The life that is waiting for us

We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, 

so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

Joseph Campbell

What to Do If Your Potential Isn't Being Realized

Today ...

Are you crushing it...knocking the ball out of the park...and off to a blazing start?

Or...are you repeating the same patterns as last year...barely squeaking by...and in serious need of more, better and faster results?

Regardless of your answer, I'm going to share with you a simple, seven-step strategy for taking your performance to an entirely new level.

I just used it to evaluate my YTD performance and implementing the feedback into my plans for the month of February.

It's called an AFTER ACTION REVIEW (AAR), and it's purpose is to...

1. Celebrate and sustain strengths as you must reinforce the tactics and strategies responsible for winning.

2. Identify and correct deficiencies as it is imperative that you analyze behaviors which are compromising performance.

3. Focus on opportunities to exploit and goals to pursue for the remaining 335 days of the year.

DO IT NOW

To best position yourself, your family and business for the remainder of the year, you NEED to perform an AAR and analyze what took place in the first half of the year, and...YOU NEED TO DO IT NOW!
You NEED to identify every nugget of knowledge your past performance offers and milk it for all it's worth.

Please note the special emphasis on the word NEED, as if you hesitate to do this exercise or simply choose to delete this message, you'll most certainly pay the heavy price associated with neglect, ignorance and immaturity.

Unfortunately the vast majority of people and companies don't learn enough from their mistakes or their accomplishments.

It's like everyone is simply plugging along with their heads down, and it's Ground Hog Day all over again.

But, instead of repeating the same day over and again, both companies and individuals continue to repeat the same undermining attitudes, the same unproductive strategies and keep getting the same under-performing results.

IT"S TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK

You and I both know that no matter how good or bad your results have been these past 30 days - you can always do better—MUCH BETTER!

Yet, the single biggest key to improving both your performance and your results seems to go ignored by almost everybody. If you want to perform at the top of your game you NEED to review, analyze, and learn from what has already happened.

MASTER THESE SEVEN STEPS

There are seven steps in the AAR process, and you must begin implementing the ideas that you are about to generate...IMMEDIATELY.

Step 1 - Identify Your Three Greatest Accomplishments in the year so far.
Even if the first month of the year has been a challenging one for you, odds are...if you look close enough, there's something to be proud of.

Step 2 - Analyze What You Learned from Each Accomplishment?
Now that you have identified your three greatest accomplishments, go back to each one. This time though identify exactly what you learned or were reminded of by each of them.

Step 3 - Identify Your Biggest Disappointments in the year until now.
Practically every company and individual resists analyzing their mistakes. That's a shame because this is where the best learning comes from.

Step 4 - Analyze What You Learned from Each Failure or Disappointment.
No matter how great everything in life is going -we all make mistakes. The trick here is to analyze them, what preceded them, what could you have done differently and determine how can you prevent them from reoccurring in the future.

Step 5 - Identify How You Limited Yourself and How Can You Stop It?
Were there certain actions you took or didn't take that came back to haunt you?
In order to make sure you don't limit yourself again - you need to bring these self-defeating actions and self-limiting beliefs to the surface,confront them, and most importantly determine what you must do differently to make sure you don't make the same mistakes all over again.

Step 6 - Pragmatically Review the Information You Have Gathered?
The goal of this exercise is not simply to know yourself and your business better, but to actually use the information to make certain that you are best positioned for a strong first quarter and year, and that you have an actionable plan that far surpasses anything you have done in the first 30 days of 2015.

HOW DID YOU DO?

• What are the big takeaways from answering each question?
• What do you know about yourself or your business that you didn't realize or weren't thinking about?

Obviously, having this list isn't going to do it all, you still need to take this new knowledge and USE IT!
Fortunately, that's what the last question is centered around.
And here it is...

Step 7 - Determine How to Use This Information to Astonish Yourself in the year that is left

The purpose here is to build into your schedule,your interactions, your management style or whatever else you've surfaced in the previous questions and build yourself a new, better approach.
Okay, now that we've uncovered a lot of useful information, the final step is to incorporate it into a game plan for crushing the first quarter of the year.

