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Plan, Progress & Achieve Your Dreams By Glenise Anderson

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Page 1: Plan, Progress - Self Confident Women€¦qualities that you were born with, the winner you were born to be emerges. When you plan and prepare to make a sale, for example, you can

Plan, Progress & Achieve Your Dreams

By Glenise Anderson

Page 2: Plan, Progress - Self Confident Women€¦qualities that you were born with, the winner you were born to be emerges. When you plan and prepare to make a sale, for example, you can

Work Life Balance

By Glenise Anderson

(c) 2013

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All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior

written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.

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About Glenise Anderson There is no doubt that Glenise is a Self Confident Woman. In her lifelong quest of personal improvement, she noticed the more she learned and implemented, the more confident she became. Being committed to ‘walking her talk’ and understanding that everyone struggles at times, including herself, she has created a self-development program just for women. She wanted something accessible to every woman who wanted to develop themselves a little more - but found it a little overwhelming just trying to work out where to start! She was thinking specifically about the type of woman her knowledge and skill could assist. You know the type, the woman who is trying to do her best every single day - juggling family, relationships and jobs and then trying to squeeze in time for herself as well. Glenise felt she could package together a program, where all the hard work in researching the relevant material had already been done, it would make a busy woman’s life that much easier. As well as research, Glenise has included information from her own experiences. Glenise’s ultimate goal is to see an Empowered Woman willing to take steps, even baby ones, to improve their own lives and those of others. Glenise understands Self Confident Women come in all different shapes and sizes, live in all sorts of places and come from various backgrounds. But all have similar traits – they take responsibility for their own lives and empower others.

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Welcome to the Self Confident Women eBook on Goal Setting. Before we get into it, I’m going to start with a quote from a great little book called “Now Is the Time” by Patrick Lindsay and follow this with a story by Zig Ziglar. I thought it would be a nice way to ease into the topic. Now is the time to… Set Your Goals Set short, medium and long-term goals The long-term goals will keep you going when you miss some of the short-term ones Goals serve as subliminal signposts Aiming for them takes the focus off the obstacles Achieving them gives you renewed enthusiasm The story below is called “Achieving Success by Expecting Success” by Zig Ziglar. When you plan and prepare carefully, you can legitimately expect to have success in your efforts. When you recognize and develop the winning qualities that you were born with, the winner you were born to be emerges. When you plan and prepare to make a sale, for example, you can expect to make a sale. Although not all your expectations are going to come to pass, you give yourself an infinitely better chance of succeeding by taking the proper steps. Regardless of your goal—losing weight, making more sales, furthering your education, earning a promotion, saving money for a new home or an exotic vacation—you can expect to achieve your goal if you plan and prepare for it. Also understand that the path from where you are to where you want to be is not always smooth and straight. The reason for the twists and bumps is simple, and it has nothing to do with you. It has more to do with the fact that not everyone is as interested in your success as you are. Some people may accidentally hinder your efforts; others who are in competition with you and have little or no integrity may try to sabotage your efforts. Keep in mind, though, that when you hit those roadblocks, your character, commitment and attitude are the determining factors in your success. Carefully review your plan of action, seek wise counsel, and be particularly careful to feed your mind good information. An optimistic, positive mind is far more likely to come up with creative solutions than a mind that dwells on setbacks and difficulties. Bottom line: expect success and you can achieve it! One of the big things I got out of this story was the explanation about challenges, it said … the reason for the twists and bumps is simple, and it has nothing to do with you. It has more to do with the fact that not everyone is as

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interested in your success as you are – for me that explained so much and also reminded me that I need to be Accountable and Responsible for my actions and myself. So… I would like to ask you: how do you look at life? Is the glass half empty; or is the glass half full? My guess is, how you look at life will directly impact on the successful achievement of your goals. There is a saying that goes: Tell me and I will forget. Show me & I might remember. Involve me and I will understand. So that’s what I plan to do – involve you so you will understand. You should ensure you put into practice new strategies so that as each day blends into next, you are extremely comfortable using your new tools and not only you but also everyone around you will benefit. Now my main aim for this eBook is that at the end you will be able to say “I get it, I think I can do it, and I’m willing to try it! Remember Self Confident Women are here for your success!

Quote of the eBook “Living your life without a Plan is like watching TV with someone else holding the remote control” ~ Peter Turla.  

