Balance is the Key

By Bob Proctor

A past issue of Psychology Today detailed a study of 1,139 CEOs of the Fortune 2,000 companies. Their average income was $356,000, which is not surprising. However, one thing that will surprise many people is to learn that these high achievers' number one priority was their family and their number one asset was their integrity. In addition, over 90% of them exercised regularly, did not smoke, and most of them could give their cholesterol level. In other words, they lived quite a well-balanced life.

This to a large degree destroys the old myth about the top executives, doesn't it? How they are so devoted to their jobs that they neglect their health, their families and anything that has anything to do with not making money or doing their job. In short, these men are successful in their personal, family and business lives. They take care of their health and their priorities are well-placed. Countless other studies substantiate the fact that a balanced life is significantly important, not only for our health but for success in our chosen careers and with our families.

Obviously, there are numerous other factors involved. Research conclusively proves that people who have reached the top are people of integrity. They also are intelligent and, in most cases, well-educated. In addition, their ambition, their profession and their position require that they be good students who stay abreast with current events. Most of them love and even have a passion for what they do. In other words, it takes a balance of skill, talent, good qualities and hard work to win in every area of life. This enables them to acquire many of the things money will buy and even more of the things money won't buy. Think about it. Bring your life in balance, and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

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13:00:00 - By Vincent 0

The Greats Didn’t Start That Way

By Bob Proctor

Basketball fans and in fact most people know the story, that Michael Jordan, considered by many to be the greatest basketball player who ever lived, was cut from the squad when he was a sophomore in high school.  Fortunately, he didn't quit playing and the results speak for themselves.

Football fans who have followed the NFL for many years consider Joe Namath to be one of the finest athletes, and certainly one of the smartest, most confident quarterbacks with a great arm, who ever played the game.  As a sophomore in high school he weighed 135 pounds and was five feet seven.  He came from an athletic family, had athletic abilities and his older brothers were helpful, but he was the fourth-string quarterback on the JV squad.  After the second game he approached Bill Ross, the athletic director and head coach at Beaver Falls High School, saying he was thinking about quitting the game "because I'm too small to ever be a quarterback."

Bill Ross smiled and agreed that Joe was too small then and that he wouldn't play much as a sophomore, but "I knew he was a good athlete and that he would grow.  I told Joe that it was the wrong time to quit, that he hadn't proved himself one way or the other so I said 'Go home and think about it overnight before you make your final decision.'  The next afternoon he was back at practice.  Before the end of the season the JV squad played Elwood City in an away game, Namath was phenomenal and the football legand was on his way."  Message: Don't quit.  Stay with it and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!


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12:50:00 - By Vincent 0

4 Scientifically Proven Ways for Recovering Self-Esteem after Failure

BY Ilka Emig 

Have you ever failed miserably?

I certainly have. It’s awful isn’t it?

Failure leaves you disappointed, angry, desperate, and hopeless.

It crushes your self-esteem and convinces you that you’ll always be a failure.

You wish you could know how to get your self-esteem back.

Well, we’ve all failed at least once in our lives. Living without failing is simply impossible.

We fail if we don’t reach a goal. We fail if we don’t deliver as required or if we don’t perform as expected. And we fail if we make a mistake.

Some failures are better to hide than others, and that’s why some people seem to never fail. But deep inside, covering things up is hard, isn’t it?

Because one part of you always knows that you have failed and how you feel about it: Your brain!

You just may not realize how much your brain controls your responses to failure.

You also may not realize how much control you have over your brain —and how that can empower you.

You Control the Power to Change your Brain

As we go through life, our brains create new connections that affect our beliefs and emotions, often to the detriment of our self-esteem.

Fortunately, we have the power to change our brains to help rid our minds off the beliefs that don’t serve us.

The science behind this is called neuroplasticity, a fancy word for a simple but fascinating truth: the brain can always change throughout life.

It doesn’t just learn and create new connections; it can also break old connections.

This amazing ability of the brain and the nervous system to re-organize its structure, function and connections is researched more and more.

This knowledge is used to understand how we learn and de-learn as adults. It is also important in the medical field to help people recover after brain injuries or strokes and to understand addictions and mental diseases like depression.

This knowledge is also important if you want to change your brain.

So if you want to recover your self-esteem after failure, the following four ways will reprogram your brain to create beliefs that boost your confidence:

1. Break the connections that steal your self-esteem

It happens to all of us. We make a mistake that causes us to fail.

Now we are desperate, angry, and unbelievably sad. We then obsess over our stupid mistake —the one that kept us from reaching our goal.