My goal is simply to help you achieve yours, and the single best thing I can do for you (now that the first half of the year is in the history books) is to impress upon you the importance and URGENCY of this AAR discipline.

Implementing the seven steps of the AAR before you get into work on Monday will go a long way in helping you making this the best year of your life.

I wish for you a lifetime of abundance, prosperity and ever increasing opportunity.

One where you make sure...

Everything Counts!

Gary Ryan Blair

The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this:  decide what you want.

Ben Stein

How Hollywood Villains Can Teach Us How To Make Our Dreams Come True

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... on Dreams and Goals

Three Ways To Live - The Short View, The Long View And A Better Way

Is there a better way?

Goals are important. Action is necessary. Planning is helpful. Confidence is vital. Hope is critical. Self-improvement is compulsory. Belief is essential. But in the end there are only three ways to live - the short view, the long view or a combination of both. Let me explain.

The short view - Life happens now. Memories were created yesterday. The future happens tomorrow. When we take the short view and live life according to this approach we often fail to take into consideration the future consequences of decisions made and actions taken. Yes, we live in the present moment and this is a good thing, but failing to understand the relationship between now and tomorrow and yesterday can have its negatives like; regret, disappointment, frustration and even stress.

Today is all we know we have and failing to live today to the fullest means we essentially waste life. When we spend our now moments filled with worry, fear, uncertainty and anxiety we set ourselves up for more of the same. When we live today with hope, faith, courage and confidence we create potential better tomorrow's and yesterdays but either way we can avoid some of the negative impact on the future and the past.

If you had a simple choice to live in the now, wonder about the future or go back to yesterday and the good old days which would you choose? The past can't be changed and the future is totally unknown no matter how we spend our now moments but the chances of a better tomorrow increase when you bring control over your emotions and actions today.

The long view - The long view is all about planning, hoping, preparing and even wishing but in the end how we spent our past will have an impact on the longer view. Focusing only on tomorrow, next week or even next year steals from your present and again, we have literally no control over what will or may happen tomorrow. Yes, plans are good, goals are helpful and preparation is important but let me ask you - have you met all of your goals, have all your plans worked out as you anticipated - has your past preparation turned out to be unnecessary or even a waste of time given how things happened?

It is vital to live with hope and positive desires for the future. Faith in the good of the unknown is important but in the end, "We make our plans, but God determines our steps".

So keep on planning, keep working towards your goals, but never forget that we can only control what we can control and in the end that is very little when it comes to living.

A combination - Living with both the long and short view as your life approach. Life happens - every day - things we want and hope for and often things we don't want or didn't see coming. When you live with both the short and long term view you embrace the best of today, take what crosses your path with poise and acceptance knowing that that is all you can do and just keep keeping on towards your goals, plans and dreams.

I can't tell you how many times life has thrown me an unexpected curve in every area of life - finances, health, relationships and my career, but as the days and years pass I have learned that all I can do is do the best I can with today's circumstances and just keep plodding and yes sometimes even flying into tomorrow.

The answer - Let me repeat - you can't relive the past changing what is - is now history. You have minor control over what will happen in the future so what's left?

Plan, set goals, have dreams, prepare, work hard and hope but at the end of the day - well I'll share one of my motto's with you - If it happens and it's something I want - I will be excited and filled with gratitude and say thank you. If it doesn't I will not be disappointed and yes, say thank you again.

=======

Author:  Tim Connor  Global speaker and trainer (23 countries and 4000 presentations) on a variety of sales, leadership, motivation, management and business and personal relationships and best selling author of over 80 books.   http://www.timconnor.com 

The Top Three Reasons New Year's Resolutions Fizzle

Thinking about New Year's resolutions - easy;

Making good resolutions - hard;

Keeping your resolutions - priceless.

You start off hopeful. You want to do better. You want to be better. You're tired of your life being one long disconnect between what you want to do and what you get around to doing.
But then reality kicks in. Like a Hamlet in the world of action, you find yourself torn between two impulses: "to do or not to do." Such ambivalence makes it tough to choose a clear commitment to action. So what happens?

