Will you beat the odds in 2014?

November 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The statistics are staggering. Only one in five people set annual goals for themselves. What’s even more surprising, though, is that of those, only 8% actually achieve them. So what’s going on?

It seems that the key to success is to write down your intentions – which increases the likelihood that you’ll reach them by ten times. And it’s like compound interest: the earlier you start writing down your goals, the more it’ll pay off as time goes on. A Harvard Business School study showed that those who wrote down their goals will earn 9 times more over their lifetimes than those who don’t.

If you are local, I can help you be on your way this Sunday, November 10, from 1-5pm at a workshop I’m holding in Palo Alto called Success 2014: Goal Setting for the New Year, in which we will devote time to learning the art and execution of goal setting. It may well be the best time and financial investment you’ve ever made. Why? Because it will organize and prioritize every sector of your life and create an actionable plan using a step-by-step process that will guarantee clarity and accomplishment. I am so passionate and convinced that this is the way to go that I offer a satisfaction or your money back guarantee.

The workshop will include two other components that are necessary for success: an assessment tool that will be set up so that you can track your progress at regular intervals, and regular accountability check-ins. The best part is that this method can be replicated year after year.

Spending a Sunday afternoon in November may just be the shift you’ve been looking for to organize your goals and path to success. You can then sit back and enjoy the holiday season knowing that you’ll be beating the odds – the minute that 2014 hits.

Filed Under: Goal-Setting, Success Tagged With: , , ,

Who’s Your Pirate – Part II

April 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

How you navigate your Pirates, the negative self-talk that stands between you and your dreams, is key to reaching your goals. The first step, however, is to identify which Pirates have latched onto you. While there are many excuses that our Pirates give us to maintain the status quo, all can generally fit within one of the following five categories:

1. That’s just the way it is or that’s just the way it’s done. As in: You’re stuck here. There’s a real sense of struggle and sacrifice in this mantra. It’s full of martyrdom. It makes you a victim of your circumstances. And it’s saying: Who are you to think that things could be different? You’re not special. Nor are you lucky, like all the really successful people who actually live their dreams.

2. You don’t have enough. As in: You don’t have enough time for this, especially not now. You don’t have the resources, the knowledge, the wherewithal, the money, the support. While the successful people have all those things, it’s unrealistic to think you’ll ever get them.

3. You’re not enough. As in: You’re not smart enough (or as smart as all those other successful people are). You’re not good enough to do this. You especially are not entitled to this. What have you done to deserve this? You are simply not worthy enough and besides, you’re already not successful enough. Who are you to think anyone will listen to you? Or go along with you?

4. You shouldn’t. As in: You are so selfish for wanting this. Your family (or your boss, or the organization, or someone or something else) needs you, and you’d be letting them down. They are relying on you, and you are a terrible person for abandoning them.

5. Your dream is just too insignificant to matter. As in: There are far greater issues facing this planet (like starving kids in Africa). Who are you to think your dream is important? You are so self-absorbed for wanting such a ridiculous thing.

I am willing to bet that one of those Pirate voices shows up in your head to insist that you have no right to be making a change. It keeps us in the status-quo, and therefore, to a certain extent, our Pirates protect us — from failure and discomfort. While it keeps us comfortable, however, it tricks us into thinking that we should not or could not do what we really want to do.

Which Pirate or Pirates show up most in your life? What have those Pirates stopped you from doing? What are those Pirates costing you?

Filed Under: Change, Goal-Setting, My Book, Success Tagged With: , , , ,

Who’s Your Pirate?

April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I am a firm believer that perhaps the single most important factor that stands between you and your dreams, your real resonant successes and what you really, really want in life, is your Pirates. We all have them. They will be with us until the day we die. So who are they??

Our personal Pirates are those subversive, whispering voices that sabotage our most exciting and compelling plans over and over again. They are so subtle, yet so part of who we’ve been that we think they are part of our personal truth. Our Pirates seem to attack our psyche just as we approach doing something that takes our breath away, and work harder and harder to hinder our efforts as we get closer and closer to taking the leap. The result: Our Pirates separate us from being our truest, highest and best selves.

Your Pirates will be with you for the rest of your life. Whatever they are saying to you, they are indeed saving you from failure. But at the same time, they are also “saving” you from living your life as you were meant to be living it.

What are your Pirates saying to you? I’d love to hear from you.

Filed Under: Change, Goal-Setting, Success Tagged With: , , , , ,

Happy Holidays & Toward 2013

December 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

While I am currently traveling abroad, this post is scheduled to come out on Christmas Eve, when those who celebrate will be moments away from Christmas, and those who don’t, will be getting ready to head out for the obligatory Chinese food. Either way, there’s a tremendous amount of electricity in the air, lots of light, and an exciting feeling of what’s in store for the next year.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Steve Jobs:“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life…Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

As a coach, I am passionate about helping people live according to their passions. Passions can be about an idea (e.g.a strong educational system), or a job (e.g. the work you do), or a hobby (e.g. painting or music), or about something you do that likely comes very naturally to you (e.g. helping people be more efficient). While there are so many things to be passionate about, for everyone it’s different.   What does remain the same across the board, however, is that when you live passionately, you feel empowered to accomplish so much more in line with who you really are and your highest, best self.

At year end, it’s appropriate to evaluate where you’ve been (which becomes your starting point for today) and where you’re going. For 2013, I challenge you to pick something you are passionate about and move closer to it.

Goal setting in any realm remains the same: Step one involves evaluating where you are today so you know where to start. Step two is to figure out where you’d like to be, which becomes the ultimate goal. And finally, in step three, you design small steps that will bring you closer to where you want to be. Eventually, you’ll get there, I have no doubt, but if the task feels daunting, the key is to begin taking these designed steps. After all, tomorrow will come, and when it does, you will either be that one step closer to where you want to be, or you won’t. It’s really as simple as that.

To help you with this exercise in all areas of your life, be sure to sign up for Success 2013 where we will set goals with a plan for taking individual, realistic steps to moving you forward to that ultimate vision you’ve created for yourself. We will repeat the exercise in all 12 areas of your life, with a method for revisiting each area every year to keep you moving forward. The process keeps you on track, feeling empowered and intentional in all that you aim for.

May you feel empowered and intentional in all your endeavors from this day forward.

Happy holidays everyone, and happy New Year.

Filed Under: Goal-Setting Tagged With: , , , , , ,