» Facts and Tips

Are You Setting Negative Goals?

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:13:08 +0000

Question: Why do I keep achieving negative goals? Is there such a thing as a negative goal?

Answer: Setting negative goals – that sounds counterproductive. Who would want to intentionally make something negative, hurtful or harmful a reality? But, that’s exactly what many of us do. A negative goal focuses energy on what we don’t want to achieve.

Answering your question – YES, you can set and achieve negative goals. If you find yourself focusing time, attention and energy on things you don’t want instead of concentrating on those things you really do want, you’re setting a negative goal.

I’m a big believer that you get what you ask for – positive or negative. I’m also a believer in the Law of Attraction – you attract to yourself your most dominant thoughts and consistent actions.

Here’s an example of a negative goal: I hope I don’t fall behind on the business plan I have to get finished before next Thursday’s meeting.

When you read this goal, is it positive or negative? Does it sound like an empowered road map to the future? Does it sound like something motivating and empowering? Does it sound like something you’d like to make reality?

Our example focuses on making something negative reality. Remember that you get what you ask for and if you keep asking for what you don’t want, that’s what you’ll be attracting into your life.

Let’s change the example into something more positive and empowering – “I am completing the business plan before next Thursday’s morning meeting with plenty of time to spare.”

Just reading the two statements you can you see, and even feel, the shift in energy. One is negative and one is encouraging and positive. How are you phrasing and wording your goals? Are they positive or negative? Do you focus on what you want or what you don’t want?

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.

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. This Ezine is aimed at women who want to successfully work for themselves.

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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Do To-Do Lists Really Work?

admin — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:39:22 +0000

Question: I make out my daily to-do lists but they don’t seem to be taking me any closer to achieving my goals. Do to-do lists really work?

Answer: Personally, I don’t know where I’d be without my to-do lists! My lists help me focus on those moneymaking and/or goal achieving tasks that should be accomplished during my workday.

Here are some ways I use to-do lists to stay focused on achieving my goals:

1. I write my to-do list for the next day before I leave my office in the evening. Why? When I sit down at my computer first thing in the morning, I already know what I want to accomplish. I’m laser-beamed focused on what I’m going to do during the upcoming day.

2. I number my to-do list according to priorities. The most important chore/task is number one. Sometimes, I’ll make my most difficult task number one just so I can complete it quickly and I won’t be dreading it all day long.

3. I don’t fill up my list with more than I can handle in one day. I’ve learned over the years that “stuff happens” and tasks and chores come up during the day that need to be handled. If my to-do list is too crowded, it becomes overwhelming and frustrating.

4. I give myself permission to change my mind. What was important yesterday, may not be as important today. Flexibility is key to staying focused and keeping the important things important.

5. I make sure I do at least one moneymaking/goal achieving activity each day. A moneymaking/goal achieving activity is any task or chore that will make me money or take me one step closer to my goal. I have a rule that I will not leave my office until I’ve completed my daily “moneymaking activities.”

6. I take frequent “mental health” breaks. I can only maintain my focus so long before I need to get up to stretch my legs and clear my mind. Sometimes, a quick ten or fifteen minute break can open up my mind to possibilities and solutions that I’d never even thought of before the break.

7. I also have a “big picture” calendar on my desk. My big picture calendar is a monthly calendar that reminds me of what I intend to complete during the current month. I make sure that my daily to-do list supports my monthly goals.

Rule of Thumb: Make sure your to-do list is consistently taking you forward, toward your goals. The majority of items on your list should be important tasks/chores that are goal achieving and/or moneymaking. A daily to-do list is simply a tool to help break your workday into bite-sized goal achieving pieces.

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.

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I Never Acheive My Goals

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 13:44:58 +0000

Yesterday I had a coaching client say, “I never seem to achieve my goals. Am I hopeless?”

Here is my thought: No one is hopeless – misguided maybe but not hopeless.

Achieving goals involves a combination of emotional preparation and physical activity. The mindset of success is just as important as the physical activity of working toward your goal. Without the mindset of success, physical activity can be like spinning your wheels on ice – the wheels go around but you’re not going anywhere.

Using words such as never, hopeless, loser, this doesn’t works or it’s a waste of time sets yourself up for failure. These words create the mindset of disappointment and not the mindset of success.

Here’s a short checklist for creating a successful goal achieving mindset:

1. Belief in yourself and your ability to succeed. Belief can make the difference between spinning your wheels and living out your goals. What do you believe about your ability to succeed? Do you say positive things about yourself, to yourself? Do you believe without doubt that you deserve to succeed?

2. Clearly know what you want to achieve. Are your goals clearly written in specifics? Is there a beginning date and completion date? Can you clearly visualize your goal and does it seem “real” to you? Are you specific and definite about what you want to achieve?

3. Is the “why” for achieving your goal strong enough to overcome roadblocks and obstacles? Your inner motivation must be big enough and powerful enough to keep you going forward even when you’re faced with negativity and discouragement. Is your “why” big and strong enough so discouragement won’t deter or dissuade you?

