That is what Annabel Candy is saying over at GetInTheHotSpot.com in her article The Real Secret To Success in 4 Words and I couldn’t agree more!!

The law of attraction

From personal experience as long as I put forth specific action in the direction needed to accomplish my goals there have been plenty of opportunities that have come up to help me get their quicker and easier.  However if I had not ‘put it out to the universe’ and continued on my journey towards achieving it I don’t believe these opportunities would have presented themselves.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say material about the law of attraction is a ‘con’, however they are definitely not telling enough of the story for it to be useful.

Choice in wording

Did you know that if you say ‘Don’t forget the milk’, it is much more likely you or the person you say it to will forget.  Instead try saying ‘Remember to buy milk’.  Likewise with how you talk about yourself and your life, you become what you think about most of the time. If you constantly think your life is boring and stale, it’s headed there!

To learn about how words affect people check out ‘PosiWords‘ over at Positive Imperative.  The concept will make you think twice about how certain things are said.

About being lucky

Just like Annabel mentions, luck has nothing to do with it.  Work hard, stay focused and you will get where you want to go.  If you aren’t where you want to be then it’s up to you to take responsibility as it is no one else’s fault but you own.  Remember to enjoy the journey though as well and if there is something you really want to do then …

Get off your arse!!!

It’s not your fault the bank said no to the mortgage for your dream house.
It’s not your fault your potential new boss for your dream job didn’t hire you.
It’s not your fault your first attempt at starting your own business didn’t work out.
It’s not your fault you make minimum wage and can barely pay the bills.
It’s not your fault you work 80 hours a week at a job you hate.

The point here isn’t to say who’s at fault for what. The point is what are you going to do about it?

Ask questions

The only silly question is the one not asked. Ethically and morally, how can you get the bank to say yes? Stand out from the rest of the applicants for your dream job? Do differently to help your new business stay afloat? Cut back on the hours you spend at work?

The more questions you ask, the more likely you are able to find another route to accomplish the same outcome.

CAUTION: this may take extra time, require research or giving an extra 10%. You have been warned!

Be creative

We are only limited by how creative we are to accomplish what we desire. Look for inspiration and ideas from others. Who do you know that has come across the same situation as you in the past and has gotten through it?

Choose your words carefully

Instead of looking at ‘road blocks’ as ‘big brick walls’, look at it as a ‘challenge’ and chance to grow as a person. There is a big sense of accomplishment waiting on the other side once you get there.

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are usually right.”

Whether it’s a trip, a concert, a toy or even a chocolate bar.  One of the most common excuses I hear from people is they do not have enough money or can’t afford it.  When people tell me they would love to be able to afford something I ask them from what’s stopping them. The two simple ways of being able to afford what you want is to re-allocate where you’re currently spending money or increase your income.

The money is there

Do you:

- wear the latest designer clothes

- continually upgrade to the latest cellphone

- have a coffee or latte on the go each day

- eat out a couple or more times a week

- have a hardly used gym membership

- subscribe to the movie channels

- have cable

It’s not to say having or doing these things is wrong or you should not do them.  They are simply where money has been allocated to.

Reality check

Where is all the money going to? Do you know? Have you taken the time to go through all your bills and statements and record how much is leaving every month? If not, now is the time to do it.

Chances are you will not like what you see, however this is the first step that is a must. Changes can’t be made if you don’t know what needs to be changed. Did you find you were spending money on things you did not even know you were?

Re-allocating

So now that you know where your money is going, how does one go about changing this?  The main difference is short term gratification versus long term.  Instead of getting a tall grande everyday try preparing your favourite brew before heading out the door in the morning.  Bring your lunch instead of buying it.  Cut the extra channels and revisit your DVD collection. Large changes aren’t necessary to make a big impact.  Saving $5 a day adds up to $100 a month.

How bad do you want it?

Do you really want that new outfit, the weekend spa adventure or the trip to the caribbean?  If you really want to do any of these then let people know you’re working toward making it happen because if you can’t afford it then you don’t really want it.

Opportunities are everywhere.  Some are as plain as day and others are disguised as hard work.  Others take a while to realize they are an opportunity and some are created out of nothing.

There is only so much time available in day and it is not possible to say ‘yes’ to absolutely everything.  Nor is it possible to follow every opportunity that comes our way.  The question then becomes, which path does a person take or which opportunity should one pursue?

When opportunity comes knocking see if it follows your ‘guiding principle’.

Guiding Principle

A ‘guiding principle’ is a filter to help you decide when an opportunity arises if it is right for you to take.

For example my guiding principle is, ‘to have the freedom to spend time on relationships that matter to me and have time for activities and pursue interests I enjoy’.  This does not mean I won’t have to ‘work’, but to have the flexibility and choice to do what I want, when I want.

