How Do You Set and Achieve Life Goals?

Gurus tell us to get on in life you must set goals. Mark Twain said, 'I could show the whole world how to get what they want in life, trouble is very few people know what they want.' 

So how do you set a goal? How do you plan to reach that goal? I agree with Mark Twain but I believe that people can set goals when shown how to discover what they really want. 

You may say that it is OK for me to say this when I have my new seven series BMW outside my four-bed roomed detached villa, but where do you start? Where did the really successful people start from?

I get a bit tired of the 'I started in a caravan with walls and roof like a colander and shoes to match, now I drive an S class Mercedes, live in a six-bed roomed house right on the beach and work 15 minutes a day' type stories. Don't these individuals ever stop to think that they may turn off more people with these stories? In my opinion they do not motivate us they simply massage the over inflated ego of the story teller.

Going to a seminar can be an invigorating experience. People leave the auditorium determined to get to grips with life. Then by Monday morning after a weekend of dealing with shopping, the kids, spending time with the in-laws, suddenly the words seem a little remote and have lost most of their meaning. 

A survey tells us that 98% of the population never set their goals in writing, and the 2% who do earn more than the collective efforts of the other 98%. The reason that we do not set goals could be simply down to habit? We fly by the seat of our pants, doing the best we can day by day just getting by, usually in a job we hate.

These ingrained habits can be defeated. After all 2% actually do write out their goals AND reach them. Some 'Gurus' say just write your goals on a piece of paper; put it in your pocket or a drawer and sometime in the future BINGO! You will magically achieve your goals. 

How easy! I, and no doubt you fancy the multi-millionaire lifestyle working 15 minutes a day from our six-bed roomed house by the beach, but that is just a dream. 

So what makes it so difficult for us? 

Habits destroy our dreams, and the only thing that can really break a habit is supreme motivation. So how do you not only become motivated but stay motivated.

In the process of setting, chasing, and achieving a goal, you change, grow, and improve your quality of life. Reach a challenging goal and you might just change your life forever. In the process, you will gain insight into your own mind. You'll also discover ways to motivate and inspire yourself. Learning to find your own inner motivation may be the most important skill you can acquire. 

So, what do you need to do this? Lot's of things, actually, but it's easier than you might think.

Let me give you a clue at the expense of alienating hundreds of 'motivational speakers' do not spend your hard earned cash by attending motivational seminars in the hope of changing your life. My opinion - seminars deliver outside not inner motivation. I do not know about you but although I promised myself to follow a course of action after the seminar, a few days later, somehow life gets in the way and in a short time I could not even understand my own notes.

So what made the difference to me? I was fortunate enough to meet a person who showed me HOW to set a real goal that generated enough inner motivation to make the achievement of the goal guaranteed. 

Once you set a real goal, personal to you, not one that you think others would like you to achieve or one that is set by your boss, (they are not goals), you will develop the inner motivation to keep you going until you achieve success, whatever success means to you. 

A simple method to do all this and unlike external motivation it will sustain you until you reach your goal, no matter how many obstacles you find placed in your way you will achieve what you want to achieve.

How? Inner motivation, the one thing that separates the very successful from the rest, it will place you head and shoulders above any of your competitors. I will tell you something else, you do not need to develop a hail fellow well met back slapping, happy-clappy type of personality to experience inner motivation.

The title of this post is - How do you set and achieve life goals? Simply know what you want, know when you want it by. Develop the inner motivation to get you there by using the simple technique my mentor taught me and I will teach you if you want. 

You do not need the whole route to your goal planned meticulously out before you, as Martin Luther King said, 'All you need do - take the first step. You do not need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step in faith.'

Success is not something you become. It is something you continue being.

Finding Your True Purpose

From the time I was eight years old, and wrote my first poem, I knew I wanted to be a writer. It felt right, heart and soul. With a burning desire and one-pointed focus, I followed all the right courses through high school and college in a straight path to fulfill my life's purpose.

Then, boom!

I started meditating, and my life opened up to new possibilities. I took advanced courses, became a meditation teacher and set out to help the world. Though my spiritual side continued to actively grow, I married, had babies, but then turned my attention back to writing. I worked for years, writing ten books that my critique group loved, but publishers didn't. As much as I wanted it to, my career as a writer wasn't working.

Then, again, boom!

It was as if that lifetime ended. The desire to write left. Completely. I hadn't a clue about what to do. I'd thought I knew my purpose in life, but suddenly I was searching, like millions of others in the world.

