Goal Setting And Value Identification Lead To More Meaning and Purpose

Life seems to hurtle by us these days. To keep up with our frantic-paced life, our ever-changing technological society has given us radical tools to work, plan and supposedly become more efficient.

Computers, cell phones, iPhones and pagers are just a few examples of gadgets that keep us connected, sometimes 24/7. Information whizzes by us at a mind-numbing rate from Internet news sites, work computer systems, E-mail at work, E-mail at home, not to mention pagers, to do lists and pop up reminders. All in the name of efficiency. Work demands that we do more in less time and the global village keeps us all connected with instant news. More and more of us are reeling from information overload, feeling exhausted and possibly headed for burn out.

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The Very Best Advise When You Use My Life Changes

I provide a tracker to track your “Who Am I” statement, “core values” and “choices or goals.”  The most important thing you can do is to improve and focus on one area of your life at a time.  Don’t try to quit smoking, lose weight and save for your retirement at the same time. Most of you will just become frustrated and give up.

Marshall Goldsmith teaches very successful people to become even more successful.  In his excellent book , What Got You Here Won’t Get You There he gets feedback  from executives co-workers, finds out the biggest personality problem with that executive and  focuses on fixing or changing his or her one bad habit.  And when that one bad habit is fixed the executive usually finds other areas improving.

First thing is to take a good look at your life and decide which nasty habit or painful part of your life you wish to change the most.  If it’s losing weight then focus on that. If it’s getting out of debt make that your mission.

If your core value is health and category is body (and you wish to lose weight) then create choices to lose weight. Don’t worry about relationships, money or mind at this point. Focus on body and health. Some choices may be:

1. Choose to lose 20 pounds.
2. Don’t buy sugary snacks and keep them in the house.
3. Plan and cook meals at home at least 6 nights a week.
4. Weigh yourself everyday.
5. Take a walk every day.
6. Join a gym and go 3 times a week.

Get the picture? Focus, focus and focus. Once you see yourself losing weight, getting healthier and feeling better, you will notice other areas of your life automatically improving. You will save money from going out to eat less often or cooking more. Your relationships will improve because you are feeling better. Less weight and less sugar will definitely lower your stress level.

I can’t give you better advice than this. Be brutally honest with yourself and admit what your biggest life change should be and focus on improving that. Stick to it for at least 30 days.

It seems simple but it really does works.

Don’t Think About It Just Do It

The moment we make a life change decision our mind gets in the way.

Excuses , self doubts, rationalizations all creep into our heads to try and stop us from achieving our goals.

I’ll get to it tomorrow.

It wasn’t a great idea anyways.

It’s not THAT important, I’ll get tested next year.

You are stronger than your mind. You are smarter than your mind. Don’t listen to it and just do it.

Lace up your running shoes. Throw that extra money into savings. Don’t buy the sweets. Leave the office at a regular hour. Call up your friend.

Ignore it, don’t argue, just do it. You’ll see it makes all the difference in the world.

5 Ways To Reduce Stress And Find Joy And Be More Optimistic.

Stop paying attention to bad news. Get off the Internet. Read a book. Find the simple joys in life. Take in the cool crisp air of the morning. Don’t let the media influence your morning. Tune out. Find the beauty in life. Chop all the bad news out and you’ll find slices of joy you never knew existed!

Meditate. Find peace in the present moment. Learn to still your chattering mind.  There are so many ways to meditate these days. There is the traditional method of sitting still and paying attention to your outer breath.  Or download an app for your smart phone. I recently downloaded “ Meditation 4 Inner Wisdom” and loved its relaxing flow.

Don’t worry about stuff you can’t change. Work is incredibly demanding these days. Greece is falling apart. Winter is coming. I can either let these stressors roll around in my head like a mouse on a flywheel or pay attention to what I CAN change. What can you change in your life? Write it down and start making those changes. Let the rest of it go. Are you worrying about stuff you cannot change?  Let it go today and change what you have control over.

Exercise. I’ve been trying to lose 20 pounds with no results. I eat well but haven’t been eating fewer calories. Simple math. If I wish to continue to eat the same amount of calories I HAVE to exercise more. Today I got back on the elliptical running machine and did some weights. AND!!  And what? And exercise is one of the very best ways to reduce stress. It’s a double win! Let’s start an exercise routine today! One of the very best decisions you will have made, at any stage in your life.

Write your goals down. We constantly dream and plan in our heads. We stand around the water cooler and talk about living in a warmer climate, having more money or working in a dream career. Get those thoughts out of your head and onto paper! Make them concrete. Take the next step towards making them into reality. What is your biggest dream? What is the very next action you need to take to make your dream a reality? What is stopping you? Write it down today and write down the next step you need to take. Now you are on your way!!

Do You Make This Life Changing Mistake?

Probably the best piece of advice I’ve read lately when making life changes is to STICK TO ONE.

One what?

One life change at a time.

Pick the one life change that will have the greatest impact to your life.

The bonus is that this one life change will positively impact other key areas of your life.

If you lose weight, you become healthier and more attractive.

If you reduce your debt you also reduce your stress.

If you become happier you will become more successful and improve your social life.

