Creating A Better Self Portrait

Positive Affirmations For Inspirational Success

Motivational Success Throught Positive Affirmations

Understanding The Deeper Benefits of Achieving Your Goals

There are many benefits of achieving our goals. It is not just the final goal that is important. Some wise men say that the journey is more important than the destination. Could this be true in terms of our goals and objectives in life? Absolutely!

Part of our goal setting plan can be to identify the benefits of our goals. Why are we trying so hard to achieve this goal? More times than not, it’s because we want something about us to change as a result of achieving the goal.

One benefit to finishing your goal is patience. Very few goals can be completely accomplished in twenty-four hours or less. We have to face the fact that it will take a while to reach our goal. If we embrace this thought, the entire process from start to finish won’t seem as daunting. In the end, we have learned just how true it is when people tell us “good things come to those who wait.”

Networking is another advantage to attaining our goals. As we strive to achieve goals we encounter like minded people along the way. These people have been in our shoes before and have precious information to share. This type of relationship doesn’t end when the goal is achieved. Valuable contacts continue to find us and even work with us to achieve bigger goals for both parties.

Some of our goals involve positive health benefits as well. Health related goals, although it may not seem so at the time, are some of the more immediate ones. Losing weight, lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, and quitting destructive, addictive habits come with benefits that translate into longer more fulfilling lives. It’s hard to achieve goals from the grave. Once our health goals are achieved, we can look forward to setting other goals.

For long term goals, it can take courage, sacrifice and a serious look into our character. Who we truly are is revealed through the obstacles, responses to negative attitudes, and high points of the goal achieving process. Each milestone is a test of what we believe in. At the end, we realize that it is not just the goal that was achieved but a new sense of self that couldn’t have come about any other way.

In this life, we need each other. This comes into play in the setting of goals. A goal doesn’t seem as impossible with others helping us to achieve it. Instead of being alone with our thoughts we share them with someone who will understand, has been where we are, or is willing to encourage and see us through.

Closer relationships are a byproduct of goal achievement. Those people who have been with us throughout the process have earned our respect and a reciprocal relationship when it comes time for them to embark on their own goals.

The benefits of achieving goals are not limited to the simply the goal itself. In the process, other lessons are learned like living healthier, becoming mentally tough, and how to weather setbacks. Even if the goal is not met, we still have a lot to be proud of ourselves for because the journey has taught and brought us so much.

Five Reasons Your Goals Should Have Deadlines

We set goals all the time. Sometimes those goals result in less than satisfactory outcomes. Have you ever wondered why that is? One explanation is because the goals have been left open-ended. Not giving our objective a target to completion leads to unfulfilled aspirations and ambitions.
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Creating Your Goals Declaration List To Reach Success

What is a goal? It is more than a wish for something better. In fact, it is a declaration of what needs to change in one’s life. As a declaration, goals are written down.

Why is it so important to write down goals? The first and most common sense reason is that we will forget them. Plenty of us have minds like steel sieves. Writing down our goals is like putting rocks in with all that sand. Rocks are too big to go through the sieve so they stay. Read more

Balancing Work And Reward For Better Goal Achievement

There are a few things that are important to know concerning goal setting and goal achievement that you should keep in the back of your mind as you progress towards you desire results. Firstly, a goal is not about constant sacrifice alone. At some point in the process, you can (and should) take a breather and reward the progress you have already made.

Let’s talk about learning how to reward your self throughout the goal setting process.

There is nothing wrong with rewards. They are a pleasant gift for a job well done. The job is not the achievement of the goal, but making it through the milestone steps along the way that make the goal possible. If people waited until the end of the line to reward themselves, most probably would never make it.

Think of a marathon runner. During the race, he gets thirsty. There are stations set up along the course that allow him to fill up with water in order to replenish his strength and finish the marathon. Waiting until the end of the race to get something to drink is not practical and can be dangerous. It’s the same with your goals.

Going without the encouragement that rewards can bring during the goal seeking process is also not practical. Rewards can be anything that will incline you to strive to reach it. All rewards can be chosen ahead of time or as you go along. There’s no set way to compensate yourself.

Ask for help when coming up with rewards. Open the floor up to friends and family members for suggestions. Rewards can be things like spending money, taking a trip, having a celebration, or a few well deserved breaks in the goal process. Those close to you may come up with some good ones that you yourself never thought of before.

