“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” ~H.D. Thoreau

This quote is so true, most often success is right under our nose. And, for those who's job it is to approach people, these busy people seem hard to get to listen. But... the fact is these people are busy for a reason.

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To your success!
#success #toobusy #pma

How To Achieve Your Goals and Keep Your Resolutions

2013 New Year’s Resolutions and Goals

How To Achieve Your Goals and Keep Your Resolutions

Have you set a New Year’s Resolution or Goal? Every year people all over the world set new goals and make resolutions for the new year, unfortunately most will never fulfill their promises. In the following text I’ll outline how to achieve your goals and keep your resolutions this year.

Maybe you’ve already set your goals, now you must act on them. If you haven’t set any goals, now is the time, the New Year offers the perfect time to set new goals! Often, many people set goals or make a resolution to overcome bad habits or negative behavior. Your goal may be to achieve more success or increase your income.

Having a goals system will ensure that you focus your efforts to achieve success. Remember, a 'goal' is different from a 'wish.' You may wish to be rich, but that doesn't mean you've taken any practical steps to make that 'wish' come true.

Why should you set goals? Setting goals is the best way to improve your life. The most common reason for not setting goals is procrastination, but there are lots of other excuses. Ironically, stopping procrastination is one of the most popular goals. So, why not get started now?

When goal setting there are about 8 categories that most goals come from, there are many more, but most can be put into these categories:

• Financial
• Physical
• Spiritual
• Mental
• Social
• Family
• Career
• Habits

Here are the most common personal goals:

1. Lose weight
2. Stop smoking
3. Increase income
4. Vacation
5. Get out of debt
6. Finish school
7. Learn a trade
8. Write a book

So, now that you have an idea of the more common goals, why don’t you set your own? It can be as simple as getting out a piece of paper and a pen. The most important thing is to get started now. The goals you choose are the ‘what’ you would like to accomplish. Simply choose 1 or up to 5 goals and write them down. You may want to do this in a journal or notebook or pin them to the refrigerator. 

Be specific with your goals and be careful to keep your goals simple and to the point, listing only what is important and realistic to you. If you make too many, you may get discouraged or have problems focusing.

Once you have your goals written down, you’ll want to determine ‘why’ you want to accomplish your goals. This is simply the purpose for accomplishing your goal. Your ‘why’ is imperative and will keep you motivated when you run into roadblocks or get sidetracked. Be honest with yourself about why these goals are important to you and why you should do them now.

To summarize, the Goal is ‘what’ you want to do and the Purpose is ‘why’ you must do this now. Once you determine mentally what you want to accomplish, you will subconsciously start taking on behaviors that will bring you to your determined result.

Here are some examples of goals, specifics, and purposes:

Goal (What)	Specific	Purpose  (Why)
Stop Smoking	Decrease gradually and No cigarettes after 6 months	To breathe easier and live a longer life with your family.
Lose Weight	Lose 24 lbs. this year	So you can be more physically fit and live a healthier life.
Write a Book	200 page “how to” book	To promote a cause and teach others what you have learned.
Save Money	$40,000 over 10 years	To pay for your children’s college, so they will be able to get a higher paying job.
Give to Charity	10% of your earnings	To give back and help others because you have prospered.

You should now have your goals and your purpose written down. Continuing to take action is vital at this point. If you break your goals down into short steps they will be easier to accomplish. For example, if you want to lose weight, be specific. Let’s say you want to lose 24 pounds this year, you could break that down to 2 pounds per month. Or if you want to write a book, you may write a chapter a month or 2 pages a day.

Getting started requires action steps. So, you may want to journal or keep track of your daily accomplishments. By tracking your successes you will build confidence.

If your goal is to stop a bad habit, you will want to think of ways to interrupt your negative pattern. You will want to create a positive reinforcement for the negative one. Create a new association that will provide pleasure for the success.

Over the years I’ve put together a common sense approach for setting goals and broken it down into easy to follow steps.

 Steps for Achieving Your Goal(s):

1. Write down your specific goal and purpose for achieving your goal

a. First handwrite, this will cause you to think and visualize your goal

b. Later you may want to type or print out your goal

2. Plan your goal setting

a. Set a specific date for accomplishing your goal

b. Break your goal down into easily attainable steps

3. Take action toward accomplishing your goal

a. Work toward your goal daily

b. Practice discipline until you form a habit

4. Visualize yourself achieving your goal

a. Play a movie in your mind

b. Watch the movie at night and in the morning

5. Verbalize your goal

a. Say “I choose to earn $ (your financial goal here) per year."

b. Say "I will do this through (your specific plan or job here)."

