(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

What Firefighting Taught Me About Goals and Priorities

This is probably one of the most important subjects I could ever share with you as it relates to your Goals and how they
contribute to improving the quality of your life.

As we have discussed before, most people don’t have clearly defined Goals. It is estimated that only 3% of the population
have any Goals at all, and certainly of that 3% even fewer have Goals in relation to a total holistic life design concept with action plans, timelines and priorities for each the different life areas.

One of the most common mistakes that holds people back from achieving their Goals is having have a long list of exciting Goals, but no system for organizing the order of priority for them.

Imagine how many decisions you make throughout any given day. What time will you wake up? What will you do when your open your eyes? Will you hit the snooze button or will you get up and get moving? Will you be excited about the day? What will you do next, will you exercise, read a little, listen to a personal development audio? Will you rewrite and review your Goals Cards? Will you eat breakfast and if you do, what will you have? Will it be rushed, will it be nutritious? You see what I’m talking about? You have just opened your eyes for only a few minutes and already you have made several decisions that will affect your day and over time, those daily minute to minute decisions become habits that accumulate to create your life, whether you realize it or not.

If a Goal is worth setting, it’s worth examining it’s relationship to the values and priorities in your life.

The Goal is the what, the priority and value is the why, and where it fits into your life. When you know the what and the why, the how is easy.

One of the most common complaints today is overwhelm. In a world where information overload is a daily occurrence, the solution to overcoming overwhelm lies in knowing which
information and which opportunities truly matter. And you cannot know the answer to that until you examine your values and determine your personal life priorities.

The Priority Principle

I would like to introduce you to The Priority Principle. The Priority Principle means knowing your values and priorities and arranging your life so that you spend your time, energy and money on what matters. It means you qualify each Goal and action by ranking the order of importance in advance. In a world where your potential is infinite, but your time is limited to 24 hours each day, the only way to navigate intelligently through life is to know what is most important to you and then act accordingly. Only when you have taken the time to examine your values and priorities carefully, can you know which opportunities, people, inputs and actions align with them.

My first major lesson in priorities came was when I was 18 years old on the job working as a Firefigher/Emergency Medical Technician. I was an art student by day and Firefighter by night and on weekends. I know, quite the combination, right?

Most people don’t think about emergency responders until they need one. If or when you have a situation like a fire, an accident, an illness or some kind of extreme crisis, you dial 911. A trained professional like a police officer, Firefighter, Paramedic or EMT arrives to help and take over the situation. They have the tools and the access to whatever it takes to bring the emergency, big or small, under control.

There are small scale emergencies that are non life-threatening, like broken bones and surface cuts that are relatively simple and easy to process, for example, one patient with one minor injury. And then there are larger scale emergencies like car accidents that can have multiple
victims, with multiple traumatic injuries, as well as enormous disasters with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of victims.

When there are more patients than manpower available to handle every victim immediately, there is a process that has to occur and it has to occur very quickly. That process is called Triage. Triage means to sort. Triage as performed in an emergency situation means someone has to quickly assess and sort through all of the victims and prioritize which patients will be treated and in what order. Even with one patient who has multiple injuries, when you can only treat one thing at a time, you have to prioritize which injury to treat first.

When there are multiple patients, a person who has a gaping open would would likely command a higher priority than another person who has all of their faculties who can walk and talk with no signs of urgent distress. I don’t want to get into all of the different variations of injuries here,
I just want to clarify that some patients will have a greater need for urgency over others. There are guidelines for determining which types of injuries get priority over all others. Emergency responders are trained and practice disaster drills so that when a crisis does occur, they know
what to do. Because no two crisises are identical, this training and practice in advance is often the lifesaver for many.

In times of calm, instructors clearly outlined in advance what the parameters were for the different valuations of urgency and priority of care so that when we were faced with the day to day activities of constant crisis, it would be almost second nature to make the right decision amidst
whatever circumstances arose.

With regards to medical emergencies, seconds mean life and death and decisions are made in milliseconds. Fortunately with your Goals, you don’t have as much pressure unless you are in crisis and most crisises can be prevented if you take the time to carefully examine your life regularly over time.

I transformed my life when I applied The Priority Principle.

In my 20’s I went through an interesting phase where I went from poverty to earning enough money to support myself and enjoy some of life’s luxuries. I didn’t really know what to do with the money. I had never had any before! But I was learning how to earn it and could breathe a little easier. I bought a new car and 2 motorcycles. I was making more
money than I ever had before but there didn’t seem to be enough cash to invest in the things I needed in order to grow my business. There is always a next level and I wanted to reach it. I wanted a bigger business, more income, more financial security and a big house.

