Monday Morning Check In: Anything is Possible

We are in the home stretch now. Today is the last Monday of the year 2011. Next Monday will be the beginning of an entirely new year. We have today and five more days to close the book on 2011 and begin a new book for 2012.

To finish our discussion about “Your Best Year Yet!” by Jinny S. Ditzler, we have a few more questions to consider briefly:

What are my personal values?

This question seeks to uncover the driving force behind the things that we do. If we are not tuned in to what is our hidden unconscious drive, we are unlikely to feel very satisfied once we have achieved our stated objective. We need to be aware of what we are really trying to achieve and tap into the motivation that this drive will produce in us.

I hope you have an opportunity to read Jinny Ditzler’s book and complete her exercises. Jinny lays out a good discussion about some of the different life pursuit paradigms we might be unconsciously following and how limiting or empowering our life pursuit paradigm choice might be.

What roles do I play in my life?

This question provides several benefits:

• It provides direction.
• It places your values at the center of your life.
• It makes it natural to focus on how to share your gifts.
• It generates balance in your life.
• It increases your natural motivation.

Count the number of roles that you play, and consider whether some of them could be grouped together in focus. Jinny suggests limiting our list of roles to no more than seven or eight.

Which role is my major focus for the next year?

To help us determine the answer to this question, Jinny provides us with a Whole Life Review Chart. We build this review chart to plot our performance rating for each of the roles we perform in our lives. Once we connect the dots, we can see where we may be out of balance and in need of more focus. I highly recommend this visual performance and balance check.

What are my goals for each role?

Jinny’s chapter about setting goals will guide you to create powerful goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, and appropriate.

What are my top ten goals for the next year?

Jinny shows us how to write out our best year plan, how to prioritize our list of goals, and then how to summarize the four principal parts of the “Best Year Yet Plan.” Our final one page document -- our best year plan -- will include the guidelines we created to advise us along the way, the new paradigm we framed to empower our thinking, the major focus we identified to give us direction, and the top ten goals we shaped to give us achievable possibility.

How can I make sure I achieve my top ten goals?

Jinny provides suggestions and questions that will encourage our success, such as:

• Keep the plan visible (how can I keep my awareness high?)
• Be aware of external factors (what’s the next step?)
• Find and use a support system (who can provide the support I need?)
• Keep focused on the paradigm that will lead to success (does the way I see the problem lead to success?)

One day I was on an early morning run about 5:30 am before the sun came up. My running headlamp brightened a small path in the road before me. The sound of my breathing was my sole company. I heard a slight rustling in the bushes behind the wire fence that lined the road about 5 feet ahead of me. Startled, I stopped short and trained my lamp in the direction of the noise. There stood a brilliant white unicorn not much taller than I. I held my breath as I took in the delicate sight before me. A small white pony gazed back at me, but for a breathless few seconds, anything was possible.

I urge you to create that vision where anything is possible, because we need this attitude in order to create the kind of life that we want to live. For a few brief seconds, hold your breath and visualize the unimaginable, the impossible, and the wonderful. Let the image soak in to your very core. Drink it in and let it fill you up. Allow yourself to experience the joy of the vision that you have created in your own mind. Let the image strengthen your faith and your belief that anything is indeed possible.

Now go out there and get to work. I want to hear from you at the end of 2012 when you write to tell me how proud you are of your created life and how you shared your gifts to accomplish much in the world.

Monday Morning Check In: It's Not Too Late!

I looked at the calendar today and counted the number of days and weeks until the end of the year. Basically there are seven weeks left, or 48 days to be precise (including today). Why do I bring that up?

In December 2010 and January 2011, I wrote and posted a series of articles about reviewing the year, setting goals, and using accountability tools. So today I wonder how well we did this past year. I wonder if we are still on track to accomplish the goals we set at the beginning of the year. There is some time left to make a final push or at least to make some measurable progress toward completing our goals. Here are some questions to get you thinking about whether you met your goal. While you think, you might also reflect on what goals you might set next year.

• Am I on track to accomplishing my goal?

• If I am not on track, how far off the mark am I? How much more do I need to do until I have reached my success point?

• Can I find a way to make a final push to finish my goal?

• If I cannot achieve my goal, is there a way that I can achieve a portion of my goal?

Do not fall into the trap of waiting until January 1 to reset any current unachieved goal. Six weeks or 48 days remain in the year 2011 in which you can make some forward motion. If you allow yourself to waste what remaining time you have left in the year, you fall into the broken china way of thinking. This way of thinking says that when we break one plate in a set of china, we say, “oh well, I’ve broken one piece of the china set, I might as well break all the rest of the plates.” We would not do that, and yet we too often do just that by blowing the rest of our diet that week, or weekend, or give up working on whatever remains of our goal. This is a prime example of "all or nothing" thinking and one of the biggest fallacies to prevent our success. Instead, why not consider the "broken plate" as a vital lesson to be learned instead of an excuse to give up trying. Why not then renew the goal at that moment and the commitment to move forward?