How does it work

Personally, I come across tons of opportunities however I say ‘no’ at the time as they currently do not contribute to my guiding principle.  Using mine above, if I was offered an opportunity to which continually required me to work 12 hour shifts, 5 days a week the answer would be a very quick no.

On the other hand, if an opportunity came up where I would need to invest a bit of time up front but provided a cash flow with little maintenance down the road I would be more than likely to take a deeper look into it as it does fit my guiding principle.

Hidden opportunity?

This is not to say that you totally discard opportunities that do not fit your guiding principle.  Look and see if there may be another opportunity hidden in what is presented to you.  Perhaps there is an opportunity for you to sell products however storing and managing inventory does not fit your guiding principle.  Perhaps look at finding a dropshipper to take care of that aspect for you.

Try some out.

When checking if an opportunity fits your guiding principle and it’s on the fence, or if it does not exactly fit but your gut tells you it might, give it a try.  Take the opportunity by the horns and go with it.  See where it takes you.  If by chance it does not work out then move on to the next one.  At least you’ll know you gave it a shot instead of some time in the future wondering what would have happened if . . .

Got a great business idea or an offer for something that seems great however not sure if you should take it on or accept it? What ever the situation I bet there are lots of things going through your mind at the time. Does each thought start with a ‘what if …’?

What if I fail?

What if I can’t find or make the time?

What if I try it and find it’s not for me?

What if I get stuck?

What if I lose everything?

What if I [fill in the blank]

These are all very good questions.  However …

What if you don’t even try?

Ever pass on an opportunity and then later regret not having taken it? Rumour has it that as we age we reflect more on the opportunities we passed up when we really wanted to check them out and give them a chance. Don’t let this evolve into a pattern.  If an opportunity comes up and it interests you give it a go.

Risk Assessment

What’s the worst that could happen should you take action? Take a look at what all the possible consequences could be.  Very rarely does the worst case scenario happen, however should the worst happen, could you live with it?  If you look at the worst case scenario and decide that you will be ok even if it happens, it’s not the end of the world.  Now that you have reviewed the risks involved …

What if I succeed?

Completing your goal will give you a great sense of accomplishment! How will you feel? How does it look on the other side? How will it affect your life? What would you do differently then you do now?

Everyone can live the life of their dreams however it will not come to them, they have to go and create it. Remember you can’t succeed if you don’t even give it a shot.

Would an extra hour a day help you achieve your goals faster? Here is a few ways to create a bit of extra time each day.

1. Wake up earlier. By not sleeping in you can get an early jump on your day while the rest of the family is still sleeping.
2. Delegate. Not everyone has this option, but if you can give some of the tasks on your list to others who are better suited to doing those tasks, you’ll free up time. Do you really need to be doing everything you do, or can some of those tasks be delegated?
3. Consolidate errands. If you routinely do errands throughout the week, you’re spending a lot of time driving. Instead, try to do all errands on one day, and plan out an efficient route. Most people will save at least an hour a week in total.
4. Know your priority. What is the one thing you need to do today? Get that done, above all else, and do it first. After you do that priority task, the rest is extra really. Cut back on some of the rest to free up time.
5. Watch less TV. Many people watch hours of TV a day. You can easily save an hour a day if you cut TV out, or just watch your single favorite show each day. Don’t channel surf.
6. Read less online. You can spend hours a day reading online. Limit your online reading and focus on your essential tasks.
7. Get the kids to help out. At home, if you have kids, it saves huge heaploads of time if you let the kids help with cleaning and other tasks. At first, of course, it will cost you time because you have to teach them to do things. But once they learn … it’ll free up much of your time.
8. Automate things. If people submit stuff to you, or if you routinely have to do routine work, find ways to have the process automated. Technology works wonders these days.
9. Start work early. If you work before everyone gets in the office, you won’t have constant interruptions and distractions. You’ll be amazed how much you can get done between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m.
10. Give others authority. If you have to approve things or make decisions, you might be a bottleneck – things move slower if they have to be channeled through you. Instead, give others the authority to make decisions – with clear instructions about what decisions should be made under what circumstances, and what the limits of their authority are. That’ll remove a bottleneck and free you up from having to make a bunch of huge decisions. Just have a way to monitor things as necessary.

How do you make time for achieving your goals?

Q. How hard should I make my goals?

People make goals throughout the day without really ever acknowledging it. For example, to get up, eat breakfast, get ready for work and be to work on time are each in themselves a goal. We do this on a subconcious level, however we really do not think of it as goal setting.

So how hard should your goals be for you? That is up to the individual. A goal can be as simple or as complex as one desires.

What we do recommend for any size goal if it seems to be quite big, is to break it down into smaller sub-goals. This will help prevent the evil procrastination from creeping in. It is easier to complete smaller or bit sized tasks. Remember, yard by yard is hard but inch by inch anything is a cinch.