One day I looked out at my motorcycles and thought, look at the money that is tied up in those bikes. They also served as a distraction as my biker friends were police officers and firefighers and worked all different shifts, so I would get invitations to go riding together at all hours of the day and night. I had not yet fully developed the habit of discipline so there were times I was riding motorcycles when I should have been working on myself and my business.

When I paused and thought about my motorcycles, in the scope of life, I realized that they are toys. I needed to rearrange my priorities. I figured if I valued my financial future more than my toys, then I should sell the motorcycles. After all, I could always buy another one in the future. So I rearranged and re-clarified my values. I needed to start valuing my financial future more than I valued those motorcycles.

So I sold them and invested the money into my business. Things grew so fast I could hardly keep up. Within a few months I moved into a 6,000 square foot house in the White Eagle Country Club in Naperville, IL. The girl who grew up in a 2 bedroom ghetto shack was suddenly living amongst CEOs, NBA stars and some of Chicago’s social elite. I am not trying to impress you, I just want to illustrate how quickly you can change your life when you become clear about your values and priorities and back it up with your actions. I went on to become a millionaire by ag 30 and never looked back.

You have got to invest the time into Triaging your Goals, dreams and life responsibilities. In a major medical emergency, if you don’t Triage properly, people die unnecessarily. In your day to day life, if you don’t Triage your Goals and apply the Priority Principle, your dreams die. I want you to Live Your Dreams.

I outline my own quick process of how to determine your values and priorities in simple terms, and great detail in Chapter 3 of http://www.TheTimeCommandments.com where you learn how to become crystal clear on your Goals and priorities in only 2 hours. Whether currently in a crisis or not, it is so important to take the time to look at what matters most to you in life. If you don’t, you will spend an awful lot of time feeling overwhelmed, putting out fires and responding to crisis after crisis, wasting your energy, instead of achieving your Goals with ease.

The good news is that when it comes to goal setting and life design, you have the luxury of deciding what your priorities are in advance IF you will invest the time and effort into learning the success system for doing it.

You are already deciding which Goals will be achieved and which ones will not whether you realize it or not. But now, by learning a new level of consciousness with regards to your priorities, you can achieve your Goals faster and have a lot more fun in the process.

I once had a Goal of owning a motorcycle. But in the scope of life, at that time, it meant nothing compared to my other Goals and priorities. Because I clarified that, I was able to take decisive action and move forward to more important, long lasting matters quickly and easily .

Don’t major in minor things. -Jim Rohn

Don’t focus major time and attention on Goals that are minor in the scope of your life.

It’s not our abilities that define who we truly are, it’s our thoughts, choices and our actions.

If you have never consciously thought about it, you might be wondering, “How do I know what my current values and priorities are?”

The answer, whether you like it or not, is that they are revealed in your current actions, patterns and habits. If you value time, you don’t waste it. If you value honesty, you don’t lie. If you value money, you invest it wisely. If you value growth, you work on self improvement. If you value
family, you invest your time and attention on nurturing them. If you value your spouse/partner, your words and behavior reveal this too. You are not what you say you are, you are what you repeatedly do.

Ultimatey, what you spend your time, energy and money on is a clear indicator of your values and priorities.

And if what you are currently doing is not working for you, you can change that and rearrange your priorities today in the next 120 minutes. You will increase your focus and productivity in every area of your life.

If you have never done this before, it’s worth the investment of your time. It will change your life.

To get clear and create your own personalized plan as it relates to balanced life design, learn how at

http://www.TheTimeCommandments.com

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

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

Everything is easier when you have momentum

Have you ever set a Goal and in the following days, weeks,
months or even years, took little or no action towards it’s
achievement?

If so, you’re not alone.

The world moves so fast these days. Not to sound like an
old timer, but back in my day… we didn’t have cell
phones, computers, PDA’s, ipods or many of the hundreds of
devices we have become so dependent upon today.

If you were around back in the 70’s you were lucky if your
neighborhood had 5 television channels that came in from
your outside antenna. You actually had to get up off your
duff to change the channel or turn up the volume. Now we
have hundreds of cable and satellite channels and remote
controls that work every electronic device in the house!

There was no Google, there was no Ebay and phones were
attached to the wall by a chord.

Things move FAST these days. One of the greatest
advancements of the last 30 years is the ability to send
information all the way around the world via email in a
millisecond for free if you have an internet connection. I
can send an email from my phone in America to my friends in
Australia in the blink of an eye. I can download an ebook or
even watch a video that my friend 1,000 miles away made 5
minutes ago (thanks YouTube).

