Goal-Setting Articles

Personal Success Through Goal Setting

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 650)
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Setting goals and objectives is a process which has very wide application in business, and it was certainly a part of my own business training which I had to put into practice regularly in the years that followed. Some of the better businesses and organizations will also incorporate personal goal setting into staff development, as part of the personnel (human) resources routine. But what about you as an individual? Can you use goal setting as a tool to help you achieve success?

Goal setting can, indeed, be a very useful, sometimes powerful assistant to your personal success. If you incorporate goals and objectives into your personal planning, whether short or long term, then your road to success will have a better foundation.

Success? Success at what? That is entirely up to you. If there is something in life you want to succeed at, then there will no doubt be some goals you can set to help you along the way; like stepping stones across a river when success is the opposite bank. In reality, you can apply goal setting techniques to any part of your life, whether it is to do with work, personal relationships, where you want to live, or a personal hobby or interest. So long as you set realistic goals at each stage, then they can be a very strong personal incentive, which will prepare you for the next stage. Eventually you will be able to look back and see how far you have come, and you can wave goodbye to those stepping stones and go on to new ones on another journey to success.

If you settle down and think clearly about what you want to succeed in, and then what you need to achieve in order to get there, you will quite naturally give a structure to a plan which you will follow; a structure that will incorporate goals you will need to achieve along the way. As with business goals and plans, your personal goals need to be realistic. If you have never driven a car and decide you want to be a Formula One race driver, then it does not make a lot of sense to go directly to Ferrari HQ and say "Here I am, can I race for you in next week's Grand Prix?"

If you are determined enough, you may become an F1 driver, but there are a few little goals to achieve first. That applies to just about anything. You need to pinpoint the key achievements along the way to success in whatever it is you wish to succeed in, set an appropriate series of goals, and then tick them off one by one.

It is important to think clearly about your personal goals, as they are just that, personal. They are not your husband's goals, you parents' goals, or your brother's goals, they are yours. Keep focused on what you want to achieve, not what others would like you to achieve from their own viewpoint. Use the opportunity to incorporate lifestyle goals into your plan, such as living by the sea, having a nice house, anything that is important to you. Even happiness benefits from goal setting; you can think about everything that would make you happy, and then set goals to achieve each of those elements.

Having decided your goals, then put them together in a plan that is realistic, otherwise you may be despondent after missing a goal which was impossible anyway. Set a reasonable timescale, and then try to aim for it step by step. If your chosen area of success is a competitive one, then remember that most people will just give up. But you will not give up, will you?

This setting personal objective article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement website.

Prerequisite Qualities For Optimum Goal Setting

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 695)
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The minute you set a goal, you are creating a 'mini crisis' in your mind. You're telling your mind about a journey you are considering. In simple terms you are stating where you want to be in relation to where you are. And in between these two is a chasm, a gap. As far as your mind is concerned, the ability to achieve your stated goal is mostly dependent on your mental qualities and skills. Selfish mind, right? Maybe not, but the point is, this is the area on which your success hinges.

So, here are the mental qualities you need to optimise your success.

a. concentration

b. emotional balance

c. imagery and

d. perspective

Lets take a look at these in detail.

a. Concentration

Concentration is a process of paying atttention to certain things to the eclusion of others. The beautiful thing about it is that it is easy to concentrate. Simple! Focus on your goal, and all the unnecessary distractions drop out of your attention span naturally. This means you do not have to worry or focus on getting rid of the distractions. I have heard it said that 'where thought is directed, energy flows'.

WORD OF CAUTION: Do not concentrate so intensely to the extent that you lose sight of the bigger picture. Focus, but e aware of what's changing around as far as your goal is concerned.

b. Emotional Balance

Emotional balance refers to how well you juggle too much effort (mental and physical) and too much relaxation. You do not want to be so focused, you experience burn-out along the way. And you do not want to take things so easy, you lose momentum!

How much are you prepared to put into those activities that help you achieve your goal, and what is hte effort required? I suppose its much helpful to exert and relax adequately, stretch anc take a break!

c. Imagery

This is one critical quality that conventional methods of goal setting gloss over. Rich imagery is central to the mental fqualities you require to optimise your success. What do I mean by 'rich imager'?

Rich imagery is made up of the qualities in your pictures, feelings and sounds. These qualities combine in different ways to enhance your images.

