Below is a brief series of self-evaluating questions you may want ask yourself as you prepare for some personal goal setting. These may serve as idea starters for your own goals. These are under the most common categories we consider for creating goals. If you have some goals that aren’t covered by the followihg categories, then just add them and identify some other evaluation questions.

Physical

• Have I had a complete medical/dental examination in the last year?
• Am I involved in a systematic program of physical exercise?
• Am I at my optimum weight level for my height and build?
• Do I have any harmful habits that need control?

Family

• Am I spending enough time with my family?
• Do I spend one-on-one time with each of my children?
• Do I help plan meaningful family activities?
• Have we had or are we planning a family vacation?
• Do I take business work home frequently?

Spiritual/humanitarian

• Have I volunteered to help another in need lately?
• Am I living my moral and ethical principles?
• Should I attend church more often?
• Do I foster a teachable, humble attitude?

Financial

• Am I living within my income?
• Do I have an ongoing savings or investment plan?
• Will I have the money I need to retire as I want to?
• Am I using credit wisely?

Company career

• Do I have a plan for career advancement?
• Do I understand my next career step and how to get there?
• Have I communicated my expectations to my boss?
• Will my current career path get me where I want to go?

Company/strategic

• Do I have specific production/sales goals?
• Do my projects get finished on time and within budget?
• How can I be more effective on the job?
• Am I building my subordinates?

Community/political

• Am I aware of and helping to solve community problems?
• Do I actively support my political party?
• Am I engaged in good community causes?
• Are my neighbors known to me and I to them?

Educational/personal development

• Is my education and training well round-ed?
• Do I have a reading list of subjects to learn about?
• Have I been to the theater/art show / concert lately?
• Have I planned time for rest and recreation?

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From Time Management by Richard Winward.

Are you looking to create something new in your life? Anything at all? I know I am.

In the journey of self development, most of us are always focused on creating something new or improved in our lives. There are many different activities and exercises that could help us attain those goals. One of the simplest steps to take is making room for the new!

Making room means freeing up space for the new thing/person/event to come into your life. And the best part is that it is not limited to what you’re trying to create! Making room ANYwhere in your life will do the trick.

Here are some ideas to create room in your life today!

• Get rid of all old books, magazines, newspapers
• Figure on a good number of [shoes, books, purses, clothes, etc.] and commit to getting rid of an old item to bring in a new one.
• Clean out the garage, the attic, the basement.
• Go through every drawer in the house, one a day, and throw out or give away stuff you no longer use or need.
• Make room on your calendar by scheduling “Me” time. Use that time to finish up projects, take a bubble bath, or meditate.

These are just a few to get you started. I’m sure you’ll come up with tons more!

The following success formula is the 4-step process from Anthony Robbin’s book, Unlimited Power, along with my clarification of each step. This is one of those ‘simple but not necessarily easy’ strategies. Also, I believe there is a step in between Tony’s 1 and 2, so I’ve added it!

1. Know your outcome.
   You can’t get to your destination if you have no clue where it is. The vital first step is deciding what you want, what your goals actually are. It’s much easier to work towards something when you hold a vision of it in your head.

2. Define the steps necessary to get the desired outcome.
   Once you know what you are going for, figure out what steps you need to take to get there. There is delicate balance you want to maintain in creating these steps. You don’t want them too large so that they are so vague you can’t really work them. You also don’t want them so detailed that you feel overwhelmed before you even start. What you do want is actionable steps that you can take. You may break them down into smaller steps once you are at that level. Also, remember that your plan is a fluid one!

3. Get yourself to take action.
   Once you know what you are going after, and you have defined a tentative action plan to achieve that goal, the next — and most important — step is to start taking action towards your goal. Use your action plan as your road map, taking positive action in the direction you want to go. Taking action is critical to your ultimate success.

4. Notice the Results You Are Getting.
   As you work through your action plan, pay attention to what’s going on. Does the completion of a step feel like it is taking you closer or further away from your goal? Are you getting nudged by the Universe to go in a different direction? Sometimes, we plan our ‘to do’ list and conscientiously tick off each item as it gets accomplished without stepping back and seeing the bigger picture. Are we getting the results we expected? Paying attention to the results of our actions is critical.

5. Change Your Approach If You Aren’t Getting the Results You Want.
   If what you are doing is not working, then STOP doing it! If you continue to do that action because “it’s on my list”, that’s certainly a choice you get to make. However, be very clear that continuing to do something and expecting a different result is the definition of ‘craziness’. While you want to give it a good shot, know when it’s time to go back to the drawing board. By the way, going back to the drawing board is NOT quitting, nor is it failure. You are just updating your plan with the new information you have gained through research and experience.

