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Wouldn’t it be great if every time you did something nice for someone, they would do something nice for someone else? Just imagine the ripple effect this could cause.

This is not a new idea. Many people have tried to push the ripples of kindness all over the planet. A prime example, in the movie “Pay it Forward” a little boy decides to do nice things and asked people to do good for others. Also, there are many websites asking people to commit random acts of kindness and then ask the recipient to do something nice for someone else.

It is a great idea.

Recently, I had a number of small cards printed. On the front, Tag! You’re “It”. On the reverse is states “Now, it’s your turn. Do something good for someone else and give them this card. PASS IT ON”

Of course, I was very impressed with myself. I couldn’t tell enough people about what a terrific person I am. Note: there’s a little known personality disorder that I call “Admiration Addiction.” This addiction causes people to dream up more and more ways to impress others with their saintly acts.

How do you tell if you’re a victim of Admiration Addiction?

In my case, it was through these little business cards. Generally, when anyone on the street asks me for money, I give freely. I’ve always felt that gifts of this nature come back to you 10-fold and you really don’t have to be concerned with how the recipient is going to spend the money. If you don’t worry about what the money is used for then, I believe, that’s a sign of unconditional givingwhich is something I continue to strive for.

So, now armed with my new little cards I was ready for the street people. I couldn’t wait for the next person to ask me for money. Finally, at the gas stationmy first victim. When he asked for money, I handed him a couple of dollars and my new little card.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s just a reminder that when you receive an act of kindness you should do something nice for someone else,” I told him imagining the halo hanging above my head.

“Is this a church thing?” he asked.

“No, no, no, I just thought you would want to do something nice for someone else.” I re-emphasized.

“Um, okay,” he said as he walked away.

I just stood there dumbfounded. How could he possibly miss the fact that I was acting in such a god-like way? Where was his admiration of me? Where was his gratitude?

Before I turned to go along my way, I noticed he threw the little card in the trash.

Well, that was it for me. No more unconditional giving on my part. If people can’t be grateful for all the good things I do, then no more. I won’t be pushed around like this.

Admiration Addictionpure and simple.

It took me a few days to realize how ridiculous I had become. In all my effort to be unconditional I had found a very clever way to insist people act in the way I thought they should. You see, that little card wasn’t a request, I was making a demand for people to do things as I ordered. There’s nothing unconditional about that.

Well, I learned my lesson and I now remember acts of kindness must come from the heart, not the ego. I still give the little card when I give money, or do something nice for others, but I no longer expect them to do anything in return. It is merely a suggestion. And, along with it goes my hope that what I do will make a difference.

Even if what I do doesn’t make a difference, I’ll still do it.

This unconditional thing is tough stuff–but, it’s worth it.

David Zack Holmes is a syndicated writer sharing his personal experiences with a southern flair. To read more features see: http://www.davidzackholmes.com

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Professional videos are a vital way to advertise your company’s services. For certain there are dozens & dozens of other types of marketing approaches which include content writing to blogging, from PR to RSS. Though, nothing says “cool, connection, & creativity” like a promotional video.

Each day more and more businesses of different sizes are creating Internet videos about their products. They’re not only just adding them on their company sites, but They’re adding them to their blogs. To gain worldwide twenty-four-seven visibility, company videos are being published to a lot of video-sharing sites like You Tube & Kwego. And why not ? it is very inexpensive, easy-to-do, & can have a great impact, in a number of cases, on the traffic it brings to your companies site.

There are various other reasons why professional videos are an effective way to publicise your firm.

Short format videos enjoy a wide distribution: Videos by their very nature are straightforward to “package” which means they are suitable to fit into a variety of different distribution channels. You can add them on your firm’s site or blog, then again you can save them onto your desktop machine & show them continually at a selected company show. You can post them to scores of World Wide Web video-sharing websites. You can burn them onto DVDs and give them away or sell them. You can even distribute them by email.

Commercial videos are an amazing way to communicate. As our knowledge of technology evolves, so do the techniques in which firms like to cooperate with others. Most people are visually oriented meaning that is how they best understand & work with their world. This makes commercial videos the best advertise strategy to communicate to today’s consumers.

These are just a number of the numerous reasons why videos on the Internet might be a great way to market your organisation’s services. Learn more about this topic to see how you could use your valuable time, finances, & energy to talk to your target market in an innovative & interesting way. Vidify’s online video distribution partnerships ensure your video commercials generate awareness and impact within the right circles, fast.

