Category Archives: Goals

Success Equals Goals, But How Bad Do You Want It?

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The goal-setting chapter in Brian Tracy’s book, ‘Maximum Achievement’, has been a favorite of mine for many years.
I also share Brian’s belief that “success equals goals and all else is commentary“.

But since goals don’t magically achieve themselves without effort and perseverance, how do you be(come) successful?

I like this answer from motivational speaker, Eric ‘the Hip Hop Speaker’ Thomas:

When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.

Of course, achieving BIG goals is never 100% sure, even with an iron will that mirrors your desire to keep breathing.
But the inverse is highly likely to occur i.e. no will, no success.

“Sleep? I don’t Sleep. Sleep is for Those Who Are Broke.”

To get an idea of how much you want to succeed at something, watch this five minute video with Eric’s answer (above) in your mind.

For the record, I believe it’s OK to NOT have goals – if that’s what you want. But it’s also OK to choose a path where talent, hard work and lady luck might take you a long way.

The choice is always ours to make.

- Mark McClure

PS – The young running back featured in the video has his own YouTube Channel.
Check out the trailer (released Jan 30th, 2012) for his latest documentary: “My Ambition”.

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Don’t Stink, and Get Slimmer

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At this time of year many people at least think about making resolutions and setting goals. Slimmer, healthier, happier, wealthier… these are four of the popular themes.

Some even get to making plans and taking action.
And in the weeks ahead, progress will be made, and results seen.

But, eventually as motivation begins to falter and everyday reality intrudes, a curious and unsettling thought will present itself:

Willpower alone is (usually) NOT enough.

Clinical psychologist, Steve Levinson, came to this conclusion some years ago when he realized a possible connection between habits, behavioral change and goal achievement.

I wrote about this in a post titled, How To Follow Through On Habit Change Using Hidden Vibrations.

What attracted me to Steve’s ‘habit change’ product, the Motivaider (aff link), was not only its simplicity but the fact that it relieves the conscious mind of wasting energy on trying to keep the goal or intention (literally) ‘in mind’.

Here’s a short video explaining how the Motivaider can help with habitual goal achievement.

Procrastination buster: the Motivaider

One of the most effective strategies for getting the results you want is free: it’s called ‘willpower leveraging.’

There are many examples of this technique but my current favorite is of the guy who wanted to work out regularly but found he couldn’t make it a habit that stuck.

The solution?

Devilishly simple. He removed all body deodorant from his house and kept a supply only in the gym locker!

‘Don’t stink’, was sufficient ‘motivation’ to at least get him to a physical location where he could ‘get fitter’ – and smell well too, at the end of the workout.

Can you think of how this approach might help you keep to this year’s goals?

- Mark ‘habit changer’ McClure

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“Everything is Created Twice”

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That headline’s a quote from Dr. Steven Covey, the author of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“, a book I enjoyed reading in the 1990s.

Did you read it?

And if you did, can you remember any of those famous and much talked about seven habits? (Click the link above to refresh your memory.)

I once heard that question put to a psyched-up sales audience at a seminar, after someone stated how great the book was. The speaker then made a great point by asking the person to list all seven habits. With some effort they could remember perhaps three or four but, amazingly, none of the audience could list all seven!

The audio clip always reminds me just how easy it is to ‘feel good’ about reading motivational books but not get anywhere from the time invested in doing so. Why? Because building habits such as applying the knowledge gained from a book or a seminar requires regular nurturing and exercising. Even when you don’t always want to do it…

Which brings me to the point of this post and to what I consider to be the most important of those seven habits.

“Begin With the End in Mind”

This one I’ve remembered after all those years! It sounds and looks so simple, yet in only five words you have the formula for a lifetime of achievement.

Now, of course, I don’t think Dr. Covey has discovered something fundamentally new about the human condition to grow and improve. This is a perennial wisdom passed down through many cultures and traditions. What I admire, however, is the succinctness with which Dr. Covey has summarized the “power behind the throne”, so to speak.

covey-7habits-begin-with-end-in-mind

What I mean by “power” is the ability of humans to creatively and consciously imagine an outcome, and to then start turning it into reality.
Whether we succeed or not is a separate issue. What’s more important is to recognize that a creative act precedes both its gestation and eventual actuality.