Don’t ever try to lose weight, reduce your debt, become happier AND learn to play the piano. Ever.

Pick one life change and write down a few mini goals to support that one change.

If you are using the My Life Changes Tracker, define who you are, define your most important core value and then define one major goal with a deadline. Then define the mini goals that will support that one major goal.

If your core personal value is Health then decide to lose 20 pounds by January 1st 2012.

Then make it a goal to not keep sweets in the house.

Then make it a goal to plan healthy meals every Sunday.

Then make it a goal to bring fruit to work as a snack.

Turn those mini goals into habits and you are on your way.

One life change at a time. Attack the one area of your life that will have the greatest impact.

Go ahead. I’m sure you already know what it is.

Now attack it with a laser like focus.

How I Let Go Of Stress Overnight

If we want to fully let go of the endless negative chatter in your head, try following the techniques prescribed in the book – The Myth Of Stress.

The technique used in this book is called Active insight.  Active insight is about changing your beliefs that drive emotions and behaviour. Changing these beliefs brings a peace and clarity to your mind enabling you to move onto bigger and better things.

Is 100% of our stress internal?  Do we create 100% of our stress?  Yes.

This isn’t a technique that allows you to temporarily escape stress, it addresses it at the root cause.

Here is an example of an exercise I have performed.

A stressful thought that continuously pops up for me is “I should weigh less”

To rid myself of this silly stressful belief and to accept myself I  insert the following

“In reality I should not weigh less at this time because …

“In reality I should not weigh less at this time because I am not exercising daily”.

“In reality I should not weigh less at this time because I eat more than my body needs”

“In reality I should not weigh less at this time because I’m over 30 years old and as we get older we put on weight”

“In reality I should not weigh less at this time because I drink alcohol which is empty calories”

Now I don’t go around with the vague stress belief that I should weigh less.  I’ve accepted the reality as to why I don’t weigh less. I’ve accepted my life and how I got here.

Now I’m ready to move on and change instead of letting this little thought stress me almost every day.

I have insight into my biggest cause of stress. That insight was my vague belief.

Read Big Fat Books To Change Your Life

Your health is incredibly important to you. Right? You feed your body good stuff to stay healthy.  What are you feeding your mind? Doesn’t your mind deserve to be fed the best stuff that you can find? Are you feeding it television show, advertisements and soon to be forgotten magazine articles?

Start changing your life by reading books. Feed your mind the best books that you can find. When you read the book highlight the best parts. Highlight the parts that inspire you.  Highlight the parts that motivate you. Create a habit of reading at least one great book a month.

Feed your mind the best stuff you can find.

Feed it a book.

Love – The Ultimate Life Change

If one of your personal values is love and you have it as a core value in your  tracker, do you have a good definition of love?   Or is your definition just warm and fuzzy?

In Barbara Frederickson’s book Positivity she comes up with a pretty good definition.

Positivity comes in ten forms.

Joy.

Gratitude.

Serenity.

Interest

Hope.

Pride.

Amusement.

Inspiration.

Awe.

Love.

Why is love at the bottom of this list? Because if you mix all of these up in a blender… you get love.

Think about a time you felt love. At  different points in time it had most of these elements in it. When you define love as a personal value, whether love of a person or love of the world it helps to remember what makes up love.

You just may want a little of all of these positive elements in there.

Just to remind you what love really is.

Now! How To Make A Life Change Stick

With so many distractions these days and a continuous bombardment of news and advertising, no wonder it’s difficult to make life changes.  We try to change but short term gratification is always around the corner to take us off our path.  It may be that extra glass of wine, jelly filled doughnut, TV remote, or a quick shopping spree with a Visa card.

We only have so much will power, and like a well trained muscle our will power runs out. So how do we gain more will power?

By making our life change, new habit or ritual painful to break.

That is why I wrote about putting in a pledge into My Life Changes. This pledge will be like sharing a contract with another person.  If you fail to make your life change stick you have to give the other person whatever you pledged.  It may be 5 dollars, 100, you favourite CD, DVD, sweater or whatever you wish to put in the contract.  It’s your choice what you decide to pledge.  You may also pledge something to yourself as well, as a reward for sticking with your life change and keeping a promise to meeting your goal.

So begin to think about what kind of pledge you want to make.  Bring your friends in on it. Make it fun.

You will be surprised how a little sacrifice (or pain) will make you succeed.

I pledge to give ____ if I do not reach my goal, by this date __ __ __

Here’s Is A Quick And Easy Way To Meditate

My favorite way to meditate is using Gail Chiarella’s CD’s AM and PM Yoga Meditations.

http://www.amazon.com/AM-Yoga-Meditations-Gael-Chiarella/dp/1559617527

I’ve tried dozens of methods but hers is the best. If my mind is too active at bedtime or upon waking I love to listen to her soothing voice on my iPhone.

It is the most positive and relaxing meditation to begin or end a day.

Bring conscious choice to the ways you envision your day.  Everything you say think and say to yourself today will have an impact on your tomorrow.

“I am the master of my life”

“I am courage in action”

“I love and appreciate myself exactly the way I am”

“I am confident and effective in all that I do”

Namaste

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