4. Make your goal your own. Is your goal really your goal? Is the goal you are aiming toward and working to achieve really your goal or is it someone else’s? Sometimes, we get caught up in the hopes and dreams of others and we can’t seem to separate their wants and needs from our own. If the goal you’re aiming toward is important enough to you personally, professionally and/or financially, you’ll work extremely hard to achieve it.

If your desire to achieve is strong enough and the plan you’ve set in place is workable, your goals have an excellent chance of becoming reality. The question remains: Do you have the mindset of success?

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.

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One Minute Success Tip – Control Your Time

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:49:26 +0000

Here is a 1 Minute Success Tip from Sharon Michaels

I’m a big believer that you either control your time or your time is going to control you.

<a href="http://www.linkedtube.com/cAYf2e8gUyY20c437e05a4479c683357b29750c6920.htm">LinkedTube</a>

You can click on the Unlimited Success For Women Ezine headline to subscribe.

Copyright © 2010 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

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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1 Minute Success Tip – Grow Yourself

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:42:35 +0000

Here is a 1 Minute Success Tip from Sharon Michaels

Business success is tied to personal success – grow yourself and you’ll grow your business!

<a href="http://www.linkedtube.com/kPkPKH7QTrk65a93394a4a43a6540d23391d1da1e9d.htm">LinkedTube</a>

You can click on the Unlimited Success For Women Ezine headline to subscribe.

Copyright © 2010 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

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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Goals From The Inside Out

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:21:19 +0000

A great way to begin 2010! Have a listen to Goals From The Inside Out from “Women Enjoying Success” Talk Radio.

Start 2010 with goals you’ll actually want to achieve!

Join Personal and Professional Coach Sharon Michaels and Performance Coach Janet Hilts as they share how to set and achieve goals that you’ll be excited and motivated to make reality.

Learn practical tips and how tos for consistently tapping into your inner motivators – those motivators that keep you going positively toward your goals.

Here’s to your awesome 2010!

It’s all about Women Enjoying Success!

Have a listen . . .

Wait for the playbox to appear and then click on the white arrow in the black circle to listen right now. Be sure to turn your speakers up.

Copyright © 2010 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

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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Staying Focused On The Results

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:32:38 +0000

Being able to achieve a goal means staying focused on going positively forward.

Sounds simple enough yet I’ve found focus can become one of the toughest obstacles to goal achievement. A key question in goal achievement becomes: Why do we lose focus and end up losing interest in achieving our goals?

Logically we know we need to accomplish those things that will keep us growing, paying the bills, heading toward the future and giving us motivation to keep going forward day-to-day. Why then, do so many of us lose interest in working a well-thought out plan that can take us step-by-step toward what we want?

American Heritage Dictionary defines focus as: Close or narrow attention; concentration.

When I think of focus and concentration I think of giving a task my “undivided attention.” In order to give something undivided attention it has to be important and be of value. If you’re not achieving goals then ask yourself, “How important is this task or goal to me personally, professionally, emotionally or spiritually?”

I believe we also lose concentration when we are not focused on the emotional “payoff” of achieving the goal. It’s difficult to work on a goal for an extended period of time if we can’t imagine the joy or satisfaction of completing it. Could this inability to experience satisfaction stem from not feeling deserving of achieving and enjoying your goal?

Then there are some on us who seem to thrive on the disorganization and drama of making goal setting and achieving an emotionally draining experience. Why the drama? It’s almost as if feeling uncomfortable and stressful about going forward has become an acceptable comfort zone.

I’m not criticizing – I’m just asking you to take a look at why you may be losing focus when it comes to working day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month on achieving your goals.

Here’s the goal setting/achieving bottom line: It’s a fact of life that every day you’re going forward toward the next day, the next month and the next year. You have choices, you can either go forward with some control and direction or you can wander around without a plan and see where you end up.

Working toward your goals gives you some control over the direction you’re taking and the outcomes you’re expecting. I’ve found a key to goal achieving is focusing on the outcome, the “prize” at the end of the journey. Stay focused on what you want and why you want it. That laser-beam focus will see you through and help make goals reality.

Copyright © 2009 Sharon Michaels – All Rights Reserved

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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Self Limiting Expectations

admin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 02:11:16 +0000

I’ve found that many of us are afraid to dream BIG. We keep our hopes, dreams and goals within a “safe” self-imposed comfort zone.

Here is a success truth – You have unconsciously programmed yourself to live up or down to unconscious expectations of your ability to succeed.

If you are reluctant to set goals and/or rarely achieve the goals you do set, you may have unconsciously placed self-limiting expectations on your ability to enjoy success.

Self-limiting expectations keep us in a “safe” comfort zone – one that can hold us back from trying new things, exploring new opportunities or writing awesome goals. Self-limiting behaviors often have us living down to the expectations that others may have imposed upon us.

How do these self-limiting expectations affect us today?

