Tools, tips and education to help you live the life you choose

This post includes informatoin for our ebook Successful Goal Setting 

For many of us it is at the start of the year that we set goals and New Years Resolutions and get all enthusiastic about achieving various things. Now, if the statistics are correct, then for many of us these goals will be a distant memory, something we are no further along the path to achieving and will probably set as goals again next New Year's.

As it is half way through the year I thought it was a good time to look at some tips for goal setting. For those who have progressed towards their goals they can see how their goals stack up against these criteria and evaluate their progress. For the rest of us, it might be a time to set some goals to achieve before the year is out.

Tip 1: Set goals as a positive statement

Make sure your goal is something that you feel enthused by, that will make you happy when it is completed.  When you are talking about it to others you need it needs to be stated as something positive.  This will help others see it as positive for you and get you support.

Tip 2: Be Precise

This means exactly what it says, put dates, times and amounts into your goal statements.  If you have something like 'I want to be rich', how will you know when you have achieved it?  What is rich, it means something different to all of us.  When do you want to be rich – when you are dead and your estate collects a big insurance payout, not a great deal of use to you then.  I will earn $1000 a day by the end of 2009 is much more precise, you will know when you have achieved it and you know when you want to achieve it by.

Tip 3: Set Priorities
If you look at all the different areas of your life and set goals in all the areas, you can end up with a number of goals.  You need to avoid getting that overwhelming feeling – you know the one where you are faced with all this stuff you are trying to do or achieve and you don't know where to start.  If you are not careful you end up doing nothing or very little.  You must prioritise your goals and then work on those at the top of the list first.  Far better to achieve your most important goal but miss out or have to reset your minor goals than not achieving any of them.

Tip 4: Write Goals Down
I sometimes used to not bother with this one but it is amazing the difference it makes if you do it.  I find it helps you focus on exactly what your goal(s) are, you keep track of what you are doing.

Tip 5: Keep Operational Goals Small
With each of your major goals you need to break them down into 'operational' or 'low-level' goals.  These need to be small enough that they are achievable.  For instance if your goal is to write a book by the end of the year, you need to break this down into sub tasks or goals, such as planning the chapters, researching different topics, timeframes for writing each chapter, publishing tasks and so on.

Tip 6: Set performance goals, not outcome goals
Try and make sure that you set goals which are things that you can have control over.  For instance losing so much weight in a certain timeframe is something where you can control what you eat and how and when you exercise so you have good control over whether you achieve the goal.  If your goal is to achieve world peace then you will find along the way that there are many times where your success may be limited by factors outside your control.

Tip 7: Set Realistic Goals
Make sure you choose goals that you can achieve and this will increase your chance of success.  Setting unrealistic goals can lead you to becoming disenchanted and disconnecting with the goal.

Tip 8: Don't set Goals Too Low
Having said that goals must be realistic you also need to ensure that you don't set them too low.  Check that your fear of failure is not causing you to make your goal too easy or that you simply don't want to do anything to get out of your comfort zone.

Achieving Your Goals
If you've followed all the tips here then chances are you will be well on your way to achieving your goals.  When you achieve a goal don't forget to reward yourself.  Also review your progress, was the goal too easy or too hard, did anything happen that might cause you to change your other goals.  Take the knowledge you have gained and review your other goals.

For more information and tips you can check out our ebook Setting Goals Successfully.

Honey is another of those substances, like vinegar, that has been around forever and it is now that we are realising that there is some truth to the advice from our grandparents about the benefits it has.

Cave paintings, which are believed to have been created around 7000 BC, show people keeping bees then. Bees have been around a lot longer than that, of course, so people could have been using honey before this. Throughout more recent history there is plenty of evidence of honey being used. The Egyptians used it, so did the Greeks. Bees were often used to signify royalty and Napolean had them embroidered on his robes.

OK so you get the picture that it has been around a while, incidentally if you keep your honey in an air tight container then it should last for years too. Honey can be used as a substitute for sugar in cooking, for health and even to remove some stains in your washing. (more…)

Are your excuses stopping you from reaching your goals or making changes in your life?  Over the last couple of weeks I have been complaining about the lack of a broadband connection and how annoying it is.  But is also got me thinking about what I was and wasn't doing without it and whether I was using it as an excuse.  Often when hurdles are presented to us in life our immediate reaction is to say something along the lines of 'Oh well that's the end of that idea' or 'I can't do that now' and other defeatist thoughts.

Now I have to admit that this was my first reaction when I didn't have the broadband, to look at all the things I couldn't do.  Sure I eventually worked out I could get a dial up connection but it's just not the same you need so much more time to do anything and sooo much patience.

So after a couple of days of fuming and complaining about not having the connection I started to change my thinking to how do I get round this to get the newsletter out and what can I do offline that is productive?  Once I changed to these thoughts it was amazing how much I could find that I could do and use the time productively.  It turned out to be a great time to do some planning and strategic thinking about the business, to catch up with some offline resources and check on my goals and my progress towards them.

Many of us spend time at the start of the year setting goals or resolutions for the year.  I did a blog post about goal setting in February last year if you haven't set any goals and need a couple of tips.  It is now almost half way through the year (hasn't it gone fast) and probably a good time to have a Mid Year Review and check your progress, review and recalibrate if necessary. 

If you don't seem to be getting closer to those goals look at your reasons why – are they real or are they just excuses.  If you are listing events that are or have been preventing you taking action then stop for a moment and instead of thinking about all the things that it has or is stopping you doing  look at what you could do, is there opportunity in there somewhere.  Often if you can change your outlook to look for the opportunity or some benefit you will find something that will help you towards your goals.

Look around you, and check out all your excuses, recognise them and get rid of them.

If you want any help with goal setting or maybe just sorting out what you want in life then check out our ebooks Setting Goals Successfully and Get A Life – The One You Want.

The following information is taken from our ebook 101 Everyday Tips for Preventing (And Treating) Headaches.

I always figure that if you are going to treat something it is always good to understand what the initial issue is. In this case I am going to talk about headaches. These are very common but not all of us understand what they are except that they are painful and leave us physically and mentally drained. (more…)

This article comes from our ebook Secrets To A Better You – Hair, Skin and Nails.  This is a great book for those who are not up in the in's and out's of making yourself look your best.  It covers the basics for looking after your hair, skin and nails, gives you lots of tips and some recipes you can try at home for various lotions and potions.  For each of the three areas it goes through common problems and solutions.

Your hair is one of the most versatile and unique parts of your body.  Originally it was for keeping our heads warm but now that is probably not relevant for most of us and we generally use it to have an impact on our appearance.

Before we get into basic hair care let's look at what hair is… (more…)