Write down a variety of rewards on small pieces of paper. Fold each piece in half and place them in a jar or a box. Everything on the slips of paper needs to be something that will motivate you to reach that reward point. When a milestone is reached, pull a slip of paper out of the jar. That is your reward.

A reward system keeps your focus on the goal. When you begin feeling the temptations that make you want to throw in the towel, look at that reward jar and believe that some good thing is on the way with each small step you reach.

Rewards work best when they are realistic. A trip to Paris is a great reward but if you can’t afford to do so, it won’t motivate you to continue working towards the goal. Choose goals within your realm of possibility, both physically and financially.

A reward system can work with goals in every area of your life. Just be sure the rewards are in line with the goals. You wouldn’t suggest an ice cream sundae as a reward for losing weight or give yourself a shopping spree for saving money over the past three consecutive months.

Rewards are meant to motivate you so you will continue to follow the course of your goals. Without them, you don’t have small triumphs to look forward to along the way and the probability of reaching your goals is lessened.

Using Your Goal Setting Mastermind Group

If you take the time to chat with any number of truly successful people, you will find that the key to their success usually comes from knowing how to tap into the resources of other, when they themselves are limited by their own personal resources. Usually this resource comes in the form of insider knowledge which can be leveraged into great results.

But there is a simple reason why this works so well. Achieving goals is not a solitary process and help in some form is often needed to make the process easier. There are any number of ways to reach what you have determined is success, but an excellent way is to develop your own support team, your mastermind group, or find a group of like minded individuals to enhance your goal achievement.

Keep in mind that you are not reinventing the wheel here. Just because you have a goal doesn’t mean that everything has to be done the hard way in order to claim it as yours. Few original ideas remain in this world. It is your personal take on them that makes your goals unique.

In order to make reaching your goal a simpler process that doesn’t have you pulling your hair out or feeling like you have to do everything all by yourself, create your own support team. This is a group of people that can be counted on at different times to help you reach the end of your goal. The team can consist of anyone that you trust implicitly to have your best interests at heart.

Start with those closest to you. Family members can take an interest in your goal. To make it official, have them sign a contract that states they will assist you in specific ways during the achievement of this goal. These contracts are like pacts between people to support one another.

You might find that family members are willing to help, until they have to tell you the hard things. Instead they may sugar coat or even down right lie to you about something for fear of hurting your feelings. In that case, family members are perfect as your pep team. They can be there to cheer you on and pick you up when you are down in the dumps about your goal.

Next, call on the help of friends. It isn’t necessary to give them all the details about the goal but ask them to check in on you from time to time in an effort to keep you focused on the goal. That doesn’t require specifics just a willingness to be a caring partner in the process.

Church groups can help achieve goals as well. Become a part of a prayer group to increase your spiritual strength as you undertake this goal. For religious individuals, the spiritual component of the support team is an integral part of achieving their goals and should not be left out.

Another great way to get support in reaching your goals is with a mastermind group. What is a mastermind group you might ask? It is a group composed of people who are all working towards the same or similar goal. They may be taking a different path to get there, but each person in the group is united in the fact that some day they will all achieve that goal.

These groups can be found on the Internet or you can create your own if you have the time and the drive. Mastermind groups are helpful for business and personal goals. They share ideas, experiences, resources, and motivation to help all members get to the next level of completing their goals.

Everyone in the group has a common goal and realizes that many heads are better than one. Mastermind groups form alliances that can be helpful and productive beyond just your current goals too. If a goal is particularly trying at times, it is a tremendous relief to know that someone else out there knows exactly how you feel.

These groups are also great for being honest with you when it comes to the hard times of achieving your goals. Members won’t be afraid of hurting your feelings, like friends or family might be, and will simply tell it like it is. Sometimes, whether we like it or not, that’s exactly what we need in order to overcome hurdles and get to the finish line.

Overcoming Obstacles in the Way of Aspirations

One thing that is inevitable when it comes to goals is obstacles. We all experience them at one time or another. Overcoming obstacles is the key if we want to see our goals through to the finish.

What are some of the typical obstacles when it comes to goal setting? First there’s fear. We suddenly get a chill when we think about starting our own business or training to run a marathon.
Next, there’s procrastination. Everybody knows what that is.

Remember Wimpey’s favorite saying in the Popeye cartoon? “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” You put off what you could do today because there is always tomorrow. Unfortunately, you know that tomorrow never comes if you are a procrastinator.

Don’t forget to add the dying ember syndrome to the list of obstacles in the way of reaching your goals. You just lose interest in the goal. It could be because you have changed your mind about its worth or because too may nay-sayers have finally taken their toll.

