Power Tips newsletter, New Year Resolutions & Goal Setting – Special Issue

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Over the next few days millions of people from around the world will sit down and try to figure out how to make 2005 a better year than they had in 2004.

We all need to be aware that the future doesn’t get better by HOPE, it gets better by PLAN.

“SUCCESS is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while FAILURE is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.

It is the accumulative weight of our disciplines and our judgments that leads us to either fortune or failure” —- Jim Rohn

INDEX:
One Minute Tip
Power Quotes
Tips for New Year Resolutions and Goal Setting
Making Your Goals Count in 2005 by Jim Rohn
The Simple Steps to Reaching Your Goals, by Carol Halsey

Need help following through with your goals?
Forget New Year’s Resolutions – They Don’t Work
Self help for Establishing Dreams and Goals
Sponsored Resources
Editor’s Note.
Self help Goals development and Goal Setting inspirations

One Minute Tip:

“Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” — Benjamin Franklin

Power Quotes:

“Happiness, wealth, and success are by-products of goal setting, they cannot be the goal themselves. ” – Denis Waitley

“People have more options than they think they do. But most people spend more time planning their vacations than thinking about what they want to do with their lives.” – Bob McDonald

“What you do every day should contribute to giving your life meaning. If it doesn’t, why are you doing it?” – Don Hutcheson

“The reason why most people face the future with apprehension instead of anticipation is because they don’t have it well designed.” Jim Rohn

by Jim Rohn (Excerpted from Week Five of the Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan)

As we enter into this New Year we all tend to have a heightened sense of the opportunities and possibilities that 2005 can bring.

The need for goal-setting becomes more obvious and clear. And the great thing about goal-setting is you can keep it as simple or get as elaborate as you would like.

In fact, we have spent the last month in the One-Year Success Plan solely on the subject of goal-setting and have dedicated over 125 pages in the One-Year Plan to exercises on the subject.

Space and time won’t allow that here, but below are some abbreviated points on goal-setting for the New Year.

I’ve often said the major reason for setting a goal is for what it makes of you to accomplish it. What it makes of you will always be the far greater value than what you get.

That is why goals are so powerful – they are part of the fabric that makes up our lives. And goal-setting is where we create our goals.

Goal-setting is powerful, partly because it provides focus. It shapes our dreams. It gives us the ability to hone in on the exact actions we need to perform to achieve everything we desire in life.

Goals are GREAT because they cause us to stretch and grow in ways that we never have before. In order to reach our goals we must become better. We must change and grow.

Also, goals provide long-term vision in our lives. We all need lots of powerful, long-range goals to help us get past short-term obstacles.

Life is designed in such a way that we look long-term and live short-term. We dream for the future and live in the present. Unfortunately, the present can produce many difficult obstacles.

But fortunately, the more powerful our goals (because they are inspiring and believable) the more we will be able to act on them in the short-term and guarantee that they will actually come to pass!

So, let’s take a closer look at the topic of goal-setting and see how we can make it forceful as well as practical. What are the key aspects to learn and remember when studying and writing our goals?

1. Evaluation and Reflection. The only way we can reasonably decide what we want in the future and how we will get there is to first know where we are right now and what our level of satisfaction is for where we are in life.

So first take some time and think through and write down your current situation, then ask this question on each key point – is that okay?

The purpose of evaluation is twofold. First, it gives you an objective way to look at your accomplishments and your pursuit of the vision you have for your life.

Secondly, it is to show you where you are so you can determine where you need to go. In other words, it gives you a baseline from which to work.

I would strongly encourage you to take a couple of hours this week to evaluate and reflect. At the beginning of this month we encourage you to see where you are and write it down so that as the months progress and you continue a regular time of evaluation and reflection, you will see just how much ground you will be gaining – and that will be exciting!

2. What are Your Dreams and Goals? These are the dreams and goals that are born out of your own heart and mind. These are the goals that are unique to you and come from who you were created to be and gifted to become.

So second, make a list of all the things you desire for the future.

One of the amazing things we have been given as humans is the unquenchable desire to have dreams of a better life, and the ability to establish goals to live out those dreams.

Think of it: We can look deep within our hearts and dream of a better situation for ourselves and our families; dream of better financial lives and better emotional or physical lives; certainly dream of better spiritual lives.