This obsession causes our brains to constantly create new connections. With every new connection, our brains learn again and again that we are a failure.

With every new connection, this belief becomes stronger and stronger.

So you must not let it be engraved in your brain that you are a failure. You failed. That is part of life, and it’s perfectly ok. But you are not a failure.

There’s a big difference. Obsessing about it gives too much power to the failure, and you’re just wasting your precious time doing so.

Fortunately, you can make and also break connections in your brain.

If we take the focus from what causes the connection, we can stop new connections. If we don’t think about it for a while, the connection can be broken.

So, be disappointed and angry, stamp your foot, or shed a tear, but then shake it off. You can do that by following some practical tips:

• You can actually shake it off by physically shaking your hands. That might sound a little silly, but it works. The brain reacts to movement.

• If you lean more toward symbols, you could write your mistake on a piece of paper and then burn the paper – or tear it into many small pieces. I have done this before, and it has a wonderfully liberating effect.

• You could also make a list of all of your accomplishments and consciously focus on them. See that you are capable of so much and make your mistake look small and irrelevant.

Stop thinking about failure and your brain stops treating you as a failure.

So forgive yourself, treat yourself compassionately, and you’ll break those bad connections that wound your self-esteem.

2. Create goals that guarantee success

People often fail because they set unrealistic goals, and, also they often plan and execute wrong while trying to reach their goals.

By wanting too much too fast, we set ourselves up for failure.

By impatiently pushing towards a goal, we lose our focus on what needs to be done and fail.

In the end, all we do is program our brains to believe we are incapable of succeeding.

If this is why you’ve failed, you can recover your self-esteem by learning to set small achievable goals, give yourself more time, and plan better.

You can also track your goals and reward yourself every time you have reached one of your smaller goals.

Don’t be foolish and think only reaching a final major goal can be called success.

What we see as a big success is always the sum of many small steps and successes. So, don’t forget that every time you reach a goal you do experience success.

How to measure success – should be part of your initial planning.

And experiencing success is even more crucial and important than you might think; because your brain is again involved in this experience.

The smaller the goals, the more likely you are to succeed. And while you experience success, your brain shows high measurable brain activity.

It results in increased motivation, self-esteem, and happiness, which only increase your likelihood of succeeding again in the future. Success is what you need to go on.

Don’t expect to be a billionaire in half a year, to perform as a musician at the Sydney Opera after a few years of practice, or to lose half your body weight in a month, though.

Set yourself up for success with achievable goals.

3. Ensure you’re prepared, and try again

On your way to success after failure, don’t forget an embarrassingly simple strategy that appears to be a little bit out of fashion these days.

That strategy is to practice, practice, and practice. By practicing, we gain knowledge of how something works and the confidence with everything we do.

While you may have failed you can build your self-esteem by trying again and this time making sure you are prepared.

For important information to travel from short-term memory to long-term memory, we must repeat things at least three to five times.

Doing something only once is not enough to have it stick; unless it is mind-blowing.For the best results, repeat it as much as possible as often as possible.

Repetition tells the brain first of all that this must be important and that it is better to keep it in the long-term memory.

Repetition is also increasing the connections in the brain up to the point where a behavior or activity happens almost automatically.

Have you ever been to a conference and listened to a presentation?

Some of the presenters look totally surprised at every new slide on the screen. They lack easiness, and they have to read every slide. They are usually the people that have not practiced.

The information presented is not engraved in their long-term memory, and they look insecure.

The self-confident and entertaining presenters have practiced many times; probably with a timer next to them.

The information they present is engraved in their long-term memories and is available to them anytime. They are confident, and they represent self-esteem.

The same goes for playing an instrument, presenting results to the boss, studying for an exam, doing sports, or learning a language.

So, what you do with practicing after a failure is getting prepared to try again.

It is important to get up and not to give up after a failure. But this time try it differently by being better and more prepared.

So, get busy practicing so that you can enjoy some true self-esteem.

4. Teach your brain the truth about fear

When we fail, we often develop a lot of fear. This fear stops us from taking action and messes with our goals. It prevents us from wanting to try again. It sabotages our self-esteem.

Since fear is also important for our survival, we can’t just get rid of it.

Imagine you are standing in front of a poisonous snake. You need your instincts and all the adrenaline that fear powers into you, to run and survive.

What we don’t want is the fear that stops us, and the fear that feeds more fear and blocks our self-esteem.

Fear is complicated. Fear does not happen in one area of the brain. There exists acomplex system of different brain areas all working together.

