Tag: Goal setting

HOW TO GET ANYTHING YOU WANT!

The title of this sounds a bit too grand to be true. I thought so at first as well. The plan to achieve anything you want was brought to us courtesy of Earl Nightingale. One of my favorite authors and speakers. Earl was actually a lot more than that and I encourage you to explore his many works. He developed a plan that required no more than 5 hours a week, none on weekends, and can give us anything we want in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Here is the method, short and sweet. Wake up one hour earlier every morning. Yes, I know this sounds difficult. I wake up everyday at 4am, so I can understand. When I tell you what you can accomplish with this idea, you will soon see it is worth it. Make yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea. Whatever you prefer. Sit down with a pad of paper and a pen. Yes, we are going old-fashioned here. There is a reason that makes it more powerful. Write your single goal on the top of the piece of paper. Now, begin to list as many ideas as you can for reaching that goal as your sip your brew. Do not judge them and understand most of your ideas will not be very good. Write them down anyway. All you need is one good idea to succeed. Shoot for 20 ideas a day. Working 5 days a week, this will give you 100 ideas a week. Can you see how the law of averages is with you?

Another benefit of doing this is the fact that it imbeds your goal into your mind, but conscious and subconscious mind. Your mind will be working on it as you go throughout your day. The wonderful idea you are looking for may not come to you in that hour you are working, but may pop into your head on the drive to work, or while waiting in line at the grocery store. By writing with pen on paper, we create a greater mind/body connection. This will help drive our goal into our mind even more.

Bonus idea!!!! While doing this to accomplish goals certainly makes sense, there are other applications that will transform your life just as powerfully. Can you imagine waking up and trying to come up with 20 ways to add love and connection to your relationship? How about ways to show yourself some self-care and inner peace? How about leave a great legacy for those behind you? Imagine trying to come up with 100 ideas a week on any of these subjects? How would that change your life?

WHAT STANDS BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR GOALS 💪

Have you ever thought about what stands between you and your goals? When I ask people this question at seminars, a lot of different answers come up. Money, time, network are just a few. What many people either fail to realize, or fail to admit, is that it is not lack of resources that is stopping them. It is lack of resourcefulness.

If we were to look back at the evolution of even the largest companies, we would no doubt see humble beginnings. They worked with what they had until they learned our acquired more. My own success has mirrored this path. Starting this blog came with a great deal of ignorance to begin with. I knew nothing of how the blog world worked. Today  we have been viewed in over 200 countries. Writing my first book? Same story. It seems with every book I publish, I learn something new.

How about you? Are your excuses standing between you and your goals? With a little more effort, could you overcome a seeming lack of resources? Denying this is only serving to hold you back.

SEPARATE YOURSELF 👋

This quote could not be more accurate for the world today. Unlike any other time in history, there are so many distractions to keep us from focusing on our goals. As a writer I can tell you that this is true quite often. Usually, most of my writing is done in coffee shops. Today is a rare time in which I am writing from home. I do that for the simple reason that there are less distractions at the coffee shop. At home I look up and see household chores I am supposed to be doing. Maybe my beautiful lady walks by and I pause and appreciate how lucky I am. None of that exists at the coffee shop.

That is not to say that there are no distractions. I use my phone to do research on topics I am writing about on my laptop. As I am looking up something about how the subconscious mind works, I see that the Dalai Lama sent me a friend request. (This didn’t really happen, but would be cool) Suddenly I am scrolling through social media for several minutes. Then a man in a strange hat comes into the coffee shop and I pause to notice him. I glance to the parking lot to make sure some over-caffeinated soul does not back into my car. There are a million things that can take your attention away from your goal.

The secret is knowing this ahead of time and taking actions to block out the distractions. That could be plugging in your phone in the other room while you clean. It should be not texting while you are driving. You no doubt have your own examples. We need to see distractions for what they are – the enemy. We must take action like we would for any other enemy. We must be merciless. I can hear some of you saying, “But Neil, I need to take a break.” Well, how bad do you want the goal you are working towards? Understand the more you give into your distractions, the further away from your goal you are getting.

Make your goal a priority. My fourth book has been coming out for a while now. I must sit down and complete writing it. There are social events I will have to say ‘no’ to. Sleep might be a little less. Of course that will also be no time to see what uncle Fred has posted to his Facebook page. I would love to know what are some of the distractions that get to you the most and what ways have you found to help you stay focused. The more we share with each other, the more ideas we can have and the closer we will all be to living an amazing life.

WE GOT THIS! 💪

On behalf of all of us here at Secret2anamazinglife.com, Welcome to 2025! We have a lot to look forward to this coming year. Are we looking at facing some challenges? We sure are, but we are going to do them together. You reading this blog are part of a supportive community that are all striving to improve themselves, their lives and the world around them. You are not alone on your journey. We also have many milestones we are looking at reaching here at this site. We are less than 100 days away from reaching our goal of 1000 straight days of content. We will be close to 3000 total posts on this site. My fourth book will be released, hopefully by the end of July.

