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

Phyllis Apple, 84 year old owner of a thriving PR firm

Boomers are Booming and apparently 80 is the new 40.

Scientists still cannot agree whether the average human life span will be 85 or 100 or 150, but one thing is for certain, the days of getting a “good job” and working there until you retire at sixty are over.

During the twentieth century the human life span increased by more than 50 percent in most industrialized countries. When Jeanne Calment died in southern France in 1997, she was 122 years old, the longest-living human ever documented.

Today, 1 in 10,000 people in industrialized countries hold centenarian status.

One thing is certain. It’s never too late to pursue a dream, in fact, feeling young has a lot to do with staying active and engaged in your passions and things that interest you.

If you knew you would live to 100 or more years, what changes would you make in your health and lifestyle habits today?

Here are some examples of Goal Getters, 8 Entrepreneurs over 80 who are living their dreams.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill

When we set out to pursue any Goal, clearly we need to choose a path for it’s attainment, create action plans and begin taking steps and do our part to move it forward.

There are some who believe that applying The Law of Attraction requires no action, however I have never met anyone who laid in bed all day and manifested anything.

At many points along your journey while you plan your work and work your plan, many opportunities you could not have planned or predicted will appear. One of the reasons I stress to “Begin with the End in Mind” and create a long term vision for your life is because looking ahead years and decades from now allows you to understand that there will be a multitude of ways you can achieve your big picture outcome. It also gives you flexibility to discover other ways to reach your desired destination.

Creating long term Goals gives you the freedom to change paths at any point along the way when the right opportunity presents itself.

In my childhood I dreamed of being wealthy, and designed a long term vision, having no idea how I could ever achieve this. When I graduated high school and worked as a firefighter while attending art school, I had no idea if I could parlay those skills into long term wealth, but I was always willing to follow my passions in the faith that the way would be made.

Because I trusted that if I continued to move forward and take daily action on my dreams, the how would evolve and I would be ready when the opportunities arose. And sure enough, the path that was formed was quite unexpected but because I kept my options open, when it appeared, I was ready and seized it.

Here’s another example of having a long term vision and keeping your options open to the fact that there are many roads that will lead you to it.

Hold onto your vision and welcome new paths for creating it.

Here’s an amazing example from Masseuse to Google Millionaire.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill

You’ve defined your Goal, identified your key strategies, created an action plan and have started to put it into action.

What’s next?

As you proceed, it is important to measure your results and track your progress (or lack of it). This is the least exciting part of the journey of any Goal, but I assure you it is one of the most important. This is where it gets a little tricky due to the fact that every Goal is different. Each Goal has it’s own unique targets, time lines, and action plans, therefore it will require it’s own unique system and schedules for measuring.

Not every Goal needs to be measured, just your most critical ones. For example, if on the weekends you take guitar lessons to explore your interest in learning how to play, you don’t necessarily need a plan for measuring your progress. But for your highest priority Goals, you absolutely do. If you are building a business or trading in the stock market, your very financial existence relies upon your systems for tracking.

People often seek my coaching and assistance because they are stuck in some way. They say, “I am stuck! I have tried everything and nothing works!” The first thing I do is ask for their gauges, measurements and stats for the related area. Often they reply with blame or excuses about the economy or some outside circumstance for why they are off track and never is that the real reason for a decline. The reason for almost all struggle, stagnation and lack of growth is due to a lack of attention, measurement or action in the critical areas. It is usually a matter of neglect and fortunately there is a quck and easy solution to create a major turnaround.

The fastest way to create a breakthrough is to measure and examine the critical areas of your Goal.

You cannot change what you don’t measure. You cannot improve what you don’t measure. Where focus goes, energy flows so begin focusing on your major key areas that are critical to your success.

Tracking reveals the true reality of a situation. Many Goals can be measured with numbers. For example, Health Goals provide many numbers to monitor your progress; pounds, inches, blood sugar, triglycerides, blood pressure, as do a multitude of other precise diagnostic measurements.

