Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them
Why is it that 95% of people who set themselves goals fail to reach them? In one word: impatience.
The most important and difficult stage of goal-building is the immediate stage after you set your goals. In the first stage, there's a brief blip of euphoria. But this soon passes and then you hit the arid plateau of learning. It's in this phase that most people lose their way and give up.
But this is the phase when you have to hang in there despite appearances. Otherwise, it's like digging up the seeds a week after sowing them.
So, here, for those who need a roadmap through the arid plains of goal-building, is a 6-step guide to managing your impatience and keeping your plans on track.
1. Have Plenty of Motivation Reminders. One of the cruel tricks that life plays on us is to make goal-setting easy and goal-building hard. This is no more true than in the opening phases of working towards a new goal. When we choose a new goal that seems within our reach, we are full of excitement and anticipation. It's like the start of a marathon when everyone cheers us over the start line.
But the cheers soon become a distant memory when we move into the second phase, the hard slog. It's in this phase that we need to have a ready supply of motivation reminders to keep us going. Here's one I often use. It's from Ray Kroc, founder of the global restaurant chain McDonald's. Kroc was an amazing entrepreneur.
He says that it is in the early stages of working towards a new goal that you learn the most: "When you're green, you grow. When you're ripe, you rot."
2. Be A Fly, Not A Bee. The chief problem with the early stages of goal-building is that you can never be sure of the right way forward, particularly if you are breaking new ground. You try something and it doesn't work. You try again and it doesn't work again.
And again. And again. That's tough. But it's essential. Because you're learning.
Karl Weick says that in this situation it is much better to be a fly than a bee. When you place a fly and a bee in an upturned jam jar, the bee will head straight for the light and repeatedly buzz against the bottom of the glass. The fly on the other hand will dive frantically around the jar exploring every corner until he finds a way out. That's the example to follow when you want to succeed: be a fly, not a bee.
3. Accept The Struggle. Those who are eager to succeed often treat the second phase of goal-building as an unnecessary waste of time.
They would prefer to skip it and jump to the next phase of success. But this is to misunderstand the whole point of the second phase. It's there to toughen you up. You may have heard the story of "The Man and the Butterfly" about the man who saw a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. To help it out, the man cut a bigger hole in the cocoon and pulled the butterfly through.
However, instead of flying away, the butterfly was unable to fly. Its body was too swollen. What the man did not understand was that the butterfly's struggle to emerge through the hole forces fluid from its body to its wings and thus makes them strong and ready to carry its weight. Like the butterfly, we need to struggle to succeed.
4. Be Objective. In stage two of goal-building, it's valuable to stand back and distance ourselves from what's going on.
We need to be tripeds not bipeds. Bipeds are people who see only themselves and others. Risk-taking is a do-or-die undertaking. Progress is either a triumph or disaster. Life is black and white, winning or losing.
Tripeds, on the other hand, can distance themselves from their situation by finding a third position where they can observe things with objectivity. Life isn't either-or any more. It has depth, colour, and many angles.
5. Don't Judge Yourself. Our win-lose culture puts great pressure on us to consider ourselves at any moment in life as either winners or losers. This means that failure is a bad thing and winning is everything.
One of the most quoted expressions in our modern culture is: "Failure is not an option". But this is to misunderstand the real nature of success. We need to fail in order to succeed. And we need to fail big-time in order to succeed big-time. Practically every successful entrepreneur, from Thomas Edison to Walt Disney, experienced failure many times over.
But they didn't judge themselves. They interpreted failure as "not succeeding yet" and saw it as just one more step on the road to success.
6. Manage Your Morale. Of course, it's not always much fun to be stuck in the hard slog phase of goal-building. Nobody's cheering any more. You have nothing to show for your efforts.
And the dream still feels as far away as ever. That's when you have to manage your morale. That means managing your stress, keeping things light, and working on the things you can't see: your thinking patterns, your emotions, and your spirit. And, like the fluid in the butterfly, these may just be the things that will make you fly. "I can say: "I am terribly frightened and fear is terrible and it makes me uncomfortable, so I won't do it." Or I could say: "Get used to being uncomfortable." It is uncomfortable doing something risky.