I wonder where in the world you are right now as you read
this.

What’s good about all of these advancements is that things
that used to take years to accomplish 20 or 30 years ago,
can now be achieved in a matter of months, weeks or even
days. You can achieve your Goals now faster than ever
before.

Yet still sometimes you set a Goal but never get it off the
ground.

I am here to remind you that there has never been a better
time in human history to go after your Goals and Dreams
than right now.

Want to learn a new skill? There are millions of tools and
resources at your fingertips within seconds. Just google
it.

Want to start a new business, learn a new language, write a
book? Thanks to the internet, you can connect with others
with similar Goals or others who have done it already
within minutes. You can publish a physical book within days
and an ebook within minutes.

You can even download my Goal Setting audio trainings to
your mp3 player and take me with you wherever you go!

My Goal Setting business was started with very little
investment. GoalGuru.com’s first web presence was a $ 10 do
it yourself web site. That’s a couple of lattes at the
coffee shop. You can’t even buy a pizza with $10 anymore
but you can launch a business. It was all I needed to start
my blog, a newsletter and begin to share my knowledge and
coaching experience on a global level… immediately. I had
clear Goals, a compelling mission and an enormous amount of
energy and determination. I would let nothing stop me. And
now you are reading this.

At the same time I launched GoalGuru.com, I had friends and
acquaintances who wanted to start a businesses too. It’s
been two years and they haven’t started anything yet.

Do you want to know the biggest difference between them and
me?

I would love to tell you that I am so much brighter or more
attractive or had better connections or that I had some
other advantage that they didn’t. But that is not the
case.

What I had (and still have) that they don’t is very
simple.

Momentum.

I set my Goals, took immediate massive action, started the
journey and have taken action every single day since then.

What I lacked in technical knowledge, I made up for with
massive action. Momentum.

What I lacked in financial backing, I made up for with
massive action. Momentum.

What I lacked in skill, I made up for with massive action.
Momentum.

Massive action = Momentum

Everything you ever do is much easier when you have
momentum.

I didn’t wait for everything to be perfect, for the economy
to be just right, for every circumstance to line up in my
favor- I just got started and took massive action.

I can assure you, whatever you want to do, whatever Goals
you aspire to achieve, whatever Dreams you yearn for, you
can have them. But not if you don’t ever begin and not if
you don’t commit to taking massive action right now today.

The ball is in your court. Always has been, always will
be.

You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it
going.

Whatever you lack, make can up for with massive action.

What can you do today to advance your most cherished Goal?

Take the first step and revise your plan as you go.

Do it.

Do it NOW.

Got Momentum?

Live Your Dreams

Jill Koenig

Jill Koenig, the “Goal Guru” is America’s Top Goal
Strategist. A best selling Author, Peak Performance Coach
and Speaker, she is an expert on the subjects of Goal
Setting, Time Management and Business Success. Her Goal in
life is to help you UNLEASH your untapped potential. http://www.GoalGuru.com
Media Requests: Jill Koenig is a dynamic high energy tv and
radio guest available for interviews and corporate speaking
engagements.

An inspiring video about gratitude, perseverance, faith and courage.

Nick Vujicic was born with no arms and no legs, but was an otherwise healthy baby.

Try to imagine for a moment the challenges of going through daily life without arms or legs.

Nick said, “School was really enjoyable for me and I really tried to live life like everyone else. But, it was in my early years of school where I encountered uncomfortable times of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of my physical difference. It was very hard for me to get used to. In spite of this, with the support of my parents, I started to develop attitudes and values which helped me overcome these challenging times. Though I knew I was different, on the inside, I was just like everyone else. There were many times when I felt so low that I wouldn’t go to school in order to avoid all the negative attention. With encouragement from my parents, I began to ignore the bullies and tried to start making friends by just talking with some of the kids. Soon the students realized that I was just like them.

Many times I felt depressed and angry because I couldn’t change the way I was, or blame anyone for that matter. In Sunday school, I learned that God loves us all and that He cares for us deeply. At that stage in my childhood, I could understand His love to a point. But, as you can imagine, I still got hung up on that fact that if he really loved me, why did He make me like this? I wondered if I’d done something wrong and began to feel certain that this must be true. Otherwise, I thought, God wouldn’t have made me the only weird one out of all the kids at school. Feeling I was a burden to those around me, I sensed the sooner Ipd just go away altogether, the better it would be for everyone. So, at a young age, I wanted to end my pain and my life. But I am thankful, once again, for my parents and my family who were always there to comfort me and lend me their strength. Thankfully, a real turning point arrived!

