Archive for goal setting
Where Do I Start?
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, or are a subscriber to my ezine, it’s quite likely that you’re an advancing person. That is, you’re always moving towards ‘more life’ in everything you do.
You want to live the richest, fullest, happiest, most deeply satisfying life you can imagine.
You have beautiful, life-expanding dreams for yourself, and you want those dreams to come true.
But it’s also possible that you’re feeling SO overwhelmed by everything that you want to do. In fact, you’re not even sure where to start… so you don’t. (Start, that is.)
So, would you like a little coaching advice about where to start?
Well, my first piece of advice is to listen to your intuition. Give yourself a good half-hour to clear your mind, and then sit and think, and FEEL. Consider your preferences and then listen to what your ‘gut’ tells you. Having a pencil and large notepad with you is a very good idea.
But if you’re overworked, stressed, tired and foggy headed (or feel as though you’re going around the bend from ‘overthinking’), it could be that even doing the above seems too difficult.
In which case, I’d recommend carving out some PROPER time in your diary – like a whole day, at the least – to devote fully to getting crystal clear on what you want, to brainstorm ideas, to prioritise, and to create an action plan.
You can do this yourself, but doing it with the help of a trusted friend or a coach can give you much-needed perspective and encouragement. I’ll soon be making myself available for VIP Days, where I’ll help you get clear on what it is that you really want, start eliminating limiting beliefs, and create a very do-able, exciting action plan to start bringing those dreams of yours into the real world.
(To be one of the first to know about these amazing VIP Days, head here and leave your details. And, listen – I know goal-setting can be a big turn-off for some people because the process can feel forced and very ‘masculine’, but in our day together it’s all about YOU and what YOU want out of life, not what society or your peers or family say you should want. You’ll have time to think, and breeeaaathe, and dream, and create a plan that’s perfect for you…)
Then, you can start going through a conscious creation process, starting with visualisation – if you’d love help with this, check out the beautiful Your House of Abundance process.
However, if you’re feeling too exhausted (and perhaps even sick) to contemplate lofty or even not-so-lofty dreams, then I advise that your first focus be your health.
Fabulous health is at the core of a great life. It underpins everything. And we often don’t realise how valuable our health is until we become unwell or injured.
So if that’s you – make your health an absolute priority. You’ll then be able to think clearly, and will have the energy to take action on your other dreams.
By the way, sometimes people get ‘put off’ the idea of becoming healthier, because they think it takes a lot of money to do so. If you’re switching from eating cheap processed food to buying organic fruits and veggies, and supplements, then, yes, it can cost a bit more than you’re now paying for food. And if you join a gym then there are fees, and personal health coaching can be a substantial investment.
But if money is tight for you right now, and you know getting healthy is a top priority so that you can start heading for your dreams, you can make free or low-cost health changes now.
These include:
- going for walks (even if just around your back garden, or briskly around your house);
- planting a few organic vegetable seeds;
- purchasing (and using!) a book such as Raw Foods on a Budget;
- generally cutting back on unhealthy foods (even if they’re cheap); and
- asking an ‘advancing’ friend to be your ‘accountability buddy’ when it comes to simple health goals you set for yourself.
Once your health starts to improve, you’ll have more energy to create the money you want, which means you can then invest more in organics and superfoods, personal trainers or coaches, if that feels right for you.
So you now have some guidance as to ‘where to start’. But you know deep in your soul what’s needed. I just hope my advice has helped clear some of the fog, and has helped put you on the road towards creating and living a life you truly, truly love.
The Search for Sanity in a Crazy World
This month’s article has been written by success strategist Dr Philip Humbert. I’ve been following Philip’s emailed TIPS newsletter for, like, FOREVER, and I love receiving his weekly dose of wisdom and wit. When I read this article in his newsletter a couple of weeks ago, I just knew that I wanted to share it with you (thanks for allowing me to do so, Philip!). To subscribe to the TIPS newsletter, head here.
“This week, I’ve worried about violence in Syria, inflation, deflation, unemployment, President Obama’s actions, my credit score, and an earthquake in some country I don’t recall. And that’s only a few of the worries that come to mind at the moment!
Perhaps I’ve been watching too much “news.”
But if I turn off the news, then I have to monitor my Smart Phone, run a half-dozen apps per day, listen to my iPod, take care of 150 emails and deal with an average of 17 phone calls. Not to mention pay bills, fix dinner, and run a few errands. It’s all too much!
Or, I could sit on my deck with a good book and a good cigar, listen to the birds and watch the clouds float past.