Here is a quick sampling of these qualities, referred to as submodalities in Neurolinguistic Programming

Submodalities for picture would be brightness, contrast and shade. Submodalities for feeling would be texture, temperature, hardness and softness. And submodalities for sound would be volume, rhythm, timbre and tone

These submodalities make the imagery you choose to use, more effective. And you can adjust them as you want, to create a more richer experience.

In goal setting, imagery is used to precreate the achieved goal in your mind. Just like a dress rehearsal. If you can see it, you can have it!

To make the most of imagery

- be aware of the sounds, pictures, and feelings

- make them as clear and as vivid as possible

- add and adjust submodalities according to your preferences. The richer the better.

- immerse yourself in the experience

d. Perspective

The world you live in is a system. One thing that you are doing right now has far reaching implications than you may be aware of. And on top of that, you are being affected by a myriad of influences you may not be aware of. What does this have to do with goal setting?

While you are going for your goal, concentrating intensely (I hope), maintaining the right emotional balance, and using imagery effectively, keep checking how your world is changing and how you are moving towards the future you are attempting to create.

It will be a disaster to try to do one good thing (setting your goals properly), only to spoil your efforts by pretending to be living in a vacuum.

There you have it folks, now you know the prerequisite qualities for optimum success in goal getting.

Now, before you expend any effort in chasing your passion and goal, do a quick check to see if you mentally have what it takes to get there.

Settling For More

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 605)
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You have enormous promise! Why compromise?

I once heard one self-professed motivational expert say, When you set your goals, aim for the moon. Aim high. Even if you fall short, you will have reached higher than those who aim low.

What nonsense. When NASA aimed at the moon, falling short of that goal (compromise), equated to failure. Imagine attempting to convince those imaginary astronauts, lost and adrift in space, that they had succeeded because they got 3/4s of the way there. Set your ideals high. Establish intermediate goals as stepping-stones, not fallback positions. Go for the highest goal. Falling short of the mark does not mean that you have succeeded. Don't kid yourself.

When you set your goals, be prepared to settle for more, not less.

As soon as you set your mind to the possibility of not quite measuring up to the mark that you have set for yourself, you have already planted the seeds of failure and your willingness to settle for less.

Think of your goals, no matter how high they may be, as your minimum expectation. Be willing to believe in the possibility of more. Be willing to imagine more. Be willing to settle for more.

How often do you hear someone say, Well, you can't have it all.? Why not? Who made that into a truism? Compromisers, failures, that's who.

Listen instead to the advice of Napoleon Hill, Anything the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Make that your truism.

Set your ideal. Define your prosperity. Establish your goals. Design your prosperity. Conceive of and believe in the possibility, nay, the probability of more.

Have the material and financial success you desire.

Have the Physical and Environmental, Emotional and Relationship, Mental and Educational, Spiritual and Ethical success you desire.

And MORE!

Abundance is the natural order of things in the universe; it is the rule, not the exception. Your personal abundance is a natural thing too. Demand it. Expect it. Settle for it.

Reconcile yourself with prosperity, not paucity.

Get rid of your limiting beliefs. Stop buying into the BS.

The same preacher who tells you that money is the root of all evil, asks you to give him your money. The same guru who avers that the material must be left behind to approach the spiritual has servants to attend to his every physical/material need. Why believe such hypocrisy? Get motivated by love, not fear. Money is just a symbolic measure of the flow of energy from one source of attraction to another. Love is attractive.

The same parent, peer or teacher that tells you that you have to put your nose to the grindstone and accept your lot in life, will be living on a pension, if lucky, and wondering what happened to their life.

Is that what you want? Opt out of limiting beliefs. Reality is what you make it.

You can have spiritual fulfillment and abundance in your life side by side with material abundance and success. You can have gratifying and joyful personal relationships in your life. You can have wisdom and self-actualization.

You can have it all.

There is no reason or rule beyond your self-imposed or assumed limiting beliefs that states that you cannot.

Stop acting as if your beliefs, thoughts, visions, words and deeds are meaningless. They paint your destiny on the canvas called your life.

Don't live your life as if it means something; live it as if it means everything.

Everything means the fulfillment of all your ideals. What else are you here for?

It's about time you figured that out, isn't it?

