Successful Goal Planning

My partner Anneli and I have really got into our goal planning in the last few months.

Three nights a week, after putting the little munchkin (our daughter) to bed, we get a pen and an exercise book out, sit down and really getting into the nitty gritty details of each and every goal that we have set for 2008 and beyond.

We have gone well beyond just writing up each overall goal and looking at it every day.

Now we have broken each goal down into mini goals; each one being a step towards how we are actually going to achieve this overall goal, and then making an action plan, setting a timetable, and finally, making the step that many people fall short of............doing it, making it happen.

And what a phenomenal feeling it is to see the goal coming closer to you, when you achieve each step and start seeing results.

Here is a recent article that I have written which describes in more detail how to set and achieve goals.

I would love to hear your comments.

Successful Goal Planning

You hear a lot about Goals and Planning these days – but is it just a waste of time, or does it really work? Won’t just making a quick list of things to do be just as effective, and much quicker? Please consider these ideas.

There are several steps we can take to increase success, whether personal or business, individual or group. One of the major components of successful outcomes is goal planning. High achievers in business and in life know that goal planning is a cornerstone to success. Learning how to plan goals, and then implementing your plan equals goal-planning success. And goal-planning success leads to overall success.

What are goals?

The best way to define the word “goal” is to say that a goal is a marked point in a process that indicates progress. Think of goals as the path markers on a trail. Every time you pass one, you know you’ve made further progress towards reaching a predetermined end or the final goal.

Why should I set goals?

You should set goals because of what they are – a way to see if you are progressing towards an objective or final result. So goal planning leads to success by creating a sort of map for you to follow.

How do I choose the right goals for goal planning success?

Well, that depends on the outcome you are hoping to achieve, but here are some guidelines:

First, determine exactly what it is that you want to achieve. Is it a fit body? A successful business? A happy family?

Next, define what that means. What exactly do you consider to be a fit body, a successful business or a happy family? Your definition will not be the same as your neighbor’s. Please don’t let anyone else define that for you.

Third, map it out. Ask yourself, “What are the ingredients that I need to fulfill this outcome”? And “In what steps should the ingredients be added”? If your final goal is a fit body, the ingredients will be different types of exercise, healthy foods and drinks, maybe even spa treatments and massage. In what way do you need to put these together to equal a fit body? This is where you can see your goals start to take shape.

• Goal one might be to check out the gyms in your area and join one.
• Goal two would be to actually go to the gym a certain number of times per week to workout.
• Goal three might be to hire a dietician to help you with your food choices.
• Goal four would be to take that dietician’s advice to heart and begin to follow an eating plan.
• Goal five might be to do research on body treatments that help the look of your body or help detoxify your body.

As you follow these goals you will start to notice changes in your body that are leading to your final outcome of fitness. Now, this example is a bit watered down, but you get the idea.

When you begin to understand how to use goals, you will experience goal-planning success in every part of your life. Your life will become much easier and you will experience fewer disappointments as a result. If you have work projects to finish and you are feeling overwhelmed, it will help to use goal planning as a tool for better organization and more success. If you need to accomplish certain tasks each day, goal planning will help with that. If you have personal goals such as finding a wonderful partner or returning to college to finish your degree, you can use goal planning for those things too.

Goal planning success means a more happy and successful life. If you are unsure, use goal planning for a small project and see how well it works for you. Then begin to use it to accomplish larger successes. Before you know it goal planning will become second nature and you’ll enjoy a more successful life.

My verdict – stop wasting time just wasting time! Set a Goal and plan the steps to fulfillment, and get to work on achieving those steps.

For more great information and tools to use about setting goals, try this website: Goal setting

A ‘Secret’ message to a friend.

After a wonderful break over the Christmas, New Year period I am back on board and ready to start the new wonderful year ahead.

What better way than to start with a new video that we have just made.

Inspired by The Secret movie, my partner Anneli has designed some beautiful e-cards that you can use to send a message to your friends. Pass on your love, friendship, happiness or say thank you to a friend or loved one. Show them that you are inspired or motivated by them, or let them know that they really can achieve their dreams by following their heart.

These e-cards are free to use, please enjoy them.

Check out the video below and then go to Free Secret e-cards.

Make someone smile today.

Here's to an awesome 2008.

Richie.

A ‘Secret’ message to a friend.

The Secret Sequel – Will it Compare?

UPDATE: For the latest update on The Official Secret Sequel ‘The Secret Daily Teachings’ go to www.the-secret-dvd.net or the most recent blog post Newsflash: Official Secret Sequel ‘The Secret Daily Teachings’ release due December.