But what makes this even more powerful is that we have also been given the ability to not only dream but to pursue those dreams and not just pursue them, but the cognitive ability to actually lay out a plan and strategies (setting goals) to achieve those dreams. Powerful!

What are your dreams and goals? This isn’t what you already have or what you have done, but what you want.

Have you ever really sat down and thought through your life values and decided what you really want? Have you ever taken the time to truly reflect, to listen quietly to your heart, to see what dreams live within you? Your dreams are there.

Everyone has them. They may live right on the surface, or they may be buried deep from years of others telling you they were foolish, but they are there.

So how do we know what our dreams are? This is an interesting process and it relates primarily to the art of listening. This is not listening to others; it is listening to yourself.

If we listen to others, we hear their plans and dreams (and many will try to put their plans and dreams on us). If we listen to others, we can never be fulfilled. We will only chase elusive dreams that are not rooted deep within us. No, we must listen to our own hearts.

Here are some practical steps/thoughts on hearing from our hearts on what our dreams are:

Take time to be quiet. This is something that we don’t do enough in this busy world of ours. We rush, rush, rush, and we are constantly listening to noise all around us. The human heart was meant for times of quiet, to peer deep within.

It is when we do this that our hearts are set free to soar and take flight on the wings of our own dreams! Schedule some quiet “dream time” this week. No other people. No cell phone. No computer. Just you, a pad, a pen, and your thoughts.

Think about what really thrills you. When you are quiet, think about those things that really get your blood moving.

What would you LOVE to do, either for fun or for a living? What would you love to accomplish? What would you try if you were guaranteed to succeed? What big thoughts move your heart into a state of excitement and joy?

When you answer these questions you will feel GREAT and you will be in the “dream zone.” It is only when we get to this point that we experience what OUR dreams are!

Write down all of your dreams as you have them. Don’t think of any as too outlandish or foolish – remember, you’re dreaming! Let the thoughts fly and take careful record.

Now, prioritize those dreams. Which are most important? Which are most feasible? Which would you love to do the most?

Put them in the order in which you will actually try to attain them. Remember, we are always moving toward action, not just dreaming.

3. S.M.A.R.T. Goals. S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

I really like this acronym S.M.A.R.T., because we want to be smart when we set our goals.

We want to intelligently decide what our goals will be so that we can actually accomplish them. We want to set the goals that our heart conceives, our minds believe and that our bodies will carry out.

Let’s take a closer look at each of the components of S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Specific: Goals are no place to waffle. They are no place to be vague. Ambiguous goals produce ambiguous results. Incomplete goals produce incomplete futures.

Measurable: Always set goals that are measurable. I would say “specifically measurable” to take into account our principle of being specific as well.

Attainable: One of the detrimental things that many people do – and they do it with good intentions – is to set goals that are so high they are unattainable.

Realistic: The root word of realistic is “real.” A goal has to be something that we can reasonably make “real” or a “reality” in our lives.

There are some goals that simply are not realistic. You have to be able to say, even if it is a tremendously stretching goal, that yes, indeed, it is entirely realistic — that you could make it.

You may even have to say that it will take x, y, and z to do it, but if those happen, then it can be done. This is in no way to say it shouldn’t be a big goal, but it must be realistic.

Time: Every goal should have a timeframe attached to it.

I think that life itself is much more productive if there is a timeframe connected to it. Could you imagine how much procrastination there would be on earth if people never died?

We would never get “around to it.” We could always put it off. One of the powerful aspects of a great goal is that it has an end, a time in which you are shooting to accomplish it.

You start working on it because you know there is an end. As time goes by you work on it because you don’t want to get behind. As it approaches, you work diligently because you want to meet the deadline.

You may even have to break down a big goal into different parts of measurement and time frames. That is okay. Set smaller goals and work them out in their own time. A S.M.A.R.T. goal has a timeline.

4. Accountability (A contract with yourself or someone else). When someone knows what your goals are, they hold you accountable by asking you to “give an account” of where you are in the process of achieving that goal.

Accountability puts some teeth into the process. If a goal is set and only one person knows it, does it really have any power? Many times, no.

At the very least, it isn’t as powerful as if you have one or more other people who can hold you accountable to your goal.

