7 Steps That Accelerate Goal Achievement

There are common steps associated with goal achievement. They are:

- Aim high.
- Write your goals down.
- Set a time limit or deadline.
- Identify those people, and organizations that can help you reach your goals.
- Consider multiple facets of your life including family, career, health, etc.

I have often been asked if there is more to the process of goal achievement than these steps. My answer? Yes there is.

While the goal setting process outlined above is quite valuable, and perhaps fundamental, I have found nuances to the goal-setting process, typically not discussed. Here are seven steps that will accelerate your goal achievement.

Step One: Assume Success: It All Begins With The Way You Think

Top achievers think differently. First they conceive, plan, and work on their goals with a level of expectation that is foreign to most people. They do not say, “I’ll try this, and see what happens,” or “This might work, you never know.”

Achievers proceed toward their goals with a level of confidence that cause others to think they have inside knowledge about how to make their goals a reality. It is this level of expectation that gives them the laser focus needed to see possibilities that most do not see. More importantly, they are actually “living,” their goals long before they are achieved.

Step Two: Identify and Focus On Your Primary Goals

Intensifying your focus on a few goals is often easier for those beginning to refine their own goal achievement process. Having just a few goals makes each goal much more real because you cannot get lost in a lengthy list of plans and projects. As you develop more experience and confidence in the goal setting process, you can expand your goal list and potentially work on 10, 20, or 30 or more goals at the same time. However I recommend that most people trim their goal list down to a very manageable group of 7.

Step Three: Examine And Clarify Your Beliefs and Values

A big obstacle for many seeking accelerated goal achievement is being out of sync with their goals. That is, many “say,” they want to achieve certain things but do not really believe in their ability to achieve their goals or totally value their goals. As a result they unconsciously minimize their ability to achieve their stated intentions. To reach you goals fast you have to be sure that your goals really reflect your true beliefs and values. After setting your goals, be honest with yourself about whether these are really your beliefs and commitments.

Step Four: Immerse Yourself In The Process Daily

This is an important step that many goal setters are unaware of. Top achievers “live” their goals. Many unconsciously work with their goals every day. It’s a good idea for you to take this approach consciously. I believe strongly in working with my goals twice a day at minimum, once in the morning, and once in the evening.

I have spiral notebook in which I write my goals. In that notebook I have also developed my “Statement of Achievement.” This statement opens my goal list and closes my goal list. It sets the tone for the goals to follow. I recommend that you write your own, Statement of Achievement and that you write your statement and your list of goals twice a day. Sometimes you’ll want to even go back more and recite the statement as it occurs to you during the day.

Step Five: Recognize and Act On Your Intuition

Balancing your internal process with your external process is step five of my accelerated goal achievement process. First you want to become sensitive to the ideas and solutions that are presented to you thousands of times daily.

You are always receiving ideas, insights, and greater details that pertain to your goals throughout the day. Once you decide to really focus on your goal setting and achievement this will become more noticeable. It’s important that you capture this information. Carry a journal with you and write down the sparks of insight you receive throughout the day. These are the quickest paths to your goals. When you take action on these items you will be led into circumstances that will, in turn, set you on a direct path to your goal.

Step Six: Overcome Your Resistance

We all tend to hesitate, re-consider, and even procrastinate. We have impulses that we ignore. There are actions we won’t take. We don’t make calls. We don’t write letters. We don’t send emails. Sometimes others will offer ideas and suggestions, but we don’t want to be counseled or coached. There are so many examples of how we resist achieving our own goals. You must become conscious of your resistance and learn to breakthrough this resistance.

Step Seven: Establish Positive Triggers

You can and should train yourself to remain focused on your goals and your ability to achieve them by establishing psychological triggers that bring you to the right focus and state of accomplishment quickly. Pyschological triggers include words that quickly bring you back to your aim, images representing the successful accomplishment of your goals, and even music that affects you emotionally and gives you the feeling of success and accomplishment.

Achieving your goals requires the right thinking and the right actions, sometimes for an extended period of time. However, these tips will help you develop a winning strategy that will keep your progress steady and pointed in the right direction.

