Remember my last post on a quick way to find your passion?

I also thought I’d clarify just one thing. Usually your passion is expressed WHILE you are helping others.

Mindi mentioned to me once that she’d travel the world while taking photos Mindi happens to be a very talented photographer so I know they’d be gorgeous photos!

BTW, Mindi, sorry to pick on you, but I feel like doing some quick spot coaching…

Now, if she shared those photos with others and used them to inspire creativity (as she already does with me through her blog) or bring beauty to others, she’d be helping people in that way.

See? Easy!

Now over to you —>>

How would YOU most like to help people?

I heard a great example linking goals and cooking that I thought I should share with you.

When you follow a recipe, you have…

1. specific ingredients (flour, eggs, milk, etc)
2. a sequence of events (first cream butter and sugar, then add flour)
3. a time line (bake for 25 minutes)

You know if you follow those directions perfectly, you are guaranteed success.

Goals are exactly the same.

If you add all the correct ingredients (setting SMART goals, writing it down, etc), follow the correct sequence of events (set the goals before making the plan) and set a deadline (by 31 Dec), you are guaranteed success.

When I do talks on goals and goal-setting, I like to say, “the principles always work if you work the principles”.

And that’s exactly right!

What kind of success have you had with goal-getting? And which goals would you really like to achieve before the end of 2009?

Work and life happened and so did the whole “too much going on to think about my goals” syndrome.

Fast forward another few months and… the end of the year was in sight.

Yvette didn’t want to be in the SAME place a year later so I suggested that she give the goal-setting thing another bash. When I run the workshops, I tell the people, “the principles ALWAYS work if you WORK the principles”. It’s true.

Anyway, she bought my e-book, How to set and achieve your goals, just before she went off on her December holidays. You can get it as part of the Big, Juicy goals package.

These are some of the daily things I do that result in my success.

1. Drink lots of water
In 1998 one of my goals was to start drinking 2L of water daily. The first two weeks were horrible but then when my body adjusted, I found that I loved it. And that has been part of my daily routine for the past 9 years. I really believe that’s one of the best things I do from a health point of view.

Of course, since March 2006 I’ve been eating 5 fruits and veg so that could be another good habit.

2. Say “I love you” daily
I tell Dion every day that I love him, and that he’s gorgeous and talented and cute. I joke with him that we need at least 13 hugs and kisses daily (I don’t know where I plucked the number 13 from) but it’s true. This is one of the ways we have a successful relationship.

3. Schedule and plan my day
A schedule is just a plan of how you intend your day to go. It doesn’t always work out and I can guarantee that it will never go 100% as you planned BUT it is better than having no plan at all. You know the old saying, “people don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan”. True. My days definitely go better with a plan and my faithful to-do list.

If you haven’t already read it, read my “Eat the frog” article and be sure to download your to-do list.

And if all else fails, ask yourself, “what’s the best use of my time right now?”

4. Read a lot
One of my mottos for life is “so many books, so little time” and now recently “so many blogs, so little time”. I have to read every day – that is absolutely not-negotiable.

I have a reading goal of 7 books every month – 5 fiction and 2 non-fiction. Sometimes I get carried away and skip the non-fiction totally. I’m adventurous like that. LOL

Anyway, I really believe that leaders are readers, and I always want to be learning something new. I worked with someone once who used to be shocked at the amount of money I spent on books – for work! And I remember saying that if I learnt just one principle to save me 10 minutes a day, it would be worth it. That’s my approach to reading – I just want to get one thing out of it. And usually I get stacks, judging by all the post-it notes sticking out.

5. Take a genuine interest in people
In my youth (!) I just seemed really curious about things but of course now, as a coach, it serves me very well. I am a very curious person and I do genuinely take an interest in people. Those of you who take the time to email me (thank you) will know that I like to fully engage. When I ask “how are you?” I really want to know. I think this is key to my success, not just as a coach, but as a human being. In fact, I often won’t totally open up to people if I don’t feel that they actually care.