Tracking builds confidence. When you have a great plan, are following it and producing phenomenal results, you automatically raise your own self-esteem and that optimism carries over into every other life area. Knowing that you are on track and having the validation of facts as proof gives you an enormous boost.

Tracking provides valuable feedback and indications of areas that may need to be addressed or adjusted. If your Goal is to lose weight and the numbers on the scale are going up, up, up each week, it could be an indication that you may need to re evaluate your plan or if you have a great plan and have not been following it, simply renew your dedication to it.

For every Goal that does not succeed, there are always numerous indicators along the way that would have provided a snapshot or a warning ahead of time and all throughout the journey, if the critical components would have been measured and appropriate action taken, the Goal could have been salvaged.

Your Action Plan:

1. Examine your highest and most important Goal and the key areas that will ensure it’s success. What are the aspects you will need to measure so that you will know on any given day, at any given time, whether or not you are progressing on track?

2. List at least ten precise critical components you can begin measuring and tracking. (if you come up with more than ten, that’s even better).

3. Create targets for each of the chosen areas. This can be done by looking at the end result and tracking backwards. What are the ideals you will need to achieve in order to successfully realize your Goal?

4. Create the most appropriate schedule for tracking and checking your gauges and schedule it into your planner. How often should you measure your metrics, stats and gauges and examine your progress? If the Goal has no end, as such with an ongoing business, you can certainly break it down via yearly, quarterly, monthly, daily and even weekly measurements.

Since each Goal is unique, your Goal will require unique systems and schedules for tracking it. By implementing this for all of your highest priority Goals, you will instantly begin to produce better results.

Goal Achieving abides by the Universal Law of Cause and Effect. If you don’t like the results you are creating, change your approach, increase your efforts, modify your plan, but don’t stick your head in the sand and neglect to see the truth of the situation.

The fastest way to improve your results is to measure your progress. So re examine your most cherished Goals and see where you stand. Your mind will instantly begin to search for ways to make improvements in those key areas.

Numbers don’t lie. Welcome whatever data you receive and take the appropriate actions to ensure your success!

Live Your Dreams

Jill

Copyright 2007 Jill Koenig

I think we all agree that there is a huge gap between passively learning a thing and the actual Mastery of it. Anyone can pick up a paintbrush and splash some color on a canvas, but not everyone will go on to create a masterpiece. While everyone CAN create a masterpiece, everyone has the capacity, not everyone will employ the belief, drive, discipline or even the desire to develop their inborn dormant talent or skill.

There is one area in which each of us must become the master of, and it is that of our own life design. We are given the blank canvas at birth and for a time, we are guided by others on how to fill it in until we realize that we can begin anew with a blank canvas anytime we choose. In fact, we can add as much color and depth as we want and we can paint over whatever we previously created.

Don’t wait for someone else to give you permission to paint your canvas. Choose your own color palette, mix it up and fill your life with rich textures, and make your life full of color, depth and expression. Aim high, think big and go for your dreams with all of your might.

You are the artist.

Your life is the canvas.

Make it a masterpiece.

Goal Achieving is the #1 life skill, but most people become complacent about it and take it for granted. They understand it to some degree in theory, but rarely activate the immense power of integrating it into their day to day life.

Goal Setting is very easy to do. It’s also just as easy not to do. And herein lies the danger. It is one of the most powerful “unseen” forces in the world, yet it is one of the easiest to take for granted or engage in sloppiness and mediocrity.

For example, most people only think about Goals once a year. You guessed it, January 1st. Millions of people take a stab at setting some half-hearted New Years Resolutions. They make random wishes in the hopes of achieving or obtaining things they have no commitment to and within a few weeks, they are forgotten… until next year. And then they do the exact same thing. Most resolutions have little motivation attached to them, no plans for their attainment, no strategy for measuring their progress and no support or success system to ensure their progress.

One of my early mentors said to me, “Find out what failures do and then don’t do it. Find out what successful people do and then do it.”

