Repeat What Works!

The question is often asked, “How do I become truly successful on a personal level as well as on a financial level?” The simple answer is: repeat what works and eliminate what doesn’t.

Last night on the evening news, after the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama, the journalists were scurrying through the crowd of people down on the Mall looking for sound bites to expose the collective feeling in and around the area. One such sound bite caught my attention. It was from a young African American man, probably fourteen or fifteen years old. He said to the reporter, “Now I want to be President someday!” Then he clarified, “I WILL be President someday”. The inspiration that has been disseminated from this event is surely great. Let’s look at this at a deeper level for a moment.

I was thinking to myself this morning – what would that young man need to do to accomplish such a dream? Then came the simple answer: just follow the path of success that has already been paved. Time and time again we see this answer in every aspect of life:

• Professional Baseball Players train constantly, spending hours in the batting cage to mold that perfect swing into their muscle memory


• Businesses set up project management guidelines to ensure every project has a higher success rate


• Farmers till their fields and plant the crops within certain parameters every year


• Scientists build on the successful portions of their experiments and remove the failing parts


• Lawyers frame their cases and prepare their closing arguments inclusive of adjustments from what worked last time


• Fishermen know their quarry and use bait that is attractive to the sought after species and they fish in the correct habitat of that species


• Sons and daughters use Mom’s “famous” recipe to please the dinner crowd

People everywhere know this instinctively – this is how we have grown as a people. We have built our cultures and our technologies on what we have learned from past successes and failures, and more importantly, building on what works and removing what doesn’t work.

So as we forge ahead in our own lives, and for that young man who was inspired by the new President of the United States, to increase our own success rate at any endeavor, we must continue to repeat what works or what has worked in the past and discard what did not work.

Whatever your goals, dreams or major purpose in life, the most effective and efficient way to reach it is to find out how someone else with a similar objective reached their success. People are happy to share successful techniques in life. This is why there are endless titles of “how to” books for sale (another good source for learning what works).

And, speaking from experience, if you know of a person who has reached a goal similar to one that you have in mind, chances are you can call them and ask them for an “informational interview”. Be sincere and tell them about your aspirations and ask if they would be willing to share some insight with you.

Most people understand that what you give comes back “tenfold”, so I will bet they will be more than willing to share their experiences with you. Remember, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. Find someone great to imitate and you, too, will be on the path of success.

http://www.goal-link.com

Happy New Year – Now Own It!

The New Year brings new hope for a better tomorrow. It brings new opportunities for new successes. But, as Bob Proctor (a notable motivational speaker and teacher) once said, “To change your life, you have to… change your life!”.

We all know the old adage that the “definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results”. Well, Bob was correct. For us to really change our lives for the better, we have to change what we are doing and how we are doing it.

No matter how much we may want someone else to do the work for us – we have to own it. It’s our life; it’s our health; it’s our money; it’s our spirituality. It belongs to us and only we can make the change. You have a choice really: You can always make excuses or, you can make a change.

If you have any new aspirations, goals, or New Year’s resolutions, only You can achieve them. You have to write them down, and build out a plan for attaining them. You have to visualize yourself achieving them each and every day, and you have to make forward progress toward each and every goal. It’s simple science really and the good news is, you own it. You own the work and you own all the success that will follow.

For some reason, we tend to forget that we are each still in charge of our own life. We cannot blame the negativism of the mass media any longer. We can no longer afford to be lulled into believing how far off track we are as a nation because of some government or corporate scandal or crisis. We have to own a belief in our future that things can be better. We can make mindful choices in every aspect of our lives.

Zig Ziglar once made a comment about a time in his life when he chose to be overweight. He paused after his comment and looked at his audience and said – “Oh yes….I chose to be overweight because I chose to eat everything I put in my mouth!” The comment got a good laugh but drives home the point that no matter what happens around us, it’s still our life and we are the ones who are making the ultimate decisions that affect us every minute of every day.

It’s all about attitude.
As a former U.S. Marine, I can tell you that many people have asked me the same question about Marine Boot Camp – “Was it tough?” The U.S. Marines are known world-wide to have the toughest initial training to accomplish their goal of having the toughest warriors in the world. When most people think of a Marine Drill Instructor, they picture a 6’4”, 230 pound angry, solid mass of muscle, screaming at the top of his lungs to move his troops in the direction he wants.

