Taking your first step

I'm back from Melbourne. I had a lovely time and I hope you all had a great Christmas. While I was down at Bells Beach, something hit me. I mean, I suddenly thought of something which I could write in this blog. When you want to catch a wave on your surfboard, you have to be travelling at the same speed as the wave, before you catch it. No matter how long you wait, if you just sit there, you won't catch a wave. What's the lesson in this, I hear you ask? Well it's all about 'tuning in' to your desires. Don't expect anything good to happen if you just sit there. You, and only you, must take the first step.

Like catching a wave, you have to be at the same 'speed' as your desires. In other words, you have to make sure your first step brings you closer to your desires, even if its just an inch closer. Once you overcome your inertia, you'll find that the wave will catch you and everything else will be plain sailing (or surfing). It may take a few days to a few years to overcome your inertia. During this time, you'll get tired and want to give up. Remember you might catch the wave with one more paddle and, if you don't, there is always another wave.

Taking your first step is easy. That is if you know what you want. You must have a goal or at least a dream. In fact, making up some goals can be your first step. Writing them down can can be your second. This is just an example but you can see that taking your initial steps is really not that hard. Very soon you'll be more attached to your goal. You'll have enough motivation to keep on going. You'll start making more challenging steps. Soon enough the wave will catch you.

It all starts with the first step. Think about what you could do right now. It can be anything, nothing is too simple to bother doing. Actually start with something simple, then build your way up. Here are some examples of what a first step might be:

• write down your goals
• make up some goals (here's a link to my previous post on goalsetting)
• visualise your goals in bed (here's a link to my previous post on visualisation)
• ring up people who may be instrumental to your goal
• find more information about your goals
• read success stories (especially of people who have already accomplished your goal or something similar)
• write a list of simple steps which will bring you closer towards your goal, not necessarily to your goal because that will come when you catch the wave

These are just some of the things you could do as your first step. Not hard at all. So do something NOW.

There is no better time

There is no better time to write down goals than now. Do not wait until tomorrow because tomorrow will never come. The year is also coming to an end, so it is a perfect time to make new year resolutions. If you haven't already written your goals down and you haven't by the end of the year, I'm afraid you might never write them down.

A few points to remember when writing down goals:

• Make them detailed. Instead of 'I will become rich', say 'I will have 3 million dollars in net assets by 2007, and own a mansion on the coast.'
• Ask yourself: ' When will I know that I have reached my goal? What will I feel, see or hear? What would be sufficient evidence that I have reached my goal?' These questions are like keeping score. Otherwise you may never know when you have reached your goal.
• Make sure your goal is compatible with your dream. Your dream is the final station in life. It is the ultimate goal, in a sense.
• Don't be scared to reach for the stars. Mediocre goals call for mediocre effort. Goals are meant to stretch your limits and it is impossible to know your potential limits until you have tested them. There is a lovely saying: Reach for the moon, if you miss you'll fall amongst the stars.
  

Ok there you have it. Goals on a silver platter and now its up to you to take action. I'll be in Melbourne over Christmas so I won't post for a week.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Writing Goals Down

Only 2% of the population write their goals down. Writing goals down is so powerful, it's amazing. People who write their goals down, stuff it in their drawer, and forget about it for 6 months, later find that 60% of their written goals are accomplished. Imagine what power they can unleash if they concentrated on accomplishing their goals.

So that's the tip of the day. 20mins spent writing your goals down can change your life for good. How much better can that get? Only 20mins.

Anyway, whilst I was perusing through blogs, I found a particularly good blog on success and motivation called 'Upgrade Your Mind'. You should check it out.

Endurance leads to Success: Part 2

When the cicada heard of this story, he said to the dove, "When I want to climb the elm tree, I fly and try to reach for higher ground. Sometimes I miss and fall to ground, but I slowly and surely make progress. Why does Pung have to travel thousands of kilometres without making any visible progress? The dove agreed: Pung was a fool. And so did every other animal in the kingdom.

So there it is. The fable of Pung. I hope you get the moral of the story because it captures the essence of endurance. If you don't, read on. I've identified two pearls of wisdom in this story:

1. When a person wants to have a short sail around the bay in his sailboat, he'll have to pack enough food for a few hours. When a person wants to have an epic journey across the Pacific Ocean, he'll have to pack enough food for a few months. If you are aiming for a great accomplishment in life, you need extensive preparation. This doesn't just mean gathering enough resources, it also includes waiting for the opportune time for action.