And to me, that sounds more like the “good life” than anxiously monitoring the stock market all day long.
How did life get this way? Wasn’t technology supposed to help us? Wasn’t a small world with instant communication going to make us more efficient, more productive and less stressed?
Or, maybe I’m confused about that.
When I look around, I see folks with wires hanging from their ears. I see folks staring at tiny computer screens in their hands. I see folks scurrying about, but I don’t see much eye contact. I don’t see too many smiles. I don’t even see many handshakes or hear much laughter!
My point is that maybe we are slowly going crazy.
Are we living as well as we could? Are we making the most of our lives? Are we doing smart things in intelligent ways? Do we maximize our joy, and our quality of life?
My fear is that many of us are doing what we “should do” and aren’t very happy about it. I suspect we’re “majoring in minor things.” We’re “caught in the thick of thin things.”
Some of us remind me of Sisyphus, the character from Greek mythology who was condemned to push a rock up-hill, only to have it roll back down, over and over, forever. We’re always running, but never catching up.
The dilemma, of course, is that we dare not fall behind. We want to be in contact, to be involved, to be “connected.” We want to text our friends, monitor their Facebook pages, and make money. We want the benefits and rarely stop to count the cost.
We are the richest, most sophisticated and most productive people in history. This is good!
But I also remember that my Grandparents had time for dinner. They had a garden, they actually went to church to worship, talk with friends, and enjoy their community. They had the gift of time! (What a concept!)
I’m pleading for that elusive thing called “Balance.” Money is good! I want all I can get, but not at the cost of peace of mind, a loving family, and time to rest. I want new toys, new technology and a nice car, but not at the cost of frustration and high blood pressure. I want the benefits of modern life, but sometimes the cost is too high.
In the end, it’s about CHOICE. We are blessed in that we can have virtually any type of life we choose. We can live anywhere we choose. We can work as hard as we want. We can become famous or rich or powerful. We can have friends all over the world. And, we can play chess, read to our kids, or enjoy a long walk on a sunny winter day. But we cannot do all of it, at least not all at once.
We must choose. The Good Life and Success are about defining the life you want and consistently behaving in ways that are most likely to achieve it. I fear too many of us are neglecting the hard work of thinking about our priorities, then making the choices and enforcing the boundaries to achieve them.
In the end, we have a few years of 24-hour days and what we do with them is the most profound choice we will ever face.
To me, one of the great tragedies of modern life is to find, at the end of life, that we failed to live the life we intended. Don’t do that!
Think carefully about your values. Choose priorities that are consistent with your values. And live accordingly.”
Copyright (c) Dr Philip Humbert, 2012, all rights reserved.
U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1529-059X
Dr Philip Humbert is a success strategist, author and popular speaker, and he writes an awesome weekly newsletter called TIPS. I’d highly encourage you to check out Philip’s work, and his newsletter, at http://www.philiphumbert.com/ (or you can email him at Coach@philiphumbert.com). Many thanks again to Philip for sharing this article!
Doing Good, Feeling Great!
I received an amazing book for Christmas: Screw Business as Usual by Richard Branson.
Now, I’m not usually one for cussing, so the title turned me off a little.
I’m also not a huge fan of the use of women in marketing the Virgin airlines brand.
But I still like Richard Branson. He’s big on social responsibility, and on helping others to help themselves, and this book has revealed to me the full extent of his philanthropical work and his passion for helping others. Now I like him even more!
He believes that it’s up to entrepreneurs to ‘do good’. If we’re to get this planet back in shape, and to finally get on top of the dire poverty and hunger that’s rife around the world, businesses need to take action. Governments just aren’t up to the job.
‘Business as usual’ refers to the fact that, for many years, the only focus of many companies has been on the size of their bottom line. However, as we move into a new age, business is not all about profit, but it’s also not about making a token gesture and giving handouts. It truly is about empowerment. And when a business does good, Richard has discovered that the bottom line flourishes, too. Win-win.
So, if you’re a business owner, is this something you think about? Is the work that you do (the product or service that you provide) bettering the world as well as bringing you personal income?
Or if you’re an employee, do you feel that you work for an ethical company that’s attempting to make the world a better place? Does it treat its staff well? Does it look beyond profit?
In your personal purchases, do you support forward-thinking companies by purchasing their products or services? Be it soap powders, make-up, organic or locally produced food, or services offered by people such as stay-at-home mums who want to make extra income for their families from home?
It’s not easy for every business to ensure their whole production line is environmentally sustainable, but they can make big strides towards that goal, and part of their mission can also be to help people help themselves (wherever possible).
