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Luck

March 20, 2013 By
4 Leaf Clovers

Photo Courtesy of Christoph Rupprecht

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Seneca

Saint Patrick’s Day was this past weekend when we celebrated the luck of the Irish.  But what about the luck in your life?

We all create our own luck.  If there is something you want to accomplish then go set the goals and do the work necessary so you can succeed.  If you have never done this then set a small goal and see how it feels to actually complete what you set out to do.  Complete a few short term, two week or less, goals and soon you will be doing 5 year goals.

Create Luck!

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Life Coaching Tagged With: , , , ,
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Self Education

February 27, 2013 By

self educationCollege isn’t for everyone.  I think it is obvious but we are still being encouraged to go to a traditional college after high school.  While I highly believe in education I think there are other ways of getting it.  20 years ago a traditional school may have been your best option, however, there is such easy access to material that self education can give you more knowledge than going to college.

If you want to go to college for the experience then go for it.  If you want to go because it is necessary for the path you want to live in life then go for it.  If you are going “because I’m suppose to” then do yourself a favor and take local classes and read books in the field that interests you.

Walt Disney didn’t go past his freshman year in high school but continued to educate himself through books and experiences his entire life.  Let me stress – FINISH HIGH SCHOOL, but explore all of your options for higher education and choose the best for you and not what is expected of you by others.

Filed Under: Careers, Goal Setting, Life Coaching, People Tagged With: , , , ,
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Your Past Does Not Dictate Your Future

January 16, 2013 By

So many people seem to think that their past defines everything about their future.  This is simply a myth.  While I will say that your past has helped shape you it should never define you.

Have you noticed when you see one person who says that their life sucks they do things that cause this (they spend money they can’t afford, complain about everything, drive people away, etc)?  And then you have the other person who says that life is great and they seem to have everything in order (good relationships, savings, friends, etc)?

The human brain is a remarkable thing.  It provides you with the answers and reasoning you are searching for whether right or wrong.  Your life might be great when other people look at it but when you continue to tell yourself you have the worst luck and a bad life then your brain starts to provide you with how you have the worst luck and what you are doing wrong in your life.

If you want to change you can.  Will you?

 

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Life Coaching Tagged With: , , , , ,
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Book Review: 100 Days of a New Year by Jennifer Tankersley

January 7, 2013 By

100 Days of a New YearJennifer has once again provided an excellent resource to those who want to stay on track and stay motivated for the first 100 days of the year.  In her most recent edition, Jennifer takes you day by day from January 1-April 23.

This edition is setup like the other two that I have written reviews about.  It comes with 75 downloadable planning pages to help you stay on track.  You are provided with an activity each day to help navigate and organize your life (except for Saturday – that’s catch up day!).

The book is in PDF format which allows you to read on your computer, tablet, or print it out and put into a three ring binder as recommended.

What I enjoy most in each release are the different activities.  Many times they are things that you have thought of but put off or activities which give you that “I haven’t thought of that” a-ha moment.  A new version comes out each year and I do like going through and seeing what is new.

You can purchase this ebook directly from ListPlanIt for five dollars.

*Note: I received a copy of this book at no charge in exchange for my honest review.*
Filed Under: Goal Setting, Life Coaching, Organization Tagged With: , , , , ,
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Make Goals Instead of Resolutions

January 2, 2013 By

Resolutions vs GoalsIt is time for everyone to start their resolutions but I urge you: DON’T! Why? Well, how many times have you or a family member made a New Year’s Resolution and come February (or a week later) you have already forgotten about it or dropped it? Exactly. That is why I urge you to make New Year’s Goals instead.

The difference between the two is simple.  A resolution is when you say you are going to do something to change your life and that is about as far as it goes.  A goal is something you write down along with the steps it will take to accomplish the goal and with a time frame on finishing it.  The process of goal setting allows you to make small steps over a period of time rather than looking at the big thing you want and thinking it is to big to even mess with (it is the whole ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ thing).