What’s Missing in The Secret?

The ‘secret’ law of attraction was introduced to many people for the first time in the phenomenal hit movie "The Secret". However, The Secret DVD does not go far enough to explain how the Law of Attraction really works. Let’s hope the upcoming sequel to The Secret continues with what’s missing in the original movie.

When the Secret DVD first came out, and when people heard about it on Oprah, there was a mad rush around the world to get a copy of it and to find out for themselves. I loved it. My eyes were opened. I still count it as one of my favorite movies.

Lots of people got really excited about it.

“At last”, they cried, “NOW I understand. All I have to do is focus my thoughts on what I want, and change the language in my head. I can manifest ANYTHING I think about. As long as I think about it hard enough and long enough”.

“I want to get results – and fast. I don’t want to wait for months or years for my dreams. I am going to practice LOTS of visualizing and positive self talk. I’ll get my Dream Life – NOW”

They eagerly watched The Secret over and over in anticipation that this would bring them their goals. They thought about their Dream all day long. They made Vision Boards and Lists of Goals. They kept a Gratitude Journal.

Now these are all extremely useful tools. Use them.

But does only this really work? Can you manifest just like this? Really?

This is where The Secret falls short. When you watch it you get the expectation that you can manifest your dream out of nowhere. That belief and faith will automatically bring you what you want. Well – yes and – no!

You MUST take action.

Mike Dooley says: “Thoughts Become Things”

A friend of mine Gideon Shalwick’s has a great quote that he uses: “Thoughts are only potential things. They become things only through specifically directed action.”

The Secret DVD only briefly mentions taking action. But it needs to be really spelt out.

Focus on your goal. Visualize it with feeling and excitement. Repeat it in your head or out loud. But here is the important missing bit ….. every time you get a little idea just popping into your head about ways to get closer to what you want, you MUST act upon it. (Bob Doyle says: “You might get some inspired idea of some action to take”.) That little idea is The Universe responding to you reaching out saying – “This is what I want”.

Thinking constantly about what you want IS important; you must focus on what you want. (John Assaraf says: “You become what you think about most but you also attract what you think about most”).

But unless you DO something you are just a dreamer. You are just building castles in the air.

“The Science of Getting Rich” was the little book which inspired The Secret DVD. In this book, Wallace D Wattles wrote:

“… man must not only think, but his personal action must supplement his thought. By thought you can cause the gold in the hearts of the mountains to be impelled toward you; but it will not mine itself, refine itself, coin itself into double eagles, and come rolling along the roads seeking its way into your pocket.

Your pocketbook is not going to be transformed into Fortune's purse, which shall be always full of money without effort on your part.

This is the crucial point in The Science of Getting Rich; right here, where thought and personal action must be combined. There are very many people who, consciously or unconsciously, set the creative forces in action by the strength and persistence of their desires, but who remain poor because they do not provide for the reception of the thing they want when it comes.

BY THOUGHT, THE THING YOU WANT IS BROUGHT TO YOU; BY ACTION YOU RECEIVE IT. “

And you must act NOW. Do not wait until you are in the perfect situation, the perfect job, the perfect relationship. NOW is the only time you have.

I love this saying that Sherry in the Organic Fruit and Veggie Shop told me the other day:

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

The Past is History

The Future is a Mystery

The Present is your Gift – do it NOW

Put your whole mind and strength and act to the very best of your ability in the situation in which you presently find yourself. Do your absolute best in your current job today to provide service for your customers, your employer and your work colleagues. Be the best you can in all your relationships with every person you meet. Look after your health today as if your body was a sacred temple (it is).

Make every day a successful one. A successful day is one when you have done your very best, when you have been as efficient as possible. You know if you have dallied around and wasted time and energy - having days like that actually take energy from you, disconnect you from The Universe. They don’t feel good – YOU don’t feel good.

Make very day a winner.

Now this doesn’t mean that you should work yourself to the bone, working late with long hours and running around after the whims of other people. That is not successful.

If your days are ALL successful, you are moving in the right direction. Keep holding a clear image in your head of what you want, while being deeply grateful and The Universe will respond to you and bring you closer and closer to your dreams.

So - Does The Secret Really Work?

Well – yes and – no! It has made us aware that we can consciously use our brains to focus our thinking and putting our intention towards where we want to go. And as you change on the inside, you expose yourself to larger possibilities – BUT, when those possibilities come along, then this is the time to ACT.

Have a fabulously successful day.

