Your Reticular Activating System acts as a heat seeking missile which allows your subconscious mind to work on your goal whether you realize it or not.

Write your Goals on paper bridges the gap between your imagination and the real world. As you create and advance your plan it takes your ideas from the intangible to the tangible.

We train in creating plans for achieving your Goals inside Goal University

(raw footage from my climb of Eagle Tower)

I recently spent some time in Door County, Wisconsin on a relaxing little weekend getaway.

Can You Create a New Habit in 21 Days?

“Fake it ’til you make it.” We’ve all heard the cliche for approaching something that seems out of reach. There may be some method to the madness of that approach.

But have you ever given much thought to what it takes to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you want to be when it comes to eliminating old habits and forming new ones?

Success is habitual.

We have all witnessed those who seemingly achieve amazing feats over and over. Think of Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan. What allows one person to be an automatic peak performer every day without fail while others experience failure after failure? Most likely, the achievers have created and practiced success systems, habits and rituals that serve rather than detract from their goals.

If everything affects everything, which is, of course, true, then it pays to take a holistic look at the current habits and patterns in ALL areas of your life, at work, at home and at play.

You cannot change what you don’t acknowledge so it pays to get real and be brutally honest with yourself so you can finally align your habits with your dreams.

How to Create New and Empowering Habits

1. Identify your current habits, the good, the bad and the ugly. You have probably practiced many of the same habits throughout your life without realizing it. Keep a pen and paper handy throughout the day to capture habits as you become aware of them. From the moment you wake up to the moment your eyes close at night, most of your thoughts, words and actions are habitual. Write them down on paper. If you get stuck, ask others around you what habits they notice in you. This might take a few days.

2. Once you have identified your dominant habits, identify the source of those habits. Most of your habits were programmed into you at a very early age without you even realizing it. Many of your habits come from observing your dominant parent or caregiver. If you are habitually late, perhaps this trait was modeled for you by someone you admire. Not always but often enough. From the brand of car you drive to the brands of food you purchase, many of these habits were modeled for you and you practice them subconsciously.

Here are some common negative habits:
reading the newspaper first thing in the morning
vegging out, watching tv all evening
going to bed too late
hitting the snooze button every morning
cleaning obsessively
exercising excessively or not exercising at all
eating fast food frequently
saving money or not saving money
excessive credit card debt
choosing toxic relationships
not reading self-improvement books
not setting goals
procrastination
having many started projects and none finished
impulsiveness
dishonesty
infidelity
hoarding
negative self talk
criticism of others
complaining
depression
worry
blame
smoking
overeating
sugar addiction
skipping breakfast
workaholic
alcoholic
overcommitting to things because you can’t say no
etc.

Often you can look at your parents, examine their habits and see them in yourself. <gasp> I know I do on both the positive side and the negative side. They’re there alright. This exercise is not to judge others or yourself. It is simply to identify. This is especially important if you have children because your current habits are likely to be modeled by those who look up to you. What habits and traits do you want to instill in them?

3. Next to each habit you identified, decide which of these habits are empowering and which habits are disempowering. An empowering habit serves your greater good. It usually serves the greater good of the people around you too, those whom you love and care about. A disempowering habit does not serve your greater good, in fact, it likely detracts from your life.  Disempowering habits are roadblocks to your dreams.

Next to each empowering habit, draw a smiley face :)  Next to each disempowering habit, draw a frown :(   There is no neutral.
4.  The best way to eliminate an old disempowering habit is to replace it with a new more empowering one.  Next to each disempowering habit, write down a description of the opposite habit you want to replace it with. 

For example, if you come home after a long day’s work and turn on the television vegging out mindlessly for hours while your belly magically grows, perhaps an evening walk with your mate is what’s called for. Perhaps instead of reading the newspaper each morning and being bombarded with negative news and advertisements, perhaps you will opt to replace it with reading a chapter of a personal development book or listening to an audio while you prepare for the day. Instead of surfing the net, perhaps you want to write a few pages of that book you’ve been putting off. If you’ve been hoarding to the point you barely have a path to walk through, perhaps some purging and organizing is in order. If you habitually criticize your mate, perhaps you can create a new habit of focusing on what’s great about them. If you were a habitual procrastinator, you could become a habitual action taker.