So: Evaluate/Reflect; Decide What You Want; Be S.M.A.R.T.; Have Accountability.

When you put these 4 key pieces together, you are putting yourself in a position of power that will catapult you toward achieving your goals.

Let’s Do Something Remarkable in 2005

Jim Rohn

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Your coach will get to know you, and help you set and achieve those goals that are right for you. Plus you will receive free, The Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan.

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to read more goal setting articles , go to:

click here to visit: Personal-Enterprise-Self-Help-Resources.com

self help article by Carol Halsey

I’m sure this is not the first time you have heard about goal setting. The reason you keep hearing about it is because it really is important to your life.

A good definition of goals is that they are dreams with deadlines. Yes, you can make your dreams come true. How do you want your life to be 10 years from now? How about 5 years, next year, or even 6 months from now.

The only difference between setting goals for your business or career, and setting personal goals is the subject matter. With commitment and persistence, and setting goals, your life can be any way you want it.

When you actually sit down and start identifying goals, you will probably end up with a long list. Decide what is most important to you in your business and personal lives.

All goals do not have equal value. Some will be more meaningful to you. These are the goals to start on. Keep your list of the remaining goals to get back to later. Trying to do too much at the same time can be self-defeating.

Once you have selected the goals to start on, give each goal a deadline. Short term goals, such as completing a project, will be completed in six months or less. Medium term goals, such as increasing a customer base, or revenue, will be a yearly target.

Your goal for career advancement could be in this time frame. Long term goals can run for several years, such as where do you want your business to be in 5 years, or building your nest egg to retire in 5, 10 or 20 years.

Write your goals down, as this increases commitment. Make your deadline for each goal realistic and reachable. There is no right or wrong on how long you determine it will take to reach a goal. It will be different for each person and each goal. Whatever is comfortable for you is what counts.

Okay, you have done this. Now, how do you get started? By identifying what you must do to accomplish your goals.

Look at each one individually. Under each goal, write down the tasks to be undertaken to reach that goal. You may not think of everything to the smallest detail, but you will come up with the major tasks. Give each one of these tasks a deadline.

On short term goals, your deadlines will most likely be daily, weekly and monthly. On long term goals, deadlines are more like six months, first year, eighteen months, second year. You can break these down even further.

If you know what you want to accomplish the first six months of a long term goal, what can you do this month, next month, etc. to get there. Include these tasks and their deadlines in your calendar, and schedule the time needed to work on them.

Once this is done with all your goals, you have made a contract with yourself and the commitment to take action. This is your road map to get you where you want to go. Each day, ask yourself if what you are doing is helping you get there. If the answer is no, be sure you know why you are doing it at all.

If all this seems difficult or overwhelming, start with just one goal. Make it easy and short term. Once you have accomplished this, go on to another goal. Remember that life is a journey to be enjoyed. Be kind to yourself. You will find by setting goals and identifying what you need to do to get there, will cut down on a lot of stress in your life. At the same time, you will be making those dreams a reality.

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Carol Halsey is Founder and President of Business Organizing Solutions. She is a professional organizer, consultant, speaker, and author of “93 Organizing Tips to Simplify Your Business Life.” You can get this booklet and articles, ideas and a free Idea Kit, filled with simple tips for saving time, simply by visiting her web site: http://www.PilesToFiles.com.

Sponsored resources:

Tips for your Health & Wellbeing:

Need help following through with your goals?

Some will decide they need to work harder…even though they feel like they’re working pretty hard right now. Chances are that this decision won’t get the result they’re hoping for because working harder is almost never the answer.

As Bob Proctor says, “there are literally thousands upon thousands of honest, good, hard-working people who labor diligently for their entire stay on this planet, yet never become wealthy.”

A large number of people will decide to make a New Year’s Resolution or two — maybe to diet, quit smoking or get out of debt. According to the experts, more than 90% will fail to achieve their resolutions, with most having abandoned them by the end of January.

Then there’s a tragic group of folks who will think briefly about how they’d like to see things change…but will remember all of the years they’ve failed…and will simply do nothing, hoping that their “luck” will change for the better.

Finally, there’s a very small group of people who are bound and determined that 2005 will be different. They are committed to real change in their lives…and real success in 2005.