The very first step in manifesting our heart’s desires is for us to figure out what the heck that means. It is not enough to say ‘love’, ‘better job’, or ‘new house’. We have to get down to the nitty gritty of what having that object will look and feel like on a day-to-day basis.

Because we can’t proceed without knowing the details of the ‘what’, the first step is always to brainstorm a list for yourself of all the requirements of your ‘ideal’ desire: your ideal mate, your ideal job or career, your ideal new house.

The directions for this brainstorming are simple: bluesky it, writing down every last concrete thing you want this item to look like as well as every last feeling you want it to invoke in you.

As you do this, remember it is only stage one and subsequent stages will let you identify your non-negotiables and truly link emotions to this desire. However, perhaps most importantly, it is critical to understand the difference between ‘ideal’ and ‘perfect’. Ideal is ‘almost perfect’. In fact, to my way of thinking it is ‘better than’ perfect.

For most of us, perfect equates to ‘final’, the last love, job, house we will ever have. If we can’t check off every single point on our list, it will never ‘be’ perfect and will, in all likelihood, never make us happy.

The concept of ideal, however, doesn’t bring that note of finality to it. We accept that it is a work in process and there is an element of ‘for now’ to it. For a long time, I had a fear of ‘forever’ and therefore found it difficult to allow love or much happiness in, out of concern that I might change my mind about what I wanted. When I realized that “Forever is for as long as it feels right”, I was able to relax and allow the joy in.

In addition to the sense of ‘right now’, we also recognize that we probably won’t get every last thing on the list. In fact, that is why we identify the non-negotiables on our list, those items that, no matter what, we will not compromise on. For example, you may have both ‘friendly environment’ and ‘within 20 minutes of home’ on your ideal job list. Because you’ve done the exercise already, you know that you MUST have a friendly environment, but in fact you could handle a longer commute.

Remember the Pareto principle: roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. That means that 80% of the happy feelings you are looking for will come from 20% of the items on your ‘ideal’ list. In fact, when determining your non-negotiables, you goal is to define the 10-20% on your list that in fact ARE non-negotiable. No matter the original number of items on your list, you get to pick up to 20% as items you will not compromise on.

The clarity you gain through this exercise will propel you forward in the journey of manifesting your dreams and becoming your best self!

I don’t even know what I was thinking about when it occurred to me that a car is a perfect analogy for life and for living life in wholeness.

There is a small rear-view mirror, which is the perfect size for viewing our past. Just enough to remember what we’ve learned from it, small enough that it doesn’t overwhelm our senses.

There is a large front window that helps us keep our eyes on what’s ahead, our future. There’s plenty of information there to help us plan for what’s coming up.

Then there is the driver — you — alert and conscious of what’s going on around you, a marvelous example of living in the present. By constantly responding to the various inputs and clues around us, we keep ourselves on target to reach our goal safely.

As you view your life as a car, pay attention to where you are not in sync with that vision. Do you keep your eyes glued to the rear view window, spending a lot of your time trying to recoup the past? Do you daydream and sometimes wonder ‘wow.. how did i get here?’, with no memory of the trip. Are you so glued to what’s down the road that you miss the truck coming from the right?

Take some time to think about this and let me know what you’ve figured out!

Last season, at the end of Dancing with the Stars, 3 individuals from different arenas of life were interviewed regarding what it would take for the final couple to succeed. One of these was a Marine. I apologize for not getting his name, but I did capture his “3 Steps to Success” because they really resonated with me.

1. Self-Reliance: To me this means you depend on yourself. The seeds for success are within YOU. All you have to do is dig deep and pull them out!
2. Self-Direction: To me, this means you must know what your goals are and be focused on achieving them. When a big goal is near achievement, you must put everything else on the back burner. Visualize the results you want and stay on track.
3. Self-Discipline: To me, this means that you get up and do it, even when you don’t want to. It talks about the critical middle piece: management. Consistency and persistence wins the day, so everyday should bring you closer to your goal.

Develop goals, game plans, and ideal qualities of everything you want to create in your life. Use visualization and other techniques to cement the picture firmly in your mind. We recently bought a poster that says “Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction”. Having a detailed plan gives that sense of purpose and direction. When you know where you want to go, it’s easy to make better decisions in the moment. Having a plan also helps us create a better plan. It’s important to remember that plans are living, breathing elements. They are NOT written in stone. By using all the information you get on a daily basis, you are able to tweak and refine your plans as you go.