5. Prioritize which habits you want to tackle first based on their importance to your life. Write #1 next to the #1 most important habit you want to focus on, #2 for the next most important habit and so on. To begin, focus your time and attention only on the habit you have determined is most important that will have the greatest positive effect on your life. I’m not going to tell you to turn your entire life upside down overnight by tackling them all at once. Some can do this successfully because they seek a complete life makeover. Others who are easily overwhelmed and lack confidence will sabotage themselves and fare much better by focusing on one habit at a time.

6. Imagine a role model or someone you admire. What habits and rituals do they consistently practice to achieve the results they do? Now here’s the bigger question: What beliefs underlie those habits? Model the habits of those whom you admire. Model the habits hight achievers. Focus on the beliefs underneath that support those empowering habits. Fake it ’til you make it is ok to begin but it only gets you so far. Many copy the action steps in an effort to duplicate a formula, and complain when things don’t work out. They only went through the motions. The real magic happens when you in embrace the underlying Principles, beliefs and mindset that produced the success.

Sometimes creating a new habit can lead to a new belief.
Sometimes creating a new belief can lead to a new habit.

Ultimately, they must be congruent to move you in the direction of your Goal.

7. Celebrate your existing empowering habits and the new habits you seek to create. Imagine the positive effect on your life and the people you love. Revel in the ways you will impact the people around you for the better. Imagine your life in one month, 6 months, 1 year, 5-10 years from now. What will your life be like because you adopted these new and empowering habits and beliefs. Pretty remarkable I would think.
                                                                                                                            
When your current thoughts and habits are congruent with your Goals and dreams, you will begin to move towards them more quickly and with seemingly less effort.

You know you have successfully created a new habit when the practice of it is automatic and effortless.

How long does it take to break an old habit or form a new habit? It varies. Most experts assert you it takes 21 days. I believe it could take an hour, a week, months or years. The greater your desire and commitment, the faster the change will occur. Practicing the new desired habit consecutively (every single day without fail) increases the speed in which you will see results.

When the identity shift occurs inside you, you are well on your way. When you no longer think of yourself as a smoker, but a non smoker. When you no longer view yourself as overweight, but rather a healthy vibrant person who lives a healthy lifestyle. When you no longer think of yourself as a complainer, rather an person who finds the good in every person and situtation-automatically. That is when you will have successfully created the new empowering habit.

After you have accomplished successfully creating your #1 top priority habit, move on to # 2, then #3 and son on.

When your identity is congruent with the beliefs, thoughts and actions necessary to carry out your Goal, you have become the person necessary to achieve your Goal.

Resolve to do whatever it takes to improve the quality of your life.
Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

http://www.GoalGuru.com

Jill Koenig, The Goal Guru, is America’s Top Goal Strategist. A self-made millionaire by age 30, she has dedicated her life to teaching the principles of Goal Setting, Productivity and Self Improvement to individuals, entrepreneurs as well as Fortune 500 companies. She is a highly sought after Author, Peak Performance Coach and Motivational Speaker. To learn how to achieve your Goals at TURBO speed, visit: http://www.GoalGuru.com

Some of my most cherished memories from childhood are from pickup football games my friends and I played on the school lawn down the street from my house.

There are lessons all around us contained in art, theatre, movies, athletics, nature and even in the most unexpected places.

The other day I was going through an old box of pictures and I found a picture of myself and my friends in front of the schoolyard where we used to play football together and it got me thinking about many of the lessons I learned about Goal Setting by watching and playing football. If you are a football fan, you will appreciate this.

The Top 10 Lessons Football Taught Me About Goal Setting

1. He who scores first gains momentum. Have you ever heard a coach talk about an upcoming game? Almost always the coach declares the intention to score first, to put points on the board as soon as possible. This is so important because it gives the scoring team a psychological edge. Scoring first has the potential to boost your confidence and deflate your opponents psyche. I have seen many games where two teams with equal talent are won by the team who scored first.

2. Every inch, every yard forward counts because it gets you closer to your Goal. Most of your offensive plays gain at best an average of a few yards, but over time, they accumulate and contribute to forward movement. Inevitably at times you go backwards a few yards, but if you stay focused on your Goal, you can make up for it on the next play.

3. You cannot play defense the whole game. You cannot just sit back in reactive mode, waiting to see what everyone else is going to do or spend all of your energy responding to circumstances. You have to be proactive, play offense and move yourself towards the Goal by making things happen through deliberate thought and effort.