Ten Ideas To Help You Keep Your Resolutions Or Goals

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 541)
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If you have some resolutions for the New Year or if you set some goals for yourself or your business for the next year, here are some ways to keep yourself on track and focused.

1. Less is more. Have 3 or 4 resolutions at the most. Any more than this will make them hard to focus on. If the resolutions you have can be achieved in less than a year, create others once you have accomplished these.

2.Visualize success. Know what accomplishing your resolution(s) will do for you. Day dream about it. How does it look and feel? Reaching your dream only happens if you are motivated enough to stick with it. If you don't keep thinking about how much you want it and how good you will feel once you either accomplish it or make it a habit (or get rid of a habit!), you will lose interest.

3.Write them down. Here is another way to stay focused on your resolutions. There is something more permanent about the written page than just having it in your head. Sometimes just the act of writing it down is enough to keep you on track and focused.

4.Tell someone. Have a friend, a mentor, or a coach hold you accountable. Once you tell someone else it is just downright embarrassing to admit you didn't stick with it. Sometimes we know that is the only way we'll get it done. Some people are motivated completely by the positive aspect of getting it done and others need the fear of the consequences of not accomplishing it. Both can help you.

5.Post them. Put a copy of your resolution(s) where you see it/them frequently. Just seeing the list will continually remind you of what you are trying to do. Where can you put the list so you see it continually? How about the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator door?!

6.Read them. Say them out loud at least once a day. Make a little ritual of this. Do it at the same time every day. This would be a good time to visualize your success too (2). The more you think about your resolutions the more in focus they become.

7.Take action. Ask yourself at the beginning of the day what one action can you take today to keep you making progress on your resolution(s)? Moving forward one step at a time is what you are after.

8.Hire an expert. An expert can help you to overcome blocks, improve the way you are approaching the tasks or just boost your spirits. Depending on your resolution an expert might be a coach, a personal trainer, a nutritionist, or an organizer.

9.Use affirmations. Create a positive statement that you can use when the voice in your head tells you that you are not going to achieve whatever you are striving for. When you become aware that the voice is telling you can't do it, substitute your affirmation.

10.Reward yourself. Give yourself something special when you cross a milestone or survive a particularly difficult period in your journey to achieving your resolution. Celebrate successes along the way and feel good about what you have done.

Tips For Successful Goal Setting

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 776)
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When we first begin working toward a goal, we are filled with passion, fire and excitement. We feel invincible and we just know that we can accomplish whatever we desire. We take off running toward our goal, determined to make it happen, and we know we CAN make it happen.

Then we begin to encounter some obstacles. We may struggle through a few of them, but then we begin making excuses for not working on our goals. Perhaps we lose interest and get overwhelmed with daily activities. Before we know it, our goal has been placed on the "back burner" and we are no longer working toward it. Worse, maybe we no longer believe that we CAN make our dreams a reality. What happened? In my own experience, there are four key ingredients to making your dreams come true.

Why - What is your reason for wanting this particular goal? Let's say your goal is to buy a house. Ask yourself why you want that. Your answer may be something along the lines of, "Because I want to own my own property rather than paying rent for the rest of my life." Okay good. But why? What does it matter if you own your own property or pay rent? Your answer might now be, "Because I want to have the house paid off by the time I retire, so I don't have to worry about paying rent or a mortgage payment on a fixed income." Great! But why? What will that do for you? Keep asking yourself WHY, and writing down your answers until you get to the "meat" of your desire. Once you have a clear desire in mind . . .

Believe You Deserve It - many of us struggle with low self-esteem and at a core level, we don't feel we deserve success and abundance. Guess what? If we don't believe we deserve it, we will resist it when it arrives. We may do this unconsciously by sabotaging our own efforts, or we may outright refuse to even try. We must first understand and then truly believe that we DO deserve success and abundance. In addition, we must be willing to receive it. We're so good at giving to others, but many of us won't accept help or blessings for ourselves. We feel it is better to give than to receive, and in some ways it is. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't receive at all. Be willing to believe that you deserve to be successful and happy. Then be willing to accept that abundance when it arrives. Affirm aloud to the universe each day, "I joyfully accept all of the abundance and happiness the universe has for me, NOW."