UPDATE: For the latest update on The Official Secret Sequel ‘The Secret Daily Teachings’ go to www.the-secret-dvd.net or the most recent blog post Newsflash: Official Secret Sequel ‘The Secret Daily Teachings’ release due December.

Vision Poster & Guidebook (Yours to keep)

“I have a dream”…”Well, pin it up on the wall then!”

Turn My Dream into Reality Vision Poster & Guidebook.

Free for you to download and use.

You may have read one of my previous posts about setting goals.

Here is a terrific ‘goal focus’ tool that I have used effectively, which has helped me to stay centered and focused on what I really want to achieve.

The Law of Attraction states that what you focus on, you will get, but you must have a very clear picture in your mind of what exactly you want.

Having a beautiful poster on the wall in front of you every day with your goal and how to achieve it is a great way to help you focus on your goals.

I have done 3 vision posters, one each for my 3 biggest goals which I have pinned to my bedroom wall. I look at them every morning when I wake up, and every night just before going to bed.

The Vision Poster has been designed by my partner Anneli, who is also the webmaster/graphic designer for our website www.the-secret-dvd.net

It is a high-resolution poster that you can print out in any size up to A2, and pin up in a prominent place in your bedroom, office, on the back of the toilet door – anywhere really.

The Poster also comes with a guidebook to help you with setting up your own vision poster.

It is free to use and send to your friends.

Click here for Vision Poster

Click here for Vision Guidebook

I will be posting a number of other free tools over the coming months so please stay tuned.

Each self help tool that I post will of course will not be enough by itself to change your entire future, but it will be one more piece in an overall system of powerful tools and strategies that will help you improve your life and work towards your dreams.

Meditation Explained

For those who have never tried it, they may think it is some sort of new age mumbo jumbo, or consider it to be prayer or worship, but this is far from the truth.
Meditation is now proven to be more than just a ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling, it actually works.
In fact, most of us meditate regularly during our lives, but don’t even know that we are doing it.

Why Meditate?

Scientists and doctors study meditation and recommend it. Meditation is now proven to be more than just a ‘warm and fuzzy’ feeling. It works. So there are many reasons why people begin to meditate. Some learn meditation to become more relaxed, for improvement in health, to reduce stress, for clearer thinking, to become more creative, to sleep better and to improve mental strength. There are physical, emotional and spiritual Benefits of Meditation. It’s safe, it’s simple and it’s free.

People who are not familiar with meditation may consider it to be prayer or worship, but this is far from the truth. Meditation can be described as concentrated awareness – so as you overcome distractions and focus your mind on something you are becoming aware; you are meditating when you maintain a continued state of awareness. There are a wide range of disciplines taught for bringing your attention on to some object or thought or awareness. In fact what happens in the process is that meditation moves your brainwaves into an alpha state. This is a relaxed state with a level of consciousness where you are still aware. In the alpha state learning and healing are promoted.

Brainwaves

In the alpha state your brainwaves run between 8 – 12 cycles per second or hertz, compared with your normal waking state beta – of 13 – 25 hertz. Deeper states of relaxation move through theta, delta to the deepest delta, which is a highly creative state of relaxation.

In fact you are meditating when you focus on birds singing – to the exclusion of all other thoughts, or staring into the fire, just focusing on that, or concentrating on your breath coming in and out, thinking of nothing else.

Traditionally Eastern cultures have practised meditation for centuries as part of their spiritual teachings, and until recently, say the last 30 or 40 years , Westerners viewed meditation with a bit of suspicion. Now, the benefits are so well documented and experienced by so many that it has become common practice for many doctors and health practitioners to recommend meditation as part of their healing plan.

There are two basic techniques of meditating and the different practices fall in to either of these two categories, with some variations possible. In mindfulness meditation the meditator sits in a comfortable position and focuses his attention and awareness on an object or activity – such as a candle, breathing, a visualisation or a mantra, keeping an open focus and awareness of the present moment as he does so. This method allows for free flowing and observing of his thoughts while using the focus as an ‘anchor’ he constantly brings his mind back to the focus, when he starts to wander off in to different thoughts.

With concentration meditation which is used by most spiritual and religious traditions, the meditator keeps his attention on a particular object like repetition of a prayer or a mantra to minimize distractions, and continually brings his mind back to the chosen object. Lawrence LeShan defined meditation in ‘How to Meditate’ as “doing one thing at a time with your whole being”.

In some traditions both mindful and concentration meditation are combined.

