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  YOUR POSSESSIONS

  © HARAHI/Shutterstock, Inc.

  We live in a world of amazing abundance! You can see examples all around you of beautiful homes, designer clothes, and elegant jewelry. You can see more when you watch TV or a movie, or visit upscale stores. It makes you realize the quality of possessions that are available to make your life more beautiful, more comfortable, and more enjoyable. So, what are some of the specific things that you want in your life? What do you want to have?

  Think about . . .

  Your ideal home, how big it is and where it is located

  That great car or truck you want

  A vacation cabin or a motor home

  A specific television or sound system

  A special watch, a beautiful ring, or other jewelry

  Designer clothes, shoes, or accessories

  A sailboat or fishing boat

  A horse or an airplane

  A set of power tools

  A new computer, printer, or camera equipment

  POSSESSIONS

  House, Car, Clothes, Jewelry, Art, Recreational Vehicles

  What I Want My Reason Why

  List some of the possessions that you want to own or have access to: List the reason why each is important to you:

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  MAKING A DIFFERENCE AND BEING OF SERVICE

  © Sensvector/Shutterstock, Inc.

  When you determined your purpose in Chapter 2, did it include a way in which you want to contribute to others, to a cause, or to the planet? Review your purpose now for consideration here. Beyond that, in what ways do you want to make a difference? Do you want to be of service, perhaps in your community? Is there a problem you want to help solve? A contribution you want to make? A legacy you want to leave?

  Start by considering . . .

  Does community service fulfill you?

  Is there a group in need that calls to you?

  Is there a contribution you long to make?

  Do you want to leave a legacy (monetary or otherwise), and if so, what would it be?

  If you could make a difference, what would it be?

  MAKING A DIFFERENCE • CONTRIBUTION • SERVICE

  Volunteer Work, Purpose Fulfillment, Legacy

  What I Want My Reason Why

  List the way in which you want to make a difference, contribute, or be of service: List the reason why each is important to you:

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  GREAT JOB!

  You’ve finished creating a vision for your ideal life. Feel free to come back to these worksheets and expand or change your vision at any time.

  For now, take a breath, relax, and acknowledge yourself for your work imagining your ideal future. This exercise can be challenging—it takes emotional energy as well as determination to get through it all.

  Are you ready to keep your vision top of mind and make it a reality? Being clear about what you want is fundamental to taking steps to make it happen. The Make-It-a-Habit worksheet that follows will help keep your vision an ongoing part of your life.

  MAKE-IT-A-HABIT WORKSHEET

  Keep Your Vision Alive

  Below are action steps that will not only help you keep your vision alive in your mind’s eye—they’ll help you to constantly create goals around the specific things you want to be, do, and have. Of course, as you grow and achieve your goals, your vision will likely change over time. That’s perfectly fine. However, this original vision document—with changes or not—is something to always have near you, for as long as you desire a positive future. Treasure what you have written. This is your recipe for the ideal life and success you desire. We will do more work with your vision in the chapters that follow, using the tools of a vision board, affirmations, goal setting, taking action, believing it’s possible, and more.

  To make each new step a habit, put a check mark in front of each item below as you complete it.

  1. □ Select the most important items from each of the eight areas of “wants.” Write these in Your Life Success Journal in the back of this workbook, under Keep Your Vision Alive.

  2. □ Create a Word doc or a handwritten note with the headings of the areas you just completed, including finances, relationships, and the others. Add a line or two of what you want most in each area. Post it where you will see it to remind yourself each day.

  3. □ Spend a few quiet minutes to breathe, become relaxed, and enter a state of deep self-love and peacefulness. Reflect on what your vision means to you, and on what your life will be like as that vision becomes your reality. Allow any images and ideas to come to you. Let this “visual journey” be as expansive as you can imagine.

  4. □ Select a day of the week when you will review your vision. Put a recurring reminder on your calendar for that date. Sit down for 10 minutes to review and update your vision. (Can you spend more time on your vision each week? Of course. By setting a minimal 10 minutes, you are more likely to actually do it each week.)

  5. □ Schedule a recurring one-hour appointment with yourself at the end of the year to fully review and revise your vision. Notice that, as you put this date on your calendar, you may feel relief that you are serious about applying what you are learning in this Workbook—confirming to yourself that this will not be an effort that is soon forgotten.

  6. □ Include a two-minute reflection on the key elements of your vision as part of your morning routine.