Lastly, there is negative self-talk. You may not even realize that you are doing it. Every time you look at the goal sheet or visual boards, your mind conjures up thoughts of failure, doom and gloom, and crowds of people saying, “I told you so.”

Now that we’ve identified a few of the obstacles, let’s go back and look at how to overcome each of them.

1. First is the fear factor. Not the reality show, but our own reality. Fear can initially get you going because you don’t want to fail, but it won’t keep us going.

Courage has been defined by many as pushing forward in spite of fear. Post huge signs with COURAGE written on them all over the house and at work. Soon, the fear will disappear and courage will be met by a growing determination to reach your goal.

2. Procrastination requires effort to overcome. Enlist the aid of family members and trusted friends who will keep you honest but not rag on you if you slip up along the way. Support lets a goal setter know that good people are behind them through it all.

3. What do you do when the thrill is gone? Diagnose the problem. Is it that you have truly lost interest or is someone pushing you towards that end?

Sometimes we do lose interest, but don’t give up on the entire goal. Maybe a new direction on the same goal is in order. If you had decided to pursue a law degree to combat crime, consider teaching instead of going into the courtroom.

4. Negative self-talk deserves to be squashed. It requires effort on our part to notice when we are thinking in this way and to say out loud, if necessary, a positive thought to counter it. Write positive responses down on a piece of paper if you have to.

Overcoming obstacles to your goals is not easy, but well worth it when you reach the goal. As you work to combat failure, you also learn a thing or two about yourself and your resiliency.

When You Know Who You Are, You Stay Motivated

Have you ever heard the saying, “We can fool some of the people some of the time?“  The interesting this is that when it comes to ourselves, we can’t even seem to get away with a suspicious look. Why? Because deep down inside, we already who we should be at our core – and acting outside of this character image, upsets our internal life balance, which makes us feel bad for living or doing what we know we ought not. For goal setting, it is important to truly know yourself

Motivation is the process we use to continue doing something. It can come in the form of rewards, support, self-affirmations, or visual aids. With any goals that we set, there has to be a motivating force behind it to spur us on to success. We have to have a reason for continuing on until we reach our goal.

What motivates us? That is the $64,000 question. To begin, learn a bit about yourself. I know that people say that they don’t know who they are, but we each have a basic idea that we can build upon. Here are a few things to help get the juices flowing and aid in figuring out who you really are. From there, you’ll be able to find your motivation and complete your goals successfully.

What do you like? That’s an easy one. Likes and dislikes come from experiences in life. You may not like snakes or public speaking or high places. So, a goal of climbing Mt. Everest would not be good for you or using a climbing trip as a motivating factor to run five miles a day.
Motivation is a mind game. To be more exact, it is a tool of the subconscious mind. Negative thinking brings about negative results. All the motivation in the world can’t overcome the power of negative self-talk on the subconscious mind.

Are you a negative person? The first step to achieving your goals would be combating the negative thoughts. Simply ignoring them and trying to go on with your goals is self-defeating, because beneath the front we put on for others lay our own subconscious thoughts that will win in the end if we let them. You have to kick the negativity not just mask it.

Achieving goals is a process that involves finding our motivation. A lack of motivation results in broken promises. The goal can be stopped at any time we become bored, upset, or ridiculed by another. In order to find the source of our motivation, create a list of your attributes.

On this list, include:
•    Likes
•    Dislikes
•    Character traits
•    How you would describe yourself
•    Goals you have achieved in the past

All of this information can be combined to determine how motivated you are right now. If you have had goals in the past but never achieved them, look to the character traits and words to describe yourself for insight. Someone with low self esteem will have a tough time getting and staying motivated to do something without a support system.

Look at your list of goals. Are there any goals that require you to do something that you don’t like in order to reach them? One example of this would be someone who wants to start a motivational speaking business, but who doesn’t like crowds or getting up in front of others.
Once you’ve found the things that are keeping you from reaching your goals you can start the process of overcoming them.

Begin implementing things which can help you get past those drawbacks. For instance, if you need a support system, enlist the help of a friend or mentor to hold you accountable. If you need pep talks to get you through rough times, ask your spouse or close friend to be there for you during those times and lift you up again.

Learning a few things about yourself is the key to finding the motivation to achieve your goals. Without taking a good look in the mirror, goals will be sabotaged from within more than they ever will from other people or circumstances.

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