André Taylor is an entrepreneur, a highly paid consultant, and one of today’s dynamic voices on business and personal success. He’s the author of a collection of audio and video programs including the business-building system, 81 Lessons of The Natural Entrepreneur. For more than 25 years, André has been involved in enterprise management and the discipline of personal and organizational development. Combining broad range experience in high-growth industries, and an uncommon understanding of the lessons of business and personal resilience, he provides extraordinary insight and commentary on the subjects of entrepreneurship, leadership, sales, marketing, innovation, and growth. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=André_Taylor

Your Imagination is Your Greatest Asset

You and I have talked about the importance and value of having a true purpose in life, and how best to remain dedicated to realising it. We've talked about the problems you can face and the challenges you may have to overcome in reaching your goal.

Always remember that you have a gift you can use to uncover the deeper levels of your purpose and your vision, which can sustain you through times when it seems impossible and you falter a little. It's a gift that all of us have and we use it every day as children, but as we get older so many of us put it away and forget the joy it can bring to our lives.

It's your imagination.

Imagination is what drives us to dream dreams and follow our goals. It colours the landscape of our day to day existence, and informs us of our passions and our creativity.

It is also fundamental in helping you open your heart and live in the most profound and loving of ways, because without imagination you cannot feel empathy or sorrow for another person's circumstances, or joy in their triumphs and achievements. Being able to put yourself in someone else's situation means that you can live in a totally non-judgmental way and accept all people for who they are.

What's even more amazing is that you no longer have to ask yourself why you should pursue your chosen path - you can visualise the journey and put yourself in the position of having completed it. Your imagination can actually help you achieve what you think is impossible.

Does that sound impossible?

Here’s what I mean. Remember a time when you tried over and over again to achieve something but never quite hit the mark - maybe it was exams in school or perhaps a driving test. The more you kept trying, the more difficult it appeared to be, until you started to tell yourself that you were no good and you may as well give it up as a bad job.

You know that's not true, right? You know you can do it - but it's just not happening. And yet, by using that wonderful gift of imagination, you can visualise yourself achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. Visualising it often reminds you that you're not a failure; that you can do it, because you've visualised yourself doing it.

You are in control of your own achievements and your own depth of commitment to others. All you have to do is use that amazing asset of yours, and rediscover the childlike joy in a world of potential and endless possibilities.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neel_Raman

Kick Your Self Out of Your Comfort Zone

One of the great things about teaching improv comedy is that I get to see people stretch themselves and do things they never thought possible. For most people, improv comedy is out of their comfort zone. Watching a person step out of their comfort zone and gradually (or sometimes even rapidly) expand their comfort zone is a wonderful thing.

This concept applies to much more than just improv comedy. Getting out of your comfort zone is vital to any kind of success and to your own development, because all success lies outside of your comfort zone. Here’s an important fact that most people never think about: unless you are 100% satisfied with everything in your life, you must get out of your comfort zone!

To rephrase that: if there is any area of your life where you are not getting the success you want and deserve, you have to get out of your comfort zone to get it.

There is a quote that sums up why this is true. “If you keep doing what you’ve always done then you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.” If what you’ve always gotten (and are currently getting) is not what you want, then you need to do something different. Unfortunately, “different” is usually outside of your comfort zone. If you could just do what you were already comfortable with to achieve your success, you’d already be doing it.

The problem is that we don’t like getting out of our comfort zones. The word “comfort” is used deliberately. That means that getting out of your comfort zone is “uncomfortable.” Naturally, we don’t like to be uncomfortable.

The mentality that keeps us in our comfort zone is subtle though, and often comes up in the form of avoidance. That is, we don’t say, “I could have what I want, it’s just that it’s outside of my comfort zone.” Instead we blame externalities, “If people would just hire me then my business would be successful,” or we limit ourselves, “Oh, I could never do that.” In the worst case, we ignore it all together. We don’t think about what we want or could have, and we refuse to talk about. It remains a dream buried deep down in the back of our heads for years (regrettably, sometimes forever).

In my years of doing improvisational comedy, I hear the same suggestions over and over (audiences love to yell, “bathroom” for a location and “spatula” for an object – don’t ask me why!). There is a strong temptation to “re-use” old material. If I have done a joke or scene based on that suggestion previously, I may want to repeat it since I know it worked before. In fact, I have seen many; many improvisers go down this route. Re-doing on old scene is a classic “comfort zone” technique.

