Take Control of Your Life

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams and live the life that 'only you' can imagine." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Do Something Great with Your Life

Successful people are always moving toward something important to them, and the feeling of movement makes them happy! It releases endorphins in your brain which cause you to be more creative, more positive, stronger, and more powerful.

Aristotle wrote that human beings are teleological organisms -- which simply means that we are purpose driven.

We only feel happy and in control of our life when we have a clear goal that we are working toward each day. This also means that this ability to become a lifelong goal setter is one of the most important disciplines you will ever develop. The good news is you don't need to know how to get there. You just need to be clear about what you want to accomplish and the goal striving mechanism in your brain will guide you unerringly to your destination.

"The best way to predict your future is to create it." ~ Abraham Lincoln

You can have it by design rather than by chance, simply by developing absolute clarity about what you really want.

7 Simple Steps to help you set and achieve goals:

There are more complex and detailed goal achieving methodologies, but this 7 Step Method will enable you to accomplish ten times more than you've ever accomplished before -- and you will do so far faster than you can currently imagine.

Step One: Decide exactly what you want. Be specific -- if you want to increase your income, decide on a specific amount of money rather than to just make more money.

Step Two: Write it down. A goal that is not in writing is like cigarette smoke. It drifts away and disappears. It is vague and insubstantial. It has no force, effect or power.

Step Three: Set a deadline for your goal. Pick a reasonable time period and write down the date when you want to achieve it. If it's a BIG enough goal, set a final deadline and then set sub deadlines or interm steps between where you are today and where you want to be in the future.

A deadline serves as a forcing system in your brain, just as you often get more done when you are under the pressure of a specific deadline. Your subconscious mind works faster and more efficiently when you have decided that you want to achieve a goal by a specific time. The rule is there are no unrealistic goals. There are only unrealistic deadlines. So, what do you do if you do not achieve your goal by your deadline? It's simple -- you set another deadline -- a deadline is just a guesstimate. Sometimes you will achieve your goal before the deadline, sometimes at the deadline, and sometimes after the deadline. When you set your goal, it will be within the context of a certain set of external circumstances -- but these circumstances may change -- causing you to change your deadline as well... Be flexible!

Step Four: Make a list of everything you can think of -- that you could possibly do -- to achieve your goal.

"The biggest goal can be accomplished if you just break it down into enough small steps." ~ Henry Ford

• Make a list of the obstacles and difficulties that you will have to overcome, both external and internal, in order to achieve your goal.
• Make a list of the additional knowledge and skills that you will require in order to achieve your goal.
• Make a list of the people whose cooperation and support you will require to achieve your goal.
• Make a list of everything you can think of that you will have to do, and then add to this list as new tasks, and responsibilities occur to you. Keep writing until your list is complete.

Step Five: Organise your list by both sequence and priority.

A list of activities organised by sequence requires that you decide what you need to do first; what you need to do second; and what you need to do later on. In addition, a list organised by priority enables you to determine what is more important and what is less important. Sometimes sequence and priority are the same, but often they are not.

Step Six: Take action on your plan immediately.

Take the first step and then the second step and then the third step... Get going... Get busy... Move quickly... Don't delay!

Remember, procrastination is not only the thief of time, it's the thief of life.

The difference between success and failures in life is simply that winners take the first step; they are action oriented. As they said in Star Trek, they go boldly where no man has ever gone before.

Winners are willing to take action with no guarantee of success -- though they are willing to face failure and disappointment -- they are always willing to take action as well.

Step Seven: Do something every day that moves you in the direction of your major goal.

This is the key step that will guarantee your success. Do something seven days a week, 365 days a year. Do anything that moves you at least one step closer to the goal that is most important to you at that time. When you do something every day that moves you in the direction of your goal, you develop momentum. This momentum, this sense of forward motion, motivates, inspires, and energises you. As you develop momentum, you will find it increasingly easy to take more steps towards your goal. In no time at all, you will have developed the discipline of working toward your goal all the time.