Make This Your Best Year Ever!

It is almost habitual for most of us to set New Year's resolutions in January only for the momentum to fall away by the end of the month. That's why some are cynical about the whole process of setting resolutions, which I can understand. However, if you set goals in the right way and develop the right mindset then you may find that you will be able to achieve amazing things in life! Here are some key steps to setting goals and achieving your ideal life.

1. Be True to Yourself. Think about the person that you are - the people, places, habits and things that are important to you. These are your foundations and your life, habits, decisions should be built around that - the person that you are.

2. Reflect and take stock of all areas of your life. Identify where you are not in alignment with the person that you are? Consider what you would need to do to resolve this.

3. Set your vision for the future. What does that look like for you? Go into as much detail as you can here. For example, if you want to move house where do you want to go? What will your house look like? What kind of area will you be in? How many rooms will the house have? etc. Do this for all areas of your life and get absolutely clear on what you want.

4. Ask yourself why your vision is important to you? If you ask yourself 'why is this important?' 5 times your answers will indicate how strong a sense of purpose you have. The stronger that 'why', the more likely it will be that you will take action and work to stay on track when things get more challenging.

5. Don't lose sight of the present. This might sound strange given I've just asked you to set your vision for the future, but don't obsess to the point of worry about the past or the future. Enjoy each present moment as it comes. Find gratitude every day for the positive things in your life as it is. This moment is really all that matters, when it comes down to it. All the while you can be working towards progressing your life.

6. Create your own success map. You don't create the life you truly want by sitting back waiting for it to happen. it is, therefore, important that you believe you can achieve it and want to take action. Start with your end goals in mind and map out the big milestones to get there, then break those milestones down into very basic actions. Focus on the first action, schedule time to complete it and get going. Momentum builds belief and confidence and reduces overwhelm.

7. Forgive yourself and others. Sometimes feelings of guilt or resentment can really hold us back. This can be either towards yourself or others. A common example being you telling yourself that you've failed before so will fail again. This is simply a limiting belief that you tell yourself, in fact, convince yourself of. The reality is that in many instances, failure is a great way to learn and grow. Forgive yourself, support yourself the way you would support others, learn from previous experiences and set out steps that will get you to where you want to be. None of us will live our lives without making any mistakes.

8. Create positive habits. This takes time, some say it ranges between 30-66 days to create and embed a new habit. What positive habits could you create that will help you to get closer to your goal? Do it every day, stay with it, keep scheduling and completing the habit and after 30 days it'll start to get easier and will eventually become a habit. You can then consider other positive habits that would help you to make progress.

9. Start to create momentum... now! Make sure your big goal, your milestones and small steps are all visible. It is important that you have sight of them every day in order to keep your mind focused. Do what you can every day to move you closer and closer to that life that you want.

10. Celebrate success! Acknowledge and reward the progress you make from the first small step you take, to achieving each milestone and then ultimately achieving the big goal or dream you've been working towards.

Take the time to work through each of these steps and with commitment and self-discipline, you will develop the mindset required to set goals, stay on track and achieve great things. If you feel like you would benefit from the support of a coach I'd be delighted to hear from you.

You CAN do it!

http://ezinearticles.com/?Make-This-Your-Best-Year-Ever!&id=8890175

Its Your Choice

How To Motivate Yourself To Reach Your Goals

Having to do something you don't want to do isn't hard to imagine. We run into it almost every day.

It usually involves change, time, attitude and choice, but not necessarily in that order. There are some things we are faced with that bring out the two-year-old in us as we tantrum and say "no" both verbally and behaviourally. The doctor says we can't eat sweets, so we buy a big bag of Snickers. The workplace says we can't smoke, so we hatch all sorts of devious plans to do it anyway. We need to lose weight, so we skip anything that looks healthy or involves movement. It's all a big fat NO!

None of this changes the fact we need to do something different, new, better, life-saving and helpful for ourselves.

So, as an exercise, choose something you need to do. Now, let's ease into how to do it. There's no need to go whole hog and overwhelm yourself with dramatic and over-ambitious ideas right off the bat. It works best to look at other times you've made a successful change. Recall how you did it and remember the reward that came with your effort. Once you remember something you've done, you know that you truly can make wise decisions and you can continue to make them. Chances are, if something has come to mind, you did something to make it happen. The good news is that you can do it again, even better, quicker, easier.

I recommend writing your answers to these few questions:

Did you plan for success or did it "just happen?"

What inspires you to make change? Or Who?

How can you keep your focus on achieving or doing something to bring about change?

What's a reasonable time for this to happen? For example, don't plan to write a book in a weekend, no matter what those programs advertise.

If you had to defer one part of your plan this week, how would you make sure you pick back up and stay on course next week?

Do you prefer working days at a time? An hour at a time? What time of day is better for you to devote to achieving your goal?

If you were to evaluate yourself, can you see any patterns you choose that either determine your success or determine your failure?

Your goals are unique to you and the way you choose to succeed at succeeding or succeed at failing are unique to you. These questions will help you look deeply into your patterns of behavior and pick the parts that are more likely to work for your success. You can determine what different choices you can apply this time, based on what you know about yourself, to enjoy the process and achieve a good outcome.

Tips:

Create a plan for yourself. Write a daily plan that includes action steps. At the end of the week, you can see all the positive steps you've taken. If they are small steps, they are still positive. Don't discount them. Look at your week. Were there days you reverted or wanted to revert back to "the way I've always done it?"

If there were times you felt yourself slipping back into old habits or resisting change, make a list of things you can do if this happens again.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Motivate-Yourself-To-Reach-Your-Goals&id=8937032

It's Not Over Till You Win

The Beginner's Guide to Goal Setting

The practice of goal setting is essential to long-term success. The main reason is that it is a prior condition for happiness and success. As psychologists say, those who try to define clearly their goals will live happier as they will make consistent progress to reach them. Acknowledge that writing goals enhances power and performance. This help you concentrate your resources efficiently and keep you motivated when you feel like giving up. If you've never written goals, it is time to work on them.

1. Make a rough draft of your goals. Start asking yourself questions about what you want for your life. Your answers can be general statements, but could help focus on the things that really matter to you. It is necessary to identify the things you value so as to make decision and keep you concentrated on your end goals.

2. Itemize your goals. Make them more specific. Think about things you want to achieve in each area of your life, whether it is your career, finances, family, social relationship or personal development goals. Consider what you want to develop or change with time. Ask yourself questions about the way you'd like to achieve goals and to approach them within 1, 5, 10 year timeframe.

3. Create goals using the S.M.A.R.T method. This acronym is a system used by educators to identify, set and achieve goals. This means your goals must meet five criteria: they must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely. Then think to get them solidified by affirming your commitment to completing the goals with positive statements. These statements will be seen as the roadmap for setting goals for today, tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.

4. Once you set your goals, achieve them, starting with the small ones. Get into the habit of setting goals and achieving goals. And each time you reach a goal, allow yourself to celebrate your achievement accordingly. You will pill up successes! By the way, take time to assess each goal process to be more successful.

5. Keep track of the progress made towards your personal and professional goals. This is the key to keep you motivated and to make sure you hit your target dates. Get into the habit of encouraging yourself so that you reach your personal development goal easily.

6. Last but not least, review your written goals as frequently as possible: daily, weekly, monthly... Knowing each step you have to make to move towards your goals is the only way to turn them into reality.

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Beginners-Guide-to-Goal-Setting&id=8917157

Be Motivated