the week, maybe take Wednesday evening and attend a church service, an evening class or go see a movie. Just create an easy and non-burdensome activity that you can choose or choose not to attend.

By gaining back your week, you gain back your life and attitude. When those things improve, your personal life will improve, your work performance will improve and best of all - life just seems to improve.

Get back those lost five days and look forward to not just Friday, but every day.

Stay inspired my friends.

Six Degrees

“No one has ever become poor by giving.” ― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank

There is an organization doing what it can to help others. Sure, there are many other great organizations doing the same thing. Same, but this one is different. It is called www.sixdegrees.org and owes its roots to a game.

A popular trivia game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon in which you played a connection game that ultimately led each participant to be connected to a celebrity by the name of Kevin Bacon.

In an attempt to turn it into something for a better good, Kevin took the idea and turned it into doing something for others. Six Degrees is about giving people the opportunity to promote charities which help others. That is the whole idea.

From their website they state, "Any one person (including me, Kevin Bacon) is connected to any other person through six or fewer relationships, because it's a small world. SixDegrees.org is about using this idea to accomplish something good. It's social networking with a social conscience. Through this web site, you can support your favorite charities by donating or creating fundraising badges — as well as check out the favorite causes of other people, including celebrities."

Here you have another opportunity to involve yourself, another opportunity to make a difference. Not only can you donate to your charity but now you can promote that charity. Just another way to make life a little better for those around you.

So get on board, find a charity and get it posted. You'll do good and in turn, goodness will come back to you.

Stay inspired my friends.

Trying to Make Mistakes

"REGRET - It hurts to admit when you make mistakes, 

but when they're big enough, the pain only lasts a second."

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” ― Elbert Hubbard

It has been a while since I've shown something from the folks at Despair, Inc.

I have always thought that in our attempts to always remain positive and maintaining a great attitude, we have to be able to laugh at ourselves as well.

With these folks, sometimes you can motivate people by doing just the opposite. But it also provides some very funny "food for thought."

Shown above is one of their many 'demotivational' posters. This particular one is titled REGRET. You'll never regret having tried and failed if you never tried in the first place.

Stay inspired my friends!