Human mind which is well known as a fluctuating prodigy presumes itself to be a great judge. It is so natural for the mind to judge anything that appears to it especially so in the case of other human beings. It doesn’t give little time to itself to start thinking about any person. It jumps to conclusions in no time. Is such thinking called proactive intelligence or lack of wisdom?

Time is the key factor in any one’s life who values time. We need to take time to think of something worthy or to come to conclusions. Our whole life is busy concluding things and judging others but there is a time we have to pause to think and act wise. The moment a child sees his teacher in the class for the first time on his first day of school, his little mind gets busy judging her and he being tender at age, he lives his whole life at school with the same assumption. It is the same when students view the lecturers in the college for the first time. This happens in the case of our friends too when we meet them for the first time in a college or university. Couples, daughters-in-law, in-laws and whom ever we come across for the first time, we come to conclusions so easily as if we are the famous astrologers. What makes us judge others? What is the measuring scale to judge any being?

Firstly we judge people by their looks, smile, and their facial expressions and from there their mentality and characteristics. Above all we judge them by their talk. There are several types of talking behaviour. One type of talking is to speak normally from the heart. Another is to hide something inside and then speak something different which is called artificial talk or hypocrisy. One type is to always try to put down others by their sarcastic talk. Another is to speak with a feeling of pride that she is beautiful or rich or talented. Another is to always imagine oneself to be low and timid. Another is to speak humbly though talented and skilled. Another is to always depict untruth while speaking which is the most dangerous among all. This is an age of Kali where in, truth is not believed or appreciated but in fact it is discouraged where as falsehood is encouraged, admired as it is always sweet and tempting to another ear. When people talk of good, it isn’t sweet to the ear but when something bad is being spoken every one gathers as they are more enthusiastic and curious. They tend to enjoy happiness at the cost of others’ suffering. It is to attract such people, some people take it as an advantage to speak untruth regarding others. This happens due to jealousy, timid nature, not being talented or they are unhappy with their lives.

The best thing to avoid tragic situations or breaking of relations is to avoid listening to bad talk. It is so difficult that we cannot avoid such talk and so at such times, listen to it and have your attention on something that is good or Godly. Let your ears seem as if they are doing their allotted work but divert your mind towards something else. This way you will not hurt your so called friends who are trying to spoil your mind and as well you are not filling and hurting your conscience by their ill talk. If you are daring enough, humbly say- ‘let us leave it with this. Let us not indulge in others’ affairs.’ Or just keep quiet, listen and then ignore reacting after their talk. There are many who break their relations just because of believing in what others say. My favourite quote is - “Believe not all what you hear; believe only half of what you see.” Some times our own eyes deceive us and our sight. We see with our eyes but that which we see is sometimes not true. We assume it in a negative way. So until you hear a person talking negatively about you, do not believe anything others say negatively about you or any other person. Be wise and act accordingly. Just because person A spoke bad about person B, do not jump to conclusions and develop that negative attitude towards person B. You don’t know how truthful any one is about some one. It is just their assumption.

One person’s truth is another person’s folly. Use your discrimination and not that of others. Never spoil your or others’ relation by talking ill of others or by reacting to others’ ill talk. Remember every action has its own reaction and it will come back to you too with the same or double force you applied when you spoke ill of others. It is not their mistake to talk ill of people. It is your mistake to believe what they talk and there by react negatively leading to hatred. Above all you are the owner of your life and you are the only one responsible for the building up of your karmas. You alone have to repay it and not any one else. So be cautious in what you listen, what you talk and how you react. You need not live to judge; every moment of yours need not strive towards conclusions. You can still live happily without jumping to conclusions. Take your own time to understand people. First dig with in your own self and learn about you. If you have succeeded in knowing who you actually are, it is then you can worry about judging people. Above all, there is a mighty powerful judge called ‘God’ whose only work is to judge your actions. So indulge in doing good alone.

“When the great God judges the humanity by its actions, why does man judge the humanity by mere outward looks? Don’t they know all that glitters is not gold?” -Sharmila Sanka

Written on June 23rd 2005

Sharmila Sanka

(excerpted from the New Jim Rohn Weekend Event DVD/CD series)

Is thankfulness a survival skill? Perhaps most of you would respond with, “No, Jim, thankfulness is not key to survival”, and I would tend to agree with you. Most of us have probably already solved the necessary problems of survival, gone beyond that and are now working to achieve our desires. But let me give you this key phrase, “Learn to be thankful for what you already have, while you pursue all that you want.” I believe one of the greatest and perhaps one of the simplest lessons in life we can learn is to be thankful for what we have already received and accomplished.