I can share with you that this vision is correct. The yelling, the screaming, the countless pushups, the endurance runs, climbing up walls and crawling through mud - face first…. all in the hot, humid, 95 degree heat of the South Carolina swamp land… Well, it’s all very real and very true. But, the question still stands, “Was it tough?”

The answer? Not if you choose to own it. I quickly saw, the way The Drill Instructors had a particular way of handling those who would fail at a certain task due to a lack of physical ability. Watching this, I quickly learned that this game had nothing to do with the strongest kid on the block or the toughest fighter, etc.

It was all about our mental attitude and how we would handle the adversity. For those of us who owned the challenge, even if we failed at a certain task, we succeeded. Because it is never the obstacle that brings us failure – it is our choice as to whether we accept defeat or see it as a learning opportunity and grow forward.

Think of this:
“….the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any give set of circumstances”

Viktor Frankl – a Nazi prison camp survivor who’s wife, mother and father were all murdered in the Nazi camps.

At the end of the day, we have a responsibility to our higher-power, to ourselves, to our families and to society, to take ownership for our emotional and physical health, our financial success, our spirituality and our philanthropic endeavors. We own it all and that’s the good news. It’s not up to the media or the government or corporate America; it’s up to us as individuals to take ownership of it all and create our own success in life.

Happy New Year – Now go make it a great one!


http://www.goal-link.com/

Why Plan?

Have you ever thought of the mindset, planning and purpose involved in achieving some of the greatest discoveries ever made? For the Wright Brothers, that purpose was to determine a way for man to fly; for Alexander Graham Bell, it was to solve the challenge of communicating over distances; for Thomas Edison it was to learn the secret of artificial light (after 3,000 failed attempts). These respective passions drove these men each day to never give up. Without a clear mission and plan of action, these men would likely have failed and the world would not have received their benefit. In the end, they each made the world a better place to live.

So…What is your purpose in life? In 20, 30, 40 years from now, what do you want your life to look like? What do you want your life’s legacy to be? Will the world be a better place as a result of your life? How does your career help you attain that purpose?

"The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to achieving your dreams." -- Og Mandino, 1923-1996, Author

Even the restaurant dish washer will feel his work become more bearable if he knows that his work is part of a larger plan to one day open his own restaurant. Identifying your own goals and greater purpose in life is the key to happiness and, ultimately, success in life. It is the key to fulfilling your potential, both as an employee and as a member of the global community. And each life goal you set is a step toward fulfilling your ultimate purpose. This “goal setting business” is a different way of thinking about our lives, but one that we can each learn and apply to make each day a conscious step in the right direction.

"Drifting through life without aim or purpose is the first cause of failure" - Napoleon Hill
Go set a plan for your life today. Failure is not an option because the world is waiting to receive the benefit of your plans.

www.GoaL-Link.com

Creating, Setting and Achieving Goals… It’s All About Choices!

To achieve anything in life, it is all about making the right choices to do so, isn’t it?

It is true; we can only succeed at any given opportunity if we make the right choices. This reality became crystal clear to me recently when talking with my father on Thanksgiving Day about a brother of mine who leads a very challenging life, to say the least. My father constantly “flip flops” on his position regarding my brother from one day to the next. One day he’ll say he’s going to have him arrested for trespassing, the next day, he feels sorry for him and wants to help him. It’s a classic scenario, to some degree, that affects many families throughout our culture. There’s always that one “bad apple” that creates all the drama and infuses so much tension into the holiday season.

As my father and I were sitting on the back porch just relaxing after a “Grade A+” Thanksgiving meal, he talked more about his frustrations and his guilt regarding the things that had or had not been done in the past to ensure a better path for my older brother. I’ve heard so many of these tired self-analyses with no change in behavior that I tend to drift off when he starts talking about it all. But then my father said something that grabbed my attention. He said, “You know, your brother is very smart – he’s probably the smartest of all of you kids”. Now, aside from the fact that the delivery of the message wasn’t the greatest, I understood what he was saying. And, in fact, I actually agreed because it’s true.