Your positive energy becomes dammed, damning you to yet one more failed resolution. Your determination dissipates. It's too hard. It's too burdensome. Why kid yourself? Are you really going to shed those pounds? Get yourself in shape? Be more organized? Work more efficiently?

You surrender. It's not going to happen. You become cynical. It's stupid to make New Year's resolutions. They don't work. They're a waste of time - especially in the digital age. Beepers beckon, digital devices ding, social networks seduce. With all those accessible, appealing, addictive distractions, how does anybody stick to their resolutions?

You give up. You go back to spending countless hours immersed in activity that has nothing to do with your personal or career goals. No big deal. You only go around once, right? Why not just give in to your impulse of the moment?

Yet in those infrequent but quiet moments of solitude when you're honest with yourself, you wonder if you're teetering on the edge of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. You know you can do better. Why give up on yourself?

This year, make resolutions that work by staying away from these three types of resolutions:

1. Resolutions that are way too ambitious. Sure, you want to bring about dramatic change. Unfortunately, change doesn't work that way.

Instead of resolving to lose 30 pounds, aim simply to lose 5 pounds in January. But what if your goal really is to lose 30 pounds? Lose the 5 in January. Rejoice in your success. When you do, you'll be motivated to continue whatever you've been doing to lose the weight. Why? Because nothing succeeds like success.

2. Resolutions that feel like hard work. You want to get in shape but hate going to the gym. You pay for a gym membership and promise yourself you'll go. Yeah, right. Gyms get rich on people like you. If you hate the gym, don't go.

Instead of insisting that you should do what you dislike, find a physical activity that you enjoy. Maybe it's a sport. Or a martial arts program. Or yoga. Or Pilates. Or dancing. Or cycling. Squash the "Yes, but" excuses. Just begin. And notice how much better you feel when you move your body.

3. Resolutions that are conceptual. "I want to get more organized," is a good concept. Who wouldn't want to be more organized? (Okay, maybe if you're a nitpicking perfectionist, you might wish you were less organized).

Instead of focusing on the concept, hone in on specific actions you can take that will result in your being more organized.

Here are examples of action-oriented tasks that will enable you to reach your goal:

• "I'll spend 15 minutes every day organizing papers on my desk."
• "I'll discard at least 10 items of clothing that I no longer wear every change of season."
• "I'll visit an office supply store to purchase organizing aids for my junk drawers."

Now, are you ready? Ready for what? Ready to make sustainable resolutions that will nurture your best self. Anybody against that?

---

Copyright © 2011: Linda Sapadin, Ph.D
Linda Sapadin, Ph.D. is a psychologist and success coach who specializes in helping people overcome self-defeating patterns of behavior. If your life is one long disconnect between what you intend to do and what you actually get around to doing, check out my new book, How to Beat Procrastination in the Digital Age.

At my website SixStylesofProcrastination.com, you can take a personality quiz. View a chart that describes the thinking, speaking and acting modes of each procrastination style. Read inspirational quotes just for procrastinators. And if you're pleased with your accomplishments but recognize how much easier it would be with a tailwind at your back, explore my coaching services

Try something new for 30 days

Is there something you've always meant to do, wanted to do, but just ... haven't? Matt Cutts suggests: Try it for 30 days. This short, lighthearted talk offers a neat way to think about setting and achieving goals. Matt Cutts is an engineer at Google, where he fights linkspam and helps webmasters understand how search


works

Make the decision

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."

-- Ben Stein

Ideals are like stars ...

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destiny." Carl Schurz

Goals: The 10 Rules for Achieving Success

If you were to ask experts to select the #1 key to success, most would say clearly defined goals. Without goals, your dreams will not become a reality. Gary Ryan Blair is considered one of the nation's experts on the topic of goals. For the last 20 years, his 14 books and training materials on goals have been used by more than 80,000 organizations and 4,000,000 employees world-wide. In his movie Goals, The 10 Rules For Achieving Success he teaches you that your life will not go according to plan if you don't have a plan.