So if you’ve failed at something and then developed a lot of fears that are shattering your self-esteem, you must teach your brain that the threats it’s feeling are not real.

Here are some tips on how to manage and control your fears:

Analyze your options

It is essential to evaluate and analyze different options. Don’t think you are stuck with only one option. Look into all the options you can think of, even if they seem odd or scary.

Then rank them according to the risks they present.Finally, chose the option you want to try with confidence and consideration.

Familiarize yourself with what you fear

Regain your self-esteem by slowly getting familiar with the situation or the thing you fear. Expose yourself to a situation, observe it, and get familiar with it.

Doing so gives you control over fear, and your brain learns that no threat, but rather something familiar is present.

Talk about it

We often hide, and are embarrassed about our fear and our lost self-esteem. Sharing and speaking it out loud makes a huge difference.

This little boost of our self-esteem can reduce our fear. While we talk about it, we usually experience that a person we talk to is empathetic with us.

Surprisingly, the other one does not see us as low as we think of ourselves. This reality helps us to change our perspective and boosts our self-esteem too.

Ask for help

Maybe you are scared your work, and your abilities are not good enough. Consider getting help from an expert.

For example, a blog post that went through an editor will allow you to hit that submit button with more confidence. Or taking a few lessons before an audition will allow you to show up with earned self-esteem and reassurance.

Final Thoughts

Now we know that our brains control our responses to failure.

We also know that we have control over our brains and how we can use that to be empowered. Isn’t that amazing?

Failure is not the end of the world. What is important is to get up and go on.

For this, we need to recover our self-esteem first, so that insecurities, fears, and wrong beliefs won’t stop us again.

It is also important that we learn from our failures so that we don’t repeat previous mistakes. It is important to sit and see what went wrong.

We might do that alone or even with some help from outside.

Then we have to re-set our goals and re-evaluate our strategies. As we have learned in this post, we can do that using our precious tool of understanding our brains.

We can stop thinking about mistakes, and we can shake them off. We can set ourselves up for success and find motivation, self-esteem, and happiness.

We can practice to keep information in our long-term memories and gain confidence. Being prepared with knowledge we can get ourselves together and try again.

And finally, we can understand and control our fear to overcome it.

Over To You –

What are your experiences with regaining your self-esteem after a failure? Do you see failure and success differently after understanding your brain better? Let me know in the comments below.

SOURCE

13:30:00 - By Vincent 0

Your Mental Toolkit: Using the Drill

by Benyamin Elias

I spent my first 3 months of unemployment sleeping on a ratty mattress on the floor of a 4 foot by 15 foot room.

The next 6 months were spent in another small room, this time in a house with 13 other people. I managed to upgrade to a queen-size bed, but it took up 80% of the room. I used my suitcases as a nightstand because there was nowhere else to put them.

And yes, people stole my food.

When I was unemployed, I applied to dozens of jobs and got rejected from all of them. I started to question whether I would ever get a job. If you’ve ever been unemployed, you know that it takes a toll on your identity – it’s difficult to feel like a productive or valuable person with unemployment weighing on you.

But before I descended into a spiral of self-doubt, I reached into the mental toolkit I developed in college as a psychology major.

The tool I used helped me banish my insecurities; I was employed within a month and a half of using it.

I call it the drill, and you can use it to:

• Stop doubting yourself professionally and work towards the job and career you really want
• Stop feeling judged or out of place in the gym, and finally get the motivation to work out
• Stop wondering what people think of you and effortlessly connect with them as people

What is the drill?

The drill is a technique I borrowed from cognitive behavioral therapy, the most widely used and most effect technique out there.

I call it the drill because step one is to drill down to the very core of the problem. Chances are high that you have some kind of distorted thinking that’s affecting your emotions and, by extension, your actions.

The first time I used the drill was for working out. I could never seem to consistently go to the gym. So in step one I asked myself: “what’s really going on?”

And I got an answer: “I don’t like going to the gym because I’m not fit and feel out of place. The gym is for fit people.”

Step two is to question everything. You’ve drilled down deep to figure out what’s really bothering you (and write that down! It’s easier to fight something you can see). Now you need to poke holes in it.

In my case, it was easy to fight: “Who says the gym is for fit people? The gym is a place for people that want to get fit, and that includes me. No one has any more ‘right’ to be here, and if I’m not sure what to do I can find a program to follow.”

Does that mean I changed overnight? Of course not. I had to use the drill quite a few times. In fact, most days I used it before and after working out – but I did start working out.

