Today may be the most important day of 2012


(Editor’s Note: By the time you receive this it will be after Nov. 15th, but the message of the article is valuable! You can have your goals made by December 1st and still meet the objectives of the article.)

Today is November 15th. I don’t know if that’s significant on your calendar but it is on mine. For many years now I’ve made it my plan to have my goals completed for the upcoming year by November 15th.

Here’s why. Most people wait until January 1st and then think “I need to have some goals.” But then it’s New Years Day – ball games are on, surely I can take the day off. The next day it’s back to work , new things are being talked about at work and the first two weeks fly by. By the time you get some goals laid out it’s nearly February 1st. At that point you think, how can I have the sequential progression over 12 months when one month is already gone. It’s easy to rationalize, I’ll just start next year. And thus weeks turn into months, months turn into years and all of a sudden 20 years have gone by in your own personal version of Ground-Hog Day.

On the other hand, what if you had your goals clearly laid out in 7 areas of your life by November 15th? You know exactly what you want success to look like for you next year – financially, physically, spiritually, socially, in your family, in personal development and in your career. Then you relax and enjoy the holidays, confident that your thinking is already helping you make the choices necessary to see that success come into view.

And here’s what will happen – guaranteed. Because you have clarified what those new levels of success will look like and you’ve written them down – your life will begin to change before January 1st. Even though you are busy with holiday activities you will be amazed at how subtly things start to shift in the direction of your goals. There is something almost magical that happens when you clarify in your thinking and on paper what an ideal life would be.

Give it a try – humor me and be prepared to be astounded at how you can get a jump start on making 2012 the year when you leapfrog forward. And then let me know in about July how things are going.

From www.48days.com

Fail High – and still win

By Dan Miller

“Set your goals ridiculously high and you will fail above everyone else’s success.” - James Cameron, Academy Award-Winning Director

I love the thought here. If you decide you are going to run three marathons this year – and you fail by only running two, you have still accomplished more than 99% of the people in the world.

• What if you had a goal of writing two books this year but only completed one?

• What if you wanted to reduce your cholesterol by 50 points but only cut it down by 40?

• What if you wanted to compose a new song a month but finished the year with only 10 great songs?

• What if you set as a goal to increase your income from $50,000 to $100,000 but only hit $85,000 by December 31st?

• What if you wanted to pay cash for a $15,00 car by November 15th but you accumulated only $14,000 by that date?

• What if you wanted the greatest marriage in the world but you only eliminated 80% of the painful points in the marriage you have now?

Do you have a goal that is so “ridiculously high” that even if you only hit 50% of it you will still bypass everyone else?

Failure comes not in setting a goal and not hitting it – it is in not setting a goal at all and being stuck in sameness.

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing .” — George Bernard Shaw

(This article appeared in the October issue of the Nebraska Family Times. Would you like to receive Christian news and information in your mail box every month? I 1-year, 12-issue subscription to the Nebraksa Family Times is just $20! Start a subscription, extend your subscription, or give a gift subscription and you'll be entered to win Christian books or CD's and the grand prize of a Nook or Kindle e-reader! Go to http://nebraskafamilytimes.blogspot.com/p/give-gift-of-good-news-that-gives-all.html for more details!)

Dan Miller is the President of 48 Days LLC. For more go to http://www.48days.com/

Tapping Into the Odd and Powerful Force of Momentum


By Matt Bell

I didn’t want to run the other day. I was dead tired. Just couldn’t sleep the night before. But I went anyway.

I didn’t set any speed records; that’s for sure. In fact, I was running so slowly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if a walker passed me by. But I went. And I ran the full four miles I intended to run.

It was as if I had no choice. A mysterious force seemed to carry me out the door, push me down the sidewalk, and keep me going until the run was done.

It was momentum.

The Power of Unbalanced Forces

I love the terminology from Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion. He said that an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

I didn’t do well enough in science to have any idea what Newton was really talking about. However, “unbalanced” is a great way to describe four forces that help get and keep us moving toward our goals: commitment, accountability, small wins, and deciding to not stop.

What’s normal in our world is to be overweight and in debt. If we’re going to be different, if we’re going to be physically and financially fit, we’re going to need to be a little odd. We’re going to need some unbalanced forces working in our favor.

Commitment

There’s huge power in making a commitment – deciding to go for something in the face of fatigue, the call of the couch, and the dime-a-dozen doubters who nip at our dreams.

Scottish mountain climber W.H. Murray summed it up well:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!’”

Murray climbed some of the world’s tallest mountains and wrote several now-classic books on the subject. He wrote Mountaineering in Scotland on a roll of toilet paper while in prison during World War II. When his captors confiscated it, he wrote the book again.

Clearly, Murray was an oddball. He was committed.

Accountability

Accountability is telling someone else about your commitment.

Last year, Jude and I ran the Chicago Half-Marathon. I had never run that far before – not unless some big guy was chasing me! Because we have young kids, we were only able to run together once during our 13 weeks of training. Still, she pushed me out of bed when I didn’t want to go. I bribed her with breakfast when she didn’t want to go. It made a huge difference.