I want to hear what you are looking forward to this coming year? What goals are you chasing in 2025? More importantly, how can being a part of the Secret2anamazinglife community help you in reaching those goals? If the last few years have taught us anything, it is that we go a lot further together than we can alone. In the coming year, I look forward to interacting with more of you here on this site as well as hopefully meeting more of you in person. When it comes to 2025, we got this!

IT WILL COME…

We have all been here, have we not? You are working towards a goal and it seems nothing is happening. I certainly can relate. I am sure you can too. Even though it may not seem like anything is happening, there is much going on that we cannot see. Even the strengthening of character that is coming with the patience waiting to see progress. More often that not, when we look back we realize that we could not have accomplished what we did without the progress that was happening that we did not see.

It reminds me of the growth of the bamboo tree. Once a bamboo is planted, it must be watered and taken care of every day for five years. If it is not, it will die. During those five years, nothing visible happens. If you didn’t know better, you might think the seed was no good. Once is does start growing, however, it can grow up to three feet…a day! This can be like our goals we are working for. It can see nothing is happening, but if we do not continue to work nothing will happen. If we persevere, one day our growth will explode. Keep this in mind as you continue to strive towards your goals.

CELEBRATE VICTORIES ALONG THE WAY! 🏆

Today we celebrate a great milestone. This is the 2500th blog on this site. That means you could read one of these blogs everyday for almost 7 years and not repeat once. That is a lot of content. It has also spanned the course of 3 books written. Neither of these are the current goal that I am aiming for, but they are certainly worth celebrating along the way. Our current aim is to have a post for 1000 days in a row. We now sit at 873, which is very close. With your help and encouragement we will get there sometime next year.

When I sat down and made this goal on July 3, 2022, I never would have imagined we would be sitting here nearly 3 years later. There has been ups and downs. There has been writer’s block, illness, a busy work schedule and many other challenges. Yet there have been so many things worth celebrating along the way. We are now viewed in over 200 countries and on all 7 continents. That is quite an accomplishment. I have made friends in Italy, Lebanon, and many on the continent of Africa. Still looking for Greenland, but that will be another goal to celebrate.

In your life, when you are chasing goals, do not forget to celebrate along the way. Whether that is in your health, your career or your relationship. It is not all about the destination, but who we become on the journey. I would love to hear about the goals you are chasing and what you will celebrate along the way. Please share so we can encourage you and celebrate with you along the way.

THE FORGOTTEN KEY TO ALL SUCCESS. 🔑

Last post we discussed the importance of finding tools and strategies that we can customize to us and our particular journey. You are reading a website about living an amazing life, but what defines an amazing life? The answer will be different for each one of us reading this. First of all, this site is followed in over 200 countries with many different cultures, values and beliefs. Even in the same country, town and even family, people have different goals and ambitions. There is one thing that will make any goal you are chasing more likely to succeed. It doesn’t matter if that goal is a health goal, a financial goal or a spiritual goal, there is one element that people often miss when pursuing their ambition. That missing key to your success is to enjoy the journey.

Finding ways to enjoy the journey is not some added bonus you should look for, it is a necessity! No matter how much it may further our aspirations, if we cannot find something in the journey that could bring us joy, it will not be sustainable. We often use the example of physical fitness to illustrate points, so let us go with that. Many people absolutely dread fitness. Especially when you begin, it is important to find an activity that brings you joy. If gyms are intimidating, try going for a walk in nature. Maybe after years of sloth, your body is not able to do walking just yet. That’s ok. Try biking, swimming or even dancing vigorously around the house! Whatever you choose, have fun with it.

A great way to have fun is to look at your progress. That is why having goals that are measurable is so important. Look, it is no fun to wrap the measuring tape around your belly after years of pizza and beer, but know that the starting line and get excited for the progress. Make a point to stop and appreciate yourself, and your efforts once a month, or once a week. Whatever you need to do to keep yourself motivated. What happens when the scale hasn’t budged or the inches haven’t moved along despite your best effort? Celebrate the fact that you have shown the effort. Perhaps look at discovering a new, and fun activity to add to your efforts?

Whatever goal you are pursuing in life, make sure to add this question to your list. When writing the steps to accomplishing your goal down, ask yourself, “How can I enjoy this process.” Do not quit until you find, at the very least, one answer. When I go to work, every day I know I am putting aside money for both my retirement and my next vacation. That makes my day a little more enjoyable. I look forward to finding ways to make my coworkers happy and improve their days. This brings me joy. How about you? What are you working on? How are you going to make it enjoyable?