Achieving a goal is like opening a combination lock. You need the correct numbers in the correct right, left, right sequence. There are thousands of possible combinations; and if you are aware of the settings but not the sequence, your efforts will prove futile.

The Ten Rules of Goal Setting is the combination that opens the lock of success. Each rule is one piece of the combination; each seamlessly integrates with the other nine; each one counts!

Watch the movie of  Goals, The 10 Rules for Achieving Success

‎"So I decided to drop out [of college] and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made... Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary... Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."    Steve Jobs

[Image http://mashable.com/2011/10/11/apple-changed-music/#287251980s-Macintosh--NeXT]

"Most people are not going after what they want. Even some of the most serious goal seekers and goal setters - they're going after what they think they can get."

Bob Proctor

Daily Motivation - 4 Ways To Inspire You Toward Your Goals

[By Rhodri Jones]

Every experience that each of us has impacts us, either in a positive way or a negative way.

Negative experiences can leave us troubled and disillusioned, however positive experiences can greatly improve our optimism and daily motivation.

Daily motivation is the fuel that drives us to improve our lives, achieve our goals and become better people.

Here are some ways to increase your daily motivation so you achieve so much more in your life:

Setting Meaningful Goals

Having goals is vital. They are the key motivator that drives you to succeed. A life without goals is like a boat without a rudder... drifting aimlessly with no direction and no end destination.

Important, meaningful goals motivate you to take inspired action toward achieving what you desire. It also helps keep you focused and driven when you come across challenges and difficulties

When setting any goal, it is very important however, to take small progressive steps toward achieving it. Breaking a goal down into small, baby steps will prevent you from becoming overwhelmed and help maintain a positive attitude to keep you moving forward.

A Positive Attitude

As I've just mentioned above, a positive attitude will help keep you motivated to continually move forward toward your goal. If you believe that your goal is too difficult and that you won't achieve it, then I can say with one hundred percent certainty that you will be right.

A negative attitude will sabotage any chance of you achieving what you want. Your subconscious mind feeds on your inner chat, and if you constantly tell it that you can't and won't achieve a particular goal it will prove you right every single time.

Your mind is extremely powerful, and you'd be a fool to underestimate it. Feed it with positive thoughts and it will grant you whatever you want. GUARANTEED!!!!!!!

Religion

I accept that not everyone is religiously inclined, but for many (me included) religion helps greatly in improving their daily motivation. Religion, irrespective of what kind you follow can help harness a strong faith and internal motivation within an individual.

It can also ensure a mindfulness and inner peace, so you can better deal with and overcome the challenges that life regularly throws in front of you.

Desire To Live

We've all been given the greatest gift of all...and that's the gift of life! None of us will be on this planet forever, so is there a greater motivation than living life to the max and getting the very most out of every day? I think not!!!!!

Yes, life at times will be hard, but the thing to remember is that these hard times are temporary...they won't last forever. Good times are always just around the corner for you.

Having daily inspiration to live life to the full and achieve all we can is something none of us should pass up on. A desire and motivation to live life to the full is the least we can give in return.

If you want to accomplish more in life and become that person you've always wanted to be then you have to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Your dreams and goals will never be realized unless you acquire an incessant drive and daily motivation to take inspired action that keeps you moving forward.

Your ability to motivate yourself is crucial to you realizing your goals. Motivation is the force that keeps driving you forward toward achievement and success. Go and discover the daily motivation and success formula that will fast track you toward a life that's rich, abundant and happy.

"If you resolve, beginning today, to put out more on your job than you're getting paid to do, miracles will begin happening in your life."


Og Mandino

"Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destiny."

Carl Schurz

Dream big!

Impossible is nothing

"Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do
every day what should be done, and every sunset will see
you that much nearer the goal."

-- Elbert Hubbard

"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

-- Mary Oliver

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Preparing for Uncertainty

Eric Greenleaf shows you how to turn anxiety about change and uncertainty into calm curiosity about what the future may bring, and a feeling of flexible preparedness for anything.