Due to the emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying, self-esteem and loneliness, God began to instill a passion of sharing my story and experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they might have in their lives. Turning my struggles into something that would glorify God and bless others, I realized my purpose! The Lord was going to use me to encourage and inspire others to live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

As I grew older, God continued to prepare my heart and teach me to seek Him. One of the first lessons that I have learned was not to take things for granted. With a wake-up call around the age of twelve, I realized just how much God had blessed me. My foot, what I’ve termed my little chicken bone.  I had been taking for granted. But it serves me well. God had freely given to me and so much with my loving family, and so many other blessings, I realized Why should I still complain?

Now twenty-five years old, I’ve completed a Bachelor’s Degree in both Financial Planning and Accounting. Also, I’m active as a motivational speaker. Again, my number one passion is for souls. I just love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. Over time, I’ve developed messages that relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge today’s teenagers.

Achieving goals and pursuing dreams is something I’m  actively pursuing on a regular basis.

Some of these include becoming the best witness I can be of God’s love and hope, to become an international inspirational speaker and to be used as a vessel in both Christian and non-Christian venues. These goals are, even now, being realized. Other aspirations of mine yet to be realized is my desire to modify a car that I can drive, to be interviewed on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” and share my story, and to write several books. With anticipation, I look forward to starting on the first of these this year. Not surprisingly, the title will be, “No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!”

Many would think these goals were too far-fetched. However, I believe that if you have the desire and passion to do something, and it’s within God’s will, you will achieve it in good time. As humans, we continually put limits on ourselves for no reason at all!”

When you fall down, just get back up.

With Today’s fast paced lifestyle, it is crucial to embrace and implement simple strategies for achievement and fulfillment. Your job in this life is to follow your bliss, design your destiny and consciously direct the steering wheel of your life.

This is the time of year that we look back at where we’ve been and look ahead at where we want to be. We set some New Years Resolutions, well intentioned, with the hopes of creating positive changes in our lives. Unfortunately, research shows that as many as 95% of people abandon their resolutions by the end of January, disgusted and discouraged! It doesn’t have to be that way.

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they might have planned for you? Not much.”

-Jim Rohn

If you don’t implement a system for setting and achieving Goals, the winds that blow in life will sweep you off course and into a life of reaction. Having a plan you can integrate for each goal you set will ensure you are in a proactive state instead of a reactive state.

Being proactive enables you to sleep peacefully at night and awaken each day knowing that you are actively heading in the direction you want to go, developing your greatness and living your dreams. Having a system for manifesting your goals over and over builds confidence and demolishes fear.

Plug your highest priority New Years Resolutions into this Template and put them to the Test. If you don’t have all of these elements, it is not likely you will achieve them successfully. A Resolution is not a mere hope or a wish… it’s a Goal that you are committed to with plans for attainment that inspire and motivate you to take consistent, persistent, decisive action.

Ten T’s that Guarantee Total New Years Resolution Success:

1. THIRST: You must have a burning desire for something, originating beyond mere hopes and ideas. You must have compelling dreams, a thirst, a hunger and desires that are so inspiring and motivating, they provide you with enough internal drive to fuel you and keep you going when things don’t go as planned. The stronger your WHY, the more successful you will be. You must feel a magnetic pull Towards something that is meaningful and significant to you.

2. TARGETS: You must define the Targets, the outcomes, the goals, the destinations clearly and in as much detail as you can. Use your imagination to visualize and experience the deep emotions of what it will feel like when your goal is achieved.

3. TASKS: Working from your Targets and outcomes, work backwards and map out the Tasks, activities and the Things you must do to advance towards your goal. A big goal is actually made up of several smaller goals or Tasks. Do the small Tasks and the big Goal WILL be realized.

4. TIME: It takes Time, a Timetable and effort to bring your dreams to life. It requires consistent, persistent effort. Treat Time as a precious resource and invest it wisely. Create a Timetable and schedule your Tasks in your calendar, creating an action plan, broken down into small, manageable steps with a sequential order so that you know what will be done and when you will do it. As you create your Timetable, your goal becomes Tangible. Every Goal has it’s own gestation period.