Both the years and the experiences have brought me here to where I stand today, but it is the thankfulness that opened the windows of opportunities, of blessings, of unique experiences to flow my way. My gratitude starts with my parents who raised me, gave me an incredible foundation that has lasted me all of these years and continues with the mentors that I’ve met along the way who absolutely changed and revolutionized my life, my income, my bank account, my future. I am also very thankful for the people, the associations, for the ideas, for the chance to work and labor, and to produce results, all of that has brought me to this place, to this weekend. I’m grateful for it all.

What a unique opportunity each one of you here has, so many of us; representing different countries, nations and cultures, to appreciate the uniqueness of our own experiences that has brought us all here, together, for these three days to learn new skills and sharpen old ones. For the countries we represent; we have freedom and liberty. These are extraordinary times, about eleven years ago the walls came tumbling down, in Germany, and it started a wave of democracy and freedom like the world has never seen before. We as a country and as a world have so much to be thankful for. Always start with thanksgiving; be thankful for what you already have and see the miracles that come from this one simple act.

Now thankfulness is just the beginning; next, you’ve got to challenge yourself to produce. Produce more ideas than you need for yourself so you can share and give your ideas away. That is called fruitfulness and abundance. Here’s what I think fruitfulness and abundance mean - to go to work on producing more than you need for yourself so you can begin blessing others, blessing your nation and blessing your enterprise. Once abundance starts to come, once someone becomes incredibly productive, it’s amazing what the numbers turn out to be. But to begin this incredible process of blessing, it often starts with the act of thanksgiving and gratitude, being thankful for what you already have and for what you’ve already done. Begin the act of thanksgiving today and watch the miracles flow your way.

To Your Success,

Jim Rohn

Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn’s Weekly E-zine.
Copyright 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved
worldwide. To subscribe to Jim Rohn’s Weekly E-zine, go to
http://Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com

Goal setting is an important technique used by athletes, successful business-people, lawyers, doctors, and great achievers in all fields. Goal setting is a very powerful technique that can yield strong returns in all areas of your life. Goal setting can help you grow in life. It can help you achieve more.

So what do you need to do first? You need to define a goal. You need to know exactly what you want, when you want it, and why you want it. What ever your dream is. That is your goal. If you don’t know exactly what your goal is, you will not commit to it. You will not have enough of a desire to achieve it. Successful business-people know exactly what they want to achieve in business and they make goals a top priority.

When you do write your goals down, you need to ask yourself one important question. Is this goal realistic? Is it attainable? Do you really believe that you can reach it? Faith is also an important ingredient that can make or break your goal. If you don’t believe that you can make your goal a reality, then you probably won’t. You need to have faith in yourself. You need to have faith in your goals. You need to have faith that you can reach any goal that you set.

This little girl had a dream to become the queen of England. She told everyone that she was going to achieve that goal. Do you think that she can achieve it since she has nothing to do with the royal family? Obviously not. It was a foolish goal. You need to make sure that your goal is realistic, and attainable. Now, if it is realistic then you need to put the proper date on it. The proper action that needs to be taken. You have to do everything in your power to make that goal come true.

So don’t put unrealistic dates on your goal. That is when you can get frustrated. If you are in MLM, you need to find someone who has reached what you are striving for and do exactly what he or she is doing.

You then need to determine what price, what’s the worthiness of that goal. What level of importance are you going to put on it? Is it a want? Is it a need? Is it, “It would be nice to have it”? You need to make that goal a burning desire. You need to make it a must. It is a “Have to have it no matter what” goal. If you do that then you’re your subconscious mind will look for ways to make that goal a reality. It will give you ideas on how you should go about to achieve it.

Now, short-term goals are usually simpler and easier than long-term goals. Why? Well, writing them can help you have more frequent victories, and building momentum with each one you complete. If you do that, you can have more excitement and more motivation as you reach those goals on time. When you do reach you short-term goals, don’t forget to reward yourself and celebrate. Buy new clothes that make you feel like a million bucks. Make a toast to yourself for reaching that goal. You should be feeling so good that you are telling yourself that you can reach ANY short-term goal that you set.