They are committed to a PLAN. They understand what Bobby Knight meant when he said, “The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare.”

To help you plan…to help you prepare…Jim Rohn International is proud to once again participate in offering the Goals 2005 programs from www.Goals2005.com

Whether you want to prepare to “re-invent” yourself or just focus on improvement in one specific area of your life, you need a complete solution based on solid fundamentals and instructions from the very wisest. The Goals 2005 “faculty” includes three of the best goals experts in the world: Jim Rohn, Bob Proctor and Brian Tracy.

Your plan all comes together in a one-of-a-kind, interactive, multi-media Action Planner that is designed to help you define your dreams and create the plan to reach them.

As Bill Nall experienced, “This was a great wake up on a lot of topics and has been very helpful for me to get myself dreaming again and to figure out that anyone can change but you have to want to change and I will!”

Or Marcea Barton, who wrote, “The program was great to help me establish my “Passion and Purpose.”

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An exclusive ‘Monday morning wake-up call’ was the number one benefit named by current Professional Edition users. It’ll help you stay focused for a full 52 weeks.

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A four-hour recorded tele-seminar that will walk you step by step to setting up your 2005 plan.

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And there’s more choices that ever for achieving your Goals in 2005:

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The solid and proven Goals 2005 Basic Edition Goal Genie Software (available as a bonus with the Professional Edition or purchase as a stand-alone)

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What’s keeping you from earning more money or getting that promotion you’ve been wanting?

What will you do in 2005 to develop better relationships with those who are important to you?

What will you do in the New Year to ensure a future with a healthy body and spirit?

What’s keeping you from living the life you’ve been dreaming about?

Whatever your challenge may be, Goals 2005 can help you earn more – do more – and be more in the coming year!

Like Virginia Wright of Midwest City, OK said, “This Goals program helps to map your life – not just what you need to do, but how to do it as well.”

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Forget New Year’s Resolutions – They Don’t Work

You can forget about making New Year’s Resolutions if you’re hoping for a successful outcome. Most aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.

No less than Mark Twain has written of New Year’s Resolutions, “Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.

Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath.

Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever.”

The biggest majority of New Year’s Resolutions have gone by the wayside before January is over and most won’t even be remembered six months later.

And the reason is pretty simple: Most are made in response to something negative — a habit or situation that the person wants to change or end.

And therein lies the problem – it’s hard to develop momentum from a negative response. It is always easier to move toward something rather than away from something.

Consider one of the most adopted resolutions — weight loss. No one can get excited about losing weight because it requires deprivation. It’s a negative response to concerns about appearance, health, etc.

The results of weight loss Resolutions demonstrate their weakness. A 1998 survey sponsored by Gardenburger found that more than three-fourths of all women between the ages of 25 and 54 make diet and weight-loss plans each year.

Nearly nine of 10 respondents reported only occasional or no success, while almost half lost little or actually gained weight instead.

The people who succeed at losing weight and maintaining the loss have usually been motivated by a dream much bigger and more positive than just losing weight.

They see themselves living a healthy lifestyle. They begin to act and think like people who are in good physical shape. There’s more of a radical change in a person’s thinking and actions than you see with most resolutions.

It wouldn’t be possible to effect and sustain such a radical change unless the person is motivated by a big dream that is positive in nature.

Another popular aim is to quit smoking. And I can certainly relate to that — I was a three-pack-a-day smoker until I celebrated a smoke-free New Year’s twelve years ago.

For over twenty years I had tried to quit many times using every tool and technique I heard about. But as long as I was trying to quit, I couldn’t break the grip.

Instead, I developed a dream to become a non-smoker. I fell in love with the idea of breathing clean air instead of smoky air, of my body and clothes smelling nice instead of smoky. I thought about how wonderful it would be to taste food again.

I decided to start acting and thinking like a non-smoker, and when the thinking took hold I simply quit smoking. In all the years since, I’ve never wanted another cigarette, never even thought about wanting one.

If you’re going to make a New Year’s Resolution this year, make one with a high probability for success. Make a Resolution to develop a life plan. Most people are in a free-fall through life, careening from one crisis to the next.

They wake up one day and 10, 20, 30 or more years have passed and they’re nowhere near where they thought or hoped they’d be.