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Recommended Reading “Why People Fail – The 16 obstacles to success and how you can overcome them.” by Simon Reynolds. This paragraph is quoted from the Introduction. It says… “After all, success is often just a moment – a goal fulfilled, soon to be replaced with new goals. But failure is the ambitious person’s constant companion, often dogging us for months, years or even decades before we finally reach our aim. We need to understand and conquer failure if we are ever to master success. You’d never know it from our education system. At school we’re taught geography, history, mathematical formulas and obscure scientific facts never to be used for the rest of our lives, yet how many of us, in all our years of formal learning, were ever taught how to overcome obstacles to any goal? Surely this is more important than all the other traditional school subjects put together.” So although this book is not dedicated to Goal Setting – it is all about overcoming the obstacles that stop us from achieving our goals and I believe we need every bit of help we can get. Another book worth reading on this topic is ‘Create Your Own Future’ by Brian Tracy. This book outlines the 12 critical factors of Unlimited Success. There is also an eBook called “Purpose, Vision, Goals” by Bob Proctor you may find interesting. Now let’s start on our topic “Simple Goal Setting – Plan, Progress & Achieve.” I am reminded of a quote I heard many years ago, and it still rings true for me. It is: ‘Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal’ – Earl Nightingale. A worthy ideal is something we desire, something we want to achieve and something that makes us strive beyond our current abilities in order to get it. It’s logical that before we go any further, we should ask the question - What is a goal? A goal is a dream with an end date. That is, whatever we wish to achieve in our lives, but within a specific timeframe. A convenient way of creating your list of goals is to fill in the answers to the following questions:

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What do you want to BE? What do you want to DO? What do you want to HAVE? What do you want to GIVE? The last question is perhaps the most important. In order to get the things you want, your goals, you have to be prepared to GIVE something in return. Do you have any idea how you would answer these questions? I believe it’s an exercise worth doing and I’m sure it wouldn’t take very long if you sat down and thought about it. Now, that leads us to the Wheel of Life. The Wheel of Life is an opportunity to see how we are going in each area of our lives. We have lots of different areas – some we’re strong in, some not so strong, some we set goals for, some we don’t. Some areas we may even avoid and neglect and others we give too much time to. The diagram below is a sample ’Wheel of Life’. To do this exercise, you need to decide what heading you would like on each tab and then all you have to do is give yourself a score out of ten for each area. Zero is in the middle of the circle and indicates the need for lots more work in that area and ten is on the outer rim and means you’re very happy with how things are going. Your scores will be between 0 and 10 and if you draw a line between each of the points on the tabs, you will end up with a crooked wheel shape. This is a great way to find out which areas of your life need more focus and attention. It will also give you an idea of where you could start your goal setting. To give you a broad idea of important areas in your life, think about setting goals in some of the following categories. You may even like to mark a number on the wheel as we go around each area.

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Business/Career: Do you enjoy your work? Are you living up to your potential? Finances: Have you achieved a satisfactory standard of living? Have you planned for your children’s education? What about your own retirement? Health: How satisfied are you with your current level of physical health? Are you living up to your own standards in terms of diet and exercise? Are you fit enough to do the things you want to do? Family and Friends: Have you realised your dream in terms of your relationships with family and friends? Does your circle of friends enrich your life and contribute to your sense of fulfilment and well being? Is there at least one other person with whom you can discuss important life experiences? Romance: Is your relationship with your significant other how you would like it to be?

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Personal Growth: Did you accomplish the educational goals you set for yourself after leaving school? Are you still growing and learning? Do you invest in your continuing education on a regular basis? Fun & Recreation: Do you have interests outside of your career and family (e.g., sports, theatre, outdoor events)? Physical Environment: Look around your physical environment – is it as tidy and uncluttered as you would like it? Take a few moments now to complete your Wheel of Life. Once you’ve completed your Wheel of Life, you will see the areas in which some goals are needed. Take a few moments to think about and jot down some things you might want to create goals for. You may like to use the goal setting sheets in your handout to help with this. Once you’ve brainstormed your list of goals, then you need to be practical and weed out the ones that just don’t make sense. Ask the question “Why do I want this and what good will it really accomplish?” for each goal. When you find a goal that doesn’t have a good answer to this question, you’ve found a goal you can toss out. As you go over your list of goals, you ought to think about how to prioritise them. Not all goals are going to be equally important. Prioritise each area with an A, B, C and so forth. Remember life is constantly changing so be relaxed about the fact that sometimes priorities have to change too. If you are new to setting goals (or feel you have failed at goal setting in the past), just start with one goal and make it small. Trying to create too much change at once is often overwhelming, so take it slowly and gently, but not too slowly or gently! For those of you who are more experienced and have successfully achieved goals before, be sure to set big goals as well as multiple goals. Big goals force you to reach in and use the potential that is inside of you. Long-range goals help you to overcome short-range failures. They can also help you to change your direction without going back on your decision. For the newbies out there – long range and multiple goals is the level of goal setting you should strive for.