The two steps of the drill are:

1. Ask what’s really going on: Figure out what’s really bothering you and write it down. It needs to exist outside your head so you can fight it.

2. Question everything: Chances are high that you have some distorted thinking. Expose the reasons that your doubts are unfounded, and keep at it.

Apply these two steps over time and you’ll see serious improvement. When I used the drill, it affected every aspect of my life – from fitness, to careers, to relationships.

What are you struggling with? How can you use the drill?

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13:00:00 - By Vincent 0

Working Out, Success, and the Habit of Self-Discipline

by Remez Sasson

Yesterday, my daughter had to go to work earlier than usual, and since the gym where I work out is not far from her office, I decided to take her to work and then go to the gym.

At quite an earlier hour, the gym was already full with men and women of all ages, working out and exercising. I usually do not go to the gym at this early hour, and was surprised to see so many people. It seems that many go the gym to exercise before going to work. Some go the gym to lose weight, others to shape their body, and quite a great number like to pump iron and build their muscles.

I know how tough it is for most people to start exercising. Most people know it is healthy and good for their body, but they are too lazy to go to the gym, especially in the morning. They prefer to spend an extra hour in bed before starting their day. In the afternoon, they are too tired after work, and prefer to stay at home or go out to meet friends.

You need a good dose of self-discipline to go to the gym and to continue going, despite laziness and the inclination to procrastinate.

It is the same in all areas of life. It is the same when you need to run a task, carry out a decision or achieve a dream. There are laziness, procrastination and many excuses why it is not the right time.

Doing things requires effort, and often, we want to avoid this effort, even when we know that we would gain much by doing what we are trying to avoid.

Working Out and Discipline

Returning to the topic of the gym, when you first start working out, it is too difficult, and you might look for excuses not to work out. However, if you insist on going to the gym and exercising, after a while, you would start to like it. This usually happens after gaining results, when you see that you are losing weight, your body getting into a better shape, and you feel stronger and more energetic. This often awakens a strong motivation to continue.

When you look around you at the gym, you see people with shaped bodies and muscles. They did not get them by sitting on the couch watching TV. They got them because they had the self-discipline to go to the gym almost every day and workout.

Applying self-discipline to working out develops the habit of discipline, a habit that you would be able to use in all other areas of life.

The Habit of Discipline is a Requirement for Success

It is the same in every other area of life, when study a foreign language, develop a new skill or a new habit, and when you focus on achieving your dreams. It is tough at first, and you might not have enough motivation. However, with a little bit of self-discipline and perseverance you can overcome all obstacles. When you start to see results, everything becomes easier, because you your motivation and desire begin to grow.

Every achievement, small or big, needs self-discipline and the ability to continue, despite obstacles, failure or difficulties. Achieving success requires that you leave your comfort zone, laziness, and the tendency to procrastinate. This requires some inner strength, which you can develop, even if you lack it now.

Successful men and women possess the habit of discipline. Without this habit, you will not be able to control your behavior, avoid temptations and focus on a task until you complete it.

Every achievement requires long, sustained periods of focused effort on your goal. You need determination to persevere until you complete it.

As you see, you need a certain degree of self-discipline to get started. Fortunately, self-discipline is not difficult to develop. I have written many articles about this topic, and also a book with advice, instruction and simple, but effective exercises.

“Do the thing you fear to do and keep on doing it… that is the quickest and surest way ever yet discovered to conquer fear.” – Dale Carnegie

You can easily develop the habit of self-discipline by practicing suitable exercises. You can find a few simple ones, to begin with, here. However, if you want to gain more power, and therefore, have more control of your life and habits, increase your chances of success, and live your life as you want, I recommend that you read the book Strengthen Your Willpower and Self Discipline.

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12:30:00 - By Vincent 0

Letting Go: How It Helps You

BY Donna Merrill 

Letting go does not mean giving up! In fact, it helps you gain peace of mind and move forward.

Today I’ve a special guest – please welcome Donna, who’s an intuitive life coach and personal development expert. Let’s read all that she has to share with us today – over to her.

Letting go of anything is so difficult for some people. It can be a hurtful family member or just a piece of furniture.

When we refuse to let go, what happens? We remain stagnant.

Our life is so cluttered with the old, often useless and dysfunctional stuff that we have no room for new things to come in.

I know how difficult it is when a loved one passes on. We mourn our loss and go through a ritual such as burying or cremating the person. Each culture has its own way of facing the “ending”.