The most important part of any goal plan is taking action. So, start now! Keep your mind focused on the above steps and start working towards your goal.  

Close your eyes picture yourself in the place you want to be.  Don't worry about whether or not it's working or over analyze what you’re doing.  Just keep your mind focused on your goal and discipline yourself to do the steps above on a regular basis.

The following steps will allow you to “really” accelerate your results:

1. Are you going to dream about this or really do it?
2. Really print this out right now.
3. Really paste this next to your computer right now.
4. Really follow the steps once a day for 30 days.
5. Do it now and don't let anything get in the way of you accomplishing your goal.

Take action and you will feel better about yourself and others. You will achieve success!

Until next time,

Barry Page

www.pma101.com

Barry Page is a recognized author and publisher of multiple blogs, websites and videos. He is a leading expert on private banking and a Registered Financial Consultant. He specializes in showing families how to increase their happiness, health and prosperity. His business is based in Ocean Springs, Mississippi and he services clients throughout the country.

What is Your Time Worth?

What is Your Time Worth?
Living a Life of Abundance

Reflecting on time gone by helps me to realize my value to society and my worth to myself. Not the tasks I completed or the purchases I made, but the time I have spent with my family and what I have done to increase my value as a person. I also consider the value that I have created for others, and what I have traded my precious time for... Because once the day is gone, it is gone forever, so I must strive to live an abundant life today and every day.

“Time And health are two precious assets that we don't recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.” ~Denis Waitley

As I grow older I have learned to appreciate my time and my health more and more. Fortunately, I have been blessed far beyond my expectations with spiritual, physical and material gifts. I can use my time and these gifts to share and benefit others or I can waste them. I’d like you to consider the value of your time and the impact you have on others lives.

“Time is more valuable than money.” ~Jim Rohn

All of our lives we have been told that in order to increase our success and material worth we should trade our time for money. We’re told to go to school and to work hard. And, once we achieve “success” we’re told that we should turn our money over to the financial institutions, but only after the government takes their share… for the betterment of society of course.

Our minds have been brainwashed into believing that the accumulation theory of compounding in retirement plans will create financial success. When you follow this way of thinking you are devaluing your importance and decreasing your self-worth by basing your beliefs on economic models that are dependent on opinion.

Our human life value, as described by the late Solomon Huebner, is the capitalized monetary worth of the earning capacity resulting from the economic forces that are incorporated within our being: namely, our character and health, our education, training, and experience, our personality and industry, our creative power, and our driving force to realize the economic images of the mind.

“It isn’t a coincidence that governments everywhere want to educate children. Government education, in turn, is supposed to be evidence of the state’s goodness and its concern for our well-being. The real explanation is less flattering. If the government’s propaganda can take root as children grow up, those kids will be no threat to the state apparatus. They’ll fasten the chains to their own ankles.” ~Lew Rockwell

Our schools indoctrinate our children from a young age with biased information and fictional characters instead of focusing on history and learning from our past. Case in point, my children participate in an accelerated reading program at their elementary school. Their available literature is almost entirely fictional consisting of fantasy and witchcraft. The problem is over time fallacies and falsehoods develop into myths. And, myths destroy our confidence by instilling our minds with doubt and fear. 

“Myths which are believed in tend to become true.” ~George Orwell

Myths are based on a scarcity mindset and can be perpetuated from generation to generation. When we embrace the scarcity mindset we buy into the belief that our resources are limited. Scarcity fails to account for self-worth and further limits our opportunity for ownership and growth.

As you can see these myths can destroy your ability to create real wealth and your value as a person. Instead when you follow your purpose and focus on creating value in yourself and others, you can live a life filled with abundance and prosperity.

“Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.” ~Albert Einstein

We must breakthrough the boundaries of traditional thinking and challenge our minds if we want to achieve our maximum potential in life. An abundant life is developed by practicing our talents and abilities and taking action. When we take action on our thoughts and ideas, based on our knowledge, we increase our worth. As we increase our knowledge, we also increase our confidence and ability to follow our free will, and make our own choices.

By living a life of abundance you can follow your soul purpose and increase your value to others. You are free to focus on God’s work and your personal passions without the limits and confines of a scarcity mindset. You create value in others by sharing your knowledge and developing their abilities. You are free to live a life of prosperity.

God has blessed us with an abundant supply of spiritual and material gifts. Our challenge is to utilize these blessings to honor God and fulfill our purpose as Christians.