Working with a life plan you’re much more apt to be excited by what the future brings even if you succeed at attaining only a small part of your plan.

A life plan should address all areas of your life including finances, health, relationships, career, spiritual and even recreational.

While a lot of our focus tends to be on financial issues like increasing income or decreasing debt, or health issues like losing weight or quitting smoking, the undeniable truth is that a life lived out of balance isn’t a life of quality at all.

If you were going to build a new house and you had this idea for a fabulous master bedroom suite, you wouldn’t rush out and start building the master bedroom. You’d have a complete plan before you started.

When you approach resolutions and goals in the same manner, you end up with a much better chance of achieving success.

Copyright © 2004 Vic Johnson Vic Johnson is a popular motivational speaker, author and Internet Infopreneur who has created some of the most visited personal development sites on the Web, including the goal setting portal, Goals2005 that features goal setting programs and software as well as weight loss, smoking cessation and debt reduction solutions.

Goals 2005: Goal Setting that works
taught by masters like Jim Rohn,
Brian Tracy, Bob Proctor and others.

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One of the amazing things we have been given as humans is the unquenchable desire to have dreams of a better life, and the ability to establish goals to live out those dreams.

Think of it: We can look deep within our hearts and dream of a better situation for ourselves and our families; dream of better financial lives and better emotional or physical lives; certainly dream of better spiritual lives.

But what makes this even more powerful is that we have also been given the ability to not only dream but to pursue those dreams and not only to pursue them, but the cognitive ability to actually lay out a plan and strategies (setting goals) to achieve those dreams. Powerful!

And that is what we will discuss in detail this week: How to dream dreams and establish goals to get those dreams.

What are your dreams and goals? This isn’t what you already have or what you have done, but what you want.

Have you ever really sat down and thought through your life values and decided what you really want?

Have you ever taken the time to truly reflect, to listen quietly to your heart, to see what dreams live within you? Your dreams are there. Everyone has them.

They may live right on the surface, or they may be buried deep from years of others telling you they were foolish, but they are there.

So how do we know what our dreams are? This is an interesting process and it relates primarily to the art of listening. This is not listening to others; it is listening to yourself.

If we listen to others, we hear their plans and dreams (and many will try to put their plans and dreams on us). If we listen to others, we can never be fulfilled.

We will only chase elusive dreams that are not rooted deep within us. No, we must listen to our own hearts.

Let’s take a look at some practical steps/thoughts on hearing from our hearts on what our dreams are:

Take time to be quiet. This is something that we don’t do enough in this busy world of ours. We rush, rush, rush, and we are constantly listening to noise all around us.

The human heart was meant for times of quiet, to peer deep within. It is when we do this that our hearts are set free to soar and take flight on the wings of our own dreams!

Schedule some quiet “dream time” this week. No other people. No cell phone. No computer. Just you, a pad, a pen, and your thoughts (you get to do this in the workbook exercises this week).

Think about what really thrills you. When you are quiet, think about those things that really get your blood moving.

What would you LOVE to do, either for fun or for a living? What would you love to accomplish? What would you try if you were guaranteed to succeed?

What big thoughts move your heart into a state of excitement and joy?

When you answer these questions you will feel Great and you will be in the “dream zone.”

It is only when we get to this point that we experience what Our dreams are! Write down all of your dreams as you have them.

Don’t think of any as too outlandish or foolish – remember, you’re dreaming! Let the thoughts fly and take careful record.

Now, prioritize those dreams. Which are most important? Which are most feasible? Which would you love to do the most? Put them in the order in which you will actually try to attain them.

Remember, we are always moving toward action, not just dreaming.

Here is the big picture: Life is too short to not pursue your dreams. Someday your life will near its end and all you will be able to do is look backwards.

You can reflect with joy or regret. Those who dream, who set goals and act on them to live out their dreams are those who live lives of joy and have a sense of peace when they near the end of their lives.

They have finished well, for themselves and for their families.

Remember: These are the dreams and goals that are born out of your heart and mind. These are the goals that are unique to you and come from who you were created to be and gifted to become.

Your specific goals are what you want to attain because they are what will make your life joyful and bring your family’s life into congruence with what you want it to be.

Until next week, let’s do something remarkable!

Jim Rohn