A word of warning for the long-term goals that you make. It will be harder to achieve it because as the time goes by, you can get discouraged and lose your interest. Try to set short-term goals. It will keep you more focused and motivated.

If you haven’t achieved your short-term or long-term goal, you will need to look at your goal and change the date, and the action that you have taken when you didn’t reach that goal. Remember, if you take the SAME action that led you to failure then you will probably get the SAME results. You need to take a look from all angles to see what you did and what you can change.

Copyright 2004 Tal Fighel

About The Author

Tal Fighel uses the Plug-In Profit Site to earn multiple streams of income from home on the Internet. What about you?…

http://www.talfighel.com/pluginprofit.htm

Today, August 22, 2005, I am clean and sober for eight years which simply means today I am still an alcoholic and on this day I will choose not to pick up a drink. If you look at me today and compared my appearance to eight years ago you probably would not notice much difference (with the exception of a few more wrinkles). Back then I had a pretty high-powered job with a good salary and was working towards my master’s degree. Today I work as an administrator for a church and I am developing a life and leadership coaching practice. I am not attending school I am teaching at a local college as an adjunct professor. My life is probably just as hectic now as it was eight years ago. So the question is besides not picking up a drink what is the difference between then and now?

First, it is only through a graceful and loving God, AA, meeting rooms in which other alcoholics openly shared their faith, strength and hope, and a sponsor who saw right through my charade that I can claim eight years of sobriety.

Second, back then I thought I had control of my life and now I realize I do not and everyday I try to remember that fact.

Finally, I have come to learn the difference between change and transition and that has and continues to bring a new perspective to my life.

When I first started to attend AA meetings I remember thinking that the stories these people were telling about their lives aren’t even close to the life I live. I only drink a little and I am very careful to monitor it so I can maintain my image in the community and the church I attend. These men and women are talking about horror stories in which they lost their jobs, families, savings and literally their self-respect. I would question my sponsor about the possibility that maybe I really wasn’t a drunk. Maybe it is just in my head, that perhaps I could drink. He would just laugh and say the mere fact that you have to think about is evidence enough.

My sponsor used to ride in a Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang. He was one tough dude and probably the complete opposite of me or at least that is what I thought. I actually remember when I began looking for a sponsor God kept putting this man in front of me and I kept asking God to get him out of my way so I could find a sponsor like me. It is odd how I was looking at the outside appearance and God was looking at what was going on inside. I was working from my head (a dangerous place to be for an alcoholic) and God was working from my heart. As it turns out I was just like my sponsor and my sponsor was just like me, at least where it counts, in our hearts and souls.

For the most part of my life I really believed I was in control. Actually I suffered from an anxiety disorder and panic attacks so the only way I could live my life was to be in control, or at least I thought I was in control. Actually my behavior was more obsessive - compulsive than orderly. My daughters used to twist the phone cord when they got home from school just so the could watch me faithfully go to the phone each day I got home from work and untangle it. I would vacuum the rugs and then not allow anyone to walk on them. I would comb the little fringes on the ends of the rug. My drinking was just as tidy. I would only drink at certain times and at certain places. Even though most weeknights I would only have one drink or think one drink is all I needed. If the liquor bottle would be only three quarters full I would get another one just in case I decided to drink more and maybe run out. If I was going out somewhere to eat, to a party, trips for work, or vacations I could not wait for the moment when I could justify having that first drink.

As a functional alcoholic it wasn’t so much about how much I drank, I would do my best to control when I would take a drink or how much I thought I could safely drink and not get tagged as a drunk. Having an anxiety disorder that centered on low self-esteem and the fact I did not believe I was good enough as a person really helped to maintain my control. The issue with me was the fantasy or the delaying of that first drink. If I were traveling I would be thinking about when I got there and could have that first drink. If I were on a business trip my thoughts would be with once the business was conducted how great it will be to have that first drink in the bar. Many years ago I used to play softball and it got to the point I could not wait for the game to be over so I could go to the bar with the guys to drink. The issue was not just taking the drink but just as importantly, the permission to take the drink, albeit I set the rules in most cases. Unfortunately right before I went into AA I was giving myself more and more permission.

I was giving myself more permission because I was dealing with some changes in my life. Two months before I went into AA my mother passed away. My relationship with my father really was more strained then ever after my mother died. My wife had become ill and she began a month long stay in a hospital and as I had mentioned I was working towards my master’s degree. Spiritually I felt dead even though I was faithfully attending church and teaching Sunday school as though nothing was wrong. That is the point; it was becoming tougher and tougher to keep putting up a front or pretending the world was a great place, only to go home and feel so depressed and sad about life that I wish I could just run away and hide.