Q. How do I know if my goal is a goal?

Remember that everything we do is a goal. From getting to work on time, to making it to our kids hockey game. We just do not classify it as a goal.

Don’t worry if the goal seems small. As long as it is important to you, that is what matters! Do not let what other people say, think or do, get in the way either. If people do criticize you it is usually because they are jealous of the direction you are taking or the progress you are making. You want to be around people that encourage you and want to see you succeed.

Q. How long should it take to accomplish a goal?

Deadlines are a funny thing. When we set deadlines for completing projects or writing reports, what happens? For a good portion of the population they wait until the last possible minute to start working on it! But the strange thing is, it gets submitted on time!

We recommend having a deadline for every goal and also every step toward achieving that goal. That way consistent action is being taken toward achieving the goal and you are more likely to succeed without burning yourself out and with less stress!

So when setting a deadline for a goal it should be realistic enough that you can complete all the steps toward accomplishing the goal. If there is a step that you are not sure how long it is going to take, make a best guess. Sometimes it may even take less time then you thought. It is also ok if it takes longer.

Q. I seem to be hesitating (procrastinating) doing my action steps, help!?!

Lazy, don’t feel like it, busy right now, watching tv all equal procrastination. Putting it off will not get you any closer to your goal. It will only prolong it and diminish your motivation. That we do not want!

The next time you catch yourself procrastinating, visualize your goal. Visualize how it will feel once you have completed this task and being that much closer toward achieving your goal.

Another thing is if the current step seems to big, break it down into smaller steps. That way you can accomplish more in less time, giving you a sense of accomplishment, which will boost your self-confidence and help keep you motivated toward achieving your goals and dreams.

Q. It is taking me longer than expected to reach my goal, why?

Perhaps you just needed a bit more time to accomplish it or some unforseen circumstance came up.

When setting a goal of say saving $500 dollars by the end of the month and at the end of the month a person has only saved $150 dollars, has the person failed? The answer is NO! Another way to look at it is if the person had not set the goal of saving $500 dollars would they have even saved the $150? The point being is to aim high. If you don’t quite make it this time, it’s still a success! Persistence is key, keep aiming high and you will make it!

So remember that when you do not reach a goal by it’s deadline, set a new deadline and perhaps brainstorm some new ways to help you achieve your goal.

Persistence is key!

Not enough time

Are you having trouble finding the time to work on your goals? Not enough hours in the day? The thing is time is a universal constant. You can never have more or less time then is allotted to everyone else on earth. So why then do other people seem more productive in achieving their goals than you? The answer is setting priorities.

Make Your Goals a Priority

If you want to achieve your goals, then you must make the time to work toward them. Remember a goal without action is only a dream. Too many times other things come up to distract us from getting to where we want to go. Try this; when something comes up and you are just starting to work on a step toward achieving your goal ask yourself, “What is more important right now?” and “can the other thing wait till I’m done?”. Unless it is a family emergency, chances are it can wait until you make a bit of progress toward your goal!

Making the Time for Your Goals

I know that comfy couch looks mighty tempting sitting directly in front of that plasma tv. However, what do you get out of it? Do you feel fulfilled after spending three or more hours sitting in front of the boob tube? I am not saying all tv is bad, however like many things, it should be done in moderation. Here are some other ideas on how to ‘create’ more time for your goals:

• Get up an hour earlier in the morning
• Delegate to others
• Only check your email twice a day (you would be surprised at how much time is wasted checking email constantly

And the list goes on.

Chunking Your Tasks

Another reason it may seem there is not enough time to work on your goals is the current item or task seems too large to handle. Try breaking down the task into smaller items. Say for instance your goal is to sell stuff online and one of your tasks is to make a website. There is a lot to making a website, so break it down into smaller tasks such as. Find a designer to make your logo and design site. Then find a programmer to make the site actually work. Contact a person who specializes in search engine optimization (SEO) to help your sites rankings, etc, etc.

If the smaller task still seems to big then chunk it some more. Personally I find that a task should never take longer than one hour. If it will then I chunk some more.

Summary

• Make it a priority. If there are not any lions, tigers or bears nearby and it is not a family emergency chancing are anything interrupting you can wait.
• Find the time. Wake up earlier, watch less tv, etc
• Break your tasks into chunks. Keep the steps small. “Yard by yard is hard, but inch by inch anything is a cinch”
• Don’t forget to have fun in the process!

Good Luck!!

The WAVE system is a 4 step system which gets the goal setter towards their goals fast because they spend less time managing them and more time achieving them! Write it down, take Action, Visualize and Evaluate.

First read through the process and then come back to go through it again with each of your goals. Lets begin:

Step 1: Write it down

When you write out your goal(s) write them out in the form of a journal. Like the log book of a ship which describes the details of the ship’s journey, navigational information and an accounting of the day’s activities aboard the ship, goal setting is no different.

