As Promised

If you have been following my posts and doing the exercises you now have goals and plans on the ways that you can reach your goals and the last step before you start taking action is to figure out just what it is that you believe about yourself.

Why is that important? Because if you have no confidence in yourself or what is possible for you then you will fall down many times and risk that one of those times you won’t get back up. The worse part is that if deep down inside you have no belief then you won’t even really try. Oh you may take a step or two but the first strong wind that blows and you will be gone.

Many people tell themselves lies each and every day. What kind of lies? All kinds of lies the worst of which are lies about who they are; ‘I’m so stupid’, I’m so forgetful’, ‘I can’t do that ‘, or I’m so whatever’. You are who you affirm you are and you are capable of whatever it is that you decide you are capable of. You are as strong as you choose to be, as smart as you choose to be, as skilled as you choose to be, or as whatever as you choose to be. As the quote goes ‘As a man (and I know they meant woman too) thinketh in his heart, so he is. But if you tell yourself a lie for long enough you end up believing it-totally & completely. So if telling yourself that you are capable, strong, smart or whatever feels like a lie then keep repeating it to yourself until it no longer feels like a lie and then repeat it because it is the truth.

And while you are doing that begin taking the actions that are in line with your plans to hit the goals that you have set for yourself keeping in mind that if you never give up you can reach any goal!

Step Two

Last post I wrote about setting goals so you should have a list of what you want and now it’s time to look for ways to hit your goals.

So get out a fresh sheet of paper and write as many ways as you can possibly think of to get what you want. Why are you doing this? Because you cannot realistically expect that you will decide the only and only way to get what you want and have that happen with no challenges.

For example, say that you want a college degree but you cannot afford the tuition. You could decide that you will get a student loan and have no alternate plan. But what if you can’t qualify for that loan? And that is why you do this exercise.

Still using this example, lets say you start this list and it goes something like this; get a student loan, get a grant, join the military full time or part time to get the money, get a job with tuition benefits, etc. Now you see that if one way doesn’t work out you don’t have to be discouraged because you already have ‘back up plans’.

I remember that when I got out of high school I had no interest in going to college until a few years later when I attended a friends college graduation and then I decided I wanted to go to college & that I would graduate with honors. But I had no idea of how I would do that because I could not afford the tuition and yet I had the desire. A few months later I got a phone call and was told about a job at a local private university & I was qualified for that position. Yes, I got the job and got the tuition remission so I got my degree-well I actually got two and with honors-for almost no money and it was a great job to boot.

This happened for me because I set a goal, I didn’t know how it would happen but I knew it would happen (belief), I kept my eyes open for opportunity and the universe showed me the way and I received that opportunity with open arms (action). More on belief and action in a future post.

Getting Back to Basics

Sometimes I forget that some people come across this blog and have never heard that we create the events and circumstances of our lives or how we do that, and I am posting about various aspects of self growth without any background so I decided that it is time for a refresher course.

It has been said, by many different people, in many different ways for thousands of years, that we become what we think about, we get what we think about and that like attracts like-that is the basis of the universal philosophy. Now, if you are happy, wealthy, healthy and popular that is great and I know that you are using the laws of the universe whether you realize it or not but if you are sitting there and you are unhappy, lonely, broke or unhealthy it is because that is what you have focused on whether it was because you worried, because you have anger you have never let go of, a bad or negative attitude or because you never set a goal and worked to achieve it or for the negative images and thoughts you have allowed to dominate your thoughts-then it is time to consider making a change.

And that change will be as hard or as easy as you decide it will be, after all, thoughts and behaviors are simply habits and habits can be changed at any time and we will discuss that soon, today is for deciding; do you want to make a change or do you want to stay right where you are? If you want to make some changes then the first thing to do is figure out what it is that you want. Sit down and write a list of goals; health goals, wealth goals, educational goals-you get the picture-and then decide which are the top three from each category. Rank each goal by how long you estimate it will take to reach them; 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 1o years. A variation of this is to write your top 50 goals which usually includes lots of small things that you can cross off the list fast, and that works well for people who are developing a new habit and want to esteem boost that crossing something off a goal list gives them.

Next post we will discuss what to do with your new goal list.

The ABCs of Personal Development

 

Avoid negative sources; people, places, things and habits

Believe in yourself

Care about,communicate and connect with others & they will care about, communicate & connect with you

Don't give up and don't give in, decide and take action

Employ yourself, every good thing that you ever had came from work, so do more to have more

Focus on your goals & your blessings, be grateful for what you have; feel the joy

Give more than you planned to everyone and everything in your life

Habits will make or break you, develop good habits and lose bad ones

Imagination is key; visualize to materialize

Just do it

Keep a positive attitude and know that if you are determined you will achieve your dreams

Love yourself and your love for others & from others will multiply

Make it happen. Remember if its going to be its up to thee

Never make excuses, either do or do not; why is not important

Open your eyes and see how wealthy you already are, see your gifts of abundance & be grateful

Practice makes perfect so stay in action every day

Quitters never win and winners never quit

Read, study and learn something new every day. Never stop growing

Stop procrastinating, learn the value of your time

Take responsibility for where you are and where you are going

Understand the law of attraction & become the most attractive person you know

Visualize what you want and then go get it Visualize to energize!