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Matthew 13:12

Many believe that the end of time, as we know it, is near. In essence, your future resides in your hands. In the coming months your world is going to change… the question is, will you be ready for what’s next?

In closing, I’d like to encourage you take a personal inventory by asking you a few questions. Ask yourself what’s really important to you? Why do you do what you do? Are you spending your time with the ones that matter the most? When you make investments, consider if you are investing in yourself as a person. Will these investments increase your value? Are you expanding your knowledge? What are you reading and whom are you listening to?

"You are the same today as you will be in five years except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read." ~Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones 

Until next time,

Live a Life of Abundance!
Barry Page
www.pma101.com

Barry Page is a recognized author and publisher of multiple blogs, websites and videos. He is a leading expert on private banking and a Registered Financial Consultant. He specializes in showing families how to increase their happiness, health and prosperity. His business is based in Ocean Springs, Mississippi and he services clients throughout the country.

9 Steps for Achieving Success
An Easy to Follow Guide for the New Year

It seems like yesterday we were celebrating the year 2000, and now we’re almost a decade into the 21st century. This past year has been especially trying for many, and may have even dampened your spirits, but that’s no reason to put your dreams and goals on hold. Often we grow stronger in adversity and we can use our problems or difficulties to strengthen our desire to achieve success.

A great influence in my life once told me, “Life without sacrifice is life without”. When I think back to my most treasured accomplishments, they all came with sacrifice. Whether it be time, labor or money, you will have to give up something to get what you want in life. Sure, some fortunate ones will seem to have it easy, but those who give their all will reap the rewards.

Regardless of your career or occupation, you can achieve your best at what you do. Even if it’s only you that knows that you gave your best, then you will appreciate the satisfaction of knowing that you gave your all. So, I’ve put together 9 steps for helping you achieve your best in 2009.

1. Acknowledge and Recognize Your Situation, Good and Bad – The only way to improve is by recognizing your current position by being completely honest with yourself. Take a personal inventory to determine where you are and where you want to be.

2. Be Proactive – You probably have a secret ambition that you’ve been holding back on. Whatever it is you’ve been wanting to do, just do it. Don’t rely or wait on someone else to motivate you, take initiative and be proactive. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll feel better knowing you tried.

3. Set Clearly Defined Goals – Too many people set a watered down New Year’s resolution (many times it’s the same one from the last 3 years), and forget about it before the month is over. The secret to achieving goals is setting realistic ones that can be broken down into small steps and visualized. You must be able to see yourself achieving the goal, understand exactly what it will take to do so, and follow through with the small steps until complete the overall task. You are the easiest one to break a promise to, so hold yourself accountable by telling your spouse and friends your goals.

4. Educate Yourself – Read often and regularly, and not just the newspaper and magazines. If you will spend 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 minutes at night, reading a non-fiction book, you can read 6 books a year easily. This will keep you informed, inspired, and allow you to grow mentally.

5. Stay Positive – Turn off the bad news and watch or read something positive. Garbage in, garbage out. Associate with uplifting people and develop a positive mental attitude.

6. Be Healthy – Take time to exercise and make it fun. Go ride a bike, join a tennis league or go walking, but make it a habit. We’re all in a hurry these days and it’s easy to eat junk food, so you may have to make an effort to change your diet. Keep some fruit and granola bars handy to hold you over until meal time, and watch what you put into your body.

7. Volunteer or Donate Your Time – It may sound impossible in today’s busy world, but your outlook will change when you see the response from those you help. You can accomplish more by joining a local civic or service group like Rotary or Kiwanis.

8. Give to Charity or Your Church – Experience the joy of giving by sharing a portion of your earnings with others and your rewards will come back to you in abundance.

9. Spend Time with Your Family – Your family will grow stronger when you spend time together. This is the one thing that you can’t go back and do over, so do it now. If you think about it, you can involve your family in all of the suggestions above. When you do, you will truly experience success in life.

Achieve your goals and dreams this year by Going For It!
Barry Page

P.S. Learn more about achieving your goals at http://pma101.com/PMA/positivementalattitude.html

P.P.S. Zig Ziglar publishes a favorite exercise of mine called the wheel of life, you may do a search to find it. If you need help finding it, respond and I'll help. Use it to keep your personal inventory and set goals for the upcoming year. Keep your wheel in balance.

Barry Page publishes multiple websites, and newsletters. He can be reached at:
www.legacyinsurnaceagency.com
www.pma101.com
www.atbmx.com