In other words, and to use those of Dr. Covey, “everything is created twice.”

Now, until this morning, I hadn’t heard “begin with the end in mind” explained in that way so vividly. A friend told me about a recording of a phone interview Dr. Covey did with the small business management guru, Jay Abraham, back in the 1990s. So, I borrowed the mp3 file and came across this nugget within the first hour. Jay was coaxing Dr. Covey to expand on how many small business owners get ‘distracted’ by tactical goals such as living the lifestyle and reacting to events, rather than being guided by a more expansive vision of what their business is all about to the people who interact with it i.e. customers, employees, shareholders, the owner etc.

And Dr. Covey’s second of the seven rules was put to the test by Jay and, I think, came out with flying colors when Dr. Covey used the metaphor of a house being built twice. First, it’s designed by the architect with (possibly) input from the buyer. Only then does construction begin and the plans become reality.

“Everything is Created Twice” – this is something I will be thinking about over the next few weeks in what I see as the major areas of my life.
Namely: career; family / friends: wealth; health; personal growth; spirituality

Finally, as 2011 draws to a close, I want to wish readers of this blog (all 7 of you!) a happy and safe New Year.

As I’ve written about before (see “Our World Shaken“), there are enormous geopolitical and economic forces at ‘work’ (or ‘at rest’, depending on your politics), particularly in Europe, and none of us know how that will play out in the weeks (!) and months ahead.

Be well and be happy.

- Mark McClure

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1-3-6 Weight Loss Experiment

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This post’s based on the 1-3-6 method I blogged about back in Oct 2008.

Current Weight: 83 kg

a) The 1 important outcome is:
Goal: Achieve target weight of 77 kg by 31 Dec 2011

b) The 3 things I can do that increase the probability of achieving the desired outcome:

1- Increase my walking from (approx) 10 minutes to 20 minutes per day.

2- Add a seven minute circuits session (using own body weight) to running-in-the-park sessions.

3- Walk up nine flights of stairs an average of 3 times per day (rolling monthly average.)
This is natural weight training for the legs and really does tone muscle, in my experience.

And now comes the harder part.

c) The 6 things I need to stop doing (or reduce) so I have more time and energy to focus on a) and b) above.

1- Eliminate all snacking after 9 pm. (Melted butter on toast, a cup of coffee and a slice or two of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk around 11:30pm…and I could write well into the wee hours. Boy, am I addicted to the stillness of the night haha!)

2- Stop all weekday beers. (Beer goes well with the salty nature of many Japanese dishes but it also makes me drowsy after 8pm, as well as pile on the calories.)

3- Get to bed by 11 pm (so I can get up early enough to run, take the dog out, and avoid the crazy heat / humidity).

4- Stop buying chocolate most Friday lunchtimes… this is my contribution to TGIF. Out it goes.

5- Eliminate sitting still for more than an hour at a time. I often do this when writing or studying. The plan now is to move about every 20 minutes or so.

6- ??

Well, in the time allotted to write this post I could only come up with five of the six things to stop doing. If #6 pops into my mind later, I’ll add it this post.

The plan’s to write an update on this project around year’s end.
(March 2012 Update: Sorry for the delay. Writing an update to this post  is now on the agenda!)

- Mark McClure Today

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Your Goals and a Mongoose

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Jason Ball, of GoodPeopleJapan, retweeted an interesting post today from the self-styled “World’s Strongest Librarian“, Josh Hanagarne. (And after seeing what Josh can do with kettle balls, I’ve no reason to doubt his claim. Would make an unusual Reality TV show, on location in gym and library…)

Josh’s post was very sure of itself.

Strong, even.

In fact, from looking around his site, I’d say Josh has a good grip (pun intended) on what “personal transformation” is all about.

I interpreted Josh’s post as follows:

1- Take a big goal you want to achieve e.g. career change, weight loss, learn a language.

2- Set three boundary conditions.
(Josh states these as questions.)

Er, that’s it.

You can read his post here:

“Three Questions and The Best Advice I ever Heard.”

The only thing I’d add is a chat about “how to unleash your inner mongoose…”.

And you can find how out to do that, for free, right here: “Fifteen and Forgiveness”

- Mark ‘mongoose’ McClure

PS – Apply Josh’s 3 questions to a goal of your own and see what starts to happen.

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