So don’t do what the failing Resolution crowd does, which is clearly “set it and forget it.” Learn how to stay plugged in to your Goals every single day, 365 days a year. Here are some helpful tips:

The Three Stages of a Goal

In my observation of those who embark upon the journey of Goals, I estimate that 97% of those who attempt to pursue a Goal barely succeed beyond the first stage of Goals and therefore never progress to the second or third stage. It’s easier than you think to realize your most significant Goals once you understand the magnitude.

Stage 1. Goal Setting

Over the course of my life and in my decades of studying success and leadership, I learned key distinctions about how to create success systemsâ„¢. A system is a formula that dictates a sequential order of a process. Call it what you will, in sports, it’s a game plan, in cooking it’s a recipe, in business it’s a business plan. For example, when someone start a company and it succeeds, in many respects, they can model the steps that led to a successful outcome and duplicate them when creating the next company.

And the greatest success systemâ„¢ you could ever learn is that which leads to the advancement and achievement of your most cherished Goals.

The Goal Rush success systemâ„¢ is your recipe, a formula that when followed will lead you to a successful result. I found that those who consistently achieve their dreams, whether consciously or not have followed a system. The system and the first stage of the process is critical for your success. At this juncture Goal Setting is more than just making a wish. Goal Setting in it’s essence is deciding, visualizing, planning, beginning to take the necessary actions, measuring, adjusting where necessary which will then lead to the Goal’s advancement and finally Goal Achieving.

You see Goal Setting is only one aspect of the equation. The setting of the Goal is the envisioning stage. It’s one of the early steps in a process of having, being, doing or giving something. Did you know that there is a surefire process for selecting Goals? Then and only then, can you pursue your most cherished Goals based on a holistic perspective of your life and from there, from only the Goals that pass the test and meet the criteria, you will begin the journey of moving towards it and attracting it. The only thing worse than not setting Goals, is tying up your time and energy on Goals that have no meaning. Even more damaging, is the habitual act of pursuing Goals are detrimental to you and the people around you, the Goals that rob you of your most precious resources and detract from the other areas of your life.

Goal Setting is the stage of decision. Deciding what you want and clarifying it in precise detail.

Stage 2. Goal Achieving

Goal Achieving is the outcome or result of actually hitting your target. After you learn the art of Goal Setting, you will drastically increase your success rate. I don’t know anyone who achieves every Goal they set, not even me. Bill Gates, Tiger Woods and others who are world class Goal Achievers don’t reach all of their Goals either, but they are winners in the game of life because they aim higher than most people ever dream and therefore they reap a higher level of reward. World Class Goal Achievers know the simple process of selecting Goals that are in harmony with your life’s purpose, planning for their attainment, and increasing the likelihood of it’s success. There are a multitude of things you can do to stack the odds in your favor. Goal Achievers understand it is possible to live in a constant state of joy, even when things don’t go as planned, even when things don’t work out.

The joy is in the journey.

Stage 3. Goal Mastery

Goal Mastery is the state of habitually and consistently being in touch with your life’s purpose and leading a Goal directed life. In this state most or even all of your life areas are working at optimum levels, meaning your relationships, career, health, financial and spiritual lives are all feeding and adding to each other. You easily attract what you want. Some call it balance, but it is rare to have all of those areas living in total balance. Instead, strive for harmony. Your life Goals allow you to live a life where no one area gets neglected or suffers. Whatever you call it, Goal Mastery is a state of positive growth in all areas.

Mastery of anything is not a one time event. It is a constant process of never ending improvement. When you think you know it all is precisely the moment you will begin to backslide and regress. That is what leads to complacency and depression. How many people do we know who were incredibly gifted at something but stopped developing their God given gifts because they got comfortable or distracted? How many people do we know who settle for much less than the are capable of and go on to lead lives of quiet desperation.

If repetition is the mother of skill then just like I and so many others have, you too, have the power to condition yourself for success, and along with that comes the means to choose and achieve your destiny.

You are the artist.

Your life is the canvas.

Make it a masterpiece.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill

To make your life a masterpiece, enroll in Goal University today!

http://www.GoalUniversity.com