Creative Blogs

Everyone has goals, and we all need them to achieve something in our lives. Goals are like carrots pulling us forward when things get a little rough out there. They give us answers to resistance and challenges big and small that we face daily. And personal development goals are the most critical of all.

Setting personal development goals is easy. The tough part is reaching them. One reason that people fail to meet their personal development goals is that they aim for blurred images rather than clear goals. Other people set too many goals, or place their target dates for accomplishment too far into the future.

The best way to set your personal development goals is to clearly state what you want to achieve. For example, it is great if you want to lose weight, but you have to choose a clear target at the beginning. Pick how much weight you want to lose, and write down your goal. Choose an exact number of kilos or pounds, and make it an achievable goal, not a fantasy. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Say you want to lose ten pounds. Write that down, and create a simple exercise and dieting plan that will propel you down the path to that goal.

Secondly, meet your new challenge clearly by setting parameters. You have determined that you wish to lose ten pounds. You’ve got a diet and exercise plan in place. Now, set a time limit for yourself. For example, if you wish to lose those pounds in two months, that means a month should see you lose five pounds. That seems manageable, right? So with your clear target, and a realistic time frame, you will be able to focus well on your path to achieve your goal.

You have accomplished the first step! You established personal development goals, and you are on your way to achieving them.

However, remember not to set your personal development goals so lofty that they are unattainable. If you do that, and you don’t succeed in reaching them, you may feel you are a “failure.” These negative feelings can affect your self-esteem, and your broader life outlook. So set attainable goals you can reach.

When you do meet your goal, make sure that you reward yourself. A reward makes all your hard work worthwhile in another way besides the actual accomplishment of the goal. This doesn’t necessarily have to involve a great deal of money, or a big fudge sundae that will place you right back at square one. Treat yourself to a movie, a glass of your favorite wine, or a stroll through the park. Celebrate the fact that you stuck to your plan and you met your goals.

After you have attained your first personal development goal, choose another one. It feels good, right? So it will feel good the next time, too. Use achievable targets and time frames, and set clear goals. You may find that just accomplishing small goals, one after the other, over several years, has led you to a point in your life a few years from now that would have been unrecognizable to you in your past life. One step at a time can take you almost anywhere you want in life.

If a genie gave you three wishes and created a new life for you, is this what it would be like? If you are not living that life, it’s high time you were! A life coach can help you to discover the genie inside you and make your dreams come true.

A life coach is not there to tell you what to do. His/her job is to point out the many options you have, to motivate you to make the changes you want in your life and to support you as you take each step along the path to success and fulfilment.

Generally, life coaching is done through a series of regular, one-to-one sessions, each lasting 45 minutes or an hour. You can meet or talk on the telephone. With the coach’s help, you will focus your goals and plan the steps that will get you there. At the next session, you report back on your progress.

Life coaching is not counselling or psychotherapy. The latter two are about finding emotional resolution to problems, present or past. Life coaching is about changing your behaviour; there is little analysis and lots of action. Your coach will not spend much time discussing with you how you feel, although he/she will challenge the negative beliefs that are holding you back, in order that you may ditch them and embrace your exciting future.

Have you always dreamed of having your own yacht/travelling the globe/being a business tycoon? Do you want to get in shape/learn Spanish/make new friends? If so, why haven’t you done it yet? With the help of a life coach, you can break through your fears, raise your self-esteem and go for it!

Life coaching is not the answer for everybody. If you have experienced trauma and/or had a very unhappy or frightening childhood, life coaching will probably not be of use to you until you have worked through your issues with a psychotherapist. However, if your problems are more in the realms of not being able to get yourself organised, being too busy to think about what you really want out of life or always giving “should” priority over “want to”, life coaching can be of limitless value to you.

With the support of your coach, you can make radical changes to every aspect of your life or you can choose to focus on a specific area. For example, you can concentrate on landing your ideal job, on enhancing the job you’ve got, on gearing up to start a new career/a new life abroad/a new life as a parent, or on getting the most out of your social and cultural life. A life coach will help you with any of these - it’s completely up to you.

It’s easy to find yourself a life coach on the internet. Don’t worry if there doesn’t seem to be one in your area, because you can always be coached by telephone. Most coaches will offer you a free initial consultation, during which you can gauge whether life coaching is for you and whether this coach’s style is going to suit you. This means that, by getting in touch with a life coach, you have nothing to lose and a whole new life to gain. What are you waiting for?

Personal development has become increasingly popular in today’s busy world for everything from career improvement and weight loss to public speaking.

You can use many different methods and a variety of tools to achieve your desired personal development outcome and they come at prices to suit all pockets from expensive seminars to cheap books and ebooks. But, in reality, you don’t have to spend very much, if anything, to put together a flexible and useable plan to help you achieve your goals. Here are a few steps you can take:

1) Identify the Cause The starting point for any effective personal development plan is identifying how you arrived at the point you’re at today. As an example, if you’re trying to lose weight, look at the lifestyle choices you’ve made that have contributed to being in the position you’re now in. Then come up with as complete a list of potential solutions as you can.