Want to lose weight?  Get out of debt?  Spend more time with family?  Simply set up your goals the SMART way (first published by Paul J. Meyer):

  1. Specific – Instead of “I want to lose weight” change it to “I want to lose 20 pounds.”
  2. Measurable – You have to be able to measure the goal (it is three weeks in, how much weight have you lost).
  3. Attainable – Your goal must be something that is reasonable.  Something within your life that can be reached.
  4. Relevant – Your goal needs to be something that matters even if only to yourself.  If you don’t care if you stop eating junk then your goal is not relevant.
  5. Time Bound – You have to have a time frame around it.  Maybe it is a six month time and maybe it is five years but you must have a time set.

Let us all go out and make 2013 the best we can!

Sources:

Filed Under: Goal Setting Tagged With: , , ,
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Books of 2012

December 30, 2012 By
Books

Image Credit: brewbooks

2012 was a year of reading and education for me. I have read more this year than in any previous year and it is great to see the accomplishment. What I believe drove this was Jon Acuff’s “FinishYear”  where he talked about finishing 12 non-fiction books. I went and doubled!

2013 is just around the corner and my goal is to complete 40 books by the end of next year. Who wants to come along on the journey?

Below, in no particular order, are the books that I completed in 2012. The links will take you to Amazon to read more about them and where I have written a review I have included a link to that as well.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
The Money Class by Suze Orman
QBQ: The Question Behind the Question by John G. Miller
Parenting the QBQ Way John G. Miller
How to Be Like Walt by Pat Williams
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The Legend of the Monk and the Merchant by Terry Felber (review)
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Poke the Box by Seth Godin
Tribes by Seth Godin
Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill
Rhinoceros Success by Scott Alexander
Wisdom Meets Passion by Dan Miller & Jared Angaza (review)
No More Dreaded Mondays by Dan Miller
More Than a Bucket List by Toni Birdsong (review)
Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
The Art of Selling Yourself by Adam Riccoboni & Daniel Callaghan (review)
The Present by Spencer Johnson
Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson
The Daily Six by John Chappelear
Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker
The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau
One Big Thing by Phil Cooke (review)
The Wonderful World of Customer Service at Disney by Jeff Kober

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30 Days

February 15, 2012 By

30 Days with Morgan SpurlockIt is often said it takes 21 says to form or break a habit. I am not sure how true this is but that is about right for me. If I keep doing something each day somewhere between 21-30 days it starts being routine. Many people want to start or stop habits but think it will be hard or take a lot of time. It may very well be hard if you are curbing an addiction or trying to exercise daily when you have never done it in your life but you have to start the journey.

Morgan Spurlock did his show “30 Days” where he placed himself or another willing participant in a situation for, you guessed it, 30 days.  There were 18 episodes in the original run from 2005-2008 (source: IMDB).  If memory serves, those 30 days were always an eye opener for the participant and those around them and many good things seem to come out of the days they spent together.

Imagine if you looked within yourself and decided to do one thing you always wanted to do and committed to doing it for 30 days.  Would it change your life?  Better yet, would it hurt you in any way?  I ask the hurt question because if the answer is a resounding ‘no’ that it wouldn’t hurt and you could commit the time for a 30 day span then why not try it?

This article was completely inspired by a TEDTalk I ran across a few days ago that was given in 2011 by Matt Cutts.  It is only 3 1/2 minutes and I encourage you to give it a brief watch and see if it inspires you to try something new for just 30 days.


Filed Under: Goal Setting, Life Coaching Tagged With: , , , , ,
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Persistence

February 15, 2012 By

Fort Fisher AquariumYou need persistence in life.  It is a fact to winning in just about everything you do.  If you don’t keep moving forward and moving obstacles you will fail before you get to the finish line.

What brings up this topic is a place in North Carolina.  It is the aquarium at Fort Fisher and I can only assume the other aquariums in the state do this as well.  We visited back in 2006 and upon walking into the lobby you are greeted and asked if you would like to have your picture taken at no charge.  You can see the picture we had taken just under 6 years ago to the left.

This seemed innocent enough and, of course, we knew they would want to sell us a package which we did not buy as we were on a budget for the trip.  However, once we got home I received an e-mail asking if I would like to purchase the picture now.  I deleted it and kept going.  Then I got another one, and another one, and another one.  Just earlier this month I received another one offering my Valentine’s borders and gifts of the picture we took several years ago.