How is your search coming? What is your purpose? You do have a design for your life. It's not working/sleeping/eating/paying bills/working. It's joy and love and fulfillment. It's doing what you - and you alone - were born to do. Do you know what you are here for?

In the Vedas, ancient Indian texts, this is the principle known as "dharma" -- your own true work that nourishes you and society on every level.

Few people know there is such a thing as dharma, settling for whatever is available. Of those who do have an inkling about it, only a handful have the least clue of how to discover what it is.

Do you know your purpose in life? Or care? Most of us do. Many of us have a gut feeling that there must be more to life than meets the casual glance, and that we each have an important role to fulfill. Pay attention to those feelings. That's your intuition at work. It's easy to ignore and easier still to slide past those inward thoughts and get caught up in your normal routine.

We have each created our own pattern. As in clockworks where interlocking gears form set patterns that do not deviate (at least in a well-run clock), most people choose an established path, get on the wheel, and start running in circles for the rest of their lives. These paths could be anything from doctor to lumberjack to executive or anything else.

Some people choose the nearest, easiest path - whatever job is available to earn money to pay the bills. Others go to great lengths to find what they do best, soul searching, taking aptitude tests, going to career counselors, etc. And some people choose well. The ones who are in touch with themselves.

I had prided myself on knowing who I was, After all, I'd been teaching meditation for, by that time, 30+ years and already had a strong inner sense of Self. Still, connecting it to daily activity and finding out what I wanted to do was not easy. And as connected, as in tune as any of us are, we can always connect and refine more. My work had only just begun. I asked myself some hard questions, got some unexpected answers from unexpected sources, and my life has soared. Yours can, too.

What did I do?

I looked at a few self-help books, such as What Color is Your Parachute and Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. These are classics. There are many other, newer books on the market that can help, too. Among other things, I was advised to make lists of things I like to do, and of talents, skills and interests, along with work experience I'd accumulated. I covered several sheets of paper, then studied the results. 

Though I could no longer write them, I still loved books. I'd also had retail experience. Putting that together, I thought I could own a used book store. I moved in that direction, getting more experience by working in a book store, but it was slow.

Then - guess what? Boom! Deja vu!

What I'd thought was a minor interest in my life -- alternative healing systems --paired up with my eternal interest in the development of consciousness, and I was offered the opportunity to co-create, with the Divine, an amazing line of Divine Therapies that work on the most subtle level possible in relative existence. One of them is called "Purpose." It's designed to help you connect all the dots inside you, to bring you more in tune with nature's creative design, and help you not only discover what your true life's purpose is, but to achieve it.

I did not actively look in this area. This idea came unexpectedly, but I was alert and intuitive enough to recognize it when it came. Once you start searching for your purpose, be alert to all tidbits of ideas that come. They just might nudge you in a new, perfect direction.

I found my dharma, and discovered that living life in dharma is far from a rooted, unchanging existence. It moves as you grow, ever widening, ever deepening. It's like catching the right boat moving down the river. Hang on, and help steer! We all do have a purpose. I learned to uncover mine, take steps to achieve it, and I learned how to help steer others to their right path.

Don't give up. Your purpose is waiting for you. The way may be winding, smooth, or rough, but if you're on the right boat on the right river, with the rudder in hand, your boat will take you where you want to go.

Clear Your Way To Success

What is the secret to getting really successful?

It's clarity.

The biggest level of confusion most people face in setting goals is confusing them with methods of achievement.

As Albert Einstein once remarked, "Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem in my opinion to characterize our age."

A goal is what you desire. A method is how you go about getting it.

A goal is singular and fixed, while a method can be multiple and it can vary.

If you want to be an actor or actress, that is a goal. The acting classes you take and the auditions you go to are your methods.

While the difference between a goal and a method is clear and obvious when explained in this way, much confusion arises between the two in practice.

When some people are asked why they are not achieving their goals; they say that they don't have enough money, or knowledge, or support. They believe that their lack of resources stops them. Yet these resources are only methods. They can be substituted with other methods.

If you already had all the methods in place before you started out, it would not be a goal; it would merely be fulfilling a task.

A goal asks you to stretch beyond your current means. It asks you to explore new methods, uncover new resources, develop new strategies.

Doing what you have never done before is working on achieving a goal. Merely doing what you know how to do is just working with your existing methods.

The result of mistaking methods for goals is that people tend to shuffle existing methods around while claiming to be doing something new. They do what they've always done and yet are surprised to find that they get what they have always gotten.

When Joseph Campbell advised people to follow their bliss, he meant that they should do what they heart desired, not make do with what they already had before them.