Richard believes that people are basically good, and that, given the chance, they really want to do good. And we all know that doing good also feels good. In my opinion, we’re all connected, so when we help others, we really do help ourselves!
Since reading Screw Business as Usual, I’ve reflected on my own path, and have realised that as my awareness has grown over the years, I’m now more conscious about ‘doing good’. I love personal development, and I love helping other people realise that they have control over their destiny. How wonderful that I can make such an impact on people’s lives, now that I’m a life coach!
In earlier years, I worked as an editor for Lonely Planet travel guides, a company dedicated to helping raise awareness of different cultures, giving to worthy grassroots organisations, and maintaining editorial independence. I LOVED the culture of that company. Since then I’ve written three recipe books for children, encouraging kids to choose organic produce and to practice skills that empower and equip them for life.
I know there’s so much more I can do, and I’m so glad that my radar is now tuned in to a very conscious way of living. I know that I’m in a privileged position of being born in a first-world country that has access to so many resources, and I know that I have a responsibility to ‘do good’. Not just because it’s the ‘right thing to do’, because I really do want to help.
As you set about planning a phenomenal 2012, I invite you to think about the type of world you want to live in. Consider making ‘doing good’ a tangible, meaningful goal that flows through any other goals you create… and be prepared to reap rich rewards!
PS Head here to discover more about Richard’s work, and the amazing work of other entrepreneurs from around the world. I may not agree with some of Richard’s marketing philosophies, but I do respect that he uses his name, influence and money to effect hugely positive change in the world.
PPS I love the work of microfinancing organisation Opportunity International. It gives loans to people in developing countries who want to create or grow their own businesses!
Becoming the Powerful Pilot of Your Life
Last week, I watched a fascinating documentary on the ABC TV channel here in Australia.
It was called The Young Ones – it’s a BBC TV documentary. I think we were watching the final episode?
Anyway, I found it absolutely fascinating. It looked at ageing, and how we can stop ourselves falling into the usual patterns of behaviour that often come with it.
It showed that our attitude and belief in ourselves plays a HUGE part in what we can actually do!
‘Yeah, yeah,’ I hear you saying, ‘we all know that’. Well, yes, we do know it intellectually, but do we really apply it?
There were heaps of fascinating studies in this documentary, but one interesting test that really stood out for me was when they took a group of people and gave them an eye test (without telling them why they were testing them). Then, they dressed them as pilots and told them that they were now pilots – and then each ‘piloted’ a plane via a flight simulator.
The participants were given the eye tests again, and in nearly all cases, they recorded markedly better results in the second eye test. The researchers concluded that the participants ‘saw’ themselves differently when they were pilots; that is, they had more belief in themselves because they’d taken on the persona of a pilot and had succeeded in ‘being’ a pilot.
That reaffirmed for me just how important self-belief really is. If we think we can do something, we stand a fantastic chance of really doing it! If we think we can’t , then, of course, we can’t.
Has this caused a mindshift or ‘a-ha’ moment for you? What would happen if you saw yourself as absolutely able to do something that you’re a bit (or a lot) afraid of doing? Has there been something you’ve been thinking about doing, but keep putting off because, deep down, you don’t think you could pull it off?
This documentary has opened the door for me, revealing a few areas in which I now realise I’ve been holding myself back (and here I was thinking I had everything ‘handled’). What a gift to have seen this show!
The power of our beliefs is truly incredible – they create the vibration that we emit, and they start the creation process in the universal field.
So why not decide that you really are capable, despite any past evidence to the contrary? Do you feel that swell of courage, conviction and exhilaration rising in your chest?
The sky (and your self-belief) really is the limit, my friend. Are you ready to take the controls, to fly your own life’s plane?
Wahooooooo!
How to Attract Golden Opportunities
This is going to sound a little too easy, but if you really want to attract opportunities to help create the life of your dreams, you need to notice, take and make opportunities.
Err, hang on. What does that mean? Read on, dear friend.
OK, so you’ve decided you want your life to change, to get better. Right?
You’ve also defined, even if in a vague way, what ‘change’ means to you (what life will look like once it’s better).
Great – now what?
Well, here’s the fab part. The good old law of attraction now comes into play, and starts lining up opportunities left, right and centre – opportunities that will lead you, even if in a roundabout sort of way, to the better life of which you dream.
Thing is, you need to notice these opportunities, and then ACT on them. I know, not many people like the thought of having to take action – but it’s critical. How else will the universe be able to test you with your life lessons, and then give you the rewards for being courageous?
