February 01, 2009
The Goal Kicker – February 2009 Edition
Welcome to this month’s edition of “The Goal Kicker” – the monthly ezine produced by achieve-goal-setting-success.com - dedicated to helping you achieve your goals by providing goal setting related articles and reviews of the latest goal setting products available.
In this edition you’ll find:
- An article on “Stop Procrastination in 4 Easy Steps”, by guest author Rigdha Acharya
- A review of the software“GoalsSync” , from the creators of GoalPro
- A review of the book “Flight Plan”, by Brian Tracy
- A review of this month’s Featured Link to www.squidoo.com
- ToolBOX Talk – how to get the best out of the ”Weekly Planner” template
- Our inspirational quote of the month explained.
And if you’re looking for a rich and dynamic source of success related articles, then check out The Success Squid on Squidoo.
Yours truly,
Sam Sander
Have you downloaded your FREE gift for subscribing to “The Goal Kicker”? If not, please download and enjoy your FREE copy of “How to Make your Dreams Come True" by Don Loyd as a thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
As part of this subscription we also issue a mid-month mini-newsletter – “The Goal Kicker: Hot Topics”. This mid-month issue is part of the same subscription as the monthly “Goal Kicker” and will include a short punch-list of new releases, new websites and refreshers on a range of success topics.
”Stop Procrastination in 4 Easy Steps”
What’s this article about?Are you a victim of procrastination? Here are 4 tips from guest author Rigdha Acharya to get you off that couch of procrastination and back into the fast-lane. And keep reading to get your copy of Rigdha’s FREE ebook on “The Time Management Secrets that will Set You Free”.
Here’s the Article…
Are you a victim of procrastination? Or are you unable to stop procrastinating? Do you often find yourself unable to meet deadlines because you spent too much watching TV, playing computer games or even sleeping?
Well, I was exactly like that just a few years ago. But, thankfully those days are in the PAST. These days, I can set goals and achieve them easily without any time consuming hassles. And you can do the same too.
All you need to do is manage your time now!
Here’s a few tips to get you started.
1. Plan your daily must-do activities: Draw up a to-do list. Preferably write it down on paper or even a white board in your office. Or, use a computer if you prefer. Include all the things that must be done today. No ifs or buts! These are the MUST-Do activities.
2. Prioritize the activities, with the more important ones taking precedence over the less important activities on the list. If there are important things to do, but not urgent enough to be worried about if not done, put them below the urgent ones. The idea is based on the established principle that 80% of rewards come from 20% of effort directed towards accomplishing important work.
3. Start working: Even if the deadline is 5 days from now or a month from now, starting out on an important project will help you avoid stress and do it well. When you start a major project just the day of the deadline, you are bound to stress out and leave out important points. Get in the habit of starting things before the deadline.
4. Start working bit by bit. Things may seem like huge mountains at first but it is important to stay calm. Afterall, you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time! And it takes time to digest…Just start working on the project or task on hand and don’t worry about getting it perfect. You still have a lot of time to iron out the details. Remember to start well before the deadline so you can focus on finishing the task and then ironing out the details. Trying to get everything right on first attempt is the best excuse used by procrastinators!
Procrastination is a deadly disease and it not only kills motivation but also your chances of success. Stop procrastinating right now and start achieving your goals TODAY!!
You can learn more about getting rid of procrastination and how to manage your time to achieve all your goals by reading Rigdha’s FREE ebook – “The Time Management Secrets that will Set You Free”.
Refer to the ”Life Skills” tab on the NavBar for more information on time management and other skills to get you organised.
Product of the Month – “GoalSync”
One of the keys to goal setting success is writing down your goals and keeping your goals in the forefront of your mind – and sometimes we need a little help to do that. So many people write down that perfect goal and flawless action plan and then just leave them in their draw – and then wonder why they don’t achieve their goals!
GoalSync by Success Studios Corp. - the same people that brought you GoalPro 6.0 - allows you to utilize the power of repetition and subliminal messaging to achieve your goals.
By doing so it incorporates some of the most fundamental secrets of success - positive reinforcement and making the most of the expectant power of the brain.
GoalSync is a software application that is designed to keep your goals in your focus by flashing them to you throughout the day while you use your computer.
This does a couple of things:
- It uses the power of subliminal messaging to influence your mind – by seeing quick flashes of your goal statement, your mind will start to get programmed to achieve you goal.
- It uses the power of repetition for increasing memory – do you remember doing all those maths tables in school? What made you remember them – repetition!
- It uses the expectant power of the brain – put a positive goal statement in your mind and as you increase your belief in this goal, your brain ‘expects’ to achieve it.
Of course, it really only works if you use your computer pretty well all the time. If your day involves a lot of time away from the computer, then I wouldn’t suggest this software - positive affirmation recordings on an MP3 player would do the job in this case.
Refer to the ”Software” and ”Systems” tabs on the NavBar for more reviews on other goal setting software and systems available.
Book of the Month – “Flight Plan”, by Brian Tracy
If you’re like millions of people - you just don’t have the time or the energy to accomplish the things you really want. Your job takes up all of your time, there are bills to pay, and you never seem be able to get ahead.But you can learn The Real Secret of Success – from Brian Tracy’s best-selling book Flight Plan.