Thus a goal is an end, and a method is a means to that end.

Confusing one with the other results in no growth at all.

Robert Fritz explained it in the following way:

"The way you activate the seeds of your creation is by making choices about the results you want to create. When you make a choice, you mobilize vast human energies and resources which otherwise go untapped. All too often people fail to focus their choices upon results and therefore their choices are ineffective. If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise."

Your Power To Invent The Future

Imagination is much more important than knowledge because it gives knowledge both shape and direction.

The imagination can restore the past. It can review a future that has not as yet existed. 

A whole industry, the entertainment industry, has grown around visually representing futures that exist only in our mind's eye. 

Unfortunately, the imagination is also misused. When a small misfortune appears, our minds have a tendency to leap into the future and make it even worse. 

If, for example, a bill shows up in your mailbox and you don't have enough money to cover it at the moment, your imagination may instantly take off to configure the most dire consequence. Before you know it, your imagination has you standing on the street corner with a cup in your hand begging for quarters.

The imagination gone astray is worry; the imagination gone wild is neurosis; and the imagination gone berserk is psychosis.

Yet, by the same token, the imagination can be used to build fantastic futures, and the reason why our century looks very different than a millennium before is because we have over time imagined different things and found new knowledge and invented new experiences for ourselves.

The imaging faculty of the human mind can do incredible, even impossible, things. You can imagine yourself on the moon in seconds. Now, here's the rub. Some of these incredible, even impossible, things can come true.

President John Kennedy imagined that a time would come when a man could walk on the moon. When he declared this image as a goal, then the forces of knowledge were put to work to invent the technology that would make it possible.

He did not extrapolate on what already existed. He made a leap to a new dimension of possibility.

As an individual, you can, in a similar way, harness the power of imagination to create what you not have enough of right now. You can imagine much more money, spending more quality time with the love of your life, or achieving some pinnacle of success that really turns you on.

The imagination, then, is a double-edged sword.

You can use it to take some uncomfortable personal incident or something terrible you saw on the TV news channel, and blow it up to an extent that frightens the living daylights out of you.

Politicians use imagination to incite people to go to war; and insurance agencies make billions of dollars from it. Imagination. It's powerful stuff.

On the other hand, you can take full control of your imagination and create something wonderful. You can start rehearsing your dreams. You can start reliving your most joyful moments. 

The proper use of imagination demands that you become more conscious, more aware, more attuned to how a single thought, inspired by a book, a movie, or a real live event can expand rapidly and in a huge way.

An aware person will not allow a negative idea to go to far and will allow a positive idea to go much farther. 

Using your imagination can raise you to the zenith of hope or plunge you to the nadir of despair. It all depends on what you want in life. A great wonderful, prosperous, happy, fulfilling life is only a thought away. You are not a creature of circumstance, but the creator of your reality. And the way you do it all is through your imagination.

5 Simple Steps To Manifest More Money With The Law Of Attraction

Almost everyone I know wants to know how they can increase their cash flow. 

Perhaps you have questioned why some people seem to always have money while others struggle just to make ends meet. 

I think it is safe to say that most of the world uses and needs money to survive. Although everyone uses and needs money, not everyone has a healthy view about money. Many religions teach that money is the "root of all evil". They hold on to cliché's such as "the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.". 

If you want more money in your life, then you've got to show money love. This may sound strange to you, but the law of attraction simply stated says "like attracts like". 

Attracting money into your life is much like a love relationship. If you want to attract that sexy woman or that handsome guy into your life, then you call them on the phone. You meet together on a dinner date. 

Perhaps you write love letters or sweet poems. You find out what the person likes and make a little surprise gift. You keep a picture of that person in your wallet. You are in love. This is basically what the law of attraction is about. It's not just saying or writing affirmations. It's not just using pictures to visualize things. It's putting your whole heart, soul and mind into it. 

With money, it has to be the same way. First step to attracting money is;

1. Realize money is like electricity. In of itself, it is not good or evil. Much like electricity, you can use it to do a lot of good or cause a lot of unhappiness. Many people blame money for their mistakes and are afraid to face responsibility for their own life.

2. Everything that you want to manifest requires a specific spirituality accordingly. Spirituality is an intense feeling for something. It is a healthy and balanced love for something. If you are afraid to love money, how can you ever expect it to want to come to you? Remember, this is a healthy and balanced love. 

3. Keep pictures or symbols of money to help you focus and remind you of your intention. You can use pictures of money, real money, or symbols such as rocks or marbles. Use whatever works best for you.