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Now that you know which area you need to focus on, let’s look at how to actually set goals, using the SMART model. Some of you may have heard of it before. Now SMART is the acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. We’ll go through them one at a time. Step 1: S is for S P E C I F I C Specifics help us to focus our efforts and clearly define what we are going to do. Goals should be straightforward and emphasise what you want to happen. Specific is the What, Why, and How of the SMART model. WHAT are you going to do? Use action words such as organise, coordinate, lead, develop, plan, build etc. WHY is this goal important to do now? What do you actually want to accomplish? HOW are you going to do it? Ensure the goals you set are very specific, clear and easy. Instead of setting a goal to lose weight or be healthier, set a specific goal to lose 2kgs or to walk 5 kilometres at a challenging pace. Another thing to consider here is to ensure your goals should are written in a positive language. Your unconscious mind loves you to be specific, but it also picks up on any negative words you use and it actually moves you towards the negative. It loves knowing exactly what you want and when. You should phrase your goals in the positive. A good way to do this is to start every goal with the following ‘I am so happy that I am/I have…’ I’ll give you an example of how this works. If I want to lose weight, rather than focus on the word ‘lose’ which is a negative word, I would turn it into a positive by saying: ‘I am so happy that my well toned and healthy body weighs 60kg and I have achieved this by 10 July 2013. When you write goals as if you have already achieved them (that is, by using the words ‘I have’), your subconscious mind begins to think it has already achieved it and it creates the belief that it can be achieved. Remember, your mind will search for whatever you tell it to find, like a terrier, so the more specific you are, the more specific its search can be.

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Keep it simple because your unconscious mind loves simplicity. Long, complicated goals that have all types of possibilities are too much to think about, let alone achieve – your unconscious mind gets overwhelmed too! Give yourself the best opportunity to succeed and keep the goal simple. On a course last year I heard a story about a little girl who wanted a pink bike for Christmas. She went on and on to her parents all year about the bike she wanted. On Christmas Day, she ran down stairs to see if she got the bike she so desperately wanted. Her parents could not wait to see the delight on their little girls face. She ripped open the wrapping around the bike and her face fell – she was crushed. Her parents didn’t understand. They had given her a bike, so of course they asked what was wrong. The little girl wailed at the top of her voice – I wanted a PINK bike! Unfortunately, she had forgotten to mention that specific detail to her mum and dad! Ok, so now we know how important it is to be SPECIFIC! Onto the next step… Step 2: M is for M E A S U R A B L E If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Of course, in the broadest sense, the whole goal statement is a measure; if the goal is accomplished, then it is a success. However, there are usually several short-term or small measurements that can be built into the goal. Choose a goal with measurable progress, so you can see the change occur. How will you know when you reach your goal? Be specific! “I want to lose 10 kilos by Christmas” shows the specific target to be measured. “I want to lose weight” is not as measurable. Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement. That spurs you on to the continued effort required to reach your goals. If it’s measurable, you’ll know if you’re on track. If it’s not, you’ll have no idea if you are moving closer to your goal or further away.

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For me, one of my goals is to ensure that I read each book on the Recommended Reading List that I give to you. I look at the timeframe I have and how many chapters are in the book. For example, if I have to read a book of 14 chapters within 7 days – my goal would be to read 2 chapters a day for seven days. Ok, so we’ve now covered Specific and Measurable – the first two steps in creating SMART goals so you can Plan, Progress and Achieve. Which leads me into Step 3 – Step 3: A is for A C H I E V A B L E When you identify goals that are important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin to see previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals. If the goals you set are too far out of your reach, and you don’t put measurable steps in place to remind you they are achievable, you probably won’t commit to doing anything. A goal needs to stretch you slightly so you feel you can do it AND that it will need a real commitment from you. It can’t just fall in your lap; there has to be some effort put into it! For instance, if you aim to lose 10kgs in one week, we all know that probably isn’t achievable. But by setting a goal to lose half a kilo a week and once you’ve achieved that, aiming to lose a further half a kilo will keep it achievable for you. The feeling of success this brings helps you to remain motivated. And as Chris Widener said “The sweetness of victory is magnified by the effort it took to achieve it!” You want the goal to be appealing to you. It needs to light you up and get you excited just thinking about it. It needs to produce, in you, a burning desire – a burning desire to achieve that goal. Many years ago I decided that I wanted to run a half marathon. I have no idea how I could possibly have thought that running a half marathon was appealing but for some reason it did get me excited and light me up when I thought about it. I had actually never run more than about 10kms before. So go figure! Anyway, I made it a goal, did some research and bought myself a book. The book gave me the steps to make this goal of mine achievable.

