Take a listen and look. You’ll want to join other success-oriented and like-minded women who have decided to take themselves and their business to the next success level. http://www.goingforsuccess.com

Be sure to turn up your speakers!

There’s a special that is time sensitive so you’ll want to act quickly:

“I’m serious about success” offer:

2. Register with either the payment plan or full payment before Saturday, June 1 at midnight and I’ll add one extra one-on-one coaching session with me per month during your VIP MasterMind program – that’s two personalized coaching session per month for six months. Those coaching sessions will be an empowering boost to keeping you focused on moneymaking activities.

I invite you to apply for my next VIP MasterMind Group beginning in mid-June, 2010. Here’s the link to read more and to apply: http://goingforsuccess.com

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Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

If you’re ready to recognize what may be holding you back and to seriously build on your strengths and talents, you’re ready to coach with Sharon Michaels. “I believe you have the answers to your success inside of you right now, it is my job to ask the right questions. I ask great questions!” Here are details about Sharon’s coaching programs: http://www.sharonismymentor.com

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Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

If you’re ready to recognize what may be holding you back and to seriously build on your strengths and talents, you’re ready to coach with Sharon Michaels. “I believe you have the answers to your success inside of you right now, it is my job to ask the right questions. I ask great questions!” Here are details about Sharon’s coaching programs: http://www.sharonismymentor.com

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• Your “WHY” is the reason you’ve set a goal and are willing to spend time, effort and even money to achieve it. 
• Your “WHY” is the motivation that keeps you going toward success, even if / when the going gets tough. 
• Your “WHY” is the powerful and emotionally charged desire and motivation that wants to make your goal a reality! 

Coaching clients ask if there is a way to predict whether their “WHY” is big and strong enough to ensure that they will achieve their goal. I’ve come up with a checklist you can use to see if your “WHY” is powerful enough to take you all the way to making a goal reality.

1. Can you vividly picture your goal in your mind’s eye?

If you can see, feel, hear, smell and taste your goal, you’ll have a better chance of achieving your goal. As soon as a goal has a prominent place in your conscious mind and you’ve given it real-world attributes, the chances become better for making it reality. 

Your mind will work very hard to make your most dominant thoughts reality – the more vivid and real the thoughts, the harder your mind works.   

2. What is it about your goal that motivates you to succeed and will keep you going if the going gets tough?

In order for your goal to become unstoppable, it must be powerfully motivating to your unconscious and conscious mind. Your “WHY” is the motivation that insulates your goal from negative situations, dream stealers and naysayers.

Can you fill up a page of why and how achieving your goal will improve your life for the better? How will this goal improve your life emotionally, spiritually, personally, professionally and financially? The more powerful the motivation, the less likely you’ll give up on achieving this goal. 

3. What about this goal is so important to you?

In question #2 you answered what motivates to you to achieve this goal, now write one sentence based on answer #2 to explain why this goal is important to you. 

You’re writing one powerful sentence. This sentence will become an affirmation for achieving this goal.  I am achieving __________________ because _____________________.

4. List all the ways you, your family, friends and /or community will benefit when you achieve this goal?

Let’s add more motivation to your “WHY.” How will others benefit once you’ve achieved your goal. You are now explaining to yourself how your goal will not only improve your life but the lives of others as well. 

Expanding the scope of your goal gives it even more emotional power and purpose. 

5. Are there any negatives you may encounter? How will you overcome them?

You’ve heard the old saying, forewarned is forearmed – that’s what you’re doing when you anticipate negativity before it strikes. Realistically there will be periods of negativity and the good news is, you don’t have to buy into it! 

6. How will achieving this goal change your life for the positive?

This is different from the question #3. In one simple sentence, how will making this goal a reality change your life for the better? You’ll want to carry the answer to this question in your wallet and look at it when your self-confidence or determination becomes a little unsteady.

7. Are you willing to spend days, months or even years working toward achieving this goal?

Are you willing to make an emotional, physical, spiritual and may be even a financial commitment to making this goal reality? A “yes” means your why is strong. A “no” means this may not be the right goal at the right time for you. 

What do you think, is your “WHY” big enough to become reality?

Copyright © 2010 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

For over twenty years Sharon Michaels has been writing, speaking and empowering women to achieve greater personal and professional success. Sharon mentors/coaches women entrepreneurs about learning to recognize the things they’re doing that may be keeping them from the things they want.

Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

If you’re ready to recognize what may be holding you back and to seriously build on your strengths and talents, you’re ready to coach with Sharon Michaels. “I believe you have the answers to your success inside of you right now, it is my job to ask the right questions. I ask great questions!” Here are details about Sharon’s coaching programs: http://www.sharonismymentor.com

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This story has been around for a few years but I wanted to share:

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come
to see the daffodils before they are over.”  I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead “I will come next Tuesday”, I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”

My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time, Mother.”  ”Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home!” I assured her.

“But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”  

“Carolyn,” I said sternly, “please turn around.” “It’s all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden.”  We got out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

“Who did this?” I asked Carolyn.  ”Just one woman,” Carolyn answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.” Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”, was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the
greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time–often just one baby-step at time–and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world …

“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!”

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.

She was right. It’s so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, “How can I put this to use today?”

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting…..

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die…

Don’t be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin.

Article originally published by Sharon Michaels © 2009 on BellaOnline.com

Copyright © 2010 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

For over twenty years Sharon Michaels has been writing, speaking and empowering women to achieve greater personal and professional success. Sharon mentors/coaches women entrepreneurs about learning to recognize the things they’re doing that may be keeping them from the things they want.

Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

If you’re ready to recognize what may be holding you back and to seriously build on your strengths and talents, you’re ready to coach with Sharon Michaels. “I believe you have the answers to your success inside of you right now, it is my job to ask the right questions. I ask great questions!” Here are details about Sharon’s coaching programs: http://www.sharonismymentor.com

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With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in mind, I read stories of athletes who have trained for years to eagerly participate in a few days of competition. I marvel at the Olympian’s single-minded commitment and concentration. What does it take to turn a goal into gold? Can I, an everyday person, have that same dedication and focus for my own goals?

Studying the biographies of gold medal athletes I began seeing a pattern emerge – a pattern of focus, belief, choices and action. The same pattern that we can use in our own lives to turn goals into gold.

Ask any world-class athlete and they will tell you that as important as the physical game, some say may be even more important, is the mental game. What exactly is the “mental game” and why is it important to achieving goals?

In my opinion, the mental game of turning goals into reality is our ability to focus and remain focused on what is important to setting and achieving goals. It is also the ability of our mind to act and react positively under pressure. As I read about gold medal athletes, four key elements of their “mental game” became clear:

1. Focus – the ability to concentrate on the end result. A gold medal athlete never loses sight of what they were aiming toward – winning the gold medal.

2. Belief – top athletes believe they are the best in their chosen sport. They train not only physically to win but mentally as well. They train to emotionally hold tight to the belief that they can and will take home the gold.

3. Action – gold medal winners train constantly and consistently to be the best in their sport. Natural talent is important but for gold medal athletes, it is the combination of physical and mental preparedness that can make the difference between hope for gold and holding a gold medal. World-class athletes are dedicated to doing what it takes to turn natural talent into gold.

4. Choices – winners know that the quality of their choices make the difference between wearing the gold medal and going home empty handed. It’s the same for us; the quality of our day-to-day choices can make the difference between dreaming about our goals and actually achieving them.

How does your goal achieving “mental game” stack up against the dedication and focus of our gold medal Olympians? Are you willing to mentally, and physically, focus on turning your goals into gold?

Copyright © 2010 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

For over twenty years Sharon Michaels has been writing, speaking and empowering women to achieve greater personal and professional success. Sharon mentors/coaches women entrepreneurs about learning to recognize the things they’re doing that may be keeping them from the things they want.

Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

If you’re ready to recognize what may be holding you back and to seriously build on your strengths and talents, you’re ready to coach with Sharon Michaels. “I believe you have the answers to your success inside of you right now, it is my job to ask the right questions. I ask great questions!” Here are details about Sharon’s coaching programs: http://www.sharonismymentor.com

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In fact, goals scare me. I feel if I don’t achieve my goals, I’m a loser. Some people see goals as motivating but I see them as stress producing. Any suggestions? 

In my coaching/mentoring I hear this quite a bit – goals create stress and pressure instead of motivation and excitement for the future. 

Stress is often created by placing unrealistic expectations on yourself. It’s not the goals creating the stress, it’s the emotional expectations you’ve created about achieving goals. 

Here are a few suggestions: 

1. Set a short-term goal that has significant meaning to you. Choose a goal that can be completed within the next six-months. Choose something that is realistic within this timeframe. Example: Change eating habits to make sure you have a healthy breakfast before leaving the house or, clean out and organize the hall closet or, attend at least three new networking events to promote business —- see what I mean. 