We give ourselves time to mourn and then let go. I don’t want to sound morbid by using this example, but it is the ultimate experience of letting go.

Death is something everyone learns to handle because it is an inevitable part of the natural life cycle.

But what happens to people when they become entrenched in a specific lifestyle, or a particular journey and they just can’t adjust to any alteration or modification?

Why People are Afraid of Letting Go

People may stay at a job they don’t like because of fear of what is beyond their potential. Some stay there for years and do not allow themselves to grow and enjoy the things they may love to do.

I notice that when people refuse to let go of things that just don’t work for them any longer, their happiness and sense of self worth start to melt away. They cannot enjoy their spouse, their family, etc.

They may get angry or play victim to the very circumstances that they foster. In any case, they won’t allow themselves to try to extend themselves even for a job interview, let alone starting their own business.

And, often enough, if they do step out of their comfort zone and things don’t work out, they quickly play the blame game to make things somebody else’s fault.

Letting Go of Things in Your Life

I know a woman who is quite a hoarder. Now, this is a physical and transparent form of refusing to let go.

This person cannot let go of her furniture because it reminds her of her past. Her garage is full of surplus furniture and she always complained about it, and begged me to help her get rid of it. But first, I extended myself by visiting her to take pictures of everything, from furniture down to the silverware.

I made a photo album for her so she could keep those memories without cluttering her home. Little by little, she started to give away something here and there. But she didn’t let go of these things without anxiety.

So each time she gave something away, I suggested that she look at the picture we took. After two years, her house has nothing but the essentials in it. Now she is even ready to move to a new place.

Unsurprisingly, this woman’s willingness to let go of her furniture has opened her to letting go of some negative relationships in her life. As she has done so, she’s been able to replace them some good and positive relationships that she had previously avoided.

This is one simple way to illustrate how letting go of things go in our lives enables us to grow, and to move on to new adventures and possibilities.

Letting Go and Starting Your Business

When it comes to our wonderful world of business on the internet, I find that lots of folks are fearful of letting go of menial jobs that are going nowhere in order to start their own business.

So, what can we do with the person who can’t let go of dead-end jobs and careers, even though they are fully capable of doing better?

“Create a back door!” I usually suggest. Go on working as usual, but create time to work on your own business. Nothing happens overnight.

Start your new venture part time, utilizing spare evening or weekend hours. There are many successful people who are doing business part time via the Internet.

That phrase “create a back door” is comforting to those who find it difficult to let go all at once. All one has to do is be diligent, persistent and a business will bloom.

Time is not necessarily of the essence here. “Letting go” is.

Starting an online business part time affords a comfort zone to many people that I’ve consulted with.

They can rely on the job that keeps them financially and emotionally comfortable, while taking daring little chances for a few hours a day.

It’s really not uncommon that before they know it, they are able to totally let go of the go-nowhere job and mentality, and apply themselves fully to doing what makes them happy.

Letting Go of People in Your Life

Letting go of people that are toxic is a biggie, too!

I must have heard a hundred stories about people that won’t let go of a toxic or worse,abusive relationship.

I feel this is the worst form of refusing to let go, especially if there are children involved in the situation.

It is often not an easy thing to let go of a partner because of financial situations, or worse, the syndrome whereby one spouse believes that they cannot survive without the other, even if it puts them (and others) in harm’s way.

Now, if there are children involved in this situation, they are being abused, too. Yes! If daddy is putting down mommy or even worse, displaying violence, the children will suffer, too. To me that is criminal.

But hey, I’m not Queen of the world. I just know this from my own personal experience!

When the abused spouse lets go of the abusive partner (and sometimes it is best to get help before one does it), they end up gaining strength. Why? Because it takes so much strength to deal with that situation, when it is over, the victim who couldn’t let go – turns into the victor who did.

Conclusion

So you see – letting go is often required in order for you to move forward in your life, and in your business.

We all need to let go of some things in our lives in order to grow. The above examples may be pretty extreme, but try applying it to even small things in your life.

Are you holding on to something that you just cannot shake? Do you dream of anything at all that you aren’t doing right now?

What are you waiting for? Let go of ANYTHING that is holding you back and realize that you never stuck in time, you are always evolving. Growth and development never end!

Over To You –

Do you believe in letting go? What can you let go of to make room for growth and improvement in your life? Share in the comments.

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13:33:00 - By Vincent 0

How To Stay Focused To Achieve Your Goals

BY Harleena Singh 

Can you achieve your goals without staying focused? I don’t think so. Many people wonder how to stay focused and achieve success.

