I’m not really into resolutions – I’m into goals. Resolutions are typically made around this time of year and are often long forgotten by Valentine’s Day. Goals (when set correctly) are measurable, require particular actions and have milestones for checking your progress. So that’s why I’ve set a big goal for this coming year to improve something that will positively affect the other areas in my life: my health.  Read more... (627 words, 20 images, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

A number of speakers, books and other motivational programs talk about a famous study done with Yale’s class of 1953. The study states that only 3% of the graduating class had written goals. When the class was surveyed again 20 years later, they found out that the 3% who had written goals had a combined wealth that was greater than the combined wealth of the 97% that didn’t have written goals! What an interesting story. And it’s no wonder that so many self-help & personal development gurus and motivational speaker share this story. Too bad the study never happened.  Read more... (588 words, 20 images, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

If you’ve ever had a bad habit or some type of behavior you’ve wanted to change, you know that it’s not easy. But what I’ve found from both personal experience and from talking to others is that making the change isn’t the hardest part – it’s convincing the people around you that you’re trying to change and blocking out their negative feedback.  Read more... (374 words, 20 images, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

You’ve probably heard the phrase “there’s more to life than money” hundreds of times, but that’s because there’s some truth to it. The same holds true with success – success isn’t all about money. Through the years I’ve had the pleasure of knowing several people who I considered to be successful on a professional basis. One of the things that many of them taught me was that success isn’t about money. But before I get to them, let me share a story that you may have already heard.  Read more... (1018 words, 20 images, estimated 4:04 mins reading time)

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the movie “Cannonball Run 2″ because it was the first time I fell in love. The movie opens with a white Lamborghini Countach having some fun with the police on a desert road. Yes, I fell in love with the car (especially after the car pulled a costume change and turned red) although the passenger in it – Catherine Bach, “Daisy Duke” from the Dukes of Hazzard – certainly caught my attention as well. From that day on, my goal in life was to own a red Lamborghini Countach.  Read more... (846 words, 20 images, estimated 3:23 mins reading time)

There’s a short story I read in the first grade called “William’s Wish” that has somehow stuck in my head throughout the years. The story is about young boy who has a wish (a rather simple one) and tries all the various methods of getting his wish to come true. Since I only read this story once (and that was in 1981), I don’t remember the exact details of the story, but he did things such as wish on a star and followed a few other superstitions until his wish finally came true. Now the reason this story stuck in my head is that had he just told his parents his wish, it would have come true a lot sooner.  Read more... (919 words, 19 images, estimated 3:41 mins reading time)

In Part 1 of this series, we took a high-level look at Extreme Goals. We looked at how to decide if our situation and our goals are appropriate for this aggressive approach to goal setting. We made the comparison to walking a tightrope without a safety net and how that net can sometimes hinder our efforts to do our best. In this article, we’ll look a bit deeper into that.

What’s Your Safety Net?  Read more... (894 words, 20 images, estimated 3:35 mins reading time)