Action Speaks Louder than Words

The biggest hindrance that most of us face in not achieving our goals and objectives is that we don’t act aggressively enough to accomplish them. I used to think that if God is on my side every accomplishment would be easy. There is nothing further from the truth and I have learned better now. I have missed out on many opportunities in life and many accomplishments because I would falter at the first sign of difficulty and figure that since there were so many problems I must be doing the wrong thing. Now I know that anything worthwhile is worth fighting for and we will have to fight to secure any major accomplishments. There are no ifs ands or buts about it. It is what it is. I had to accept this fact and roll with it. There is a massive difference between hoping or wishing for self improvement, or that something will change in our lives, and actively deciding to make changes in our lives.

New Year resolutions often fall into the wishing and hoping category. If we say ‘I’d like to give up smoking’ or ‘I need to lose weight’ or ‘I really should get fit’ or ‘I should get a better job’ our chances of success aren’t great. Why not? The wording alone makes these more like a wish list of things that we think will make us happier if they happened. We need to decide what we need to accomplish then make it happen. There is no other way.

Decisions are when we say to ourselves I am going to do whatever I have to do to lose 30 pounds in the next six months or I am not prepared to put up with my job any longer. We need to decide that ‘enough is enough’ and be absolutely serious that this is what we want. We need to be prepared get any information and help we need, form a plan and be prepared to take massive and consistent action. We need to be 100% committed to our decisions and be prepared to follow through whatever it takes. If you have faith and confidence in the plan it will work for you. Your faith will make you work all the more when it looks as if things might not go the way that you need for them to go.

The first step to making any change is making a decision. The next step is to make your decision work for you. No decision will be perfect. If you waver because you want to work out all of the beginning details you don’t have confidence in your decision. Conditions will never be perfect so a decision won’t ever be perfect.

Aggressive execution will make your decision work. If you refuse to take no for an answer of to allow failure as an option you will win 99 per cent of the time. You can make a bad decision and execute it well enough to make it right.

I once talked to an ex Marine who was telling me one of their philosophies on accomplishing the mission given to them by their commander. They believed that if their commander made a mistake they could compensate and make it right by being more aggressive in their execution.

I have noticed that successful people are more often than not what we call hard chargers. They refuse to listen to negative feedback which will hinder their accomplishment of their mission. As I write this article I am looking at one of the best college football coaches in America. His philosophy has always been this; “We performed well but there are some areas in which we need improvement.” The successful person is always striving for more.<a href=http://cedricrice-A.webcopycat.com> The Good Life</a>

Setting Goals in Life

As I write this article I write it knowing that setting and keeping goals is my own personal weakness. I have a definite sense of direction and work diligently but I know that if I wrote my goals down and followed a systematic plan to accomplish them I would do much better. When you break your goal down into a list of steps tp follow to get where you want to go you will do much better. Good intentions are just that but they must be accomplished with some sort of a detailed plan. The plan serves to keep you on track. You should follow the steps but don’t end up being a numbers cruncher. You need to step back every once in a while and make a realistic assessment of where you are and what you need to do in order to get where you want to be. This keeps you from losing sight of reality by just being too task oriented

Now you have a clear understanding of why goal setting is so important and it is time to actually set goals that will lead you through the next year or so of your life. This is where you get to take an honest look at your unfulfilled dreams and put them down on paper as goals that you are going to actually work toward accomplishing. You need to think backwards from where you desire to be to where you are and list the tasks necessary to get you there.

You need to set your long term goals first of all and wrap everything else up around them. They are the priority. Your short term goals will have to be flexible because there will be times that you will have to change them to meet some need or to adjust to unexpected circumstances.

Decide what you want the end result to be and then shape your life around it. For example if your long term goal is to be a millionaire write it down. You will have to set some timelines next. You will have to break that goal down into time increments and work to achieve them. If your overall goal is to become a millionaire you will have to have $100,000 at some point in life. You will have to have $300,000 at some other time. You will have to keep track of the times that you need to reach these smaller goals in order to remain on track. Determine the actions necessary in order to reach your goals. You will have to take a look at where you are in relation to accomplishing your long term goals and make an honest assessment. It will be necessary to make mid course corrections. Whenever we launch a vehicle into space the small rockets on the exterior are constantly making small corrections in order to keep it on course.

It is imperative that you establish a time line for accomplishing your goals in life. Timelines serve as something that will keep your plan on track. They are like the lines which keep you on the road at night. You need to establish timelines for the minor goals that you have established. This is the greatest single thing that you can do in order to get where you want to go.

Now that you have a rough list that represents your biggest aspirations, go down each list and write down how many years you think it might take you to actually accomplish each of those goals.. In order to be effective, goal setting must be very specific so you know exactly what you are aiming for. For instance, a goal to lose 100 pounds is specific but “lose weight” is not.

These goals must also be measurable, so determine how you will measure success. For instance, our 100 pound goal could be measured with weekly weigh-ins on one scale. So must you do with any goal that you set. Assign specific dates to your goals in order to stay on track with the things that you want to accomplish in life

Remember that you will have to change your outlook and adjust your course frequently. If you have set a goal too high there is no harm in taking it down. Goals should be realistic most of all. There is no sense in setting goals so high that you can’t accomplish them<a href=http://cedricrice-A.webcopycat.com> The Good Life</a>

How to Become a Better Me (Part 3)

 One thing that you must remember is that you must be willing to work in order to make a really big change. It’s going to be hard but if you are serious you will prevail. You must not be daunted by the task at hand, you can do it!! Whatever you do don’t give up. You may have to slow down a little from time to time but don’t quit. There will be good days and bad days. One thing that I have learned is that when things are going good take advantage of the situation and press harder. That way you will have made extra progress when things slow down as they often will. 

Keep in mind that you are not Superman so there is no need to feel bad when things go wrong. Something will go wrong from time to time. That’s just a fact of life. You just have to deal with it when they do. You are also not going to see results overnight. I used to train people who were attempting to lose weight and one of the things that I would warn them to do is not to get on the scales. The typical person would want to jump on the scales after every workout. When they saw no progress they would become discouraged. It takes at least a week of hard dieting to see any results at all and then they will be minimal. Give yourself some time. 

It will seem that you are going nowhere some of the time and some of the time that will be true. The key is to concentrate on small pieces of the puzzle. Enjoy your small victories and let them be the springboard to larger things. Learn from your defeats and make adjustments as you go along. Over time you will gain victory over those things which used to defeat you. 

All plans go awry sometimes. When I was a Field Artilleryman in the Army we knew that factors outside of our control would interfere with our plans from time to time. I learned to make my plan as detailed as possible and to make sure that all of those under me understood what it was. Whenever I did this we would always overcome the distractions. This type of planning allowed us to take them in style. It really works. 

Remember to surround yourself with people who push and motivate you, but at the same time you must learn how to motivate yourself.  http://cedricrice-A.webcopycat.com