2. When preparing for your epic journey in life, you will criticised. That's why you need to be true to your conviction and believe that, in the end, you will get what you set out for. And you will. Only then can you brush off the criticisms lightly and endure criticism because you know you are a Pung bird and the others, well, not Pung birds.

That's it for today.

(The thoughts on endurance were inspired by 'Thick Face Black Heart' by Chin-Ning Chu)

Endurance leads to Success

One of the greatest virtues of all successful people is the ability to endure. Many of you might have learnt this as perseverance but I rather use the word endurance. What's the difference? Well, perseverance means a constant struggle forwards against opposition, whereas endurance is, well, endurance. With endurance there is no need to struggle forwards. Sometimes it even means moving backwards, away from your goals. This doesn't mean you give up - you are just waiting for the optimum or most opportune time to take action.

There is a old fable by Chuang Tzu, who was a philosopher in ancient China about 2,200 years ago, which illustrates the magic of endurance. It begins of with a fish called Kun. Now, this fish isn't just an ordinary fish. It's thousands of metres long. Kun evolves into Pung, which is a huge bird, thousands of metres wide. Don't ask me why. To Pung, success means flying southwards over the great sea to the Celestial Pool. Pretty easy task, don't you think? Nup! First, Pung beats his wings furiously and rises to a height of ninety thousand kilometres. It takes him 6 months to do this. Only then can he begin his journey southwards towards the Celestial Pool with nothing in his way.

A boat cannot float if the water is too shallow. Empty a cup of water on the floor and you can get a straw to float on the water, but the cup will sink. Similarly, if there is not enough wind, it cannot support great wings. Only when the Pung is ninety thousand kilometres high, can the wind support him.

To be continued...

Thought for the Day: Thought

When you have found a worthwhile dream that you're passionate about (and this may take a few months to possible a year, if you've never actually given thought to your life), you may be wondering: how am I going to get there? You may search and search for the answer but never find it. Don't worry, this is natural. In fact, this is a good sign. Dreams are meant to seem difficult or even impossible. If they're not, then they're not dreams, they are only short term goals - stepping stones to your dream. So how are you going to get to this impossible dream? The answer is thought.

If you imagine your dream, visualise clearly, then you will find a way. By holding the image or picture in the mind, we slowly but surely bring the thing closer to us. We can be what we will to be. Hmmm maybe I lost about half of you in the last few sentences. Let me explain. If think of being rich, you will be rich. If you think of being poor, you will be poor. If you think of yourself being the best comedian in the world, you will be the best comedian in the world. What you think is what you will become. Food for thought, hey?

Now, I didn't make this mumbo jumbo up. This stuff is agreed upon by great thinkers of old and modern times like Napoleon Hill, Ralph Emerson, Robert Kiyosaki, and Bill Gates. It is rumoured that after Bill Gates read 'The Master Key System' by Charles F. Haanel he immediately abandoned his studies to build his wealth empire. 'The Master Key System' is where I got most of that stuff in the last paragraph. If you want you can buy it at a discount here.

Just before I finish off, I have to warn you. Thought can change your life for the better or the worse. If you think of negative thoughts, you will become a very 'negative' person. Your life will attract negative people and everything that happens in your life will be negative. In other words, you'll be cursed. I hate to say such scary and ill things, but its true.

So get in control of your life. Oh yes by the way, remember Martin Flood's recent million dollar win on 'Who wants to be a millionaire'? The key ingredient to his win is visualising his win (and of course hard work, read the news clip here). This just goes to show this 'thought theory' is not airy fairy talk. It is real and happening all around us.

Success and Money

If I told you to write down your major goal in life, what would you write? If you've never given a thought to what you want in life, I could guess quite confidently that your goal has something to do with having more money. This is quite sad. Don't get me wrong, many people out there really want to have more money because they think of it as their empire. Its just that many people don't actually think carefully about it. So materialistic is our world that many people are numbed to believing: if they have lots of money, they'll be happy.

I believe that each person is unique. I belive each person has a passion. If you don't find out this passion you'll never be happy. Money is only a vehicle. A necessary vehicle. So have a think, correction: a really good and careful think, about what it is you really want. And remember, small dreams are just as good as big dreams.