If you have given up or altered your goals since the beginning of January, now might be a good time to consider what you learned from the experience with a view toward setting and achieving a more successful goal next time. Here are the ten questions suggested by Jinny S. Ditzler in her “Your Best Year Yet!” book and program (http://www.bestyearyet.com). Here is a link to my blog post earlier this year for a more detailed description of the questions at http://teachsuzuki.blogspot.com/2011/01/monday-morning-new-year-new-week.html).

• What did I accomplish?

• What were my biggest disappointments?

• What did I learn?

• How do I limit myself and how can I stop?

• What are my personal values?

• What roles do I play in my life?

• Which role is my major focus for the next year?

• What are my goals for each role?

• What are my top ten goals for the next year?

• How can I make sure I achieve my top ten goals?

As you consider how best to spend the time remaining in the year 2011, give some thought to the previous ten questions. We can learn much about ourselves in this ten-question process, and what we learn will guide us to setting and achieving stronger goals in the future.

Beware: this is that time of year when I begin nagging about goal setting. I cannot help myself. There is something about the end of the year pressure that goads me into this goal setting mindset. So start thinking about this past year and the next year to come, because I anticipate that this subject will come up again. Frequently. I like setting goals. I like the results that I (and my students) achieve from setting goals. I like the feeling I get when I have provided myself with a strong sense of direction and a road map to follow. I know you will enjoy sharing this road with me, so get cracking for the rest of 2011! It's not too late!

Monday Morning Check In: Believing the Big Dream

Today I want to talk about the big dream and how to get closer to it. First, let us discuss an interesting mental phenomenon we can all tap into.

Have you ever had one of those dreams that caused you to waken in a highly frightened state? Perhaps you were trying to scream or cry out, but your voice was paralyzed. You awoke and found your heart racing and your body tensed as if ready for a fight or flight, and yet there was nothing there. It was a dream. It was not real.

This is the beauty of it: your mind did not know the difference between reality and your dream. Let me say this again, because it is a powerful thing. Your mind did not know the difference between reality and your dream. Why is this powerful?

If your mind cannot tell the difference between reality and a dream, your mind will work to make your dream a reality. If you keep telling yourself that something is a particular way, then your mind will work to bring reality in line with what you are telling your mind.

Because of this phenomenon I am vigilant in avoiding negative statements. I do not want to create a negative state. If I find myself saying something negative, I immediately reframe what I have said into the form of a positive statement.

For example, do any of you have trouble remembering people’s names? How many of you also keep saying that you have trouble remembering names? I tested this out a while back. I have always had trouble remembering people’s names unless I see them written down or repeat them a few times.  I also went around telling everyone that I had trouble remembering names. And guess what? I had trouble remembering names. I kept saying that, so my mind kept making that my reality. Once I understood this phenomenon, I reframed what I said: “I used to have trouble remembering names, but I am remembering names really well now.” I started remembering names. "I used to have trouble doing pushups, but I'm getting stronger." I can do more pushups.

How many of you tell others that you are terrible at math or some other skill? How about trying to turn that around this week and reframing what you say into something that lines up with what you would rather be?

This brings me to my main thought today: the big dream. We have all heard the expression “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Dr. Wayne Dyer turns the words around: “You’ll see it when you believe it.” I’ve struggled with this idea for some time. When it comes to the big dream, whatever form that dream takes in terms of a particular goal of the moment, I find that I have to work to wrap my mind around the idea, and until I can successfully see my dream in my mind, then I have difficulty attaining it.

For example, I ran my first marathon (26.2 miles) several years ago, and then I started thinking about wanting to do fifty miles or maybe even a 100-mile event. I have since changed my mind about doing a 100-mile event, but I still have it in the back of my mind that I want to do 50 miles some day.  I just have a little trouble getting my mind around that distance, which is why I haven’t yet done 50 miles. I’m not mentally ready for it right now. I am going to have to work up to this in some way.

When I considered doing my first 50K (31 miles), I dallied with the idea for a few weeks, as I tried to make up my mind whether I should sign up for the event or not. I asked the advice of one of my former students, who was considering the Navy SEAL program at the time. His answer was succinct: “It’s just another five miles more than a marathon.” Of course, just five miles. I knew I could do a marathon, because I had done one several times before. Could I do another five miles on top of the marathon? Of course I could! I could walk or even crawl that distance in my sleep! That tiny comment from my student was all I needed to get my mind wrapped around the idea. I signed up and ran the event. When I ran the event the next year for the second time, I did even better than the first time, because then I had a mental picture in my head to guide me. My problem in the first place was that I was considering the total distance from the starting point. I only needed to consider the added distance I wanted to tack on, which was just five miles more than what I already knew how to do.

Do you have any dreams on hold right now that need some “believing” before you see them? Why not tackle one of those dreams now? What can you believe right now that will help you to get the results that you want?

Have a great week!

“Obstacles are those frightening things you see when you take your eye off the target.”
-- Curt Carlson of Carlson Companies