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It told me how many kilometres I had to run each day, each week, each month. It kept me focussed and I knew that every day I completed what I was supposed to do – I was well on my way to achieving my very first half marathon! At the beginning, when I set that goal, I didn’t know how I could achieve it, but I knew I wanted it enough to take the steps needed to make it achievable. I read the book, followed the steps and did what it took to get that goal started. We don’t always have to know HOW we are going to achieve something, but we do have to have the burning desire to want to achieve it and the ability to stretch ourselves to make it happen. So now we’ve covered Step 1: Specific, Step 2: Measurable and Step 3: Achievable Now on to Step 4 Step 4: R is for R E A L I S T I C I would just like to mention here – that Realistic is not another word for “easy.” Realistic, in this case, means “do-able.” It means that the learning curve is not a vertical slope and that the skills needed to do the work ARE available. Another way to look at it is to ask - do I have the skills and knowledge to achieve this right now or will I have to learn something to achieve it? A realistic goal is one that is achievable – it can be done (although, maybe not today) and you can do it. A realistic goal may push your skills and knowledge but it shouldn’t break them. Make sure you devise a plan or a way of getting there which makes the goal realistic. The goal needs to be realistic for you and where you are at the moment. The goal of never eating sweets, cakes and chocolate ever again may not be realistic for someone who eats this type of food every day. It may be more realistic to set a goal of eating a piece cake every 2nd or 3rd day for the first week or two and wean yourself off sweet things that way. To totally deprive yourself of sweet foods, particularly if you have become used to eating them and enjoy them is almost a path to failure. The cravings for the sweet things will continue and draw you away from the goal you want to achieve. It would be far better to slowly remove the sweet things by decreasing them on a daily basis. This would be more realistic and much more achievable. Always remember when you remove a bad habit you have to replace it with a good habit. And make very sure it’s a GOOD habit. If you were trying to remove sweets from your diet, each time you felt like something sweet you

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could go for a walk or do some stretches, or alternatively, you could eat a piece of fruit or some vegetables instead. There are plenty of good habits you could take up here. We’ve all heard stories of people who give up smoking with the best intentions but put on weight because they have replaced smoking with eating. This isn’t necessarily about cold turkey – but sustainable lifestyle decisions for the better. Be sure to set goals that you can attain with some effort! Too difficult and you set the stage for failure (e.g. cold turkey), but too low sends the message that you aren’t very capable. Set the bar high enough for a satisfying achievement! Your goal needs to be realistic, in that it’s something that someone of your age and situation can achieve. If I had a goal written down that said “It’s Christmas Day 2010 and I’ve just won Wimbledon”, it’s hardly realistic if it’s March 2010 and I’ve never picked up a tennis racket! In another weird and woolly moment from my past I decided that I would do some fundraising for Lifeline. I entered a pageant to raise money for Victims of Domestic Violence. There was a deadline date for fundraising, so that was good and I worked on the premise that any amount of money I raised for them would be helpful to the cause. After a bit of reflection I came to the conclusion, that the fastest way to raise money was to organise a few functions. So I started thinking about what sort of functions I could organise. I came up with the ideas of breakfast, lunch or dinner and of course there was the cocktail party option. I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself finding all these options. However, what I didn’t realize until the cold light of day hit me – was that at every function I organised, I would have to do some public speaking – something that I didn’t have much experience with. Let me tell you – although I knew the fundraising was a realistic goal, the public speaking was a HUGE stretch for me! Ok moving right along – we have now covered Step 1: Specific, Step 2: Measurable, Step 3: Achievable and Step 4: Realistic. Now for the final step – Step 5: T is for T I M E L Y Set a timeframe for the goal: Putting an end point on your goal gives you a clear target to work towards.

