Welcome to Your Achievement Ezine
Issue 241 - December 29, 2005

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Forget New Year's Resolutions - They Don't Work by Vic Johnson

You can forget about making New Year's Resolutions if you're hoping for a successful outcome. Most aren't worth the paper they're written on.

No less than Mark Twain has written of New Year's Resolutions, "Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Today, we are a pious and exemplary community. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient shortcomings considerably shorter than ever."

The biggest majority of New Year's Resolutions have gone by the wayside before January is over and most won't even be remembered six months later. And the reason is pretty simple: Most are made in response to something negative -- a habit or situation that the person wants to change or end. And therein lies the problem - it's hard to develop momentum from a negative response. It is always easier to move toward something rather than away from something.

Consider one of the most adopted resolutions --- weight loss. No one can get excited about losing weight because it requires deprivation. It's a negative response to concerns about appearance, health, etc. The results of weight loss Resolutions demonstrate their weakness. A 1998 survey sponsored by Gardenburger found that more than three-fourths of all women between the ages of 25 and 54 make diet and weight-loss plans each year. Nearly nine of 10 respondents reported only occasional or no success, while almost half lost little or actually gained weight instead.

The people who succeed at losing weight and maintaining the loss have usually been motivated by a dream much bigger and more positive than just losing weight. They see themselves living a healthy lifestyle. They begin to act and think like people who are in good physical shape. There's more of a radical change in a person's thinking and actions than you see with most resolutions. It wouldn't be possible to effect and sustain such a radical change unless the person is motivated by a big dream that is positive in nature.

Another popular aim is to quit smoking. And I can certainly relate to that -- I was a three-pack-a-day smoker until I celebrated a smoke-free New Year's twelve years ago. For over twenty years I had tried to quit many times using every tool and technique I heard about. But as long as I was trying to quit, I couldn't break the grip.

Instead, I developed a dream to become a non-smoker. I fell in love with the idea of breathing clean air instead of smoky air, of my body and clothes smelling nice instead of smoky. I thought about how wonderful it would be to taste food again. I decided to start acting and thinking like a non-smoker, and when the thinking took hold I simply quit smoking. In all the years since, I've never wanted another cigarette, never even thought about wanting one.

If you're going to make a New Year's Resolution this year, make one with a high probability for success. Make a Resolution to develop a life plan. Most people are in a free-fall through life, careening from one crisis to the next. They wake up one day and 10, 20, 30 or more years have passed and they're nowhere near where they thought or hoped they'd be. Working with a life plan you're much more apt to be excited by what the future brings even if you succeed at attaining only a small part of your plan.

A life plan should address all areas of your life including finances, health, relationships, career, spiritual and even recreational. While a lot of our focus tends to be on financial issues like increasing income or decreasing debt, or health issues like losing weight or quitting smoking, the undeniable truth is that a life lived out of balance isn't a life of quality at all.

If you were going to build a new house and you had this idea for a fabulous master bedroom suite, you wouldn't rush out and start building the master bedroom. You'd have a complete plan before you started. When you approach resolutions and goals in the same manner, you end up with a much better chance of achieving success.


Vic Johnson

Copyright (c) 2004


Vic Johnson is a popular motivational speaker, author and Internet Infopreneur who has created some of the most visited personal development sites on the Web, including the goal setting portal, http://www.goals-2-go.com/goals2006/goals2006.htm?kbid=1006 that features goal setting programs and software as well as weight loss, smoking cessation and debt reduction solutions.



 

"Every act of self-discipline increases your confidence, trust, and belief in yourself and your abilities." Brian Tracy

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2. Your Achievement Quotes

Imagination

"One of the wonderful aspects of the human imagination is its power to break through the barriers of time and space. It can see things not as they are but as the can be." -- Denis Waitley

"The man who has no imagination has no wings." -- Muhammad Ali

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." -- Albert Einstein

"One of the greatest assets you have is your imagination." -- Mark Victor Hansen
 

Influence/Association

"Walk away from the 97% crowd. Don't use their excuses. Take charge of your own life." -- Jim Rohn

"If you would be successful, first you must walk hand-in-hand and side-by-side with successful people." -- Nido Qubein

"One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it." -- Knute Rockne

"The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules, whose would you use?" -- Dale Carnegie
 

Integrity/Honesty

"Success is the prize for those who stand true to their ideas!" -- Josh S. Hinds

"Your word is more valuable than a surety bond." -- Denis Waitley

"Honesty is the first chapter in the Book of Wisdom. Let it be our endeavor to merit the character of a just nation." -- Thomas Jefferson

"The virtue of man ought to be measured, not by his extraordinary exertions, but by his everyday conduct." -- Blaise Pascal
 

"If you're not willing to accept your own discipline, you're not going to accomplish two percent of what you could--and you're going to miss out on 98% of the good things you could have."  Tom Hopkins

From Our Sponsor:

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"Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself."  Abraham Joshua Heschel

3. Your Achievement Tips -

Your Dream Can Be Your Future by Chris Widener

Here is a basic truth you must accept and believe if you are to achieve your dream...

