A Better Life, Every Day

A Better Life Quotation - 11.2.09

2009-11-02T06:08:00-05:00

"A goal properly set is halfway reached."

~Zig Ziglar

Have you taken the time to set goals for yourself? If so, do you track your progress towards them regulalry? If not, why not choose two things you'd like to accomplish in the last two months of the year?

A Better Life Quotation - 10.12.09

2009-10-12T06:00:00-04:00

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Better Life Links - 10.7.09

2009-10-07T07:00:00-04:00

Striving to make each new day better than the day before, I do quite a bit of reading. I subscribe to over 150 blog feeds and I follow nearly 1,000 people on Twitter. On a given day, I can see anywhere from 500 to over 1,000 blog posts. There are so many great blogs out there with a ton of excellent information, and I have selected a few posts that I have read recently that have had an impact on me, and that I think you may find valuable as well.

Johnny Talks About Motivation

I read this post yesterday from IttyBiz, and it really made me think about myself and the things that I am doing or not doing. It you are offended by foul language, DO NOT click on the link; however, if you are not and you would like to read an entertaining and eye-opening look at one person's view on motivation, take a few minutes and check it out. For someone who has some ideas on starting a business myself, reading Johnny's post about what motivates him was very motivating to me.

Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes

This post came out earlier this year over at Zen Habits. I read it again because it was a message that I really need to take to heart. I am a perfectionist to a fault. I hate making mistakes, and this need for perfection has caused me to pass up or miss opportunities that have been right in front of me. To what end? This post makes mistakes sound pretty good.

"Why Am I Here?"

It's a simple question and Seth Godin presents it in a way to make you think.

Photo courtesy of:http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoggarazzi/ / CC BY 2.0

Get Off of Your Butt, and Get in the Arena

2009-10-06T08:00:00-04:00

Recently, I posted a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, and I have been thinking a lot about it ever since. I first read the quote in Success magazine over fifteen years ago. At the time, I was a college student who had a few ideas for businesses that I wanted to start. I hadn't done anything to move forward on any of my ideas until I read that quote. It inspired me to take action, and I started making plans on one of the businesses ideas. I drafted a business plan and set up a meeting with a potential investor, but then I got cold feet and never pursued it any further.

Fast forward to today, and I still haven't started any businesses. I still have a few ideas, but I have been paralyzed by fear. Whether it is the fear of failure, or as Seth Godin discusses in his book Tribes, the fear of criticism, I have not done the necessary work work to get anything of my own started. That all changes today! I am going to take the following steps to get myself into the arena, and you can do the same to get yourself in too by:

Deciding exactly what you want to do. Before you can plan on getting in the arena, you need to figure out exactly which arena you want to enter. In my case, I have an idea for business that I would like to start. For you, it may be a business idea or could be any other activity that you want to pursue. The important thing is to decide exactly what that thing is that you want.

Writing down exactly why you want to enter this particular arena. Be clear on what gives you a true, burning desire to accomplish what you want. List all of the "whys" for doing what you want to do, and then list all of the benefits for doing it. For instance, how will it make your life better if you started what you want to start? How will it help you make other people's lives better too? What will happen if you don't pursue your dreams?

Imagining what your life would look like if you successfully entered your arena. Close your eyes and picture in your mind exactly what your life would look like if you started what you have been putting off. Think about what you would be doing on a daily basis; how you would be spending your time. Who would you be interacting with? As you are picturing these things, try to use as many of your senses as possible. The more senses that you can involve the deeper the penetration on your subconscious mind.

Writing down the things that have been preventing you from pursuing your dreams. Identify all of the obstacles that are standing in the way of your successful accomplishment of your goals and dreams. These may be limiting thoughts like "I don't have enough time", "I don't have enough money", or "I don't know that I am good enough". It is critical that you write these thoughts down because the act of writing them down makes them less intimidating. Writing out the obstacles also makes the next step easier.