2) Goal Setting You must have a clear goal in mind if your are to achieve any kind of personal development. You must be totally honest with yourself when it comes to determining exactly what you want to achieve. It will be very difficult to successfully attain something you are not very clear about.

3) Make a Plan Once you have decided on your goal then formulate a plan that details the steps you will take to reach your goal. Use the details you uncovered when identifying the cause of the problem and expand on these to incorporate as much detail as possible on how you can achieve your personal development goal.

4) Focus and Commitment Once you know your goal and have designed your plan you then need to focus on your goal and commit to the plan you have designed. Set aside a certain amount of time each day to work on your plan and do not allow general daily chores to distract you from what you need to do. Once you have become accustomed to working on your plan each day it will become a habit and therefore easier over time to stick too.

5) Look for Inspiration It will be of great benefit to look for inspiration from others that have overcome the same personal development challenge as your own. This can be in the form of books, seminars, courses or even a person from your local community that you may be able to contact to get some tips or advice.

Continuous personal development should be a goal for all of us throughout our lives. Identifying areas that we think could do with some improvement and acting on them will enrich our lives on an ongoing basis.

Whichever area of your life you have decided you need to improve, if you diligently apply the steps listed above you will gain the confidence that will give you the belief that you can achieve anything you want to achieve.

Before you start to read this article grab a piece of paper and a pen and note down what you would like to have attained in five and ten years time. Make sure it’s what you really want. This piece of paper is the key to your long term future success. To succeed you need to focus on not only short term goals and income but to focus on your long term success. This is what is going to drive you on through the next few years.

I had someone I used to help with her online business. She often got demotivated and stopped work. One day I asked her what she desired most and she told me how she wanted to move out of her 1 room apartment and into a house. I told her to go and find the house she wanted. When she found her dream home she placed the plans and photo’s on the wall behind her computer. Every time she wanted to finish early or not work she would look at that house and think what it meant to her. Very soon she was back working hard and completely motivated. About 14 months later she was able to complete the purchase of a similar house.

The other type of focus we need to consider is short term focus. Lack of short term focus will stop your attaining your long term goals. How many times has the following happened to you? You go to your PC to build a site but before you start you check your email, you find something interesting so you browse the Internet for something related. The next thing you know 2 hours have passed and you’ve done nothing!

Try to get yourself a regime, each morning I now log onto my PC, check my email for anything important then close down my email program. I then close down any Instant messaging software so that I can’t be disturbed. I then work for at least 3 hours like this. Keep focusing on your short term goals and your long term goals will be achieved.

You should also make a point of eliminating as many distractions as possible. Ask your family to respect your work time. If you explain to them why you need to be left alone then they will support you 100%. Try to turn off your cellphone and put any pets outside. Become your own strict boss!

If I had written this article 2 years ago I have no doubt that it would have taken me a few hours to prepare and write. It actually took me less than 20 minutes because i was able to focus on the article and nothing else.

Go and focus on what you want, make it happen. As one of my favorite mentors always says… “Waiting is the favorite past-time of failures.”

You can move forward or backward in life. It really is your choice. Your every thought does affect the direction that your life takes, whether you like that idea or not.

Compare your brain to a computer. If a new PC is loaded up with virus contaminated programs would you expect it to run smoothly? Of course not, because you get out of the computer exactly what you put in - your brain is exactly the same.

Thoughts do have a huge effect on your life. If you are not achieving what you think you should be then start looking for what’s wrong by analysing your dominant thoughts. Try to eliminate any negative thought patterns. Do your very best to change your thinking into positive channels.

It is not correct that you can’t change. you have exactly the same potential for change as anyone. Just because your life has always been one of under-achieving doesn’t mean that it always has to be that way. It may not be easy, but with perseverance you can make the necessary changes.

There are many books on the subject of self-help, but remember, you must take action to succeed. Your thoughts will not change simple by reading an article or book. You must apply what you learn to your everyday affairs. Allow what you read to awaken the possibility of change within you, then take action.

One of the best ways to start making the positive a way of life for you is to look for the positive in all the life situations you find yourself in and in the people you share your life with. This can be tough to do, but if you think about it, you’ll surely accept that it will make you feel better.

Try to find as many opportunities as possible to compliment people rather than trying to find fault. By doing this you’ll find people will be more positive towards you which will, in turn, help you to feel more positive about yourself.

Taking the time to notice others and look for the “good” in every situation will not only lift your spirits, but will brighten the day for everyone around you - it’s a win-win situation to be sure. There are 1001 ways to look for the good in others, be they family, friends or those you may only meet once. So, get rid of those negative thoughts and become a winner.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Just make changes a step at a time. Set yourself small targets. Each small target you hit will be one more to add to the larger target you’re aiming at. By aiming to make the positive a permanent part of your life, you will getting into the positive habit - and once it becomes habit, it will become effortless.