A lot of times we wait until things are absolutely perfect in order to take action. We want the moon to be in Jupiter…a great hair day…lots of extra money in the bank…and all of the birds singing on a bright sunny day…before we take action. What we need to remember and realize is that there is never a perfect time to start ANYTHING! If you have a goal START NOW! Even if you don’t think you have everything that you need. Even if you feel like you would do better later on down the line, don’t procrastinate. Do it now!

The adage ‘Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die’ is very relatable to people’s quest for success. There is no man or woman in the world who does not want to succeed in whatever they do, but only a few are ready to put in what it takes.

For over a century now, successful people have been sharing their secrets in the form of books, tapes, videos, and seminars, and one thing which is common to them all is the setting of a goal. We won’t find a person who became successful by accident. Everyone who’s achieved something substantial in his life would have set a goal, and that goal motivates us during tough times.

Another thing which all experts unanimously agree is that verbal goals are of not much use. A real goal will have to written down, and it has to be SMART

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic, and

T – Time Bound

Unless a goal is written down with these parameters – including a date by when the goal will become a reality – and stuck at a prominent place, there is very little chance of seeing it translate into reality. Whether it is Napoleon Hill or Robert Schuller, Norman Vincent Peale or Shiv Khera, they all agree that an unwritten goal has very little chance of being realized. Look up the internet or head down to your local bookstore and you’ll see tons of examples of people who attribute their success to written goals.

It is quite simple really. When we write something down, we endorse it in our handwriting. That is an added level of commitment. Then we put it up at a prominent place at home or the office, and each time we see it, we reinforce that commitment we made to ourselves of achieving it.

Enough reasons to get a pen and paper out?

Like Yogi Berra famously quoted, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there’!

Without a sense of urgency,dersire loses its value.
Jim Rohn

Have you ever started off really passionate and excited about something and then as time wore off your excitement and motivation slowly but surely faded away?  It’s kind of like when you make that yearly new years resolution to lose some weight.  You go to the gym for a few weeks, eat a couple of salads and then because of a lack of urgency in your task you stop and go back to your old habits.

Have you ever heard the saying that ‘Old Habits Die Hard?’ If that is indeed the case, how do you create a sense of urgency?  You create a sense of urgency by having specific goals that are specific, written down and have time lines.  Using your business as an example if you would like to make a certain amount of money this year, you could do this by breaking it down to how many sales that you need to get per day in order to achieve your goal.  When you monitor your goal on a daily basis, it will be much easier for you to determine if you are on track and also in turn make the necessary adjustments to make sure that you stay on track.

Now go out there and get busy!

-Aristotle

So many of us think that there is some magic potion that successful people drink that the rest of us aren’t have privy to.  We think that some how along the line, successful people had more advantage than us, are smarter than us, got lucky, or just magically appeared at the level that they are at.

Success is not magical.  It is the culmination of doing little things every day that bring you closer to your goal. That’s it.

If you truly want success in your life, look at the things that you are doing on a daily basis and analyze if they are leading you closer to your goals.

What are  your daily habits?

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

- Langston Hughes

Have you ever been around someone who never fulfilled their goals and dreams for their life?  Well unfortunately, I have.  In fact I can say with almost certain confidence that we all have at one time or another.  These people are often people who had extreme talents, gifts and abilities that they either never fully developed or somewhere along the way, lost confidence in.

The unfortunate thing in life is that often times people do not have a support system around them that not only encourages them to be great but offers the support system and DEMONSTRATES how to be great. Many people surround themselves with people who have a (for lack of a better, more accurate word) loser mentality.  These people are defeated before they even start.  They will go to great lengths to tell you why something won’t work.  Why you can’t do that…and basically do everything that they can to keep you stuck in the same place where they are.  These types of people very likely had their own dreams and confidence snatched away from them by someone else over the course of their own lives and either unconsciously or consciously will try to destroy your ambition and hopes for the future.  Nowadays we generally refer to them as haters.  The funny thing is sometimes we don’t recognize that the biggest haters and enemies to our success are so often our own family and close friends.

So my challenge to you today is threefold:

a) Take a look at the company that you are keeping.  Are you surrounding yourself with people who are challenging you and helping you grow as a person? Are you hanging out with y people who are striving to do better in life and are working at it everyday?  Are they people that talk about how they will do something  ’when their ship comes in’ – but they are never working to go build that ship?  Do the people in your life hate on your goals and dreams and try to keep you from trying something different in life?   Take a cold hard look at the people that you are closest to and remember that you are the people that you associate with.  If you don’t like what you see, I suggest you make some changes and you make them quick!

b) If you knew that there was  NO WAY POSSIBLE THAT YOU COULD FAIL, what would you be doing right now?  Where would you be living?  What would be your activities on a daily basis?  Who would be there with you? If you were to die tomorrow, what would you like to be remembered for?  Based on your life as you live it today, would those around you remember you for that thing? (Take some time to write this down)

c) Start paying attention to what you spend your time on.  So many of us spend our time and energy on irrelevant things that mean nothing to getting us further along in life.  So many people are stuck in party mode and then turn around one day and can’t figure out why they have not accomplished anything in life.  After you have written down  what you would be doing with your life if failure was not  an option, start looking at what you can do today, to bring your goals to fruition.  If you find yourself engaged with people and activities that do not support your goals then you need to let that go.  Remember whatever you focus on is what manifests in your life.  If you focus on nothing…well, you just manifest nothing.