(for more on Time Management, review The Time Commandments!)

http://www.goalguru.com/products

5. TEAM: Enlist a Team of Talented people in the form of friends, family, coaches, partners, Teachers, mentors, supporters, interns, employees, whatever it takes. The bigger the goal, the more outside support and contributors it will require. The Team you put together can make all the difference in the world. Surround yourself with positive people. When you are Taking Action and committed, people will be compelled to help you.

6. TENACITY: Be Tireless, persistent and unwavering in your commitment. Take 100% responsibility for the results you’re getting. Track your results and measure your progress. If you are not happy with your progress and results, take 100% responsibility for changing it. Adjust your plan or Timetable and Tap into your burning desire and act consistently every single day.

7. TRANSCEND: Transcend limitation. Courageously go beyond your comfort zone and propel yourself to new heights. Nothing is impossible and Growth only comes from going beyond and stretching yourself. Trust that anything you can envision and commit to, you can achieve.

8. TREASURE: Treasure the journey. Savor each moment you have been given. Savor the entire experience, the challenges, the growth and the lessons you encounter. Trust that they are there to Teach you and prepare you for future experiences. Trust that you are a vessel of infinite untapped potential. The more grateful you are, the more abundance you will attract.

9. TRIUMPH: Success! Your actions have resulted in the successful realization of your goal! You have followed through on your plan, reached the goal you envisioned, so celebrate your growth and accomplishments! Take time to revel in your achievement.

10. TITHE: Share your blessings with others. Give of your Time, Talents and pocketbook. Teach others your own unique expertise and be Thankful. Give encouragement, it’s free to give and priceless to those who receive it. Contribution to others will enrich your life in ways you cannot imagine. Support others in their journey in any way you can. It will come back to you Ten fold. Touch as many people as you can and leave a legacy that lasts a beyond your lifetime.

It takes all of these elements to Transform your hopes and wishes from New Years Resolutions into Results. Take your Resolutions, Transition them into Goals by empowering the Ten T’s, get started Today and Take Off to a Totally Thrilling Tomorrow!

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

http://www.GoalGuru.com

Jill Koenig, the “Goal Guru’ is America’s Top Goal Strategist. A Best Selling Author, Coach and dynamic Motivational Speaker, she is an expert on the subjects of Goal Setting, Time Management and Business Success. She is the host of the Goal Guru Radio Show. Her passion in life is helping you Achieve your Goals and Unleash your untapped potential. Learn Cutting Edge Goal Strategies and get your FREE ebook at http://www.GoalGuru.com

Media Requests: Jill Koenig is a dynamic high energy tv and radio guest available for interviews and corporate speaking engagements.

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-Grace Murray Hopper

Today I would like to talk about a topic I think every one
of us can relate to. 

Fear.

The dictionary defines fear as: noun 1. an anxiety caused
by real or possible danger 2. pain, apprehension, concern

At one time or another we have all experienced the emotion
of fear.

There are so many variations of fear. Fear of the unknown,
fear of events outside of our control, fear of failure,
fear of success, fear of intimacy, fear of people who are
different from us, fear of ______(fill in the blank)_______.

I have found that at it’s very core, fear is simply a signal
or a call to action.  The ultimate purpose of fear is to
serve you.

There are two kinds of fear, what I call Stage 1 Fear and
Stage 2 Fear.

Stage 1 Fear is very real. It’s the fear that calls for
immediate action, for example, when your life or safety is
in immediate danger.  This is an all-consuming fear that
intuitively grips your gut, without thinking.  For example
when you’re walking down a dark street and you sense
danger. I mean it’s very serious and should not be ignored.
This fear most definitely serves you.

Stage 2 Fear, on the other hand is a little more
mysterious.  It surfaces whenever you move outside of your
comfort zone or  try something you’ve never done before.
For some it is a fear of flying, fear of heights, fear of
roller coasters, fear of being married, fear of being
divorced, fear of starting a business, fear of starting a
new career, fear of learning a new skill, etc.

Becoming aware of the two different kinds of fear allows
you to take a step back anytime you feel afraid so that you
can evaluate how it can serve you.  You can ask yourself, is
this stage 1 fear where I need to take immediate action,
disengage or change course -or- is this stage 2 fear, where
I am simply being faced with the opportunity of moving
beyond my comfort zone.

Stage 1 is usually a warning that requires immediate
attention, while Stage 2 Fear can actually be an invitation
towards something that is ultimately good for you.

Yes, it’s true, you can actually feel afraid of something
that is GOOD for you. 

You can be afraid of falling in love, speaking in front of
an audience, meeting new people, trying something you have
never tried before, starting a business, and so on.

Here is an example.