I think being focused is the ability to say that “I’m doing this work and nothing else, and no one can stop me from doing it”.

Well, learning how to focus is in-fact a matter of making it a daily habit, isn’t it? You cannot stop a person with a focused mind to do what he or she plans.

I’ve heard many people say that they start off well with good intentions, but become unfocused after a while. Don’t worry. You’re not the only one to feel this way.

Sometimes I also start a project, work a little on it, and then lose focus or get distracted, but not for long – as I take a little break and I’m back to work again, more focused than before.

Has this happened with you too? How do you remain alert and concentrate on your work? Let me know in the comments.

“Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.” ~ LL Cool J

How Successful People Remain Focused

You’ll mostly hear people say that they are not motivated and need to have enough passion to achieve goals. They feel only successful people have this kind of willpower and unstoppable passion, something that they lack.

But you know, even successful people get bored like you and me. They also sometimes lack motivation and need daily inspiration. They have also learnt how to rise up every time they fall.

The huge difference is that those who want to achieve goals don’t let their emotions influence their actions.

That’s right. Not only your disturbing emotions but also uncontrollable, useless, or unrelated thoughts might cause you to drift from what you’re doing and bring you out of focus.

But the successful lots find ways to work up through the boredom. They do all it takes to achieve their goals. It’s their capability to do the task when it’s not easy, and that is what separates them from others.

So, if you too want to be successful, then you need to follow the ways of the successful people to zero in on your target and stay focused.

Distractions are a major problem that does not allow people to stay focused. You cannot achieve goals if you are distracted. But who decides you have to stop where. No one, but you yourself!

Places like Facebook and other social media networks, or whether it is video games, TV, and text messages – they are all supposed to be used in moderation. You need to limit your time using them.

However, most people drown themselves into such distractions and make them their core activities, such that it leaves them no time to do other tasks in hand.

Being in focus is an uphill task for them.

Are you in a similar situation? Do you think you need to know how to stay focused and achieve your goals too? Then, this post is for you.

What You Need to Stay Focused

There are certain requirements for staying focused, and if you consider them, then attaining goals will not be a problem for you.

• Set Priorities

There might be many areas in your life that need attention. It becomes tough to decide which ones need immediate attention or where you need to focus first. That is because you want them ALL done now!

When you want to focus on a single task, it becomes tough to keep the other pending tasks aside. You begin feeling overwhelmed and feel you need to do all those task and be present all over.

That’s when you think that a quick Facebook or Twitter break will do you good, and you head there to check on your messages or notifications. And those ‘few minutes’ break turns to perhaps 1-2 hours!

Remember that whatever you do today will reflect on your life ahead. If you spend 1 hour on Facebook, for example, then you are setting that standard for yourself.

But what if instead you write 1000 words during that 1 hour you waste, imagine the amount you’d accomplish in a year’s time!

Writing nearly 365,000 words, that’s nearly writing a new blog post daily, or writing 4-5 full books in a year, if you had not wasted that 1 hour.

• Believe in yourself and your task in hand

You need to think positive to stay focused and achieve goals. If a task appeals to you, such that you are willing to take risk accomplishing it and don’t fear failure, it’s worthy of your undivided attention.

You need to move forward and make progress by believing in your abilities, in areas that matter to you. Once you accomplish one task, turn your focus on the next one and move ahead.

You might like – How To Boost Self Esteem in 8 Simple Ways

• Fight distractions

Distraction of home, work, family, friends, events and other things stop people from staying focused and achieving their goals.

It takes time and effort to remain focused to achieve goals that sometimes you give up.

You need to plan your task strategically. To stay on focus, decide on the best time to do your work. Chalk out the distractions that would arise and how you would react, and then deal with them.

Focus means to think strategically, and you need to remain committed and dedicated to be after one thing till the end at the cost of other possibilities.

Some people let distractions rule over them, but remember, you are distracted because you let yourself be distracted.

For example, if your friend calls or messages, your friend doesn’t know you are working on something.

Just let it be- end your tasks and then call back! If you explain, people understand that it’s your work time and you need to stay focused while working.

Start by keeping aside just one hour daily to focus on a main area of your choice. Train your mind to stay focused. You need to ‘make’ time for things that matter to you, isn’t it?

Take the example of Thomas Edison. He failed so many times before finally succeeding in inventing the lamp. But imagine if he hadn’t stayed focused on his goals – would he have achieved success?

He kept trying after each failure and remained focused till he achieved his goal.