Step by Step - If your goal is to buy a house, you likely have alot of smaller goals that must be accomplished first. You will need to build up a savings for the downpayment. You may need to clean up your credit report and pay down existing debt. You will need to see if you qualify for a mortgage loan. Always keep your ultimate goal in mind, but focus on the smaller steps that will get you there first. If I wanted to drive to California, I'd have to pay attention to the route I need to take to get there, not just the destination. Write out a list of the smaller steps that will help you reach your goal, and then begin working on them one at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself by thinking only of that big, shining vision of the completed project.

No Matter What - Decide that you will do this, no matter what. No matter what obstacles come up, no matter if your desire and determination begin to fade. True success comes to those who just won't give up. Make a promise to yourself that you will continue working toward your goals no matter what happens. Write this promise out and put it somewhere you will see it. Read it aloud to yourself every single day.

Keep reminding yourself that nothing will change unless you change it. Fuel your determination with positive thoughts and keep moving forward. If obstacles come up, find a way around them. If there is absolutely no way around a particular obstacle, switch your focus and begin working on another aspect of your goals. Many times obstacles will fade away if given enough time, or sometimes a solution presents itself when we least expect it. Let your determination glow hot and bright, and burn away all doubts and fears. Know that you can do it, and you will.

Postpone Your Procrastination Indefinitely 5 Ways To Conquer This Demon Once And For All

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 824)
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We've all done it at some time or other. We put off our exercise routine until tomorrow; we continually delay finishing that project or starting that business.

Procrastination is the mother of all demons and can literally stop you in your tracks from achieving all that you desire.

Sandra Baptist provides you with 5 effective processes you can use to slay this giant.

1.Do it now

Hold your breath and jump right in! Putting things off until the last minute is a bad habit and like all habits is ingrained in our subconscious mind and hard to break. It feels like the normal thing to do and we simply continue along our path. To complete a task immediately may even feel strange or like a forced action.

When your boss gives you a task or when your clients or customers request your expertise, do it right away!

You not only look well-organized to others, the feeling that the job is done, is complete before the deadline, will be one of relief and gratitude.

How would this efficiency look to your customers when you request a referral or to your boss when salary reviews are approaching? I would think, "Great".

2.Take baby steps

Sometimes we procrastinate because the task may be intimidating to us. Perhaps we have no possible inkling on where to start.

In these cases, it is quite fine to take it one step at a time.

Say you are preparing a business plan and for the 5th time this week, you've turn on the PC and looked at the blank screen. Or you've just remembered you need to do some more research before you begin...you're still not ready.

My friend you ARE ready.

You simply need to break down the project into smaller pieces and tackle each bit separately. Make each task an individual project and after completion of each one, celebrate and acknowledge your achievement.

Soon you'll be finished and have no idea why you were putting it off in the first place!

3.Vision the perfect

Ah! I love this one. I use the Law of Attraction with my clients to have them easily and effortlessly achieve their dreams and desires and in effect, their vision.

Once you are aware that you are in fact procrastinating, creating a vision of you achieving the perfect plan is extremely helpful. When you create a vision you write in the present tense...as if you have already achieved your goal or if you are in the process of completing it.

For example, we go back to the business plan. Your vision may look something like this.

"I am so grateful that I have completed all the research I need for my business plan. I am finding the information easily using the internet. People that have written business plans are offering me advice that allows me to create an exciting plan that I resonate with. As I write, the words come to me effortlessly...."

In creating a vision and focusing on it daily, the universal laws state that things, people, processes will begin to occur in your life that will allow you to attract that vision.

4.Forget it

Why force the issue? If you have been 'dragging your feet' on something for a very long time, it may all be for the best.

Something, somewhere is trying to tell you something. That something is your intuition and it is usually right!

Think about something that you have been putting off again and again and again. What are the reasons that you need to complete this task in the first place? Does someone want you to do this? What is THEIR agenda? What are YOUR reasons for this lengthy delay?

I find it amazing that 99% of the time I put off doing something, I am thankful that I did! Disregarding a project after a long period of procrastination is however usually a last resort.

5.Support team

Do you put off tasks because you feel that there are too big and complex for you to handle alone? Or because you need assistance? Be honest with yourself. "No man is an island".

Ask for help! There are many resources out there that can provide you with all you need to carry out your job.

If you're a solo-professional and you put off answering emails, then don't answer them yourself. Hire an assistant, find some college students that want experience, get a family member to help.