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The deadline will kick new ideas and possibilities into place sooner. If you say, “I’ll achieve it by next week” then next week never actually comes. If you don’t set a time, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Without a time limit, there’s no urgency to start taking action NOW. So let’s go back to my half marathon adventure. To make that goal fit the SMART criteria I had to put a timeframe on it. So I picked an event quite a few months down the track and entered the Gold Coast Half Marathon. By making the commitment to enter, it really brought the goal into crystal clear focus. I now knew when I needed to be ready by! So there we have it – Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and Timely – 5 very easy steps to remember to help you on your way to Plan, Progress and Achieve your goals. Take the time now to write two of your goals in SMART format. This is the first step you will take in achieving your goals. Now a word of caution about goal setting – you need to ensure your WHY is big enough. Your WHY is the reason WHY you want to achieve your goal. If your WHY is big enough – when the going gets tough… and it will – it’s your WHY that will keep you on track. Your WHY is your burning desire – the passion behind your goal. It is the thing that will drive you relentlessly in the direction of achieving the goal. Let me give you an example… If someone you love calls you with an emergency, you rush to help, right? It’s because your “why” or your reason for doing it, is clear and important. You don’t have to give it much thought. Your actions are almost automatic. When your reasons for doing something are big enough, you will have the motivation to make sure it happens. If you want to run your first marathon, publish a book, break your sales goal, spend more time with your family or take your business to the next level, you first have to answer the question: Why? Your answer builds your case for staying disciplined. 1. So, write out your why. Ask yourself, WHY do I want X? And write your

answer down.

2. Be specific and clear. Example: “I want to jog 3 times a week, because then I’ll be in better shape to play with my kids” or for me personally “I want to build my business so I’m able to donate more money to charity”. 3. Include how your life will improve if you hit your goal. To use me as an example again, donating to Charity fills my need to Contribute. Interestingly

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enough - Contribution is actually one of the six core needs that helps us feel fulfilled – it doesn’t have to be money, it can be volunteer work or just being kind and encouraging to those around you.  4. When you find yourself slipping on your goal, remember or reread your WHY. Use it as your personal mantra if you need to. When your WHY is strong enough, your HOW becomes much easier. Ok – on that note – it’s time to reflect a little with a small visualisation. Can I ask you now to relax in your chair, take a deep breath and close your eyes? Take a moment, right now, and just imagine how good you’ll feel in say three months, when you find you’re starting to achieve your smaller goals, one by one. Notice the feeling of increased self-confidence you have as a result and how you are getting closer and closer to the bigger goals you have set. See how easy it is to stay on track by just re-reading your reason WHY you want to achieve your goals. Look at yourself celebrating as you achieve each goal. See yourself right now, celebrating the achievement of your big goal. How do you feel? … What are you saying to yourself? …What do you look like?... How are people around you responding to you? Right now … take a picture of that scene and hold it in your hand. Look at the picture and relive all those feelings and thoughts. Are you smiling by any chance? Place that picture right into your heart space or your pocket, wherever suits you. Know that you can access it whenever you want. When you hit your little road bumps – you can pull that picture out and have a look at it. Re-live how wonderful it’s going to be as you achieve your goals … and … as you come back to the present moment … bring those feelings and thoughts with you to access right now… to get you moving on your goal setting journey … Realise you now have all the resources you need for the next step. I’d just like to mention here that whether or not you ever reach the exact goals you have set, know this - people who set big, long-range goals have been found to have higher self-confidence, higher self-esteem, and greater personal motivation.