My brother was, to my memory, very smart. He was one of those guys who could strip down an engine and put it back together and it would run better. He could fix any given troubled spot in the house – the plumbing, the electrical, you name it. He was very quick witted too, always had something funny to say that would really bring about the warm, loving, and funny side of his personality.

But the trouble was his lack of making good choices in life. Instead of making the right choices, he chose to always live life on the edge. Whether it was getting in trouble with the law, the numerous car accidents while driving intoxicated, or borrowing money or cars or tools, he chose the easy way out every day. He would never pay the money back; he would crash the car; he would lose or break the tools. It was one bad decision after the next for the past 40+ years. It has been like watching a very long B-rated movie with a bad ending. In the end, he’s just pitiful, with no one to blame but himself, but always looking for another scapegoat to explain why he made these bad choices. So many years lived and nothing to show for it but a rap sheet a mile long.

So, this comment from my father about how “smart” my brother was… well it jolted me as you can well imagine. And my response to him was, “Dad, how old is Barack Obama? The response was correctly, “47”. The next question I asked was how old my brother was. Again, the answer was, “47”. So I said, “Dad, I agree this brother is probably smarter than all of us “kids”, but it really isn’t about being smart is it? It really isn’t about being the smartest kid in the class - ever! It’s about making the right choices in life! He’s the same age as our next President of the United States, but far from leading a productive or successful life!”

Whatever our political leanings, the story of Mr. Obama’s life in contrast to my own brother’s, illustrates the power of choices in one’s life.

Let’s look at Barak’s life and some of the significant events that shaped his life (many of them very challenging events):

1961 - Barack was born in Hawaii. His mother of English, Irish and German decent; his father was Luo, which is an ethnic group from Kenya.
1963 - His father left his mother and returned to Kenya when Barack was just two years old.
1964 - His mother re-married a man from Indonesia.
1967 - The family moved to Indonesia to live and Barack stayed there until he was ten years old.
1971 – Barack was sent back to Hawaii to live with his Grandparents.
1972 - His mother returned to Hawaii.
1977 – His mother left to go back to Indonesia.
1979 - Barack graduated from high school in Hawaii.
1982 – His Kenyan father died in Kenya in a car accident.
1994 – His mother returned to Hawaii once again.
1995 – His mother died of cancer.
2008 – Barak Obama was elected 44th President of the United States.

Looking at his life, we see a man who has had plenty of challenges which he could have used to “excuse” any series of bad decisions in his life. Instead, he chose hard work and determination.

He chose success. The only way to achieve real success in life is by making the right choices, and that will make all the difference.

Choose your success today.

GoaL-Link.com

When Creating Goals - Stay Positive!

Happy Holidays from GoaL-Link.com! And, as we prepare our tables for thanks this season, don’t forget to log into your GoaL-Link.com account and update your Gratitude Journal with everything you are thankful for this Thanksgiving. It’s a great way to set your mind on a positive path for the holidays.

Speaking of setting our minds on a positive path...when creating your goals, always stay positive in your language. This means, we should always look for the positive side of the goal and state the goal as such.For example, let’s say we have a Personal goal to get in shape. Our culture these days is very diet focused. And there are lots of “weight loss” programs out there. But, what we in the “positive thinking” industry have learned is that when we want to “lose” something, our minds are trained to try to find it!

So instead of stating your goal like this: “To lose 15lbs.”, we should spin this to the positive. So our goal will look like this “To reach my healthy weight of xxxlbs.” or like this, “To increase my health and fitness so I feel 10 years younger!”Also, remember to upload a good picture to coincide with your goals.

There is a huge advantage in having pictures represent your goals —especially a weight related goal. I have a great picture of some anonymous guy who’s in great shape and it just so happens that he has the physique that I’m striving for! So I put his picture to one of my health related goals.

Keep up the great goal setting work and remember, feel free to e-mail with any questions about your goal setting efforts or if you need some help remembering your account login information. We can always be reached at Coach@GoaL-Link.com

Visit your goals today at www.GoaL-Link.com

The Center of the Universe?

My daughter received a wonderful pop-up book about space for her 7th birthday recently. It has many fun fold-out maps and things that pop up when you open every page, all in bold, beautiful colors. It’s really well done and makes learning fun. It was the perfect gift for my daughter who often feels she’s the center of everyone’s universe and also happens to love space!
After my daughter was in bed last night, I sat down to rest from the day’s busy activities and picked up this new book to give it another look.