When I was 13 years old, in the 7th grade, myself and my
entire peer group spent our summer days at the park
district swimming pool.  There were actually 2 pools.  A
shallow pool for the little ones and a pool that had a
graduated depth from 3 feet to 15 feet where the diving
boards where.

Swimming pools are fantastic.  And being a kid, sun and fun
all summer long, what more could you ask for, right?

One tiny little problem… at 13 years old, I did not know
how to swim.

As all of my friends were swimming away into the deep end,
I was left clinging to the side of the pool in the shallow
end, terrified to let go. 

Now let me be clear.  As my friends swam away, I was
without a doubt feeling Stage 1 Fear. I had every reason to
be afraid.  It would not have been wise to follow them into
the deep end at that time.

Being in any body of water, not knowing how to swim is
dangerous and potentially life threatening. Anything that
can end in serious injury or death should not be taken
lightly.  But there are risks involved in anything worth
doing in life.  I could have abstained from the activity
all together forever, but spending the rest of my life in
the kiddie pool was not appealing to me.  Forget about the
peer pressure, or the other kids making fun of me, I can
handle that.  But I could not handle missing out on all of
the fun they were having.  I did not want to go on one more
day, not to mention the rest of my life not knowing how to
swim. 

I was staring in the face of the “Terror Barrier”

More on that later.

But at that moment, I made a decision.  I set a Goal and
decided I would learn how to swim.

Here is what I did:

Step 1. I asked my friends to swim past me in the shallow
end, while I held my nose and went underwater to see what
their arms and legs were doing as they swam by.  I observed
that the arms were doing one thing and the legs were doing
another thing and I thought hmmm, maybe I could do this.

Step 2. I went to the lifeguards and asked them to watch me
while I held onto the wall, where I proceeded to kick my
legs like my friends had done.  Interestingly, when I did
this I became somewhat buoyant. 

Step 3.  I let go of the wall and swam a few feet out.
Then I swam back to the wall.  Imagine my surprise, I was
actually doing it, I was SWIMMING!

I don’t know if you know how to swim or how you learned,
but sometimes the longer you wait, the harder it becomes.
Seriously, that imaginary barrier can play tricks with your
mind if you don’t keep it in check.  I went from feeling
terrified, wishing I could swim, to deciding I would learn,
then taking immediate action to make it reality, all within
a few hours.

And by the end of the day, I was swimming in the deep end
and about a month later, I was jumping off the diving
boards in the deepest part of the pool. In fact, it was not
pretty or efficient, but I was swimming good enough to get
where I wanted to go.

The purpose of fear is to serve you.

The “Terror Barrier” is an imaginary line.

On one side is you and where you are now.

On the other side is your dream, your Goal.

Most people turn back when they reach the Terror Barrier.
They say, “no, I am too afraid, I am frozen, I’m turning
back and staying in my comfort zone where I feel safe.” And
they never step over the line to find out what they are
truly capable of.  They can’t see beyond the current
fright, when what is on the other side is so good.

But…

You cannot live your entire life holding on to the edge of
the pool.

Some of you are in an illusion that you are in Stage 1
Fear, you are terrified, but you actually in Stage 2 Fear,
with the perception of Stage 1.  You’re at the Terror
Barrier.

It’s just a matter of going beyond where you are now.

Put your safeguards in place whenever you can, find
yourself a mentor or coach and create a plan of action for
your Goal and start going after what you want. Whenever
possible, model those who went before you.

Now that I understand it, I have run ins with the
Terror Barrier on a daily basis. There are constantly new
things I want to learn or do that are waaaay outside of my
comfort zone.  I acknowledge the fear, evaluate the
situation and break through it. 

Just like when I learned how to swim, it’s not always
pretty, but it’s good enough to get me where I want to go.

Most of the fear and worry people give their energy to is a
figment of their imagination.  99% of the worries and
anxiety of the world never happen. 

Stop wasting energy being paralyzed by fear.

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built
for.”   -Grace Murray Hopper

Allow your fear to serve you.

Think of what dreams of yours have led you to the brink of
the Terror Barrier where you turned away?  Was this truly a
Stage 1 fear or was it Stage 2 (an illusion) ?

Write it down and email it to me if you’re ready to
break through it and make the dream a reality.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

http://www.GoalGuru.com

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 Goal in life is to help you UNLEASH your
untapped potential. Learn cutting edge Goal Strategies at
http://www.GoalGuru.com

Media Requests: Jill Koenig is a dynamic high energy tv and
radio guest available for interviews and corporate speaking
engagements.