Pursuing a goal with someone else is the ultimate form of accountability. But just mustering the courage to tell someone about your crazy plans will help a lot.

Who else knows what you’re pursuing? If no one knows, call a trusted friend today and tell him or her. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it makes.

Small Wins

It doesn’t matter whether I’m feeling energized or tired. There always comes a time during a run when I want to quit. The road ahead seems too long; progress seems to come too slow. That’s when the power of small wins is really helpful.

I pick a landmark up ahead – maybe a house or a streetlight. I look at it for a few strides and then I look down for 10 or 20 strides. By the time I look up again, I can see that I actually have moved forward and that’s encouraging.

It’s important to set sub-goals when going for a financial goal as well. Maybe you’ve run the numbers to see how much faster you’ll dump your debts if you throw an extra $50 or $75 at them each month. Every time you hit that sub-goal you’re making tangible progress.

Deciding to Not Stop

Recently, a reporter asked me about the idea of taking an occasional month off from whatever you’re doing to pursue a financial goal in order to celebrate some of the wins along the way. It’s a common idea and, without thinking about it enough, I said I thought it made sense. I wish I hadn’t said that.

I don’t think you should stop. Not until you accomplish the goal you’re pursuing. The feeling of accomplishment from achieving each sub-goal is celebration enough.

When I started running, whenever I’d approach a train track, I’d hope for a train. I thought it would feel good to stop and catch my breath. But what I quickly discovered is that it’s less painful to keep going (assuming there’s no train coming!). Stopping kills momentum. Starting again is tough.

So, hold off on any early momentum-stopping celebrations. Wait for the big win. And then make sure you have another goal in mind for after you complete the first goal.

May The Unbalanced Forces Be With You

What goals are you going for? Have you made a commitment? Do you have an accountability partner? Have you broken the goal down into a series of small wins? Have you decided to not stop?

If you have, rest assured, you’re an oddball. Some might say you’re downright unbalanced. And I’m betting on you to get to where you’re going.

Used by permission of Matt Bell, Personal Finance Writer/Speaker. For more information go to Matt’s blog, http:/www.mattaboutmoney.com.

"New Year's" Resolutions . . . in February

My sister has an interesting--and good--idea for New Year's resolutions; she says that January is a "practice" month, a month to fine-tune resolutions. Then, in February, she pursues her (sometimes revised) resolutions in earnest.

I think it's a great idea! If your resolutions aren't working out the way you wanted them to, re-evaluate them. Were you too ambitious in resolving to exercise an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, every day? Was resolving to prepare 21 low fat, high fiber, low calorie, delicious meals every week too big of a reach? Have you given up on your resolutions just because you didn't meet your goals for a day or two?

Revise your resolutions, re-commit to meeting your goals, and start your New Year's resolutions . . . on February 6th. Or 15th. Or March 1st. Or any time during the year! Improving yourself can, and should, start any time you want them to.

Missons (Almost!) Accomplished

WHEW! It was a good, quiet weekend. I had a long list when it began . . . and (miraculously!) got almost everything done by last night!

Once I got all of my NFT customers' names, addresses, and other particulars into the computer, it just took a couple of clicks of my mouse to make invoices . . . and another click to print them! (Believe me, I held my breath after clicking "print" . . . and what a sense of accomplishment it was when the invoices . . . printed!)

It was satisfying to see that stack of invoices, all ready to mail . . . and to get them in the mail. I don't know if my customers will be quite as satisfied when they actually get the bills . . . but I hope the newspaper is of high enough quality that they don't mind too much.

My other major job of the weekend was to update Tim's sale catalog mailing list. Our sale is November 23rd, and in the catalog are pictures and the breeding of the cattle that will be on the sale. I don't understand all of that (even after 20+ years knowing Tim I still don't know if the "sire" is the bull {father} or cow {mother}, but don't tell Tim that!) Luckily I didn't need to know any of that . . . I just go through the database of all the names and addresses (almost 3,000 at last count!) and delete the addresses if the catalog came back last year (because the person had moved) or change the addresses when the new address was on the little yellow sticker the post office put on the catalog . . . before they sent it back to us.

I hit "send" on that database last night, feeling very satisfied . . . until this morning when Tim asked me if I'd gone through the list line by line to see if there were duplicates (if the most minor thing is different--a letter not capitalized, a variation in the address, the label will get printed twice, and the person will get two catalogs).

I hadn't done that, and since I was going to work it was up to Tim to go thru the list. He found enough doubles, and enough names that were not on the list but should have been, to make it worthwhile.

NOW I am going through LAST year's sign up sheets to see if there are any names on that list, that are not on the mailing list but should be!

I really don't mind the computer work . . . it's not too stressful, just monotonous. But it's easy to do between tasks like putting a load of laundry in, eating lunch, letting the dogs out . . . letting the dogs in . . . (and surfing the net for just a few minutes for a break).

If you'd like a sneak peek of the cattle that will be on the sale, go to http://www.burkecattle.com/. If you want a catalog, you can e-mail me at shelly@shellyburke.net.

So, all in all it's been a productive weekend!