Procrastinating on life changing activities could be as a result of fear of the unknown. Get a mastermind group together, find a mentor, join a support group.

You don't have to do it all by yourself. Just ensure that to kick this habit; you do what feels good to you in whatever method you choose. You'll surely postpone procrastination for a very long time.

What Are Your Goals For The Next 30 Days

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 828)
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Being a small business owner often means wearing a number of different hats. How many of you act as the CEO, the general manager, the accountant, the salesperson, the computer technician, the secretary, the receptionist, etc...? Sound familiar?

Many entrepreneurs try to chase too many targets at once and end up overwhelmed rather than focusing on their business. They spend all their energy carrying out daily tasks leaving little time for the most important part of their business - their own business!

To avoid this, spend some time focusing on your business and decide which strategies will be most helpful in developing your own marketing plan. In order to grow and succeed in your business, you first need to have a crystal clear idea of what you want to do and where you want to go. In other words, have you defined your objectives? And more importantly, have you put them in writing?

This was actually a new concept for me. In the French culture we are not used to doing this and when I tried to teach it to some of my French clients, they just thought I was nuts! But I understand why because it took me a while before I decided to give it a try. My thoughts were that I had always managed to get what I wanted without the need to write my objectives down. But since so many people here were already applying this concept to their business, I decided not to be stubborn and give it a go too.

Wow! Since I have been using this concept everything has moved so much faster!

Writing my objectives on a weekly basis and being very specific in each area of my business has given me the opportunity to create strategic alliances with other entrepreneurs, triple my database, double my revenue last year and write a book. I am now also working on numbers of new projects with people who I could never have expected to meet or work with just a couple of years ago.

Now my big dreams are a reality!

I love the way people do business in the US. I don't know if you realize it but you are very lucky. You have all the tools to succeed, but do you use them?

When you write your objectives on a weekly or monthly basis it makes you actually work on them and act faster. If you are not specific and just say, "I will have money, or I will have more clients," then yes, these things will come, but the question is 'when'? You don't have any deadline to accomplish them by! But if you decide that by May 30th you will have 6 new clients, you will then do something in order to get those clients instead of praying or waiting to see if this will happen.

In my last networking event, I asked my members, "What are your goals for the next 30 days?" Some answered without hesitation while others had to think about it. And somebody told me, "Thanks Biba for reminding me that I need to work on my goals, I had actually forgotten about it".

I found that the best way of incorporating time for your objectives and marketing plan into your schedule is to set up an appointment with yourself. And whatever happens, even if there is a client emergency, never cancel this appointment with yourself.

Make a decision that once a month or once a week you will spend an hour or two working on your business, focusing on: strategies to get more clients, new products or services to offer, special campaigns to make more sales and writing articles to post on your newsletter, newspapers or ezine directories to promote your business. The more links you get, the more traffic you will receive on your website (by the way, do you have a website? If not this should be one of your objectives for the next 30 days). Do you have a newsletter? This is the easiest and cheapest way to communicate on a regular basis with your clients and prospects, in order to promote and grow your business. This can be another objective for the next 30 days.

Take the time to plan strategies that will help to grow your business. Consider yourself as your most important client. Do for yourself what you do for your clients. Your business needs all your attention, all your energy and all your dedication. Your future and your success depend on it.

If you need help with organizing your ideas or working on your marketing plan, join my boot-camp starting on May 3rd. And just as I have done for my previous clients, I will help you too save a great deal of time and money.

If you are ready to boost your business and to take action, check the program NOW, at: -http://www.startyourdreambusinesstoday.com/bootcamp.html

Getting To The Top By Fits And Starts

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 1200)
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I would venture to believe that most people have the qualities to make them a success. Then why are not more of them successful? One observation is; by not following through on actions that they started with. They have victory in sight and then do you want to know what they do?

Settle For Mediocrity!

Have you ever known someone who was full of immediate action with no ultimate purpose? Their body is moving, their hands are busy, but their destination is unclear! Even when their actions apparently seem right, they show they're not fully aware of where they're going.

Since they're not really sure of where they're going, they settle for something less than what they started after. Here's an example: You decide you need to get some area of your life under control. Maybe you decide you need to stop worrying. And, that's a good thing. That's a very worthy goal to pursue.