I never got past the first page. There, the enormity of space is put into perspective in 3D and it really got me thinking. The 2-page spread begins with a picture of Earth and where it fits into our solar system. Earth is actually quite small when you see how it compares with the other planets in our solar system. Remember this from second grade? Next, on the same page, the book illustrates where our solar system sits within our galaxy – the Milky Way.
Wow. Our solar system is only one of billions in our galaxy.

To give you a bit more perspective, the nearest star to the Sun is more than 25 trillion miles away – that’s 25,000,000,000,000. Our entire solar system appears as only a speck within the Milky Way. And our galaxy is one of about 30 galaxies in a family of galaxies called the “Local Group”. This entire group of galaxies takes up only a tiny corner of the overall universe.
Okay, are you beginning to have a brain meltdown? If so, I can understand why. This is all truly mind boggling. Although I had learned about the vastness of space many times before, somehow through this depiction in this children’s book, it struck me all over again. I was left with a feeling of overwhelming insignificance.

And then the questions: Why ARE we here? How did we come to be? Does this universe exist by chance, or by design? Either way, what does it mean for my life? Does my life hold any significance at all? And then I thought about all the things that just one person can achieve in this world during their “brief” lifetime. Many, many individual people just like you and I have done extraordinary things over the centuries. They’ve discovered places and developed theories; they’ve built amazing structures, traveled to the moon, developed new and better ways of doing things. Think of the advancements in health, science, technology, and mathematics. Individual people can do so many things with their lives which can have a significant impact on the lives of millions of people. So maybe we’re not so insignificant. Maybe we can choose to be significant.

I call this choice “living life on purpose”. To purposely affect the significance of your life, I propose that you must have a plan for your life. You must attempt to think beyond the tasks of everyday living and begin to see your life as a fixed amount of time during which you will do . . . WHAT? What will you do with your life? What mark will you leave on this world?
To achieve something greater than ourselves, we must have GOALS and a positive mindset that says “I can”.

We must plan for those goals by setting a course of action to achieve them. We must plan daily, weekly, monthly steps – the actions – that will lead us to achieving our goals.
In the end, we may have a lot to learn from a 7 year old. Imagine if we each believed we were Supremely Significant. What if we believed that each of our lives was critical to some universal web? What if we each believed the universe revolved around us? Would we intentionally plan to do more with our lives? Would you?

I have a coffee mug that says it this way, “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?”
Once you answer that question, go and do it. Make your life significant and plan to do something. By choosing to FOCUS on our goals, we can get there, one step at a time. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” And your step could make all the difference for you, for your family and quite possibly, for mankind. So leap out with a positive mindset and the self-centeredness of a 7 year old, and “know” that you cannot fail.

The Universe is waiting for you.

Adversity to Benefit - Even a child can "get it"...

"Adversity to Benefit" - it's a phrase that I first came across in Napoleon Hill's famous 1937 book titled "Think & Grow Rich".

It truly means that for every adversity in the world, there is, by the law of Nature, a corresponding benefit. The trick is, you have to be willing and able to look for the benefit. This takes a bit of training for the mind.

For some reason, we are raised in a culture that tends to sensationalize and see only the bad - the adversities. But, today, I was reminded at just how easy it is to look at life through the lens of hope for something better to come. My six year old daughter came home from school and told us about her busy day in first grade.

The back drop for this story is that the past week for her has been one let down after another with various "clubs" on the playground being formed and dismantled faster than an investment bank can go out of business these days. She experienced one disappointment after another as she tried her turn at starting a club just to be let down by no takers.Then flip the scene to today.

Apparently, there were three girls that she just met on the playground and they all seemed to get along as if it was meant to be. And so a new club was started - without effort, I might add. But, the real happy ending came at the end of the story when our daughter said "I'm glad those other girls didn't want to be my friend....because I never would have met my new friends today".

Adversity to benefit - if we start to train our minds that something good will always come from something bad - then we will seek to find the good whenever something bad does happen. So go find yourself a new club today - a club of good things that you deserve in your life.

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