Planning what you need to do to overcome the obstacles identified in the previous step. Take the obstacles you defined and then figure out what you need to do in order to overcome them. These things could be something as simple as taking an action, any action, to start moving forward. Other obstacles may take a multi-step plan to get past, but determining what needs to be done is a crucial first step in burying these obstructions.

Enlisting the help of others in your pursuit. As the U2 song says, "Sometimes you can't make it on your own." There is no shame in needing help from others to accomplish your goals. Often times it takes a stronger person to ask for help than the lone wolf who thinks he can handle everything on his own. In his book Who's Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi, talks about the need for Lifeline groups. Having a person, or multiple people, who can help pick you up when you need it, give you praise when you deserve it, or to give you a kick in the pants when that is what is called for, is critical for most people who are attempting to reach bigger and better things in their lives.

Keeping a journal. Many thoughts and ideas will come up over the course of your journey, and there is no way you can remember them all. Taking the time to write in a journal will ensure that you have these for future review. Also, the act of writing can make some things clearer for you. A journal also provides a great way to go back over the things that you needed to do to successfully reach your goals. This can come in handy as you move to new goals and dreams.

Reviewing all of these steps weekly. Moving forward towards the life you want takes consistent and persistent action. Establishing a weekly habit of reviewing the previously listed steps will help ensure that you are continuing to travel in the direction of what you want in life. It will help to not only get you into the arena, but to keep you there as well.

Haven't you put off living the life that you want long enough? Why not take the few steps listed above so that you can move closer to your ideal life? Each of us has our own reasons for why we aren't where we would like to be right now, but don't look back five or ten years from now with regret. Take the time to do what you need to do to get off of your butt and get into the arena.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorentey/ / CC BY 2.0

A Better Life Quotation - 10.5.09

2009-10-05T08:00:00-04:00

"My definition of success is to live your life in a way that causes you to feel a ton of pleasure and very little pain - and because of your lifestyle, have the people around you feel a lot more pleasure than they do pain."

~Tony Robbins

A Better Life Quotation - 9.28.09

2009-09-28T20:00:00-04:00

"Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything."

~Napoleon Hill

Do you have a deep desire to achieve your most important goals and life purpose?

A Better Life Quotation - 9.21.09

2009-09-21T08:00:00-04:00

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

~Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic"

Are you in the arena? If not, why not? What will it take to get you into the arena?

A Better Life Quotation - 8.10.09

2009-08-10T07:00:00-04:00

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat."

~Napoleon Hill

How strong is your desire to achieve? Why not desire to achieve great things?

Back on the "Better Life" Train Again

2009-08-09T13:48:45-04:00

A little over a year ago, I was thinking long and hard about my life; where I was, where I wanted to go, how I wanted to get there, and what I could do to make a difference in people's lives. I wanted to do great things with my life and make it an extraordinary life. Using David Allen's Horizons of Focus, I was thinking at the 40,000 and 50,000 foot level. I thought my journey towards an extraordinary life would be fun to document and that the things I was doing and going through could possibly help others. This is why I started this blog. While things started well on my quest, the day-to-day, or Runway, activities took over and next thing I knew, a year passed, and my goals and plans had not been realized.

Don't get me wrong, great things happened to me over the past year:

I got married to the most wonderful woman and mother I possibly could have found
I became the step-father to two all-around beautiful, twin girls
I made many new friends, both online and offline
I re-connected with some old friends
I have expanded my comfort zone and done things that I never thought I would do
I was promoted to a job that I truly enjoy
I am enjoying life and I am as happy as I have ever been

My goal for the next year is for the list of great things that happened to me to double or triple in size. I not only want great things to happen to me, but I also want to help more people achieve great things in their lives.

Please join me once again as I re-start my journey towards an extraordinary life.

A Better Life Quotation - 6.1.09

2009-06-01T06:30:00-04:00

"The best time to make friends is before you need them."
~Ethel Barrymore