2. Take out your calendar and schedule a date to begin working on your goal. Let’s take the closet as an example: Schedule every other Saturday morning for two to three months for cleaning out “junk” and then several Saturday’s after that for organizing and arranging the closet. The key – break your goal into bite-sized realistic and doable pieces. 

3. Make an emotional and physical commitment to completing your goal! Goals are not achieved if you’re not committed 100% to making them reality. Your goal has to be important enough that you’re willing to commit time, energy and money to making it reality. On a scale of 1 – 10, ask yourself how important is this goal? Why is it important? How will achieving this goal change life for the better? 

4. Who can support you and hold you accountable? I’m not talking about someone who will guilt or shame you into achieving goals – I’m talking about someone who will support you in achieving goals. Accountability is often an important element to goal achievement. Who will support you with encouragement and want to hear your updates? 

5. How will you celebrate when your goal is complete? The human mind loves rewards! When the unconscious mind believes success is fun, it wants to achieve more successes. As part of setting a goal it is important to visualize how you’ll celebrate its completion. How will the clean closet look each time you open the door? How will you feel when you can find things easily and effortlessly? The key is to paint a vivid picture of success in your mind’s eye of how life will be “better” when your goal is reality.

Start small and work up to long-term goals. Give yourself one goal achieving victory at a time. Eliminate the stress and make room for success!

Copyright © 2009 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

For over twenty years Sharon Michaels has been writing, speaking and empowering women to achieve greater personal and professional success. Sharon mentors/coaches women on learning to recognize the things they’re doing that may be keeping them from the things they want. Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

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When you make a commitment to setting and achieving goals, you’re proactively harnessing the POWER of your mind. Whatever you hold as reality in your mind has the potential of becoming reality in your life. Goal setting can harness the unconscious and conscious power of your mind and turn it into an unstoppable goal achieving machine.

Being proactive about your future is a wise decision. A successful and proactive goal achiever doesn’t make excuses for the challenges and disappointments of life. Why? Because being proactive gives you the incentive to make POWERFUL choices using all of your life experiences – the good ones and the not so good ones. These experiences come together to help you set wiser goals and then, to achieve them from a place of self-empowerment and inner motivation. 

What will you do this week to be a pro-active goal achiever?

Copyright © 2009 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

For over twenty years Sharon Michaels has been writing, speaking and empowering women to achieve greater personal and professional success. Sharon mentors/coaches women on learning to recognize the things they’re doing that may be keeping them from the things they want. Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

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If you want to reach a goal, you must ’see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.   Zig Ziglar

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.  Stephan A. Brennan

Where there is life, there is hope. Where there are hopes, there are dreams. Where there are vivid dreams repeated, they become goals. Goals become the action plans and game plans that winners dwell on in intricate detail, knowing that achievement is almost automatic when the goal becomes an inner commitment. The response to the challenges of life — purpose — is the healing balm that enables each of us to face up to adversity and strife. Denis Waitley

The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.  Og Mandino

If I’ve got correct goals, and if I keep pursuing them the best way I know how, everything else falls into line. If I do the right thing right, I’m going to succeed.   Dan Dierdorf

Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life.  Les Brown

No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals.   Brian Tracy

Review your goals twice every day in order to be focused on achieving them.  Les Brown

The person with a fixed goal, a clear picture of his desire, or an ideal always before him, causes it, through repetition, to be buried deeply in his subconscious mind and is thus enabled, thanks to its generative and sustaining power, to realize his goal in a minimum of time and with a minimum of physical effort. Just pursue the thought unceasingly. Step by step you will achieve realization, for all your faculties and powers become directed to that end.  Claude M. Bristol

A goal is only a dream, hope or wish until you write down what you want, why you want it and how you plan on achieving it.   Sharon Michaels

You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.  Charles C. Noble

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.  Napoleon Hill

There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love… there’s only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.   Wayne Dyer

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, learn about them, or even seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.   Denis Waitley

What are some of your favorite quotations about setting and achieving goals?

Please share them in the comments box or write an article and submit it as a guest author. See the “guest author guidelines” at the top of this page.

For over twenty years Sharon Michaels has been writing, speaking and empowering women to achieve greater personal and professional success. Sharon mentors women on learning to recognize the things they’re doing that may be keeping them from the things they want. Sign up for Sharon’s free weekly Ezine Unlimited Success For Women and have professional success strategies and personal development how-to’s sent directly to your email inbox.

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