4. To be effective, you must manage the clock. There are four quarters in a game and there are four quarters in one year. Carefully and strategically allocate your time, energy and manpower to perform at your peak from beginning to end.

5. Take quarterly time outs to evaluate. Schedule these into your life. Examine your stats and measurements. How are you doing? You may need to make an adjustment in your game plan, tactics or fine tune your game plan for better results. If you are in need of a short break to re energize, or are off track at any time, simply call a time out and regroup.

6. You need a strategic Game Plan. Before the game is ever played, every player must know their part and be prepared to execute.

7. You need a great Coach. Even the most gifted, talented players need a Coach to bring out the best in them and keep them focused on the executing the plan. A Coach has a different perspective than the players. A great Coach brings experience and a holistic view of the game and can see things in the big picture that most players cannot see.

8. The greatest players in the game condition themselves year round. Those who enjoy longevity work just as hard on themselves outside of the game as they do in the game. They surround themselves with positive people who support their Goals. If luck is where preparation meets opportunity, the prepared outperform those who are not conditioned every time.

9. An effective Blitz can change the momentum and turn the game in your favor. Focusing all of your energy and attention on one area can catapult you forward by leaps and bounds.

10. Be a Leader, be a play maker. On every team, in every game, you know who the go to guy is who will get the job done when the game is on the line. You know who puts in the extra effort and that in a close game, that extra push is what makes a winner. Be that play maker in your chosen field.

In the game of football and in the game of life, be a team player. Be a leader and approach every important goal as if it your own personal Superbowl.

Enjoy the game and live your dreams.

Jill Koenig
http://www.TheGoalGuru.com

Former drug addict, example of real life makeover

Have you ever seen that tv show called Extreme Home Makeover, where they take a run down wreck of a house and transform it into a virtually unrecognizable, beautiful work of art?

I love that show and I always get emotional
because the first 25 years of my life resembled
the “before” (run down, falling apart) until I learned and applied some specific strategies to my life, and things are very different now. The tv show is great metaphor for what is possible in any area of your life when you have the right tools, support and strategies.

Below you will find my interview with a person who made a similar remarkable transformation in his own life.

His Before looked like this:

He lived in poverty, was a high school dropout, drug addict, Alcoholic and made more than one suicide attempt hoping to end his own life.

Until he managed to create a remarkable turnaround in his life and now…

His After looks like this:

He got and stayed clean and sober, became a counselor to others struggling with the same cycles he once battled, went on to college,
earned a 4.0 GPA and was honored in the National Deans List, lost 50 pounds in 3 months, and became financially successful despite his
earlier years of poverty. He has an amazing relationship with his wife and two daughters and lives a rather extraordinary life now.

Listen in as I interview Mike Kemski, creator of Banabu Life where he reveals EXACTLY what he did to transform the circumstances of his life “from worst to first” and how you can too!

Press the arrow to play. Click the link to download the mp3 to your computer

Download the MP3
(Right-click and select “Save Target As…” or “Save File As…”)

Live Your Dreams,

Jill

ps. please forward this to a friend if you know someone who would benefit from learning from this amazing, uplifting, real life turnaround example

Does it make sense to await motivation from an outside
source and “hope” it arrives or does it make more sense to
learn a few key strategies for motivating yourself week
after week consistently?  After all, we are given 52
Mondays each year.  What if you could turn them into the
springboard for creating a great week guaranteed every
time?

Creating a great week is not something that happens by
accident, in fact, you have the power to create momentum
anytime you desire.  This lesson focuses on empowering ways
to approach Mondays so you can create unstoppable momentum
and create the best week of your life every week.

10 Steps to Creating Monday Momentum:

1.  Decide in advance that you are going to have a great
week. Your attitude determines your altitude and it starts
right here with the decision. Expect success, expect the
best, and be prepared to invest the very best of yourself
in everything you do. 

2.  Define Success more clearly. Envision exactly what it
means to have a great week.  Does success mean
productivity?  Fun?  Speed?  Quality?  Progress?
Completion? What elements do you need to
create in order to realize your vision this week?

3.  Map out your week on Sunday evening. At first this may
seem challenging but after a few tries, you will be in awe
of how easy it is to set yourself up for success.  Here are
some questions to get you started: What are your priorities
for the week?  What are the essentials you absolutely must
accomplish and in what order of importance?  What do you
need to do this week to meet your Goals for the month, for
the year?