So what did I learn in AA? Although today I am intellectually describing the process it is obviously the heart wrenching desire for sobriety and the feeling that you have no other place to turn that is at the core of recovery. For me recovery is about understanding the difference between change and transition. We say we want to change our lives and often we do just that. Perhaps we take a new job, a new spouse, a new place to live, a new car, or we want to change our drinking habits. William Bridges in his book, “Transitions” says, “Our society confuses them (change and transition) constantly, leading us to imagine that transition is just another word for change…In other words, change is situational. Transition, on the other hand is psychological. It is not those events, but rather the inner re - orientation and self - redefinition that you have to go through in order to incorporate any of those changes into your life.” If you want to change your habit of drinking alcohol the solution is simple just don’t pick up a drink. If you want to get into recovery from alcoholism than as the saying goes you have to deal with the “ism” part. That means a life transition and now we are talking about a change of heart not a change of thought.

Eight years into recovery I don’t believe a day goes by that my head doesn’t try to tell me it is OK to have a drink, you probably weren’t an alcoholic anyway, it is not like they found you lying in the gutter. There isn’t a time when I am going to a party or getting ready for a vacation that I don’t think what is the fun of going if I can’t drink. But then there isn’t a day that I wake up that I don’t thank God for allowing me to be sober for just one more day. My father died just three years after my mother. I was a year into my recovery when I realized the problem I was having with him was not about him at all it was about me. When I looked at my dad I saw me and that is what got me so angry. That awareness gave me the two best years of my life with my dad. Now each day I see myself becoming more and more like my dad and I could not be more proud of that fact.

Years ago when the USA was seconds away from defeating the then USSR hockey team in the Olympics the announcer shouted, “Do you believe in miracles?” If you can find someone in recovery they will tell you all about their miracle. Remember God creates miracles and God resides in your heart, not your head. I believe in miracles, I am one!

By Robert Wummer
http://www.intersectionscoaching.com

Robert Wummer of http://IntersectionsCoaching.com is an ontological coach who specializes in life’s transitional times and the intersection (or collision) of an individual’s personal and professional goals. His work is extremely effective in the development of integral leadership practices.

The New Year has not started out very well for Yours Truly. After the first day of the new year, my life went south for the rest of the winter. All I can say is, I hope it has a wonderful winter, and don’t forget to write.

Speaking of writing, I can sum up my feelings at this moment by saying, “I hate my computer.”

Perhaps, you may think the word “hate” a little too strong. Under normal circumstances, I would agree wholeheartedly. These, however, are not normal circumstances by a long shot.

And, believe me, I’ve been tempted to do some shooting.

Usually, I’m good-natured, and easily get along with everyone around me. I go out of my way to be nice and courteous to people.

At the grocery store, I always hold the door open for people; on the highway, I always yield to the other driver, without employing hand gestures; and in a restaurant, I always smile at the waitress, no matter how much she messes up my order.

However, everything and everyone has a limit and I have reached my limit in this matter. The new near has barely gotten underway and already a snag has raised its ugly head in my direction and grinned. And boy, do I despise that grin.

This snag, to put it mildly, has to do with my computer. Oh, how I miss my old typewriter at times. It was such a faithful companion to me in my work. Rarely did it disappoint me or let me down. It always responded to the slightest touch of my fingers.

Then the sad day came when I traded my old reliable typewriter in for a computer. At the time, I thought I had upgraded into heaven. I did not know I was setting myself up for a crash. How could I? Everyone told me a computer would solve all my problems.

In the beginning, it lulled me into a false sense of competency. It actually made me believe I was in control of my computer. And, for a while, it looked like I was.

This past week I was working on several projects. With my computer, I can have three projects open at the same time and work on them simultaneously. I was working on my Sunday sermon, my weekly column and a fantastic article I was writing for a magazine.

I was in high heaven, going from one project to another and making wonderful progress. In fact, I was having such a great time that I forgot to save any of my work.

Several times during my work that afternoon I heard a mischievous snicker coming from somewhere, but I was having too much fun to pay attention to it. In hindsight, I should have stopped right there and pondered the situation.

The sermon I was working on was simply marvelous. I can never remember being in greater sermonic form. Everything just seemed to flow. The ideas opened up right before my eyes, which truly delighted me.