But so what? Do you want to stagnate and just be comfortable?" (Barbra Streisand)
We human beings are very similar to the plant world. We grow best when we work with Nature and time. Don't be in too much of a hurry to achieve your goals. If you hold on with faith, certainty, and determination, you'll get there in due course when the time is right.
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Exposing a Crime.U.S. Auto Industries Deception of America
Going back to the 1920's, the U.S. automakers began to break away from Henry Ford's philosophy of sticking with the same model, in the same color, at the same price. Instead, manufactures like General Motors changed models every year, to give the impression that there was something unique that the American Consumer needed to buy. But changing models constantly required large investments of capital for design and retooling. Detroit was planting the seeds of its own destruction if it didn't keep up with trends amongst the buying public.
A high demand for cheap attractive models would lead to one of the biggest muckraker stories in the mid 60's.
In 1965 Ralph Nader published "Unsafe at Any Speed: The designed-In-Dangers of the American Automobile." He exposed how General Motors and the American auto industry were placing consumers' lives at risk by failing to design safe cars. Nader especially singled out the General motors' Corvair which he labeled...
Seeds > Exposing a Crime.U.S. Auto Industries Deception of America
What Does the World Owe You?
Copyright 2005 Sometimes many of us feel like we've made deposits into society, yet we are unable to make withdrawals. Whenever I have felt that way in the past, I read essays like Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Compensation, which I made into a free downloadable copy and distributed last week in the special success issue of my ezine.The other day a good friend of mine told me that I deserve to be more successful because I help so many other people, and so often without seeing a direct reciprocation. Just this morning, it was implied in another conversation that the internet community "owes" me something, in return for all the free site promotion and marketing information I give away.But the truth is, I don't wonder about what the world owes me any longer. That's because I know better, through a long road of mental, physical, emotional and financial struggle, I've come to understand that the world really doesn't owe me anything.I've already been paid, and so have you.We get our gifts at...
What Does the World Owe You?
Seeds > What Does the World Owe You?
Parmesan Crusted Sole with Lemon Beurre Blanc
Sole/flounder is a refreshing sweet and mild flavored fish which allows it to be used in a variety of ways.
With its long thin flesh, sole is often stuffed or used in other extravagant plate presentations. Because this fish is very thin it's a great choice to pan fry for a quick meal. Parmesan crusted sole is the best of both worlds, it's eloquent and fast. You can make it look even better with some fresh chives, tarragon or basil.
Even if you don't like fish, you'll love this recipe.Serves 4
- 4 ea. Sole fillet (6-8 oz) ? if the fillets are small use 2 per serving
- 1 ? cups Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
- ? cup Grated parmesan cheese
- 4 Tbsp. Parsley - minced
- ? tsp. Granulated garlic
- ? tsp. Kosher salt
- ? tsp. Pepper
- ? cup Flour ? all purpose
- 3 ea. Eggs
- 1 cup Milk
- 4 Tbsp. Butter
- 4 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1 cup Lemon beurre blanc
Seeds > Parmesan Crusted Sole with Lemon Beurre Blanc
Amazing Health Results from an Otherwise Unknown Fruit (Mangosteen)
(ContentDesk) September 2, 2005 -- The Fruit Juice known as XanGo has brought to the market place a phenomenal health benefit. The humble fruit which is the basis of the product is called Mangosteen.The Mangosteen, known as the Queen of Fruits, can be grown in any location offering a tropical climate but is native to Southeast Asia.The fruit is grown on mature trees, which is harvested with great care.The Mangosteen abounds in Xanthones, Natures own little Healers, which the magic of this humble fruit laid. In the process, the whole fruit is used including the seeds and xanthone rich pericarp (rind/skin) a rich source of antioxidants know to be five times stronger than vitamins C and E. Xanthones natural chemical properties are winning high acclaim with scientists around the world and research is going on throughout the world on the healing capabilities of this humble fruit. Xanthones are antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-hepatoxic (prevent Liver disease)....
Amazing Health Results from an Otherwise Unknown Fruit (Mangosteen)
Seeds > Amazing Health Results from an Otherwise Unknown Fruit (Mangosteen)