Want it more than anything

Xtraordinary people live extraordinary lives so be extra ordinary

You have the power to manifest your dreams & goals & nobody can do it for you

Zero in on your target & you will hit it

Strange but True

If you look over my profile, somewhere on here it says my name is Joy. That is not true, my name is actually Sandra. So why did I not use my real name when I set this up?

I could tell you that I was protecting my identity or I was using my pen name but the truth is that I was hiding out. What does hiding out mean? That means that you justify whatever it is that you do to avoid something; some responsibility, some attention, some whatever.

It might be a small thing, that I used a nom de plume however it is why I did it that matters. At the heart of every situation where a person ‘hides out’ is fear. And that fear is usually groundless and useless. So now I get to the reason that I am bringing this up. It’s not to ‘fess up’ it is to show you that fear is a waste of time. I was worried that I needed to cushion myself from the world because after all, I am a good writer, I am writing about stuff everyone wants to read and yada, yada, yada. Now the laugh out loud part, I have been writing this blog for almost two years and look how many followers I have. Yeah, I know that some people just bookmark my blog and don’t ever become a follower but all the same it should be clear that my fear was for no reason at all. And it’s pretty much the same for all fears-just a waste of time & energy.

So whatever it is that you fear today, you gotta ask yourself, is this fear useful or useless? My guess is that it is useless for 99.9% of all people at all times.

My name is Sandra and I write this blog-hope you benefit from it!

Time for a Tune-up?

I know that long time readers have heard this before but really you can’t hear it too often; your vibration brings what comes to you.

If you focus on what is wrong, if you complain, if you find fault, if you criticize-your vibration is not in harmony with what is good but if you compliment, if you appreciate, if you praise-then you are in harmony with what is good.

This does not mean that you never have challenges to overcome, difficult people to work around or situations that are less than perfect, it means that when these things happen you do the best with what you have without having the focus be on what is wrong.

If you have a flat tire on your car you don’t stand around and complain, you just change it and get on with what you were doing before it went flat and its the same for all the rest of your life. It’s not that you forget that you had a flat, you just don’t let it become the focal point of your life.

So if your normal mode of operation is complaining, if it’s being unhappy then its time to tune up your attitude and you can begin by looking for things to be grateful for, people to praise and appreciate and you can start that right now.

Do You Dream?

I realized today that it has been quite some time since I mentioned dream boards and how important they are. For those of you that may not know what a dream board is; a dream board is an item, usually made of poster board, that one affixes the objects or items that one would like to have and then places the board in a conspicuous place so that said dream board is noticed several times a day.

Why would anyone want a dream board you ask? Simple, a dream board is an easy way to visualize your dreams and goals and visualizing your dreams and goals is a very good thing.

There are a couple of rules however, if you want an item of a certain color, like say a red car-do not put up a picture of a black car and also be sure that whatever you put on the dream board is something that you really want. So if you haven’t got a dream board yet, I guess it’s time for you to go shopping for materials including magazines, poster board, glue-you could even buy matchbox cars and glue those on your dream board-just put it together and when it is completed you will find that just seeing the boards will draw your attention and fuel your expectation.

The Echo Effect

I am sure that anyone reading this knows what an echo is; sound reflected off hard surfaces like a wall or hard surface with a small time delay so that the sound seems to be repeated exactly or in other words, what you send out into the world is what gets sent back to you.

The important thing to notice there is that you are the originator, it is you that starts the process so what you give is what you get.

So what will you be sending out today? Whatever it is, make sure it is something that you want lots of in your life.

Patience is a Virtue

The other day I wrote about people that need to learn a new step, today I want to add something to that post.

Lots of times people give up before they realize their goal because they don’t see results fast enough. maybe they lose faith in themselves, in whatever they are pursuing or they just let life get in the way.

So what do I suggest if you find yourself working hard but not seeming to move forward? Keep doing what you are doing and don’t focus on anything else.

Think of it like traveling down a long road at night; you can only see as far as the headlights illuminate but you know that the road continues ahead of you-well okay it might end but there will be signs that tell you to stop or turn before it ends-so you can drive into the night knowing that even if you can’t see the road ahead it is still there and it will take you where you want to go if you just keep driving. And its the same for your goals; if you take the actions that you know to take and you become the best whatever it is that you want to be then you can’t help but reach your goals sooner or later and you know, even if it takes you twice as long as you thought it would that won’t matter to you because it will be worth the wait.