I could not wait to preach this sermon come Sunday morning. I was quite sure my congregation would be delighted with this masterpiece.

When the ideas slowed in the sermon preparation, I simply jumped over to the weekly column and began working on it. Like the sermon, the column was going fantastic. I couldn’t believe the roll I was on at the time.

There are times when you know what you’re doing is good. Then there are times when you know what you’re doing is great. I had never had a column come together so smoothly and quickly as this one. My readers will be awed with such eloquence.

When I was stuck on my column, I switched over to the magazine article I was writing. In a few moments, I was completely emerged in writing the article. Like the sermon and column before it, the article unfolded before me like a rose in June. I luxuriated in the aroma of greatness.

By this time, I was feeling pretty good about myself. This should have been a flashing red light for me. In my defense, I was assuming the new year brought new rules for me.

I’ve given it an awful lot of thought; I do not know what happened next.

But, evidently, I pressed a button I should not have pressed. In the next second, my computer shut off completely. For several minutes, I just stared, dumbfounded, at my blank computer screen one blank to another.

When I came to my senses, I restarted my computer. No matter how diligently I searched, those three files were nowhere to be found. The question plaguing my tortured mind was, do files that are not saved go to hell? They surely were not on my computer.

The thing bothering me the most was, I could not remember the details of my sermon, my column, or the terrific article I was writing. It was as if my magnificent trio did not exist.

In pondering my quandary, a scripture verse came to mind. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13 KJV.)

No matter how difficult my life seems, Jesus is the “escape key” that enables me to endure.

The Reverend James L. Snyder is an award winning author whose writings have appeared in more than eighty periodicals including GUIDEPOSTS. In Pursuit of God: The Life of A. W. Tozer, Snyder’s first book, won the Reader’s Choice Award in 1992 by Christianity Today. Through thirty years of ministry, he and his wife Martha have been involved in three church-planting projects prior to their current ministry at the Family of God Fellowship in Ocala, Florida. The Snyders have three children and four grandchildren.

Annually it is the self same story. In spite of running to work, and an irregular long walk, every winter season commences on those torturous first couple of routes in which Im abandoned in the paths of younger and better snowboarding buddies.

If you’re out of shape while touring it’s awful, and can be downright hazardous. To descend you need to have some spare capacity. A tired boarder is more prone to have injuries and tiredness is likely to be a contributory ingredient to accidents, for example crashes and crevasse falls.

There must be a nicer manner in which to begin the skiing season, and a newly printed 308 page guide by Tod Williams, who has previously penned Geneva to Chamonix - A Walker’s Guide, looks to extend a resolution. While targeted at climbers the data is largely relevant to skiing, with its strenuous scrambles besides different games.

Climbing, practicing for best performance is well detailed and a good read. It is a acceptable well rounded guide which gathers together a lot of info. One may evolve a precise exercise regime or tune your current regime. Afforded that it is calculated for mountaineers, therefore some of the techniques maybe extraneous for ski touring, it is by all odds a book to buy if you prefer to do some of the big 24 hrs or multi day classic routes.

Bunker Hunt, a man who rose from a bankrupt cotton farmer in the 1930s to a multi-billionaire when he died in the 1970s, was once asked during a TV interview what advice he could give to others who wanted to be financially successful. He responded by saying that it’s not terribly difficult to be successful and that only two things are required. First, you must decide exactly what it is you want to accomplish. Most people never do that in their entire lives. And secondly, you must determine what price you’ll have to pay to get it, and then resolve to pay that price.

Clear Goals Are Essential

Study after study has shown how essential clear goals and objectives are to the success of any business, and this is no less true of building your own career. If you don’t take the time to get really clear about exactly what it is you’re trying to accomplish, then you’re forever doomed to spend your life achieving the goals of those who do. In the absence of a clear direction for your life, you will either meander aimlessly or you will build a career that you don’t feel good about. You may make some money, and you may do some interesting work, but the end result will not resemble anything you ever made a conscious decision to build, and ultimately you will be left with the sinking feeling that maybe you took a wrong turn somewhere along the way. Do you ever look at your career and think to yourself, “How on earth did I get here?”

If setting goals is so critically important, then why is it that so few people take the time to define exactly where they want to go? Part of the reason is a lack of knowledge about how to set clear goals. You can go through years of schooling and never receive any instruction on goal setting at all. A failure to understand the immense importance of establishing clear goals is also common. But those who truly know what they want often outperform everyone else by an enormous degree.

