In the previous installment, we reassessed and realigned   our “reference group,” or the associations that can help     or hurt us in achieving our goals.

Now we need to talk about the most powerful          influence in your life: the information or input you feed    your mind.

If we want to produce different results in life, we have to    think differently, to nurture a different mindset. As Einstein  said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same  thinking we used when we created them.”

If your thinking is stinking so will your results. What you  think about, you create. This is why all the monumental  classic personal-achievement books have focused on  how you think:Think and Grow Rich, As a Man Thinketh, The Power of Positive Thinking, The Magic of Thinking Big, etc.

You are not what you think you are, but what you think… you are!

The most constant influence of conditioning that affects our lives, our results and our ability to achieve is the information we feed our mind.

Read more here: darrenhardy.success.com/2010/02/db10-your-fuel-for-growth/

Have you ever heard the adage, “I will accomplish this even if it kills me”? Well, in my early years of goal setting and achieving… I almost died! I also missed a lot of other opportunities along the way.

I became so focused, so dogmatic about the goals I had set and my specific plans to achieve them that my blinders kept me from 1) seeing easier and faster routes to my destination, and 2) that some of the goals that were important earlier in the year or at the beginning of the decade were less important than I originally believed.

One of the greatest challenges to success is learning how to stay focused on your goals while remaining flexible enough to adapt to needed change.

Wow! We have covered some incredible ground thus far! You have your ambitious and appropriate goals that are based on your strengths and opportunities and have been whole-life balanced. You know who you want to become, who you want to serve and you have the strategic plan of action to achieve all your worthy goals.

Now it is time to create an execution system to implement your plan in the real world—your world.

Some of the best of intentions and greatest plans have failed because there wasn’t a system of execution to see them through. When it comes down to it, your new plans, your new actions, your new behavior, have to be implemented into your monthly, weekly and ultimately daily routine. A routine is something you do every day without fail… and eventually without thinking about it.

To read more darrenhardy.success.com/2010/02/db10-goal-setting-9/

The difference between a dream or fantasy and a goal you will achieve is: 1) writing it down (what we have already done) and, 2) outlining a specific plan to achieve the goal (what we will do in this installment).Now it is time to formulate your strategic plan of action.

 

 

Typically, the first thought that comes to mind after writing down a goal is, “What do I need to do to accomplish this?” That, unfortunately, is not the right question to ask.

 

Are you ready?

Ready to write (and right) your future? Ready to be bold, dream big and put it (your aspirations) on the line (literally)?

Ready to proclaim your BHAGs (Big, Hairy and Audacious Goals)?

This is it. It’s time for the GRAND DESIGN.

This is actually the easy part. You knew about goal-setting before this course—how to make a list of what you want to accomplish in the next one to 10 years.

The difficult part has been the process we have gone through to get here—figuring out who you really are, assessing how you’ve done in life so far, and most important, what assets, strengths and opportunities you have to work with going forward. We’ll come to another big challenge later in the series when we work on figuring out how to take the dreams, ambitions and big goals from your Grand Design and develop the plan of action to achieve them. But right now we’re going to focus on developing your Grand Design. And as a result, you’ll identify the person, the accomplishments and the life you have always wanted to have.

The links to the Guidelines document and the entire set of worksheets to design your 10-year and this year’s goals are listed in the RSS feed excerpt sent to your inbox. The Guidelines document contains subtle and seemingly inconsequential instructions and questions. But following these instructions and writing your goals will help you transform your wishes and aspirations into results. We will also “scrub” all your goals to make surethey are S.M.A.R.T., BALANCED and will ultimately produce the whole-life success you desire.

Read more at The Success Magazine here:

darrenhardy.success.com/2010/01/db10-goal-setting-grand-design/

In the previous installments, we inventoried your current assets, liabilities, strengths and weaknesses. We also looked at your potential opportunities and threats to your future. Before deciding where to apply those assets and the focus of your creative effort, we need to total the current balances in each account of your life.

This is a crucially important step for two reasons:

Imbalance = Disaster
We often see people who have become successful in one area of life, but are utter disasters in many other areas. Tabloid magazines are full of this kind of drama, with headlines of bitter divorces, drunk-driving arrests, family feuds, racist rants, bulimia, drug rehab, depression and suicide attempts. Many of these same people, the ones many Americans idolize, are some of the most unhappy, insecure and depressed people you will find. Why? Their focus on succeeding in one area of life created a great imbalance with the other areas.

Remember the final words given to me by dad’s wealthy friend the day before he died? Read them (and live by them) HERE.

Be wary of the price the rest of your life has to pay for the success in one area of your life.

Wrong Account
Someone recently shared with me an incredibly poignant distinction, he said before you build your business plan, build your life plan. Figure out what kind of life you want to have first—where you want to live, what type of people you want to be surrounded by, whether you want to work nights and weekends, whether you want to travel (and how much and where), whether you want to be home for dinner every night, if you want a short commute, what type of environment you want to go to each day, how you want to dress, etc.

He said to then build your business or professional plan around these criteria.

Whoa! I have been doing it all backward! You?

Most of us have done exactly the opposite—we build our business plan first. We outline all our big goals, plans and ambitions, and then figure out how to fit our lives around them (usually sacrificing much of the rest of our lives). Or sometimes we define a professional plan by outlining the money we want to make and titles we want to obtain—again, sacrificing much of the rest of our lives. If we continue to live this way, when we get to the end of our lives, we’re likely to discover we paid too high a price and sacrificed what was really important in life, for too little.

“Life without balance can cost you your relationships. Life without balance can cost you your health. Life without balance can cost you your spirituality. Life without balance can cost you your wealth and your happiness. So find things to motivate you from all areas of life. Your success depends on it.” —Jim Rohn

Don’t let that happen to you… and now is the time to find the right balance for you and your life’s desires.

Download and complete the LIFE ASSESSMENT Worksheet and WHEEL OF LIFE Chart. This is worksheet set 4. It will have to be printed first to complete. You will not be able to fill in the form fields on your computer. (NOTE: The link will be sent via the e-mail feed. If you are just registering now, the link will be in the next feed along with links to all prior worksheets. E-mail feeds typically distribute later in the evening following posts published earlier in the day.)

Have you learned some new things about yourself? Have you discovered some gifts, attributes, opportunities and hidden potential you didn’t fully credit before? Share your experiences with this ongoing process in the comments below. You are also welcome to ask any questions you might have.