• Accept that you may not achieve success

You’re only human and when you focus on any task, you pour all your energy into it. Your brain tells you it is an important task because you focus on a single idea, task, or thought.

However, sometimes you cannot achieve your goals despite being focused. Remember, focus does not guaranty success but only improves and increase your chances to be successful.

Also know that it is alright to accept this fact – face your failure and learn from it.

Don’t fear failure because that is your stepping stone to success. Remember, it’s ok to fail at times, and that doesn’t mean you stop trying. Being alert, aware, and determined helps you attain your goals.

“The true measure of success is how many times you can bounce back from failure.” ~ Stephen Richards

People don’t focus on their goals because they are afraid. They hesitate, procrastinate, and think negative, and try ways to escape from doing things.

They don’t want to try things out, or move out of their comfort zones.

Achieving Your Goals is a Process

People think that achieving goals is the end result. For them success is an event that can be achieved.

For example, “If I write a book, I’d achieve success”, or “If I get featured in a magazine, I’d gain credibility.”
You forget that to write a book, you need to fall in love with the process of writing and keep writing daily!

But if you see people who consistently achieve their goals, you realize it’s not the event or end result that matter. Instead, it’s the journey, their commitment to the process – it’s a daily practice for them.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” ~ Greg Anderson

So, don’t worry about the end result – fall in love with the journey, the boredom, the repeated process, the practice, the process and enjoy each moment. 

15 Ways to Stay Focused and Achieve Your Goals

Always keep your goals always in your mind. Yes, distractions are a part of life and you’ll find them everywhere. However, how you deal with those distractions lies in your hands.

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” ~ Bruce Lee

1- Organize Your Workplace

Whatever you are working at, you need to have a clean and well organized working area because that helps you remain focused and you can work with full concentration.

It doesn’t take long, just a few minutes to keep things in the right place before you start work. Things you don’t need or use, keep away.

It’s said a cluttered work area creates a clutter in the mind too, so keep things organized.

2- Find Your Purpose to Stay Motivated

When you have a purpose to end your task, your work will motivate you and thus help you concentrate.

Some people lose focus as they cannot see what they might achieve and prefer doing other things.

After finding your purpose, write it down – define it as that will be your driving force to achieve your goal.

For example, if you are blogging, remind yourself why it is important for you and what you want to achieve from it.

3- Define Your Goals

Define your goals by chalking out the number of hours you are going to work and make list of your priorities.

When you write them down, they become more real and can be reviewed and used to encourage you. This helps to take care of distractions as and when they come up and how you can deal with them.

Must Read – Creating A Life Plan Can Change Your Life

Don’t overburden yourself by focusing on more than a few goals at a time as it will demotivate you and reduce your chance of achieving your goals.

Divide your time and keep accomplishing them one by one.

Narrow down your focus by completing the goals based on the priority. By defining your goals you stay focused to complete them by the end of the day.

4- Learn to Manage Your Time

Once you define your goals and make your list, write down how much time it will take you to complete each task. You are your best judge, so be realistic and complete each task within the set time limit.

Don’t become overwhelmed with time consuming tasks. Instead, break them into small bits and complete each one, one at a time.

“My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things.” ~ Bill Gates

You would like this post on time management – 6 Easy Tips for Time Management You Need to Know

This way you will be focused on your task rather than spending it chit-chatting with friends or wondering where time went by!

5- Use Visualization

When you want to remain focused you need to have a strong visual image of what you want to achieve – your target, so that you can reach your goal by focusing on the end result.

The more you visualize what you want to obtain, the more you can focus on achieving it. Achievers have the ability to visualize their goals as already accomplished.

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ~ Mark Twain

Imagine how your family and friends would react once you achieve your goals – that is the power of visualization.

6- Take Breaks In-between

As you work, your alertness reduces and you tend to get easily distracted. So, it’s good to work in shifts of 30 or 60 or 90 minute blocks, depending on what suits you. Set a timer and take frequent breaks.

You could take a short walk, listen to music, chat with friends, or cook and do the household chores.

Some people like to reward themselves by visiting Facebook, but for a limited time during such breaks. But don’t get stuck there! Come right back once the timer goes off 

7- Turn OFF Everything

When people ask me how to stay focused, I always tell them one thing – just turn off all your tabs, emails, phones, and everything around you.

When you sit to work – just concentrate on your work and nothing else. When you say yes to achieve your goals, you must NO to other things, isn’t it?

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell

If you are working in an office, you can set up a time when you can take your calls, check emails, or make a system so that urgent messages can reach you. Other than that, just switch-off!