4. Schedule your actions and priorities into your calendar
so that you know when you will do them.

5. Create measures of accountability.  Are you motivated by
pain or pleasure?  Does it light a fire under your posterior
to know there is a fun reward at the finish line for doing
what you promised or are you more motivated by the pain of
having to pay for NOT doing it?  Determine your own
personal rewards you will enjoy for following through on
your commitments and what penalties can you impose on
yourself if you don’t? Bring in a friend or peers for extra
reinforcement.  Having someone to hold you accountable will
keep you honest and give you an extra edge.  There is
nothing like succeeding or failing in front of an audience.
You can raise the bar on this as high as you need to.

6. Go to bed early Sunday evening.  Stretch or meditate
prior to bedtime. You will feel more rested when you wake
up and you will have energy, vigor and enthusiasm to begin
your day.  There’s nothing as energizing and momentum
building as arising with clarity, getting a jump on the day
and being ahead of schedule, rather than feeling like you’re
behind schedule or playing catch up.

7. On Monday morning rise a little earlier, get in a quick
workout, even if it’s just a 15 minute walk or ride on the
exercise bike. Wake up your brain and get those endorphins
flowing.  You will burn more fat, feel GREAT and get it out
of the way so you’re free to move on to other things.

8.  Eat a healthy breakfast.  This will provide you with
the fuel to tackle your top priorities. (planning your week
in advance means planning your meals in advance if you want
to be super productive, energized and stay away from fast
foods, which are a huge energy drain)  What you put into
your mouth has a direct effect on your productivity,
efficiency and mental clarity.

9.  Listen to one hour of an empowering audio program while
you’re working out and eating breakfast.  This will help you
with the mental motivation and get you going with the right
attitude.  I recommend http://www.TheTimeCommandments.com

10. At the end of each day and the end of each week, review
what you did or didn’t do.  Make adjustments where necessary
and keep building on your strengths and celebrating your
successes.  Have fun and remember that small improvements
add up over time.  Imagine how much more clarity,
motivation and achievement you will experience after
growing and improving consistently for 52 weeks!

Momentum breeds momentum.

Unleashing these powerful strategies will condition you to
seize the day every day.  You will condition yourself to
know where you are going, get moving and you will have all
the motivation and Momentum you need to carry you through
the week.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

I bring this to your attention now so that you can give yourself the ability to make a conscious decision of what you want to create for yourself in the final 33 days left in 2007. That gives you plenty of time to tie up loose ends get a handle on any unfinished business you want to wrap up before December 31st.

For some this time of year brings great growth and positive momentum, yet others experience a decline or negative momentum, as in a slow down.

There are many myths about the Holiday Season when it comes to business. These myths apply to both online and offline businesses.

The Biggest Business Myth of the Holiday Season: “Only retail and gift businesses grow during this time of year, every other business slows.” This is simply not true. I love it when people tell me that business is slow this time of year and that my business will slow whether I want it to or not. It seems like a rather helpless proposition, doesn’t it?

In most cases, business slows for them because they stopped doing the daily method of operation that their business needs in order to continue moving forward. Many business owners actually reduce their efforts and fail to follow their own action plan during this time because they believe it is a slow season, because someone told them it would be and so it becomes true for them. Because they believe and accept this erroneous prediction, they stop trying, they stop injecting life giving effort into their business. That is why business slows for them.

Yet for others, this is the time or year to create exponential growth. If your competition is reducing their efforts, and most are, it is the perfect time for you to rev it up and make your move.

Don’t get caught in the trap of reducing your efforts because the media, your peers or anyone tells you that business slows. Do not ever accept that invitation to slack or minimize your efforts. This is the most critical time of year to practice consistency for any business. Every action you take in December contributes to a stronger January. Keep the ball rolling.

The keys for thriving during the Holiday Season are persistence and consistency. Every day people are looking for whatever information, service or product you offer. Those who keep up, stick with their plan or even increase their focus and efforts this time of year are the ones who will reap the rewards and explode their growth in the coming year.

Choose to be one of them.

You do not have to succumb to the myths that others use to rationalize their own laziness or reduced actions that are based purely on opinion.

Momentum breeds Momentum.