4. Take action. Don't just take an action for action's sake, but meditate and think it through. Trust your subconsciousness to lead you to do the right action, but nontheless don't expect for things to just fall out of the sky into your lap.

5. Imagine. Use your imagination of what you would feel like if you were wealthy. Exactly how much money would you like to have. When? Make it crystal clear into your mind and then work with the feeling of already having it now. I recommend this should be done on a daily basis for at least half an hour, but again, do what works best for you. Remember that you want to do this regularly and you want this to be a fun thing, not a chore.

Victimhood or Victory?

Are you a victim? Is your life one long saga of victimhood? Our society is full of people who, through their own limiting beliefs, have settled into becoming victims of their circumstances. They feel powerless to make changes in their lives because they think that the elements of their lives are out of their control. All too often they're quick to ask, "Why do bad things keep happening to me?"

You probably know someone like this. They are the "why me?" people who always seem to have an excuse for the things in their life that aren't working. And much of what is in their lives isn't working as well as it could be. They have poor health or bad relationships; they have dead-end jobs or chronic financial problems. They have a hard time taking responsibility for themselves, their actions, mistakes, and even their own decisions. In short, being a victim requires a giving up of most, if not all, personal responsibility.

When we allow ourselves to be victims, we are letting the people and circumstances in our lives dictate how we will feel, and ultimately, who we will be. No one - no matter how hard they try - can ever make someone else feel something that they don't want to feel. Think about that for a moment. You are ultimately capable to respond to much greater degrees than you do. True responsibility can be redefined to mean your ability to respond, fully capable to respond powerfully to the occurrences of your life. Because you are the only one able to choose your feelings and your responses to what is happening right now.

We have all heard people say, "You make me mad." Or, "Don't make me feel guilty." But the truth is that no one can make us feel something - good or bad - unless we allow them to. More accurately, we're the ones at the helm of our feelings. We get to choose to feel mad or happy, bad or good. But this choice is only possible when we first choose to be response able, able to respond to this moment's occurrence. To relinquish this ability to respond is what makes being a victim appear possible.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't people out there who are genuine victims of crimes or injustices; I am saying that our response to each moment's occurrences, circumstances, situations, events, scenarios or people is what defines us. Remember, at root, nothing in life is ever just happening to us. Our life, as we choose to live it, is occurring withinasthru us. In short, we create our realities by virtue of who we're choosing to show up as, moment by moment. Who we're being dictates the thoughts we hold in our minds, the words we say and the actions we take.

If we show up knowing life to be hard, and the obstacles we face are roadblocks, then we will stay stuck in that place of defeat. If we instead come to see life's challenges as the very opportunities for us to be more, to grow and expand into larger experiences and expressions of our self, then a whole new set of possibilities will arise at every bend in the river. Even in the midst of a terrible experience, we always have the power to choose our response. We are always able to be responsible for who we're being in relationship to the experience.

The victors choose to show up victorious, always growing from their experiences. Victims choose to be defeated by them. Who we show up as then becomes the living mirror of our life.

Again, nothing in your life is happening to you. Your life, exactly as IT IS this moment, as unique or bland as you're choosing to live it, is occurring withinasthru you. And it has always been so whether you've been living aware or unaware of this truth, conscious or unconscious.

However, if you're adamant about being a victim; about letting other people or the events and circumstances of your life control your future, then you are still traveling down a path of pure choice. You've simply chosen to be victim. And if you are committed more to being a victim than living your life on purpose and with passion, that's okay too. Because as you choose to be either victim or victor, so shall your life reflect your choice. The choice is always this simple. The choice is always now.

Those who hold onto the "victim mentality," will probably not agree with most that has been offered here and might adamantly oppose the invitation to live withinasthru complete responsibility, because to be fully responsible feels like too much burden. But feeling burdened comes not from being completely responsible for your life. It comes from your all too often limited responsibility. Until you willingly accept that you are the only constant in your life, the only one who's been with you during every experience, every situation, every scenario, you probably will not choose to accept or receive the abundance that is yours to accept. In other words, you cannot be a victim and a victor; the two are mutually exclusive in this moment's choice.

It doesn't make any difference how hard your life has been up to this point. One of the great beauties of this universe is that we have the option to change the course of our lives at every moment. In deed, only when we're willingness enough to be responsible to this moment, exactly as it is, do we truly have the power to choose a brighter tomorrow. Every moment of now holds the promise of a new choice. Ask yourself, "Do I want to be the victim or the victor; the receiver of life's abundant joy or a sufferer of life's miseries?"