If it doesn’t seem as though opportunities are coming, then start to make opportunities. Make that phone call. Tell other people what you want. Start planning the steps to get you where you want to go. It’s part of the ‘taking action’ requirement, and you’ll soon be given guidance as to whether you’re on the right track.
To make this real for you, let me tell you about Australian TV host Chrissie Swan. A few years ago, Chrissie was working as a successful advertising copywriter, but she knew she wanted more, to do something different.
She saw an ad for the TV show Big Brother and thought it looked like fun, so she applied for an audition – and landed a spot on the show! Being on that show led to other opportunities (which she took), such as hosting popular breakfast radio programs, and now being a co-host on an Australian national TV talk show called The Circle.
What an amazing ride! All because Chrissie listened to her intuition, and then noticed and took opportunities that came her way.
Her first step was to listen to the call of her soul, to the discontent she felt. She then let herself notice potential opportunities. Then, because it felt right, she grabbed an opportunity when it was offered– even though she didn’t know where it would take her. That’s called stepping out in faith. Yup, it takes courage, but did you really come here for a safe life?
As for myself, I took the opportunity of becoming an author when I was asked by The Five Mile Press to write a recipe book for children – and when I couldn’t find a raw-food recipe book for my children, I took up an opportunity offered by Tera Warner of The Raw Divas to write and co-publish such a book. This led to the publication of a third book (an organic gardening-recipe book for families). Who’d have thought?
I also had the inspired idea to create a blog to bring joy to the world, so I made that happen and now have even more fantastic opportunities landing in my lap. I love living in a universe of abundant creation, where unexpected opportunities continue to delight and amaze.
So let me assure you – opportunities really will keep appearing in your life, for the rest of your life. All you need to do is notice them, check your intuition to see if they ‘feel right’ (even they don’t seem to take you on a direct path to your dreams) and then have the courage to take them up, to just DO IT!
My coaching dare to you for the next 30 days is to keep an eye out for opportunities that come your way. Why not tell the universe you’re open to attracting and noticing fabulous opportunities, and then have the courage to ‘take a deep breath and jump’?
The rewards are just waiting for you.
Burst Training to Raise Your Vibration
Hello, my darlings!
Tell me, have you had some heart-pumping exercise today? Maybe just a tiny bit?
The only exercise I’ve had so far today is leaping out of bed to get ready to take my girls to school – I’m itching to do more, but I have a full work schedule today. Sound familiar?
Well, regular readers of my ezine will know that I have a goal to confidently do a cartwheel and handstand by the end of the year. They also know that I’ve put in place a flexible exercise routine that will help me get there. That routine includes ‘burst training’. (I have a fun end-goal of a cartwheel and handstand, but what I’ll be getting along the way is super strength and fitness!)
If you haven’t heard of burst training – also known as interval training – you’ll love the above video, by my favourite doctor, Dr Ritamarie Loscalzo. Burst training is basically short ‘bursts’ of intense exercise followed by bursts of recovery. Great for burning fat, and recharging your vibration (and we all know how important that is.)
In the video, Dr Ritamarie shows how easy it is to incorporate fitness into the BUSIEST person’s day. She is one very busy lady, and she manages to do it – so can we!
So, in about half an hour I’ll be picking up one of my daughter’s skipping ropes and doing a few ‘bursts’ that leave me breathless, heart-poundy and completely recharged. Join me? Just watch Dr Ritamarie (who’s in herr 50s!) for inspiration.
Your Goals, Your Dreams, Your Life
Hey, just wanted to let you know about a free 40-minute teleseminar that I’m presenting tonight (Australian time), called Your Goals, Your Dreams, Your Life.
Wanna come join me? If you need a little help getting going with setting goals for this year, and want more than a little inspiration, then click over here, m’dear!
http://www.richradiantreal.com/teleseminar-sign-up/
The call is tonight (Friday 14 January) at 8pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, but if you can’t join us on the call, you can always download the recording after the event – but only if you’re registered for the call.
To read more about it, and to sign up, here’s the link again:
http://www.richradiantreal.com/teleseminar-sign-up/
See you on the call!
Joanne's coaching was exactly what I needed to help me focus my precious time and money on finding work and making money! What I like most about Joanne’s coaching is that it's gentle, supportive and empathetic, rather than pushy and 'ra-ra-ra'”
...if there’s something that you’ve been putting off doing, because it’s so big and overwhelming, then by coaching with Joanne you'll definitely find a way to do it, to finally reach your goal.”
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