Winners know that finishing strong in December is the catalyst for massive growth in January as it sets the tone for the rest of the year.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

The more meaningful your Goal is, the more essential it is to track your progress. You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

There are multiple benefits of measuring your results from the beginning of any endeavor:

1. Seeing your progress and having the proof of positive results builds confidence.

2. Tracking gives you valuable feedback so that you can modify your plan or change your approach if it’s not moving you in a satisfactory direction or speed.

Once your attention is placed upon a specific target, your conscious and subconscious mind work like heat seeking missiles in the quest to achieve it.

People who use a pedometer to measure how far they walk lose more weight, exercise more and have lower blood pressure than those who do not, researchers said on Tuesday.

It was not clear from the study, the first to review most previously published research on pedometer use, whether those who use the devices are more motivated in the first place, just benefit from the assistance, or both.

Many pedometer-related programs recommend users set daily goals for themselves, such as 10,000 steps or about 5 miles (8 km).

Dr. Dena Bravata and colleagues at Stanford University in California reviewed 26 earlier studies covering 2,767 people, with an average age of 49.

It found that pedometer users took more than 2,000 extra steps a day compared to those who did not use the devices, and that having a goal of reaching a certain number of steps was a significant factor.

Those using the devices, which are worn on the hip, also lost weight as measured by body mass index, and significantly reduced their systolic blood pressure — the top number in blood pressure readings, which indicates the maximum pressure of a contracting heart.

“Our results suggest that the use of these small, relatively inexpensive devices is associated with significant increases in physical activity and improvements in some key health outcomes, at least in the short term,” Bravata’s team wrote in the report published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Read more on the Study here

Jill

The most precious and valuable resource is time.

Time is more valuable than money.

You can make more money, but you cannot make more time.

Time is perishable, and the decisions you make about how to spend your time will largely determine the quality of your life.

The decisions you make about how to invest your time will determine how efficient and productive you are at your work. The decisions you make about how to spend your time with loved ones will determine the quality of your life in your relationships.

Time is the great equalizer.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day as everyone else.

No matter how much money you accumulate, you cannot write a check at the end of your life and purchase more time.

In my quest to discover what allows someone to become 1000 times more successful, wealthy or more fulfilled than someone else, I discovered many secrets that the leaders of every field already know.

Great leaders are great time managers.

For most people, the vast majority of waking hours are spent at work. Actually, most of your LIFE is spent at work. Therefore it is imperative that you are engaged in work that you truly love. This doesn’t mean you should immediately quit a job you don’t enjoy, rather get to working on an extra stream of income in the subject of your passion and start working towards your dreams, not someone else’s.

The foundation, the philosophy of The Time Commandments is to honor time as a precious resource. This means making a study of Time Management and Life Management. This means working on yourself more than you do on your business. This means re evaluating your values and priorities so that you are assured your life is moving in the direction of your greatest desires. No one else can do this for you.

Once you learn this strategy for success, you will gain clarity, confidence, energy and excitement. You will naturally and effortlessly integrate it into your everyday life.

Invest time in yourself. Invest time into reading books and teachings (like this one) and invest in audio programs that help you learn and grow. master your time and you will reach your Goals faster than you ever thought possible.

For more on Time Management discover The Time Commandments!

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

Jill Koenig, the “Goal Guru” is America’s Top Goal Strategist. A Best Selling Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker, she is an expert on the subjects of Goal Setting, Time Management and Business Success. Her passion in life is helping you achieve your Goals and UNLEASH your untapped potential. Learn cutting edge strategies and get your FREE Goal Setting CD at: http://www.GoalGuru.com

In a pet peeves-themed survey released recently by Randstad USA, a leading staffing firm and workforce solutions provider, employees revealed their biggest annoyances in their places of work.

The top three pet peeves found in the workplace:

Gossip(60%)

Others poor time management skills(54%)

Messiness in communal spaces(45%).

Managing Director of Operations and Human Resources for Randstad USA. “While managers impose standards for corporate culture, employees play a greater role in upholding desirable behaviors. Communication and openness are key factors in achieving a positive work environment.”

Rounding out the top seven pet peeves among employees are potent scents (42%), loud noises (41%), overuse of electronic personal communications devices in meetings (28%) and misuse of email (22%).

Observe your workplace environment and see how often you witness (or commit) these common peeves. Understand that you can make a positive or negative contribution to the overall workplace culture, attitudes and experiences within an organization.