I in no way look at this as a bad thing.  I could always opt out of the e-mails if I decided to.  However, I get to relive the memory of this trip and this moment each time they send out the marketing e-mail.  Their persistence turns into a trip down memory lane for me and you never know, someday I may purchase a high resolution version of the picture.

Bottom line is you need to be persistent if you want something.  Do not annoy and nag but don’t be willing to settle for less than you deserve and push through the rough spots and WIN!

 

Filed Under: Customer Service, Goal Setting Tagged With: , , ,
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Savings Snowball

February 9, 2012 By

snowballIf you have researched paying off debt in any form more than likely you have come across the “Debt Snowball” method of paying off debt.  Many people have talked about it but most notably of those is Dave Ramsey.

Ramsey suggests in order to pay of debts quicker and get a psychological advantage in your process you start with your smallest debt and work up to the highest balance debt until you are debt free.  I was thinking a few weeks ago, why not try this with my savings accounts?  And so I have and thusfar has worked like a charm.

I have several savings accounts which gets money automatically transferred into them on a set interval.  These accounts are my budgeted items – you could call them my electronic envelopes.  They are named for what they are to be used for such as car maintenance, clothing, birthdays, Christmas, etc.  I know how much I want in each of these to consider them “fully funded”.

I make a list of these accounts and how much each one needs in it in order to be maxed out at from the smallest one to the largest one.  Now, the money that is budgeted for is put into these accounts with the most going into the smallest one each pay day.  Once that one is fully funded I move to the next one on the list and put the budgeted amount into that account plus what was budgeted for the first account.  We continue this until all of the accounts are fully funded and then everything that was budgeted for them starts going into my emergency fund.

I find this to be a natural progression if you use the “Baby Steps” as part of your personal finance plan.  It easy to keep up with, you already understand the snowball, and it gives you another set of financial goals whose whole purpose is to keep you from getting back into the debt trap again.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Grimm.

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Money Saving, Personal Finance Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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Have you started saving for Christmas?

February 8, 2012 By

Plaza ChristmasIt is almost that time of year again! What? It isn’t? Oh, it is just time to start saving for that time of year. That is what I wanted to discuss.

Every year I see first hand hundreds of people waiting until the last minute to purchase presents for Christmas because they do not plan throughout the year. They wait and wait and at the last minute it is like a ghost that was leftover from Halloween screamed “BOO!” and they are rushing to get gifts or get money for the holidays. Want to have a less stressful season in 10 months? Start saving now!

You don’t have to be stressed this year.  I promise you, if you will follow a few simple steps you can have the easiest holiday season you have ever had.  Everything feels different when you have the money saved, you pay with cash, and you know you won’t have a huge credit card bill come January that may very well stick around until the following Christmas.

All you have to do are a few simple steps:

  1. Write down everyone you want to buy for.
  2. Double check that list.  Are you sure you want to buy something for everyone on that list?
  3. Can you make something for some of those people (including food items) instead of buying them an expensive gift?  If so, move them to the side of the list.
  4. Write down how much you want to spend on each person beside their name.
  5. Total that number up.
  6. Divide it by how many times you will get paid between now and your last pay check before Christmas.
  7. BAM!  You just decided how much you needed to save each pay day to pay in full in cash for Christmas this year and not have the stress of running around at the last minute.

You must be realistic on what you want to spend on each person.  If you make $20,000 a year you need to spend what you can afford.  If you feel bad for this, then let the people know now that you can’t afford it and settle on a mutual amount to spend on each other based on what you can spend.  Don’t let the people who put everything on credit cards tell you how much you should spend on them.

If you want to go a little further figure out how much it will cost for the supplies to make the people at the side your list their gifts and budget for that as well.  Or, better yet, of you aren’t making them a food item figure out how many items you need to make each month to be finished for Christmas and you can save that stress at the end of the year as well.

Have A Merry February Everyone!

More Information:

What Dave Ramsey says about saving for Christmas

Photo courtesy of David DeHetre

 

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Money Saving Tagged With: , , , ,
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Leap Year

January 13, 2012 By

Leap Year2012 is a leap year so you have an extra day to accomplish something. What are you going to do? How are you going to use this extra day to enhance your life or that of your family?