A frequent deterrent to goal setting is the fear of making a mistake. Teddy Roosevelt once said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” Setting virtually any goal at all is better than drifting aimlessly with no clear direction. The best way I know to guarantee failure is to avoid making clear, committed decisions. Every day is already a mistake if you don’t know where you’re going. You’re probably spending most of your time working to achieve other people’s goals. The local fast food restaurant, TV advertisers, and the stockholders of the businesses you patronize are all very happy for that. If you don’t decide what you really want, then you’ve decided to hand your future over to the whims of others, and that’s always a mistake. By taking hold of the reins yourself and deciding where you’d like to go, you gain a tremendous sense of control that most people never experience in their entire lives.

Many people assume that because they have a direction, they must therefore have goals, but this is not the case and merely creates the illusion of progress. “Making more money” and “building a business” are not goals. A goal is a specific, clearly defined, measurable state. An example of the difference between a direction and a goal is the difference between the compass direction of northeast and the top of the Eiffel Tower in France. One is merely a direction; the other is a definite location.

Define Goals in Binary Terms

One critical aspect of goals is that they must be defined in binary terms. At any point in time, if I were to ask you if you had achieved your goal yet, you must be able to give me a definitive “yes” or “no” answer; “maybe” is not an option. You cannot say with absolute certainty if you’ve fully completed the outcome of “making more money,” but you can give me a definitive binary answer as to whether or not you are currently standing on top of the Eiffel Tower. An example of a clear business goal would be that your gross income for the month of April this year is $5000 or more. That is something you can calculate precisely, and at the end of the month, you can give a definitive answer as to whether or not your goal has been achieved. That is the level of clarity you need in order to form a goal that your mind can lock onto and move towards rapidly.

Be Detailed

Be as detailed as possible when setting goals. Give specific numbers, dates, and times. Make sure that each of your goals is measurable. Either you achieved it, or you didn’t. Define your goals as if you already know what’s going to happen. It’s been said that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

Commit Goals to Writing

Goals must be in writing in the form of positive, present-tense, personal affirmations. A goal that is not committed to writing is just a fantasy. Set goals for what you want, not for what you don’t want. Your subconscious mind can lock onto a clearly defined goal only if the goal is defined in positive terms. If you put your focus on what you don’t want instead of what you do, you’re likely to attract exactly what it is you’re trying to avoid. Phrase your goals as if they are already achieved. Instead of saying, “I will earn $30,000 this year,” phrase it in the present tense: “I earn $30,000 this year.” If you phrase your goals in future terms, you are sending a message to your subconscious mind to forever keep that outcome in the future, just beyond your grasp. Avoid wishy-washy words like “probably,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “might,” or “may” when forming your goals. Such words foster doubt as to whether you can really achieve what you are after. And finally, make your goals personal. You cannot set goals for other people, such as, “A publisher will publish my software by the end of the year.” Phrase it like this instead: “I sign a North American retail publishing contract this year that earns me at least $50,000 by the end of the year.”

Objectify Subjective Goals

What if you need to set subjective goals, such as improving your own level of self-discipline? How do you phrase such goals in binary terms? To solve this problem, I use a rating scale of 1 to 10. For instance, if you want to improve your self-discipline, ask yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate your current level of self-discipline? Then set a goal to achieve a certain specific rating by a certain date. This allows you to measure your progress and know with a high degree of certainty whether or not you’ve actually achieved your goal.

Goal Setting Is an Activity

Setting clear goals is not a passive act. It doesn’t happen automatically. You must take direct conscious action in order to make it so. Everything counts, and nothing is neutral. You are either moving towards your goals, or you’re moving away from them. If you do nothing or if you act without clarity, then you are almost certainly a victim of “being outgoaled.” In other words you are spending your time working on other people’s goals without even knowing it. You are happily working to enrich your landlord, other businesses, advertisers, stockholders, etc. Each day you spend working without a sense of clarity about where you’re headed is a step backwards for you. If you don’t actively tend your garden, then weeds will grow automatically. Weeds don’t need to be watered or fertilized. They just grow by themselves in the absence of an attentive gardener. Similarly, in the absence of conscious and directed action on your part, your work and your life will automatically become full of weeds. You don’t need to do anything at all to make this happen. And when you finally get around to taking a serious look at where you are and where you want to go, the first thing you’ll have to do is pull out all those weeds.