You need a flight plan to succeed. It’s amazing how many people fail because they just don’t have a plan. And having a plan isn’t enough. Just like an airplane pilot you must make course corrections to arrive at your destination – your goals.
When you learn to create your flight plan – Your life will become a success.
Flight Plan shows you how to achieve ANY of your goals - even those tough fitness and financial goals we all seem to struggle with!
The book shows you how to get from wherever you are today to wherever you want to be in the future, by showing you how to succeed.
Based on Brian’s work with thousands of self-made millionaires, multimillionaires and billionaires world-wide - it's a system that has been proven to work. There are universal principles and truths that have been discovered and rediscovered throughout history and that all successful people learn and practice.
Brian Tracy himself has personally gone from rags to riches using these principles, and he has taught them to 4 million people in 46 countries and become one of the top success teachers and gurus on personal performance in the world. And Flight Plan will teach you these life-changing techniques. People who apply the formula in Flight Plan experience immediate changes and long-term improvements in every area of life – so try it today!
Featured Link of the month - www.squidoo.com
Squidoo is fast becoming one of the net’s largest source of articles on a wide range of topics – including goal setting and success!Squidoo is FREE to join and participate in, and operates on the basis that everyone is an expert in something – the site even offers a FREE ebook on why even YOU are an expert in something.
On Squidoo you can:
- Search for and read over half a million existing lenses on a wide range of topics – you can even rate the pages and make your favorites.
- Write your own webpages (called a lens) for the world to see, and submit it to Squidoo groups on related topics to promote your page.
- Raise money for charity (or yourself) through on-page promotions such as Amazon and Adsense (administered by Squidoo so they get a cut too).
- Participate in the Squidoo community with blogs and forums. A warning though – this can be highly addictive!
So we caught the Squidoo bug and set up a Squidoo group called The Success Squid dedicated to compiling all the success related articles we can find on Squidoo.
And if you’re on Squidoo, then we’d love you to visit our group and all the lenses in it - and maybe even submit your own success lens to it!
ToolBOX Talk – how to get the best out of the ‘Weekly Planner’ template
The ToolBOX on the website contains FREE forms, templates and worksheets for all your goal setting needs.In the ToolBOX you’ll find the ”Weekly Planner” [also available in black and white] as well as daily and monthly planners.
The purpose of these templates is to prompt you to organise your time. And by organising your time and planning your weekly schedule and activities, you can more easily slot in activities dedicated to achieving your goals.
The trick to using these planners is to use them all together, and not in isolation. So in case you were wondering whether it is better to use the detailed daily planner or the overview monthly planner or the in-between weekly planner – well the answer is to use all of them!
And here’s how:
- First of all, use the monthly planner to map out your monthly activities. Include scheduled appointments, school activities, engagements – and include blocks of time for working on setting and achieving your goals.
- Secondly, using the monthly planner as a basis, prepare the first cut of your weekly planners for the whole month. Include the items in the “To Do” list as things you really need to get done that week, as well as allocating time slots for your programmed activities. You can start to breakdown your time slots into more detail on this planner.
- And finally, every day – refer to your weekly planner and prepare a plan for the day’s activities. Include appointments as well as the breakdown of goal setting activities so you know exactly what you’re going to do, and when! And make sure you use the “To Do” list, with anything not done carried over to the next day’s list.
So try using the system of planners today, and see if it helps you become better organised at achieving your goals.
For more information on how to use planners and schedules, refer to the ”Planners” page of the website, under the “Life Skills” tab on the NavBar.
Have you got a better goal setting tool that you’d like to share with the world? Well, send it in and we’ll add it to the ToolBOX – kudos to you of course!
Our Quote of the Month – explained…
“You can’t test courage cautiously.”, HallmarkHallmark has done it again with this poignant quote. And it doesn’t need much explaining, other than what has courage got to do with goal setting?
Well, ALL goals represent something we want to improve or change in our lives or about ourselves. So in a lot of cases we’re stepping outside of our comfort zone to achieve them. For many people, the actual process of setting goals is out of their comfort zone – which is one of the key reasons so many people don’t set goals. They just don’t have the courage.
But what have you got to lose by setting goals? Well that’s the crazy thing – NOTHING at all. By going through the goal setting process, you gain direction for your life as well as some insights into yourself and what makes you happy.
Obviously though, depending on your goals – you could lose a lot. For example, if your goal is to become a millionaire by gambling at the local casino – you are probably up for quite a hefty loss!
But it doesn’t have to be like that to be a success.
Richard Branson has always been known as a bit of a risk taker in business, and he is the living example of this quote – sometimes you have to take risks to achieve. But he never risks anything he’s not prepared to lose, and if some people think he’s a little nuts along the way, well that’s OK with him.
BUT, please don’t confuse ‘courage’ with ‘carelessness’. Responsible goal setting is about assessing the risk – what do you stand to lose if this goal goes bad? Is this acceptable? Can this risk be lessened through appropriate strategies?
So the moral of the story is – get out of your comfort zone and take ‘safe’ risks to achieve your success.
Well, that’s all for now!
But don’t worry, the next edition of “The Goal Kicker” is only a month away.
We would love to get your feedback on “The Goal Kicker”– what do you like? What don’t you like? - so we can make it even better.
Catch you next month!