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And the bottom line is, that more than half of the rewards and benefits achieved from goal setting actually come from taking your first step in that direction, regardless of the consequences. According to Brian Tracy, ‘There is a direct relationship between the number of different things you attempt and your likelihood of eventual success’. So getting started on something is half the task of achieving success. So 5 tips to help you achieve ultimate success in your Goal Setting (you may want to write these down on Page 8 in your General Summary): 1. Know the outcomes you want to achieve 2. Take action – even just one step – every single day 3. Notice the results your actions are getting – and are they moving you in the direction you want to go? 4. If what you’re doing isn’t working, change what you’re doing – be as flexible as possible in achieving your goals 5. And finally, enlist an encouraging buddy to help you stay on course. You don’t have to do this alone. Just before I go into the summary of this topic, I have been asked the question “Does it take more than discipline (focus) to stay on track? That’s a great question. I think that without your powerful WHY, it will sometimes be a struggle to complete a goal no matter how much discipline or focus you have. You may have heard of people performing seemingly impossible feats of physical strength when they find themselves in an emergency situation. For example, a 55kg woman lifting a car off their toddler when they fell under it, or that same woman breaking down a heavy door to rescue their child from a burning house. How did they do it? They had a strong enough reason WHY to ignore their circumstances and get the task done. A car usually weighs over a tonne .. not something easy for a strong person to lift, let alone a 55kg women who is not trained to lift heavy objects. But when you have a strong enough reason WHY, nothing else matters. Your WHY has to be strong enough to propel you through the tough challenges that the event will throw at you. Without the ‘WHY’ you would struggle to maintain focused when the going got tough. So really all you need to do is determine your WHY for your other goals and you’re well on your way. I sincerely hope that helps! So in Summary of today’s session: You need to work out: What you want to BE What you want to DO

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What you want to HAVE What you want to GIVE Do your own Wheel of Life to see what areas you need to spend time on – prioritise the areas! Give priority to those goals that move you towards what you want to achieve overall. Set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) Goals – know your big reason WHY. If the WHY is not big enough – toss the goal! And I can’t stress strongly enough – get a buddy to help, it will make the process that much easier and celebrating achieving your goals with a buddy is much more fun! If you have a supportive buddy, they will help you stay focused on your goal, even when you are ready to give up – when the going gets tough. It can be easy to give up when only we know about a goal we’ve set, but when we have a buddy who knows, they make sure we don’t quit. Success is only one step away from failure…but you have to take the step to achieve the success. The only time you ever fail is when you stop trying. Everyone has dreams. Some dream of finding a perfect mate and building a storybook family. Some dream of becoming rich, of being the first in their family to go to college, of getting out of a small town. Some dream of becoming a star athlete, an actor or model. We all have dreams yet few of us actually do what it takes to make them come true. Walt Disney had a dream to create a place that would be "a source of joy and inspiration to all the world," and he had the courage to go out and actually build Disneyland in 1955. Do you think he believed that he would achieve such greatness at the time? Probably not, but he did dream big and act upon his desires. If you're going to dream, you might as well dream big. You should dream of a life in which you have all of the things that you truly want to make you happy. As Bob Proctor says: “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count!” What he means by this statement is that, if you dare to dream big, and you focus on it, you will find a way of achieving your dream, despite any of the circumstances you may face. So dream big! I love that quote. It has given me the power to dream big and to achieve big things, even when I wasn’t sure how I could make it happen. I have achieved things that I never thought were even possible. Don’t focus on what you can’t have or can’t be – focus on your dream… live as if you’ve already achieved it.

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Make that vision as clear as possible without getting so locked-in that it can't evolve and change over time. Then, chunk it down into specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time sensitive (S.M.A.R.T.) steps and have the courage to act upon making your dream come true. The problem most people have is not dreaming big. Rather than believing in themselves and having the courage to pursue what they really want to get out of life, they fail to dream at all. Too often, when faced with the slightest resistance, people give up and settle for something less than they want or deserve. As a result, dreams fade and motivation to do or achieve more in life is converted into apathy and discontent. People may display moments of courage or bravery throughout their life when faced with adversity, but having the courage to relentlessly pursue your dreams is what is meant by living a courageous life. Daring to dream and then pursuing those dreams, no matter how lofty they may appear, is the key to success in all areas of your life. Your dreams can come true, if you just have the courage to pursue them. Stop making excuses and DREAM BIG! Feel free to send me any questions or comments. If you haven’t already - sign up for my weekly tips or follow me on twitter and make sure you keep an eye on www.selfconfidentwomen.com.au to see interesting and up to date articles. I’d like to leave you with one last thing to think about – “Goal Setting is SOLELY about decision making” Are YOU going to make the decision to take the first step in the direction of your goals? If you choose to become accountable and responsible for yourself then there is no doubt you will notice a huge change in your life when you start setting your goals. Because you make the time to follow the steps, it means you will be able to fulfil your goals easily and effortlessly. The difference you will see immediately, in three months time and in 12 months time will be incredible. You will notice how extremely positive the people you love and those you respect respond as you embark on your new journey ticking off your goals as you go. Always remember – “Your future is in great hands … Your Own”