Fast-track your success with these 7 steps

Step 1 - Decide exactly what you want. This immediately moves you into a separate category of people because most people have no idea of what they really want. Clarity is the most important single quality of goal-setting and the most important single quality of success. Be specific about exactly how much more money you want to earn in a specific period of time and combine that with exactly what level of health and fitness you desire.

Step 2 - Write it down. Only three percent of adults have written goals. Most people spend more time making a list of groceries before they go shopping or planning a vacation than they do in planning their lives. One of the most important keys to success is to "think on paper." A goal that is clearly written and described on a piece of paper takes on a power of its own. It is now something concrete that you can touch and feel and work with. You begin to expect to achieve the goal and you start to attract people and circumstances into your life that are consistent with the attainment of the goal.

Step 3 - Set a deadline. If it is a large goal, set a series of sub-deadlines. A deadline acts as a "forcing system" on your subconscious mind and begins to move you toward your goal rapidly while it moves your goal toward you. Sometimes you will achieve your goal well in advance of your deadline. Sometimes goals will take much longer than you expect. But you must have a target time before you set off.

Step 4 - Make a list of everything you could possibly think of that you will have to do to achieve your goal. The more comprehensive your list, the more motivated you will become, the more intense will be your desire and the more you will believe it possible.

Step 5 - Take your list and organize it into a plan. It is a list organized by priority and importance. You decide upon the one thing that is more important than anything else that you can do immediately to begin moving more rapidly towards your goal.

Step 6 - Take action! This is the big killer for most people who are procrastinators. When it comes to taking action, they always have a reason or excuse to procrastinate to put it off until a later time. When you launch toward your goal, you will begin to feel the desire and power that goes along with goal setting.

Step 7 - Do something every day to move you toward your major goal. Never let a day go by without you engaging in some action that helps you move another step in the direction of what you really, really want in life.

This simple seven step act will change your life and your future in ways that you cannot even dream of today.

The importance of goals

Everyone has goals. But some people seem to accomplish their goals far more systematically and with greater assurance than others. Why is this? The answer is simple. People who accomplish goals at a higher rate than the average are people who use a systematic, proven method of goal setting and goal attainment.

The two most important qualities of success are focus and concentration. Focus means knowing exactly what it is you want and concentration means having the discipline to concentrate single-mindedly on one thing, the most important thing, until it is complete.

If you have these qualities, and both of these qualities are learned through practice, you can accomplish virtually anything. There are no limits on your future if you can focus and concentrate every hour of every single day.

The starting point of setting goals for the coming year is for you to project forward - to the end of the next twelve months and ask yourself, "If everything happens perfectly, what will it look like?"

The one quality of men and women who become leaders in their own lives and societies, throughout all of history is the quality of vision. They have the ability to visualise. They can see the future well in advance of it becoming a reality. They can then see the steps that they will need to take to get from where they are to where they want to go.

You need to set goals that are multi-dimensional. You need to set goals for every part of your life so that you function like a well-oiled machine. You need goals for your health, for your career, for your finances, for your relationships, for your personal and professional development, for your community and for your spiritual growth. Nothing happens by accident. Everything happens for a reason. And you are the "primary creative force" in your own life. You are the reason. Things are happening in your life because you make them happen, not because you sit around and wait for them to happen.

In my next post, I'll share the 7 steps to effective goal-setting...

Goal-getting

I'm a big fan of goal-setting because:
1. The mind is an amazing thing and when it has goals in sight, it tends to achieve what you focus on.
2. Putting your intentions out there forces you to make good on them (I call it forced pro-activeness). Which is why I advocate that you tell your friends about your goals too.

So here goes my goals:
- Think about marketing plan for my second book, Sleep & Get Rich!, which is currently being edited (more details coming up!).
- Keep on tweaking my e-book, The Essential Post-pregnancy Weight Loss Guide (http://www.exercisepostpregnancy.com), so that it rakes in five figures a month.
- Explore my new business idea, Unravel (to be unravelled soon).
- Take up Internet Marketing course. I've already signed up for the Asian Internet Congress in December, and am looking forward to that.

To think about:
- Prioritising my current work. I have partnered with a business trainer to carry out seminars together. Our first event coming up next Tues has been overbooked (event details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44070134920). Unfortunately, these sessions clash with my evening pilates classes. So, I have to decide if I should cut back on my pilates and focus more on seminars. Problem is, I still really enjoy giving my pilates lessons and don't want to disappoint my clients.
Let's see how it goes next week and I should be able to make my decision...What do you guys think?

Time to get busy :)

The power of goal-setting

Jack Canfield, co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul, developed what he calls the "Rule of 5" to meet his goal of getting Chicken Soup for the Soul, to the top of the New York Times Best-Seller List.

Jack's "Rule of 5" requires that every day, Jack does five specific things to move his goal to completion.

Completing five things each day doesn't sound like much, but imagine this:
Five pages of writing a day equal seven 250 page books in a year.
Five new customers a day equal 1,825 customers in a year.
The list could go on forever.
By the way, Jack met his goal. Chicken Soup for the Soul, eventually sold over 8 million copies in 39 languages.
How did he do it?

He did five things a day.

Maybe it was five interviews or five press releases or giving away five review copies. Jack did whatever he could as long he did at least five specific things everyday to move closer to his goal.

The biggest problem is that most people read, study, think, dream, plan and then ...

Do nothing.

So, what am I going to do today to get closer to my goal?

So far I've already:
- Defined my goal for my projects.
- Started writing.

Here's what else I'm going to do today (and next week):
- Finish up my e-book sample for free downloads (fyi, I am working on a digital book with my sister which will be launched in September and I'm so excited!).
- Confirm remaining interviewees for my second book (ooooh...this one is going to be BIG).
- Continue promotional work for Boss of Me! (book and I may be on national TV soon...).
- Confirm new Pilates corporate job.
- Update Boss of Me! blog.
- Catch up on my online and off-line reading.
- Think and strategise to achieve my goals.
- Stop neglecting my hubby (work is my new lover).

I know, it's more than five things, but I'm addicted to creating lists and this is fun for me.

What are you going to do today?

Each of you is in your own spot so what you do will be different from what I am doing, but let me make a couple of suggestions for today.
- Set a goal.
- Take action on five specific things to move you towards your goal.

Try it. You will be amazed at the results.

Excerpt taken from Kenneth A MacArthur of jvAlert.com