Today, as an adult if we begin to come out of these self-imposed “safe” comfort zones, we’ll unconsciously begin to sabotage success. Self-sabotage are those subtle things we unconsciously do to ourselves that undermine the ability to succeed and thrive.

Let me ask you this: If you are not succeeding the way you know you can, could you be unconsciously living down to self-limiting expectations? Could there be old childhood programs influencing you as an adult?

Here’s an empowering activity: Make some quiet time to sit and remember what expectations growing up role models had about your ability to succeed? Were you the “star” achiever or were you given a more supportive role? Your childhood role within the family has a huge impact on your adult expectations for success.

Your desire to set, work toward and achieve goals is a direct reflection of the high or low expectations you’ve set for yourself. What are your goal achieving expectations for 2010?

I’m releasing the 4 CD Set of my book How To Give Yourself The POWER to Succeed – How To Recognize The Things You Are Doing That Keep You From The Things You Want within the next couple of weeks.

This empowering CD set will show you how to overcome self-limiting expectations and go for your goals! I’ll keep you posted as to the release date . . .

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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7 Reasons Goals Are Important

admin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:45:05 +0000

A well thought out and well-written goal can prove to be a powerful personal and professional success tool. Goals that are specific, measurable and motivating make life more exciting and less stressful. There is power in knowing where you’re going and why you’re headed there.

Here are seven reasons goal setting is important:

1. Goals are guideposts to the future. Goals are a tangible way for measuring your progress as you go from where you are now, to where you want to be in the future. There is a sense of calmness that develops when you have an idea of what you want, why you want to achieve it and when it will become reality.

Goals are specific and measurable – they give you a time frame for getting from where you are now to where you’ll be heading in the coming weeks, months or years. There is a certain peacefulness that comes from knowing you have a viable and workable plan of action – it’s almost like having a crystal ball.

2. Goals focus attention on what is possible. It’s easy to become distracted on those things that aren’t important especially when you aren’t clear about what you want to achieve today, tomorrow or next year. Life becomes more focused when you are clear about what you want to accomplish and by when. Clearly written goals help focus your attention on what is most important for going positively forward.

3. Goals are a way to organize time and energy. When you know where you are going and when you plan on being there, you’ll use your time and energy wisely. I think of it as having a road map to the future. A road map helps you plan out your travel so you can easily get from Point A to Point B. That’s exactly what a well written goal can do, help you decide the best use of your time and energy to get you from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

4. Goals provide hope, motivation and enthusiasm for the future. Goals can become powerful and exciting inner motivators. A well-written goal can produce a vivid mental and emotional picture of the future, a picture so vivid that you’ll want to get up each morning eager to work on those activities that take you toward the future.

5. Goals give you purpose and direction. Your goals should give you an over-all sense of purpose for going forward each day. Goals help plan your day-to-day activities so you’re consistently making progress toward what you want to achieve. Goals keep you going in the direction of your hopes and dreams.

6. Goals give you a sense of pride and accomplishment. Setting goals is the first step but achieving your goals brings a true sense of accomplishment. YourDictionary.com defines accomplishment as: something accomplished or done successfully; work completed; achievement.

Close your eyes and imagine your most exciting goal as if it were already reality. How does it feel to be living that goal? It’s that sense of pride and accomplishment that will keep you going day-to-day until you actually make your goals reality.

7. Goals can create a bigger, bolder and brighter future. Without our goals, life can often seem dull, unexciting and without meaning or purpose. Goals allow you to use your imagination to dream of the possibilities and go for our dreams. People who set goals allow themselves to dream bigger and bolder about the future and, they are generally more motivated and positive about life. Life’s too short not to go for your BIG goals!

In my opinion, there is nothing sadder than a person without goals. I believe that without a goal, life doesn’t have a defined purpose.

What are your bigger, bolder and brighter goals for the future? Let us know so we can cheer you on and encourage your vision of the future.

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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Practical Tips For Achieving Goals

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:24:25 +0000

Achieving goals begins in your heart and moves its way into reality. If you are not emotionally and physically committed to achieving your goals, you’ll give up before payday.

Here are a few tips for staying focused on the BIG picture:

1. Analyze your emotional relationship with success – is it positive or negative? What emotions come to mind when you think about your future successes?

2. Do you know what you want? Seriously, have you made the time to write out your definition of success? Have you written a personal and professional mission statement?

3. Do you know what motivates you to succeed? Is it money, recognition, family, security? You’ll only achieve those goals that are truly important to you.

4. Have you set realistic do-to lists and timetables for yourself? Or, do you work so hard and long you burn yourself out?

5. Are you realistic about the stumbling blocks along the way? There will be stumbling blocks and road blocks. Are you emotionally ready to face them head-on?

6. Do you stay positive? Do you fill your mind with positive books, audio materials and people?

7. Who can you look to for inspiration? Is there someone you know who has done what you want to do? Is there a biography you can read?

8. Every step along the way, reward yourself for a job well done. It’s the little pats on the back that can motivate you to the finish line.

Anything you’d like to add? Please leave a comment and let us know how we can support your goals now and into 2010!

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