It is possible to practice meditation even while walking or doing simple repetitive tasks. It is in moments when your mind is clear that you get that ‘realisation’, ‘inspiration’ or ‘BFO’ (blinding flash of the obvious). “AHA” you say, as something miraculously pops in to your head.

Learn How to Meditate

You can attend sessions somewhere in your city, usually free, to learn how to meditate. There are many books and tapes to help you, most of them excellent aids. It is easy and simple to learn. There are many tools to help you move into a meditative state. The one I absolutely love is the Holosync audio tapes from Centrepointe (I don’t lightly recommend products, but this advanced Neuro technology is light years ahead of anything else I have tried and read about. I use it daily).

When you practice meditation regularly you begin to liberate the energy in your mind and the quality of your consciousness will expand. You will become more relaxed and happy, experiencing a sense of control of your life. You tend to approach life in a much more peaceful manner, not stressing in ways you might have done previously. This is not just a generalised statement, but is now being proven by empirical research.

I maintain wholeheartedly that meditation is truly beneficial. Do try it.

How to beat Procrastination

"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. "

~Robert Benchley

Does this sound like you?

Here is an article written by my mother Winsome (who also writes for our Secret Website) who has, in the past been a famous procrastinator in my circle of family and friends. They are very simple suggestions about how to deal with procrastination, but are very effective.

Sit down at the start of the day and set your priorities...........Read on.

Procrastination 101 - Don’t do it Now – Put it on Your List

Do you have a “To Do” list?

Do you constantly have trouble completing your “To Do” list?

Here are some of the BEST hints I’ve ever heard about how to tackle something that seems to be innate in most humans – Procrastination!

If you are really well organised, get things done in a timely manner, and do NOT have a huge undoable list called:
“LIST OF THINGS TO DO”,
then don’t waste your time reading this

Procrastination………I am really well qualified to write on this topic, because I have been known to not only have a list of things to do, but in that same list I have even written – ‘read this list’.

I mean to say …….

I am happy to report that I am getting over this ‘List Addiction’
If this strikes a cord with you, then I have discovered the best hint ever. I am not kidding; this has really helped me….

Procrastinate no longer.

We are nearly all aware these days of the importance of goal setting.
You may have read about the recent Harvard study of a class of young men, a generation ago now. Some of whom wrote very clear goals, and some of them didn’t. I don’t think I need to spell out the outcome 40 years later….

So you probably have goals, I hope you do; and have even written them down. We know that goal setting and being very focused about our dream is crucial.
But while you are busy, busy with a list of ‘Things To Do’, a list often of trivial things, you are not really focusing at all.

So what is the BEST hint for Procrastinators?
This is it. From today’s list of things to do – PRIORITISE, look at those tasks and put them in order of importance.
Start with Number 1 and do it until it is done. Then and only then can you allow yourself to move on to Number 2.

Prioritise – what does that really mean?
It means put at the top of the list the MOST IMPORTANT things that will lead you towards your goal.
And all those silly little tasks you put on your list that are easy to do, and that don’t move you directly towards our goal – down to the bottom of the list they go.
It means things like – don’t go checking your emails every 5 minutes to see if something new has arrived, no nipping out for a coffee every so often, instead of doing another task.

It also means doing the important things and NOT the ‘urgent things’. It means not jumping to fill in a survey that was sent to you, or fixing up something for the person who shouts the loudest. It means not putting off something that seems a bit uncomfortable – just get on with it.

Once you start, then you will see what the next step will be.

Bonus Hint Number 2

"To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing." ~Eva Young

If there is a 2 minute job (or less) that pops up – do it NOW.
That’s it, that’s all. Don’t put it on the list to look at over and over again. Just get it out of the way now – and out of your head so that it doesn’t take up valuable space.

Now you will have some time to really work on getting clear about your goals.

"Procrastination is something best put off until tomorrow." ~Gerald Vaughan

This quote is a little rude so I have put it at the bottom of this blog. It made me laugh though:

"Procrastination is like masturbation. At first it feels good, but in the end you're only screwing yourself." ~Author Unknown

Hit the ground running

Well, I'm back from 2 weeks of surfing, relaxing and spending time with my family. It has taken a little longer to get back into my blog than I first envisaged. To go from spending life at a snails pace, to touching down at my local airport and hitting the ground running, is a hard thing to adjust to.

I have now caught up and am back into it, refreshed and invigorated with a new goal and vision in my head to do a lot more 'snails pace' living in the future.
To make my goal a concrete goal, I have made a specific promise to myself that next year I will have no less than 2 months of this on June 1st 2008. Perhaps someone else can write for me during that time.

I will let you know how it goes.