Reading this article will do absolutely nothing for you unless you turn it into some form of physical action. The best thinking unfortunately gives you zero results. In reality, you won’t even be paid a penny for your thoughts. You can have the most creative idea in the world, but ideas themselves are utterly worthless. You only get results from the physical actions you take, never for the ideas you have. In order to get any kind of tangible results at all, you must act on an idea. You must communicate it, build it, implement it, and make it real.

Clarity Is a Choice

If you’ve been running your career in an unfocused manner, just waking up each morning and seeing what happens, then it is absolutely crucial that you take the time to decide and write down exactly where it is you want to go. How much longer will you continue to climb the ladder of success, only to realize too late that it was leaning against the wrong building? Just pick a point in the future, whether it’s six months from now or five years from now, and spend a few hours writing out a clear description of where you want to be at that time. I know many people who aren’t sure where they want to go, so they avoid committing anything to writing in order to “keep their options open.” What would happen if you pursued that attitude to its logical conclusion? If you always kept your options open and never made any firm commitments, then you’d never get promoted, start your own business, get married, have a family, move to that new home, etc. except to the degree that someone else made that decision for you.

I used to have a friend like this, who still hasn’t decided what he wants to do with his life. He yields control of his life to others without even realizing it, simply because he’s unwilling to take the time to define a vision for his own life out of fear of making the wrong choice. His life is ruled by others who push their goals onto him, which he accepts by default. Ask yourself if you’re in the same boat. If a friend of yours became totally committed to getting you to change something in your life at random — your career, your living situation, your relationship, etc. — could s/he do it just by being absolutely certain and committed that it’s the right thing for you? Could a business associate come along and radically alter your plans for the week without you ever deciding consciously that such a change is consistent with your goals? We all suffer from problems like these to the degree that we fail to set clear goals for ourselves. There is a big difference between recognizing and acting on a true opportunity and being knocked off course without making a conscious decision to shift gears.

Waiting for something to inspire you and hoping that the perfect outcome will just fall into your lap is nothing but a fantasy. Clear decision making doesn’t happen passively; you actually have to physically put in the time to make it happen. If you don’t have clear goals simply because you don’t know what you want, then sit down and actively decide what you want. That sense of knowing what you want isn’t going to just come to you in a form of divine inspiration. Clarity is a choice, not an accident or a gift. Clarity doesn’t come to you — you have to go to it. Not setting goals is the same thing as deciding to be a slave to the goals of others.

Clear Goals Sharpen Present-Moment Decisions

Your reality will not match your vision exactly. That’s not the point. The point is for your vision to allow you to make clear daily decisions that keep you moving in the direction of your goals. When a commercial airliner flies from one city to another, it is off course over 90% of the time, but it keeps measuring its progress and adjusting its heading again and again. Goal setting works the same way. Maintain a clear list of goals not because that’s actually where you’ll end up but because it will give with tremendous certainty in deciding what you need to do today. When someone contacts you with an “opportunity” out of the blue, you’ll know whether it’s a real opportunity or a waste of time. The long view sharpens the short view.

As you begin moving towards your goals, you’ll gain new knowledge along the way, and you’ll have to adapt your plans as you go. You may also change your vision if you get partway there and decide it’s not quite what you really want. Ill-formed goals are still far superior to no goals at all.

I was once told by someone that I should end each day by crossing it off my calendar and saying out loud, “There goes another day of my life, never to return again.” Try this for yourself, and notice how much it sharpens your focus. When you end a day with the feeling that you would have lived it the same if you had the chance to repeat it, you gain a sense of gratitude that helps you focus on what’s really important to you. When you end the day with a feeling of regret or loss, you gain the awareness to try a different approach the next day.

You’ll see a measurable difference in your life the very first day you establish clear, committed goals, even if your first few attempts aren’t perfect. You’ll be able to make decisions much more rapidly because you’ll see how they’ll either move you towards or away from your goals. On the eve of his death, Walt Disney had a reporter crawl into bed with him so he could share his vision for Disney World, six years before its completion. When Disney World finally opened, another reporter commented to Walt’s brother, Roy, “It’s too bad Walt did not live to see this.” Roy replied, “Walt saw it first. That’s why we are seeing it now.” Clear goals allow you to achieve the first half of Bunker Hunt’s success formula. By deciding exactly what you want to accomplish, committing it to writing, and reviewing it on a daily basis, you bring your goals into reality with the power of your focus.

Copyright © Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
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Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.