6. Move on quickly
By this I mean that I’m very forward-focussed. If something happens, I try and learn from it quickly and move on. Dion says “too quickly sometimes”. I try to always look for the upside to situations.

For about two years, I manually sent out my newsletter. Then when the website launched, I sent everyone an email to click the link. I did it properly with reminders and so forth but I still lost probably about two-thirds of my subscribers. That’s a lot! I then said to myself that the people who made the move with me probably are meant to receive my stuff. See?

Okay, there you have it. I could write a lot more but I don’t want to bore you to tears before the weekend.

Now, what are your daily action steps for success?

If you’ve coached with me or come to a Discover Yourself workshop, you know that one thing I always ask you to do is define your own success. So in terms of this exercise, don’t think of success only in terms of work, finances, etc. Instead, think of your whole life.

If you have a blog, please post the link in the comments. And if you don’t, just type straight into the comments.

My car has to be serviced every 15000 km. Because I only remember when the odometer hits the 15 000 multiple, it’s a mad rush of phoning for a booking to get the car in.

That happened yesterday.

And everything was fine-ish. Apart from only getting to work at 10am. And being driven through peak hour traffic by a madman who wanted to get back to the dealer to finish his shift at 5pm (no, we didn’t make it – we were 10 minutes late). But everything with the car was fine.

They tell me that when a car goes in for a service, they check a gazillion things, change oil and reset some other stuff. Details, details…

So I got thinking about how everyone always gets their car serviced on time. Because otherwise our warranty would be void. And yet…
We are so much more important than cars, which we can easily replace.

We should have a life audit or as I like to call it, a life service, every 6 to 12 months. During this time, we should check some things to see if they’re still working, change other things that are no longer working, and reset yet some more things.

So do me a favour, even if you don’t believe in goals (my answer to this is, “oh, so you don’t want to be a better person and improve your life, because that’s all it really is, folks), make a date with yourself today, just for 15 – 30 minutes, or longer, if you want.

And take a notebook, pen and a cup of coffee/ tea with you and do your life service.

Because you’re worth it!

If you need some help, I’ll help you with a life or business audit and even throw in my Big, Juicy goals package to propel you forward this year.

What do you get?

• 30-minute goals strategy session
• Big, Juicy goals MP3 audio
• Handout

Worth $247. All for just $97.

Interested? Sign up now

This is one of my favourite things to talk about because most people confuse the two.

We’ve heard it said before that a dream is just a dream, but a goal is a dream with a deadline.

There’s another difference between the two and this is it:

Do you want to do something (dream) or are you willing to do it? Example – I want to lose weight but am I willing to do what it takes to get there?

Do you see the difference?

So many people want lots of things in life – better health, weight, fitness, money, time, increased productivity but they’re not willing to do what it takes to get there.

Do you just have dreams or are they actually goals?

Big, juicy goals will help you take your dreams and make them reality.

I joined a high-end coaching club recently and one of the first things we were asked to do was to set one BIG goal.

Well, I have no problem thinking big so I posted my BIG goal in the online forum, clicked SEND and then reality smacked me on the head.

Oh my word – what have I just done?

I had no idea how it was going to happen so I started feeling a bit scared.

Anyway, an amazing thing happened when I was driving later that day. (Good ideas always come to me either driving or in the shower – I think because my brain’s finally quiet )

I had an idea which I quickly wrote down in the notebook I keep in my car and when I got home, I typed out an email to 3 friends, sent it and then shut down Outlook.

When I checked email about 2 hours later, all 3 said, “great, let’s do it” and that was the start of making my BIG goal a reality.

The point is if you set your intention by writing down your goal, the how will come to you!

Coaching action step

1. Write down your one big goal for the next 30, 60 or 90 days.
2. For extra accountability, leave it in my comments. Go on, I dare you