So, you begin to read good motivational books, you listen to good motivational tapes and you're busy as you can be to get this worry bug under your foot. But, all the time you're doing this, there is a nagging thought in your head that says; "what if it doesn't work this time?"

A Rotten Apple Will Spoil The Barrel!

In affect, what you're doing is; tearing down worry on one side and building up fear on the other. If someone says to you, how are you coming along with eliminating worry? You say, "Yes, it's going great!" And then you say, but, you know I heard they are going to be laying off a lot of people at the plant and I'm afraid I may lose my job.

What have you done? You showed "worry" the door, and invited fear in to play footsy with you. And, believe it; fear will cause just as much havoc as worry. They both come from the bottomless pit, and have no business in our thoughts.

Listen, even if they are going to lay off a bunch of people at your plant, you can't do a thing about it by fearing it or worrying about it. If it happens, deal with it then; NOT NOW!!

And, don't tell yourself you can't stop worrying because it is too serious of a matter and could devastate your livelihood. !

For Crying Out Loud!

If you believe that then you're saying that nothing bad has ever happened to you without you first giving it a real good dose of worry before it happened.

I tell you right now; many lousy troubles have happened to me, right out of the blue, and I never spent ten seconds worrying about them beforehand. I didn't even know about them. The point is: if troubles are going to happen anyway, we need to know how to deal with them. And, worry and fear is not the way to do it.

Every Dog Has Its Day!

You have never fixed anything in your life by worrying about it. If it got better, it's not because you worried about it; it's more than likely because you didn't settle for mediocrity and insisted on full victory. And, sometimes good things just happen. Hallelujah!

Now you can understand why some people's actions seem directionless at times. They put all their efforts towards eliminating one obstacle while setting up another. They're like the proverbial "unstoppable object hitting the immovable object." And, then on the way to success, they stop somewhere short and settle for whatever is there at the time.

Most of the time, you can be relatively sure, it was some emotion that stopped them short. It was an emotion that started them and it will be an emotion that stops them. Emotions are a funny thing: They can fuel us with enough fire to leap tall buildings, and at the same time, make us feel like it won't happen until pigs fly.

A Fine Kettle Of Fish!

What a revolting development. What do we believe? What do we do? No wonder some people seem directionless in their pursuit of their goals. No wonder some people just settle for mediocrity in mid stream just to satisfy those conflicting emotions and shut them up. And, it's a pretty good way to boast success since we didn't follow through to see what would ultimately happen.

I'm thinking of too many times in my life as a young man that I stopped in mid stream to take what ever was there and stop the feelings that kept saying; "if you keep going you might not get it; better take what you got now." You know that ole saying, "a bird in the hand?"

I didn't want to hear that bird in the hand crap. My head said that to me so many times I was beginning to feel as lucky as the only man in a women's prison with a fist full of pardons. Talk about directionless; and settling for mediocrity.

Ah! That's Where The Rub Is!

The problem is: someone can get into a habit of "settling", and then that's the real source of the directionless and out of control life. As long as we live in this world, we will have opportunities to "settle" for something of mediocrity.

The more we "settle" the more of a habit it becomes and the more we sub-consciously start expecting a "settling point." We don't think about it and we certainly don't start out with the intention of finding a place to settle. But, when it shows up, and the "bird in the hand" voices start their song and tap dance on our forehead, we say, I know when to hold em, and I know when to fold em, and its time to fold em.

The point is: it's not a bad thing to fold em if you can walk away ahead in the game. But, if it becomes an ingrained habit then the folding point will start showing up earlier and earlier till you find yourself folding right after the start.

Get To The Bottom Of It!

How do you know when to fold? This is not rocket science. It's pretty simple really. Ask yourself a couple of key questions. Can I walk away ahead? Has this thing given me something of value? And most important; has something else presented itself in my life that I can replace this with?

For me, if any one of these three questions are "no", then I'm not ready to fold em; especially the last one.

Would you like to know why we settle for something less? This is not really difficult to understand but it might be hard to accept. So pay attention, and at least give this some serious thought. Don't let the simplicity of it get away from you. The reason is, we don't know "how" to fix it.

If we knew how, we would keep going. If we knew what to do, there would be no need to settle. If we knew what was going to happen in every circumstance, we would not worry! We would never worry. Think about it. The lack of knowledge.