First off write todays date in the top left corner of the page and then begin writing your goal down as if it has already happened. Write the goal in as much detail as possible allowing you to picture it in your mind in vivid detail. The more details, the more vivid the picture. You may not be able to come up with a lot of details about your goal at this time which is OK, so leave enough space to add additional details as they come to you, just like painting a picture over time.

Once you have completed writing out a goal, picture how it would be once you have achieved it. How will achieving this goal affect some or all of the major areas of your daily life? Now write down what it will mean to the goal, or how will it change and improve your life:

• Your family & relationships
• Your health
• Your career
• Your finances
• Or your spiritual wellbeing

This part of the process accomplishes two things

1. It clearly identifies to you how important achieving this goal is to you.
2. Provides you with a level of motivation to get you working to achieve your goal.

Now go back to where you wrote your goal down and beside it write the date you would like to have achieved this goal by. eg. September 1, 2010. Be sure to write the full date down. This is important. It must also be an actual date. Writing ‘next month’ does not count and will not have the same result as righting down the exact date.

In the future, looking back at a journal of your goals it is very satisfying to be able to look back on what goals you have accomplished and how they have changed your life.

Step 2: Action

Now let’s accelerate your goal achievement by preparing an action plan that breaks down the goal into smaller “bite size” action steps that are easy to accomplish in short periods of time.

Once you have listed all the activities, apply target dates for their completion. Each one of these smaller activities, once completed, takes you one step closer to your goal. The most important thing is to make sure that when you list your activities there should be one that you can do immediately. Whether making a phone call, or sending an email. The point is to never leave the sight of a goal without first accomplishing something toward its achievement.

Now go do the first step which you wrote down to complete right away. Don’t worry, we will still be here when you get back! Go on now and take the first step!

Ok, if you have taken the first step, good for you. How does it feel? How does it feel to have made some progress toward achieving your goal? Let’s continue.

Remember ‘tomorrow’ never comes. Be sure to write down an actual date. You also may not know how or when an item can be completed by as it may depend on something or you have no idea. That’s ok. Try estimating how long it will take to achieve that step or write down when you would like to achieve it by. If you don’t reach it by your estimated deadline, either push the date back or adjust your approach. Always be sure to keep an open mind.

Note: The interesting part about step 2 is that you may not know all the actions that you need to take in order to achieve your goal. That’s OK! For stuff you do not know, add action items like ‘call a specialist to ask questions’ or ‘send an email to my friend (who has done this before)’. The more people you get involved the faster resources and advice will come to you and help you get to your goal faster! Not knowing all the steps also means you are reaching into the unknown and ‘stretching’ yourself. This is a good thing!

Step 3: Visualize – Accelerating the process

One or more of your goals may be a giant leap from where you are now and that is fantastic. Even if it is small to someone else, but seems big to you that is ok too. These are great confidence boosters. In any case you have to believe the goal is attainable. You have to keep positive, persevere and have faith that you can accomplish your goal.

It is said that a person that can talk, act and think positively for a full 24 hours without once setting their mind on anything negative, they can accomplish anything.

The best way to strengthen your belief is through visualization. So every day spend some time picturing yourself having achieved your goal. Picture how it feels, how it smells and how it makes you feel. We recommend you do this process at least twice per day, however we do encourage more!

There are 3 different times in the day that we have found to be most effective.

• before you go to sleep at night
• before you get up in the morning
• during your exercise routine

Visualizing before you go to sleep actually gets your brain working to figure out ways to get you to where you want to be (a good reason to keep a pen and paper near the bed!) while you sleep. Also visualizing when you wake up focuses your reticular activating system (RAS) to help you notice things or alert you to opportunities throughout your day that will help you get closer to achieving your goals.

Working out is beneficial both physically and mentally. Visualizing during a workout helps boost your confidence and helps with your motivation towards your goal. It is also a great time visualize if losing weight is one of your goals. Picture yourself how good you will look once you have achieved your goal.

Step 4: Evaluate – The navigation of the goal

Evaluating your goals should be done periodically to determine if you are on track. We recommend spending a little time once per week reviewing your goals. When reviewing your goals make sure it is still something you want to achieve. Also write down on a separate piece of paper the next action to take for each of your goals. Then throughout the week when you have a little extra time or are ‘bored’ grab your Next Actions piece of paper and start working on that list.

Note: When reviewing your goals and deciding if it is still a goal to you do not let your decision be determined by the current state of your goal. What we mean by that is do not give up on a goal if you have come to a challenge or roadblock currently in your path to achieving the goal. Stick with it and try breaking down the roadblock into bite size steps and then add one to your Next Actions list.

Summary

Well you have made it to the end. Now start the process over and apply it to each of your goals. Remember to spend most of your time in Step 2: Taking Action and do not get caught in “analysis paralysis”. Figure out what you want and start taking action!