I learned early on however that a joke or scene never works as well the second time around. In improv, it’s the act of doing something new (stepping out of the comfort zone) that increases the enjoyment and quality. Once it has been done and is comfortable, something is missing.

Life works the same way. Staying in the comfort zone feels safe and good, but the quality is never the same. If there is *any* are of your life that you want to improve, then you must get out of your comfort zone!

*** This article is an excerpt from Avish's book, "Improvise to Success!" To learn about the whole book, visit http://www.AvishParashar.com/store.asp Avish Parashar is a dynamic professional speaker who shows organizations and individuals how to get what they want using the Art and Science of improv comedy. He weaves together humorous stories, witty observations, and interactive exercises from improvisational comedy to get people laughing, learning, and motivated! For more free articles, downloads, and resources, visit: http://www.AvishParashar.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Avish_Parashar

5 Ways To Give Up Improper Habits

I use the word “improper” because I hate using the word “bad”. Bad sounds evil or terrible, and some habits just aren’t that bad; they might be annoying but they are not bad. What improper habits do you have? We all have improper habits that we exhibit occasionally, especially with our spouse. For this particular article, I’m not talking about sins or addictions. I’m talking about the annoying little idiosyncrasies that we carry around on a daily basis that may or may not frustrate those we live with.

1. Identify Your Habits

First, identify your habits. If you’re not sure if you have any annoying habits, ask your spouse, I’m sure they will tell you. Maybe you leave the toilet seat up after using the restroom. Or, maybe you always have to be right in an argument. Or it could be that you leave your dirty laundry lying around the house, rather than putting it in the laundry basket. Maybe you like to put the medal to the pedal and drive too fast. Or, maybe you are compulsively late for appointments. You get the idea, right?

2. Write Down Habits

Headline your habit on an index card. Next write down a short statement to yourself on how you are not going to do that particular behavior anymore. Write something along the lines of, “Today I will not leave the toilet seat up. I will be considerate of my wife and daughters and put the toilet seat down for them”. Wherever your habit takes place, in the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, car, or work, take your index card with you and tape it up where you can see it during the day, so you can defeat it once and for all! Do this for one month and watch your habit go away for good.

3. Reward Yourself

For each annoying behavior you defeat, reward yourself with something you enjoy, whatever that may be. Just make sure that you do not reward yourself with something else that could turn improper later. Ah!

4. Don’t Accept Your Habits

The biggest reason we don’t try and change our behavior is we have accepted the habits as a part of who we are. But that’s not true. Habits are not “who we are” but rather “what we make ourselves be.” We choose to make ourselves the habits that we have. If we truly believe that we cannot stop doing a particular behavior then we won’t even try to eradicate it from our lives. It is up to the individuals to change themselves if they can acknowledge they have improper habits and behaviors then they can also choose to get rid of those things completely from their lives. We have choices.

5. Talk To Your Spouse

I cannot say enough how important it is to have additional support from the person we married. Let them know ahead of time the behaviors you are trying to conquer, and show them ways, in which they can help you. If your spouse is trying to break one of their habits, be encouraging and uplifting for them. If they slip try to not nag or rub it in their nose. Help them back up and tell them to not give up! Be there for your spouse!

Do not let unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29 NIV)

Angie is the author of three marriage books offering marriage tips and wisdom filled answers tackling such issues as addiction, adultery, pornography, emotions, beliefs, feelings, marriage, children, forgiveness, communication, submission and spiritual influence in the home. **Love The Man You Married** is a great teaching tool for couples. Every Christian wife and husband should read this informative book on marriage. ISBN: 1411677501 **Love The Woman You Married**This is a great book on finding and putting to work your purpose for mariage, and understanding the aspects of submission and spiritual influence in the home. A wonderful teaching guide about how God designed marriage to be. Excellent resource for husband and wife to read together. ISBN 978-1-4303-0047-2 To preview these books go here: http://www.lulu.com/AngieLewis/ **Journey on the Roads Less Traveled** A Very inspirational book! Meet Jesus Through the Author's own spiritual journey. ISBN:1-4137-8890-4 Marriage Resources-http://www.heavenministries.com/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angie_Lewis