8- Learn To Say NO

This is a tough one for me! But to stay focused, you need to say, “No” to a lot of people and things.

When it’s work time, just say, “I’m sorry I cannot do that for you as I’m working on a deadline.”

I know how hard it is to say these lines. I sometimes postpone a response by saying, “Let me think it over and get back to you”. This avoids an outright NO or rejecting an offer.

“Focusing is about saying No.” ~ Steve Jobs

Remember, once you refuse politely, people understand and begin respecting your way or working. Of course, help out and do their work once you complete your task.

9- Make Time for Distractions

Distractions aren’t bad, but you need to schedule them so they work for you. Use them to reward yourself after you achieve your goal or end your task.

Distractions like playing a game, calling friends, visiting Faceook or your other social networks are all good, provided you stick to your schedule and time yourself.

You need to learn to not get distracted by trying to practice mediation and focusing on single-tasking. For example, if you are reading the newspaper, just do that, don’t check your email or status update.

There are many apps to fight distraction you can use, without letting them become distractions!

10- Create New Habits

To focus and reach your goals do something that is repeated daily, even if it’s just for 10 minutes each day. Make it a daily habit and analyze your progress by recording it daily.

They say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit.

So, if you want to move from an old habit that you know is not letting you focus, to one that will help you, stick with the habit for 3 weeks to see a change.

When you do something consistently for so long, it becomes a part of your personality and you eventually keep doing it without really thinking of it.

11- Improve Your Focus

Some people get distracted easily. For such people, just take any task and give yourself half an hour to work on that task without taking any break.

Then slowly increase your time and focus by a few more minutes to see how long you can increase your stamina. Reading and writing continuously help in such cases.

I’ve learnt this over time and can sit for hours at a stretch, but I remind myself to keep getting up and walking a little after every hour. How about you?

12- Don’t Multi-task

You might think that multi-tasking helps you complete many tasks all at once. But that’s wrong as it just slows you down and confuses your brain.

You need to reset your brain each time you shift between two tasks. However, a lot depends on what all tasks you multi-task with.

Like cooking and listening to music is fine, but cooking and chatting on Facebook will not work. It might leave you with a burnt meal. 

13- Be With People Who Have Similar Goals

Sometimes you are surrounded by people who prevent you from achieving your goals. They prevent you from staying focused. It can be tough to breakaway because these people maybe your family or friends.

They may not share the same goals or be interested in your goals. You need to extend your circle and move from those who hold you back if you want to achieve goals in life.

Having goal buddies or friends who share the same goals as you, helps you remind about your goal and motivate you when you feel a little down.

14- Use Positive Affirmations

Stay away from negative self-talks. Instead, use positive affirmations and remind yourself about the goals you want to achieve.

Positive affirmations help you believe in yourself and stay focused. Writing down your goals in present tense helps in personal affirmations.

For example, instead of saying “I want to earn more money”, say “I earn $5,000 a month” would be better.

After writing, read your goals in a loud and firm voice as it would make you proud of what it will feel like to reach it, and ignite the passion to accomplish your goal.

Some people create and use mantras that are small phrases that you can repeat daily – they encourage and remind you to concentrate on your goals.

15- Take Care of Yourself

You cannot remain focused if you do not care about yourself and your health.

Taking adequate rest, sleeping for at least 7-8 hours a day, eating a balanced diet and staying healthy are things you need to do to stay focused.

Mediate and concentrate on your breathing. Deep breathe, stay calm, and serene. When you inhale and exhale and concentrate on your breath, you are able to focus better when you sit to work.

Give yourself a break if you work continuously to avoid burnout (good reminder for me!) because that affects your productivity a great deal.

Don’t forget to celebrate each achievement by acknowledging and rewarding yourself for the progress you’ve made towards your goal.

You’d like this short video on more ways to stay focused 

Four Keys to Staying Focused at Work ~ YouTube Video

Speaking of myself and my blog, when I look back, I don’t think I could have achieved all that I have – had I not been focused on my work.

I am not just saying this to praise myself here, but just to make you realize that if I can achieve my goals, you can achieve your goals too. All you need to do is stay centered, committed, and determined.

“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” ~ Denis Waitley

So, are you ready to start? I hope now you will not lose your focus, nor procrastinate or get caught up by distractions. Instead, remain focused and achieve goals one after the other.

Cheers to your success! 

Over to you –

Do you know how to stay focused to achieve your goals? What are the ways to you use to remain focused and attain goals? Share it in the comments.

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13:30:00 - By Vincent 0