Your dream can be a reality! That's right, your future can actually see you living your dream. It doesn't just have to be a big wish!

When we are young we are dreamers. Nothing seems too big for us to accomplish. Nothing seems too outrageous. The world is ours on a string as the old song goes. Until... "Reality" hits. Reality is what others want to box you in with:

"You can't do that."
"Nobody has ever done that before."
"It will never work."
"You've gone off the deep end now!"

All dreamers (who eventually become accomplishers) have heard these things.
Yet they overcome them. They refuse to accept someone else's "reality" for their own life. They let the average people live their average lives, bound by fear, while they pursue their chosen future – their dream! So don't believe the people who tell you that you can't or won't. Believe your dream. Believe that it can be your future!

Once you have determined that you can actually live your dream, I want you to memorize this acronym. I've shared it before, but I found that it is tremendously helpful for reminding and motivating us toward our dreams.

D is for Dare (dare to dream while others don't)
R is for Relentless (relentlessly pursue your dream no matter what)
E is for Excellence (strive for excellence in all you do)
A is for Abandon (abandon any other alternative plans)
M is for Measure (constantly measure where you are in your dream journey)

Okay, that's great and motivating, but what about the practical stuff? Well, there is certainly practical stuff. No matter how lofty your dream, no matter how spectacular, you will live most of your life in the mundane. Richard Nixon said of the presidency that you "campaign with poetry, but govern with prose." The vision is beautiful, the actual is mundane (not bad but "everyday" so to speak).

If you are to achieve your dream, you need to plan and work and work and plan. Here are my thoughts on how to go about reaching your dream and securing it as your future: Decide that you will do it. This may seem elementary but many people never decide and commit fully to their dream. They simply keep "thinking" about it. Tell others that you are going to do it. This puts you on the record as to what you are dreaming about. It makes you accountable. It will help you do it if for no other reason than to avoid embarrassment!

Develop a step-by-step plan. This is absolutely essential. You must sit down and write out a few things:

1. A timeline. How long will it take to the end?

2. Action steps. Point-by-point, what you will do and when you will do them.

3. Resources you will need to draw from. What will it take? Who will need to be involved for help or advice?

4. An evaluation tool. You need to evaluate from time to time whether you are progressing or not.

5. A celebration. Yep, when you are done you should already have planned what you will do to celebrate. Make it big!

I have found that there is no better time than now to start making your dream a reality. So, set aside some time today to get started on your dream. Follow the action plan and set your sights for the top of the mountain! You will be glad you did!


Chris Widener is an internationally recognized speaker, author and radio host. Chris is the author of five books and audio series as well as over 350 success articles. In addition to being a featured contributing editor to the Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan, Chris was the host emcee and guest speaker for the 2004 Jim Rohn Weekend Leadership Event held in Anaheim, CA - he received rave reviews not only from Jim Rohn, Denis Waitley and Brian Tracy, but also all the attendees! Chris demonstrates a style that is engaging and versatile while providing life-changing principles of leadership, motivation and success. If you would like to order Chris' products, including his Newest book co-authored with Jim Rohn, Twelve Pillars or The Angel Inside, or his newest CD series, The Winning With Influence or The Extraordinary Leaders Seminar, or to book him to speak at your next event, go to http://www.chriswidener.com or send an email to mailto:hilary@chriswidener.com or call 800-929-0434. Also to subscribe to Chris' free Ezine, send a blank email to mailto:subscribe@chriswidener.com
 

"Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability." Roy L. Smith

4. Plan, Do and Review  

"The only competition you will ever have is the competition between your disciplined and undisciplined mind." James A. Ray

5. More Information

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"Positive self-discipline puts you in the driver's seat. When you rehearse the correct moves and internalize them, you will become a high-performance human being." Denis Waitley

Make it a Great Week!