You create your life. This masterpiece of you… create something beautiful… for YOU.
– Lance Ekum
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Quote of the Day
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Zig Ziglar talks about goals
This is an inspiring 3-part video by Zig Ziglar on how to set and reach goals in your life:
His formula for reaching your goals is this:
- Write down the objective – what is the goal?
- Write down the expected time of completion – a completion date
- Write down potential obstacles
- Write down the people, groups and organizations you need to work with
- Write down a Plan of Action with a time limit
- Identify what you need to know
- Write down “What’s in it for me?”
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Tagged Goals, Setting Goals, Success, Zig Ziglar
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Making and keeping New Year’s resolutions
People often make New Year’s resolutions around January 1. Making a resolution is definitely in alignment with the idea of Deciding To Be Better. Here are 10 of the most popular resolutions:
But often these resolutions do not stick. Why not? This article highlights some research on the topic:
New Year’s resolutions ‘barely last longer than a week’
Many people do not have the willpower to make their New Year’s resolutions last longer than a week, research reveals.
Attempts to quit smoking, stop drinking alcohol at home or eat healthier food would be far more successful if people got support, according to health campaigners Change4Life.
University of Hertfordshire researchers followed 2,000 people who made a two-week resolution and found that those who relied solely on their own willpower failed even before the half-way stage.
There are two things that can help with this.
- The first is the Ten Steps, and in particular making a firm decision. See also the Power of Making a Decision.
- The second is the power of community – working with others to achieve similar goals. See The most important factor in happiness.
Another way to make resolutions more successful is to focus. This page makes the point:
A ridiculously high number of them are more a token statement anyway than an actual resolution followed up by committed action. So skip the vague sense of guilt and do something more productive instead.
Take a look at your life and where you want to be a year from now. If there are changes you’d like to make or things you’d like to do, pick one of them.
Just one!
This statement is key: “Once you’ve got your one, remember that it’s “the” one, and give it your all.” As mentioned above, make a real decision and follow the Ten Steps. If you get derailed, simply get back on track the next day rather than discarding your goal.
Posted in Examples
Tagged Decisions, New Year's resolutions, Resolutions, Ten steps
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Today’s Reading – the Power of Making a Decision
Today’s reading comes from Chapter 2 of the book Awaken the Giant Within:
Maybe we should be asking ourselves, “How am I going to live the next 10 years of my life? How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed two? What am I going to stand for from now on? What’s important to me right now, and what will be important to me in the long term? What actions can I take today that will shape my ultimate destiny?”
You see, 10 years from now, you will surely a arrive. The question is: where? Who will you have become? How will you live? What will you contribute? Now is the time to design the next 10 years of your life – not once they’re over. We must seize the moment.
How?
The answer, of course, is what I’ve been alluding to all along: the power of decision. Everything that happens in your life – both what you’re thrilled with and what your challenged by – began with a decision. I believe that it’s in your moment of decision that your destiny is shaped. The decisions that you’re making right now, every day, will shape how you feel today as well as who you’re going to become…
Think for a moment. Is there a difference between being interested in something and being committed to it? You bet there is! Many times people say things like, “gosh, I really would like to make more money,” or “I’d like to be closer to my kids,” or “you know, I’d really like to make a difference in the world.” But that kind of statement is not a commitment at all. It’s merely stating a preference, saying, “I’m interested in having this happen, if I don’t have to do anything.” That’s not power! It’s a weak prayer made without even the faith to launch it…
The most exciting thing about this force, this power, is it that you already possess it. The explosive impetus of decision is not something reserved for a select few with the right credentials or money or family background. It’s available to the common laborer as well as the king. It’s available to you now as you hold this book in your hands. In the very next moment you can use this mighty force that lies waiting within you if you merely muster the courage to claim it. Will today be the day you finally decide that who you are as a person is much more than you’ve been demonstrating? Will today be the day you finally decide once and for all to make your life consistent with the quality of your spirit? Then start by proclaiming, “This is who I am. This is what my life is about. And this is what I’m going to do. Nothing will stop me from achieving my destiny. I will not be denied!”
By the time you get to the end, you can hear powerful orchestra music rising in the background. Not all decisions need to be that grandiose. But the big, life-changing ones will tend to be a big deal. They will become a central part of your life.
Posted in Today's Reading
Tagged Awaken the Giant Within, Deciding, Decisions, Today's Reading, Tony Robbins
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Quote of the Day
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.
– Thomas Jefferson
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Amazing Technique to Improve Empathic Listening
Stephen Covey talks about a listening technique called the Talking Stick:
Now what happens is literally it transforms defensive, negative energy into creative, transforming energy. Here’s why: When you really listen to another in depth, until they feel understood, you are communicating their worth, their potential, you are affirming them. It is so therapeutic, so healing, that they cannot fight you. And they gradually become more and more open.
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One novel way to raise money for charity
In the December 17 issue of The Week magazine, there is this blurb on page 6:
When Robin Rogers, a professor at New York’s Queen College, and her fiance George Overholser, called off their nuptuals, she didn’t want her $3,500 reception deposit to go to waste. So Rogers organized a $100-per-person fundraiser for the Greenpoint Reformed Church’s soup kitchen, transforming her canceled wedding into a $10,000 donation to the hungry.
More details are available in this article: Broken Engagement Funds Gala for Food Pantry
This would appear to be an extremely effective way to raise money, at least if you live in the kind of neighborhood where people would be willing to pay $100 per person for a fancy dinner. The idea seems to be fairly simple – as long as your expenses are less than the income, the charity makes money. It also seems like you could scale it up or down. For example – serve less expensive food and then charge $30 per person. Or get things like food and beverages (and/or a venue) donated or discounted by a restaurant in return for the publicity. Or do something other than dinner, with the guests each bringing something to the event.
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Today’s Reading – The incredible value of gratitude
Today’s Reading comes from Chapter 5 of the book Authentic Happiness and deals with the idea of gratitude. Simple gratitude – being grateful for the things that we have in our lives. Because gratitude sets in motion a chain of thoughts, feelings and events that can bring about a great deal of happiness and well being. Here is the exercise that Dr. Seligman describes:
Set aside five free minutes each night for the next two weeks, preferably right before brushing your teeth for bed. Prepare a pad with one page for each of the next 14 days. The first night take the satisfaction with Life scale and the General Happiness scale once again and score them. Then think back over the previous 24 hours and write down, on separate lines, up to five things in your life you are grateful or thankful for. Common examples include ” waking up this morning,” “the generosity of friends,” “God for giving me determination,” “wonderful parents,” “robust good health,” and “the Rolling Stones” (or some other artistic inspiration). Repeat the Life Satisfaction and General Happiness scales on the final night, two weeks after you start, and compare your scores to the first night’s scores. If this worked for you incorporate it into your nightly routine.
On bad days you may have to really stretch: “I am thankful that I got up on time,” or “I am thankful I did not get into a wreck on the way to work.” But no matter how bad the day, there are always things to be grateful for, every single day. Recognize them and be thankful for them.
Zig Ziglar demonstrates the power of gratitude, using the same kind of notepad technique, in the following video:
The message is simple: Gratitude can change your life in some cases. In all cases, it makes things better.
[Zig’s description of the woman in that story reminds me of this article, which came out recently in Forbes magazine:
The Sociopath In The Office Next Door
I mention it only because, sometimes, in rare circumstances, there is a valid reason why people at work are miserable.]
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Quote of the day
What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.
– Albert Pike
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A very quick video summary of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is one of the titles listed on the books page. Here is a very quick summary of the habits:
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