Don’t let this day go to waste where you are questioning why you have to go back to the same boring job or wondering how you are going to pay the credit card bill. Take steps on February 29th to push your envelope and begin a game plan where you find the career you love, you make the plans to get out of debt, or you start the journey to completing the goals you have for this year.

Filed Under: Goal Setting Tagged With: , , , ,
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Woo Woo Woo… You Know It

January 7, 2012 By

Zack RyderIf you watch WWE you know who Zack Ryder is. What you may not know is that he should be an inspiration to anyone who has goals and dreams in life.

I am going to be honest, prior to about March I didn’t know anything about Zack Ryder.  He was a name that came up every now and then on TV and then he would come out, lose, and would disappear.  Not much going on is it?  However, in February of 2011 Ryder uploaded a video to YouTube that would change the course of his career and make him a household name.

Zack had started his own campaign to further his career –  it was make it or break it time.   He laid it on the line.  In his web series on YouTube, Z! True Long Island Story, he would take jabs at himself about being on the back burner, almost getting over with the fans, and being put on ice by the higher ups.  This series led to him amassing over 10 million views and over 118,000 subscribers in under a year.

Along with starting his series on YouTube he is also very active on Twitter connecting with fans.  At the time of this writing he has over 444,000 followers and was listed as one of the top 100 most influential sports personalities to use social media by  Sports Illustrated.

Now, why should he be an inspiration?  He realized he could be more than what he was being used for in the WWE.  He knew he had value and knew the fans would enjoy his work.  He was willing to put everything on the line to show the executives and writers that he could carry the ball.  In short: he had goals and a plan.

Ryder could have had a victim mentality.  He could have kept asking the executives “When are you going to do something for me?”.  Instead he asked himself what he could do to help himself – he then went and did it.

Zack is a perfect example what you can do when you have a plan and are willing to take a risk to get what you want out of life.  He took it upon himself and proved he had it.  In December of 2011 he was awarded the United States Championship which I hope is just a stepping stone in his career.

Take Aways:

  • Have a goal with a plan.
  • Be willing to take some risks.
  • Get rid of victim thinking and figure out how you can position yourself where you want.
  • Go for it!

You can find Zack Ryder at the following sites:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LongIslandIcedZ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZackRyder
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/longislandicedz

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2012 Goals

January 5, 2012 By

GoalsHave you set your goals for this year yet?

If you haven’t now is a great time to do it.  All you have to do is get a piece of paper or a calendar and write down your exact goal (be specific) and when you want to achieve it by.  Then put it somewhere that you will actually look at it.  That is it!  You have set goals.

If you want to have more fun with it download the free goal sheet from The Project Girl.  You can break your goals up into the different areas of your life so you can focus on each one when you need to!

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New Year’s Eve 2011

December 31, 2011 By

Happy New YearIs it really that time again?

A lot of people will set their resolutions this weekend on how they are going to be better or improve their life next year.  I hope you have already set your goals and you are prepared for what the new beginning has in store for you.

A new year is not the only time to make changes in your life.  Review your goals throughout the year so you can recommit to them.  Many resolutions never get completed and that is because they are out of sight out of mind.  Review your resolutions/goals/wants regularly and achieve what you are looking to achieve.

Here is hoping that 2012 brings the happiness and purpose you want in your life and we will see you next year!

Filed Under: Goal Setting, Life Coaching, Time Management Tagged With: , , , ,
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It Is Never To Late To Try Again

November 12, 2011 By

Never To LateI hear people talk about how they wish they had done this or that. So, why not now? Is it really ever to late? As long as you are breathing I don’t see why it has to be.

mental_floss recently put up an article with 10 people who did not start their careers or what they became known for until late in life.  This included people such as Colonel Sanders who didn’t open KFC until he was 65, Grandma Moses who was 76 when she did her first painting, and Takichiro Mori who left teaching at the age of 55 to be a real estate investor and died with a net worth of $13 billion dollars.

No matter what it is that you wish you could do in life it is never to late to try.  If you are 40 years old and wish you had a degree then go get one.  60 and want to be a professional wrestler – I can show you how to do that as well.

“Don’t dream it.  Be it.”  Rocky Horror Picture Show

Photo Credit:  Terry-Anne

Filed Under: Careers, Goal Setting Tagged With: , , , ,