Today is one of my favorite holidays here in the United States – a day we celebrate our independence. Rwanda and the Philippines also celebrate their independence today and a number of nations have similar holidays throughout July.

Although most people in the US will spend today at barbeques and possibly check out parades and fireworks, it’s a great time to take a look at your life and think about freedom. Do you appreciate the freedom that you do have? Do you lack some of the freedom you desire? In addition to tyrannical governments, there are other things out there that can eat away at our freedom. A bad employer or boss from hell can certainly make you feel like a prisoner. As can an unhealthy relationship whether it be a spouse, significant other or family member. Even certain friendships can rob you of freedom.

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and do things differently? Sure, most of us do. I recently came across a cereal box that had list on the back of “18 things to do before you turn 18.” This list got me thinking for two reasons. First, most of the suggestions (bungee jumping, create a new word, go backstage at concert) were useless in terms of helping people get the most out of life at that age. Second, I thought about what I would tell myself if I could go back in time.

I don’t normally watch a lot of TV so I ignored all the hullabaloo surrounding Susan Boyle for several days. I noticed clips of her and Simon Cowell on CNN & Foxnews and figured she was just this year’s William Hung. Then I saw her video on Youtube.

If you haven’t seen her video yet, I highly recommend that you stop reading and watch it first – simply click the play button above. I had no idea what to expect when I watched it for the first time, and I think that’s one of the reasons it inspires me so much.

We all feel down from time to time. Sometimes, it has to do with things that seemingly shouldn’t have any effect on us such negative stories in the news or even the weather (Seasonal Depression affects a lot of folks). Other times, it’s a bit deeper: someone says something to us, we feel overwhelmed with everything going on in our lives or we’re not feeling well physically, which often affects us psychologically.

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?

I had lunch with a friend on Friday and the topic of goal setting came up. He asked me what I would do if I didn’t reach a particular personal goal that I have. I told him that my plan was to reach it – failure was not an option in this case. I essentially don’t have a Plan B for this one because it’s so important for me to reach it.

The August Edition of the Fast Results E-Zine was about opportunities and the importance of not missing them. Let’s face it, missing an opportunity is one of the biggest mistakes we can make. Often, it’s taking advantage of opportunities that help us succeed. Missing an opportunity can do everything from frustrating us to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: I only had a camera with me, if I only had something to write down that idea I had, if I had just asked her out before the other guy did, if I had just introduced myself to the prospective client before my competitor did, if I had just sent my resume out a day earlier….