IT IS NOT BIG ENOUGH! 😳

The title of this post may sound a bit critical. To some men it may sound far worse than that. Fear not. There is a benign but still very important meaning to this. It has to do with one of the most important, and powerful, aspects of self-improvement – goal setting. You hear a lot about the importance of goals from many people in many places. Even the bible says, “Without a vision, the people parish.” A vision, is just another name for a goal. Here is the tricky bit. Most of us set goals based on the person we are. This may sound logical. How could we set goals for a person we are not? What is meant in the photo above, is we have to set goals that will force us to grow and become more than who we are.

One of my main passions is to encourage others to share their stories. EVERYONE has a story that would inspire many if they only shared it. Whether that is to show someone how to improve their lives, or just let them know they are not alone in the struggles they face, every single person can be a hero to many. That includes you. One of the responses that I often hear when putting this forth, is “I can’t write a book/start a YouTube channel/write a blog.” The reasons are varied, but include not having enough time. Not being disciplined enough. Not knowing anything about those activities. These excuses may be valid, but only in regards to who you are now. My friend Kurt recently completed his first book. As we was writing it, he learned and developed many new skills. The person he was when he was done, was not the person who started the project. He had grown and developed a whole new set of skills. His book, Nothing is Everything, is definitely worth a read!

Setting goals can be a scary endeavor. There is the thought of how you might feel if you do not reach the goal. Which is better, to fail or to fail to try? Two very important things to remember. If you work towards your goal and fall short of completing it, you have not failed, you have learned and can attempt it again, only full of more knowledge. I like this next fact. When they interviewed people who were close to the end of their lives, the number one regret was not the goals they didn’t reach. It was not even the mistakes they made. The number one regret was the things they did not try. Let that sink in. Do you want to reach the end of your life and regret all of the things you could have done and who you could have been? If my words were not enough to inspire you, allow me to leave you with this great thought attributed to Dr. Howard Thurman.

YOU ARE NOT TIRED, YOU’RE UNINSPIRED!😴

This past Monday was a bit crazy for me. Margie and I ran our DJ show Sunday night until early Monday morning. My alarm for work went off at 4am. When that happened, I had only had a little over 2 hours of sleep. I put in a 9 hour day at my day job. It was an unusually nice day out, weather wise. On the way home, I spoke with my mother who inquired if I would like to go for a little hike. Deciding to take advantage of the sunshine and good weather while it was here, I agreed. We hiked for 2.3 miles. After that, I knew I had to create some content for this site. (Hearing this may help you understand some of my typos that can be found.) I stopped at the local coffee shop with barely enough strength to open my laptop.

How on earth was I going to be able to create anything worthwhile? That was the million-dollar question. There was an idea I had been looking forward to writing about. Several in this case. As I began to write, the strangest thing began to happen. As I related personal examples of the tools and strategies I was conveying, things began to click. Not just for the post itself, but my writing and my life in general. The more I wrote, the more clarity seemed to come. While it is true I drank a medium coffee, my energy began to climb through the roof! I had promised Margie I would be home in time to joy the amazing Jerk Chicken she had prepared for us, so I closed my laptop and called it a night.

On the way to the car, I think I actually floated. As I drove home, the Michael Franti songs I were listening to also seemed to make more sense. Everything had a sense of clarity I had not had in a great deal of time. I sang along to the music at the top of my lungs. Thankfully for the other motorists, the weather had cooled off by this point and my car windows were closed. I arrived home and felt sorry for the love of my life. I was keyed up! Bouncing around at the prospect of finally knowing how my fourth book was going to come together. I had a lot more confidence on the message I would deliver at my next speaking engagement. Life seemed to all make sense.

I am not advocating sleeping 2 hours, working 9 and then hiking 2.3 miles. When it comes to my life, I would not recommend following my sleeping habits at all. What I cannot recommend strongly enough is to make sure you devote a portion of your life to your goals and dreams. Do not only do it when you find yourself with ‘extra time’. Do not wait until you are well rested. Do not wait until you have a day off, or finally take your vacation. Like the picture above says, do not work 8 hours for a company and then go home and not work on your goals. You will be amazed at the energy working on something that feeds your passion will give you. Plus, who would want to argue with The Rock?

REMEMBER TO STAY FOCUSED! 🏝

As you can see, here at secret2anamazinglife.com, we are celebrating 400 days straight of bringing you motivational and inspirational content. Technically, we are on vacation right now. Even while enjoying the bliss that is time away from the daily grind we must still keep our goals firmly in sight. In this case, that is sharing a post everyday this year.

How about you? What goals are you pursuing? What are the likely distractions that could get you off course? Even by writing them down, you are more likely to overcome them because you will be on the lookout for them. This week, focus on your goals. Hopefully you already have those written down. If not, do so right away. Also write down distractions that may trip you up so you can be on the lookout for them as well.