Children are truly amazing people – they have an unbelievable outlook on life and the world. Many of the things that stress us out as adults were things that we looked forward to as children. Life was simple: no bills, no job, no appointments, no real responsibility. I remember one particular summer where my agenda was to discover the hidden treasures in the woods behind the new house my family moved into – I woke up at the crack of dawn to get started and I’d be up half the night scheming and planning out the following day. I don’t understand why as adults, we forget that excitement we once had as children and as children, we can’t wait to become adults. As young adults, we’re chided to not act childish yet sometimes as adults, acting childish is the medicine that we need to cheer ourselves up during tough times.

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.

I’m not a fan of the educational system that I was brought up with because I feel like I didn’t receive the maximum benefit from it. What I mean by that is that the two things I dreaded most throughout my school years (including college), reading and studying, are now two of my favorite activities.

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….

How long can you go with saying something negative? How long can you resist having a negative thought? Negativity, whether through words or thoughts, have a poison-like effect on our success. It negatively influences the way others see us and, more importantly, the way we see ourselves. Chronic negative thinking can set us up for failure and in its worst form, lead to feelings of hopelessness. Negative words can be contagious and can affect the moral of groups, lead to negativity in the workplace and can potentially kill relationships. So how can one escape this silent killer?