Giving Up Too Soon

(category: Goal-Setting, Word count: 1100)
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So you feel beaten up and bruised and you're ready to quit. You have no support system or the one you have is pathetically inadequate for the goals you've set. You're so tired that the couch is looking more and more inviting everyday. You have bills piling up and you probably ought to get a real job anyway. The failure rate is statistically high and nobody is going to fault you if you quit. Who really cares if you give up and quit now? You do.

Let's look at each piece one at a time. You're beaten up and exhausted. Congratulations! That means you've been working harder then you've probably ever worked in your life. You wouldn't be able to accomplish anything of real importance if you weren't willing to bust your rump plowing through everything on your to-do list. You may need some lessons in balance and patience, but not in how to apply good old fashioned elbow grease. If you can schedule a short break to replenish your strength, then do so, but don't give up and quit all together. If there's no way you can stop now because you have too many important deadlines then bust through the deadlines. Can you speed it up and finish things early so that you could squeeze in a break? After a full night sleep, do you think that you'd still want to quit or would you be ready to dive back in? The fact that you're working so hard isn't the problem, it's that you aren't getting adequate rest and relaxation. Find a way to create balance.

You have nobody that will pitch in to help you or else the help you have isn't all that helpful. Kind of reminds me of when my two year old tries to help with the laundry. He picks the dirty laundry up off of the floor and stuffs it into the dryer along with the stuff that just finished drying. Well meaning, but not as helpful as he thinks he is. I wish I could give you magic solutions as to how to find helpful people when you're working on your goals and dreams but the truth is, most people are too busy with their own lives to be able to offer much assistance anyway. Unless you can afford to hire people to help you or you promise to help them on something they're needing help with, you probably aren't going to find a whole lot of help. Also there's the learning curve and how much time it takes to teach someone how to do what it is you need help with. It's a rare and beautiful thing when the perfect person comes along with nothing better to do then to roll up their sleeves and help. It's a tough reality, but basically, it's your goal, your dream, and your job to make it happen.

If the project you are working on means anything to you, then you won't really enjoy the couch potato solution as much as you might think. Funny thing about the really big powerful dreams, they haunt us. Every time you turn around there it is following you around reminding you that you haven't finished it yet. It will keep showing up in everything you do and especially in the things that you don't do. If it really matters, if it's your calling, if it's your life's work, then it isn't going to let you become a couch potato. Laying around not doing your dream will be more exhausting and depressing then when you were working your buns off trying to make it come true. Take a quick break if you need to, but don't get too comfy sitting there and don't even think that you aren't going to get back up again. The longer you sit there, the further behind schedule you'll be and the more you'll have to do to catch up with where you were when you quit. You know how it is when you take a week off for vacation. You have to work two or three weeks to catch up with everything that fell behind. You have got to take your mental health breaks, but don't make it a permanent vacation.

What if you have financial problems or family obligations that are seriously nagging at you? That's such a difficult position to be in. Only you can determine what's in your long term best interest. Again, a support system would be nice, but if they aren't there to help, then you have to create balance. If you give up on your dreams to take care of and support everyone else, you may feel like you're doing the right thing in the moment, but was your life better off for it? If you disregard everything in order to stay focused on your dream, will it cost you the companionship of your loved ones down the road? Who will be there to celebrate with you when you finally do succeed? Not too easy to find a wealthy philanthropist to support your efforts to live out your dreams without earning a living. You have to make those really tough choices. Somehow you have to create balance between your dreams, your ability to keep a roof over your head, and your ability to keep loved ones near and dear.

It's easy to quit where so many others have already gone and failed before you. Survival of the fittest dictates that not everyone is ideally designed to accomplish all goals. Not everyone is supposed to be an entrepreneur. Not everyone is meant to be a musician. Not everyone is meant to be president. The truth is, if you've picked a goal that is suited to your own natural talents and gifts and if it's infused with your own passion and fire, then chances are that you are one of the lucky few who is meant to live that dream. Just because everyone else failed doesn't mean that you are meant to fail too. Statistics don't mean anything unless you decide to become one.

You are either going to quit or you're going to find inspiration and keep going. You can quit if you want, but you already know if quitting will feel worse then trudging through a little while longer. Somewhere you know deep down if you're meant to succeed or not. What if you were meant to succeed and role model tenacity to those around you? What if that's somehow the divine cosmic plan all along? God loves an underdog! Don't quit just yet.

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