  7. □ If you have a meditation practice, meditate on your vision regularly. If you have not learned to meditate, I will provide instruction in a later chapter.

  8. □ Tell others! Talk about your vision for your life with special friends who support you.

  Add to Your Life Success Journal

  If you haven’t already, turn to Your Life Success Journal and complete the exercise.

  Chapter

  4

  Use the Power of Goal-Setting to Achieve Your Vision*

  The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

  MICHELANGELO

  One of the Greatest Artists of All Time

  In the previous chapters, you discovered your life purpose, and you clarified your vision of the success you want. Now it’s time to take the necessary steps to make that vision your reality.

  One reason many people don’t achieve their vision is that they don’t turn their vision into a set of specific goals. Until you write specific and measurable goals, your vision is too vague. For example, you might say you would like to have a new car, but you need to specify precisely what kind of car you want and exactly by when you expect to own it. Otherwise, your vision remains a dream, a nice idea, and just wishful thinking.

  But this Workbook isn’t about wishful thinking; it’s about applying proven principles of success in order to get the results you want.

  You’re probably already aware of the concept of goal-setting. Yet, while nearly everyone has heard of goals (and some even set goals at work), very few people use goal-setting to get what they want in their personal life. Most people simply go to work, do what the boss says, then come home and watch TV. Not you. Not any longer.

  I want you to be the exception—part of the 3% of people who take goal-setting seriously, who actually use it, and who, as a result, outperform everybody else. Setting goals is the crucial next step that will help you achieve the success you want. For any area of your life where you want to make a change or acquire something you want to have, you need to create a goal. Without a specific, written goal your chance of success is significantly reduced.

  In this chapter, you will set goals for the vision you created in the previous chapter. You will also be guided to create a Breakthrough Goal—a goal that can be a game-changer for you. A Breakthrough Goal is one that will take you to the next level—and it will require you to grow and develop yourself to achieve it. In fact, as you’ll soon learn through the exercises in this chapter, that resulting personal growth is one of the most exciting and fulfilling payoffs of setting goals.

  I can never be safe; I always try and go against the grain. As soon as I accomplish one thing, I just set a higher goal. That’s how I’ve gotten to where I am.

  BEYONCÉ KNOWLES-CARTER

  American Singer, Actress, and Fashion Designer

  INCREASING THE ODDS OF ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS

  Research conducted by Dr. Gail Matthews of Dominican University and Dr. Stephen Krause from Harvard* identified ways to increase the odds of reaching your goals. They wanted to test the premise that people who write down specific goals for their future are more likely to be successful than people who either have unwritten goals or no goals at all. They recruited 267 participants from a variety of businesses and organizations and asked them to set business-related goals for themselves for an upcoming four-week period.

  The participants were then randomly assigned to one of five groups, and each group was instructed to use one or more of the following supportive activities:

  Simply think about your goals.

  Write down your goals.

  Make a list of actions you commit to taking toward your goals.

  Send the list of the goals and the actions to a supportive friend.

  Send a weekly progress report of your results to a supportive friend.

  The first group was told to do only the first item: to think about their goals. For each of the remaining groups, the researchers added one additional type of support until the final group, Group 5, was told to apply all five. The table below shows the results each group obtained: the Success Rate indicates the percentage of goals reached by each group at the end of the study.

  Group 1 Group 2–3 Group 4 Group 5

  Think about goals

  Write down goals

  Share with a friend

  Weekly progress report to friend

  Success Rate 43% 56% 64% 76%

  This research provides substantial evidence that, in addition to just thinking about your goals, three “best practices” will help ensure you reach your goals. In fact, when you do these three things—in addition to taking action on your goals—your chance of success is much, much higher:

  1. Write down your goal.

  This is a must! There is no other option. Until you write down your goal, it is just an idea in your head. You need to make it more substantial, more real, and more grounded by putting words on paper (or writing them digitally).

  What you write is also critical. Your goals need to be both specific and measurable. That is, you need to state “how much” and “by when.”

  For example, I want to make more money next year does not specify how much more you want or precisely by when you will achieve it. A specific version, on the other hand, would state it clearly: I will increase my after-tax income to $140,000 by December 31st of next year.

  2. Tell a friend about your goal.

  Find a supportive friend or colleague and tell them your goal(s). When you do this, you make the goal more real for yourself. You’re making a declaration, and you’re putting it out into the universe. It also deepens your commitment to the goal when you state your goal publicly.