Most of us have distractions in life. We all want to do many things in life, and we even have everything planned very well in our calender.

Yet, when we actually sit to do the tasks, we are “over whelmed” with all the distractions around you, and it just pulls you away from giving your 100% effort to the task at hand. The result : You have uncompleted tasks in your to-do lists, and your life is the same old story again.

With the series “Towards a Super Productive Life” article series, We will go over how we can be super productive in our life and at work.

Part 1 : How to Keep Away from Distractions

Here are few ways that can keep you more focussed on your work and stay away from distractions.

Try them and see how it works wonders in your life !

]]> http://sijith.com/2010/04/17/sijithcom-announces-towards-a-super-productive-life-article-series-how-to-become-super-productive-in-life-and-at-work/feed/ http://sijith.com/2010/04/11/1-on-1-david-allen-on-getting-things-done/ http://sijith.com/2010/04/11/1-on-1-david-allen-on-getting-things-done/#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:16:12 +0000 sijith http://sijith.com/?p=840 David Allen is an international author, productivity expert and founder of the David Allen Company, a management consulting firm. For 20 years, he has developed and implemented productivity-improvement programs for more than a million people at Fortune 500 corporations and U.S. government agencies. He is the author of three books, including the best-seller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

Here is his interview with Success Magazine about productivity and time management.

SUCCESS: Why do you think the work-life balance concept is misleading?

David Allen: A lot of people I know sit at work worried about stuff at home, and when they’re at home, they are worried about stuff at work. Then you’re in neither place. Your brain needs to engage on some consistent basis with all of your commitments and activities. You must be assured that you are doing what you need to be doing, and that it’s OK to be not doing what you’re not doing. If it’s on your mind, then your mind isn’t clear.

Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you will come back to regularly and review. To be able to handle your commitments and agreements with yourself, you have to have a clear distinction between what you’re doing and everything else. That’s the boundary I have. You have to be fully present with what you are doing and ask yourself, “How do I get that other thing that’s distracting me on cruise control?”

People often seem overwhelmed with the amount of choices they have for their lives, so what are some of the best management techniques so people don’t wind up with regrets?

DA: The best time-management technique is to ensure you have captured every single thing that has your attention, or should have your attention, by writing it down. The goal is to get projects and situations off your mind but not to lose any potentially useful ideas. Then you can step back and look at your list from an observer standpoint, and not let yourself be driven by what’s the latest and loudest in your head. The worst practice is to let yourself be driven by your desire to relieve the pressure of what’s pulling on you, instead of using your system for capturing, clarifying, organizing and reviewing.

While you do want to be making intuitive choices, no system is really going to tell you what to do. You still have to trust your heart and your spirit—your intuition. But a good systematic approach will let you feel a lot more comfortable and you won’t miss all of your possible choices. Letting the latest and loudest thing steer your life is not the way to live your life or make decisions.

How can people make progress once they have captured and reviewed their to-do lists?

DA: I have a personal mission to make [the question] What’s the next action? part of the global thought process. Ask yourself, “What’s my next action?” It clarifies things quickly. There’s a great difference, however, between making that decision when things show up versus when things blow up. So many people glance at a project and think, “I don’t quite have all the pieces between here and there.” We know something is missing, but we’re not sure what it is exactly, so we quit. Without a next action, there remains a potentially infinite gap between current reality and what you need to do. Constantly ask yourself, “What’s my next action?”

Some people say they’re waiting to catch up with the minor to-do items to focus on their major goals, but that day never seems to come. How can people more effectively use their time to get the majors finished, instead of the minors?

DA: It’s a good question. I think it comes back to focus. The truth is, if you really look at where you want to be going, there are things you can do that can get you there faster and sooner than other things. It’s the old priority decision. Which one of the things on my list—either a project or an action—if it were finished, would actually give me the highest payoff? If you’re making that kind of distinction, it doesn’t get any better than that. That’s how I would make the distinction between minors and majors.

Now, the highest payoff may mean it’s going to give me the most relaxation; it’ll take the most pressure off my brain; or it’s going to move me toward something that’s really meaningful to me. So I don’t think you ever get away from that responsibility to be making mature choices about which one of the things you need to do is more important. Ultimately, you have to have conversations with yourself about all the areas of responsibility you have, including your health, state of mind, things you might want to be accomplishing, and your values for your lifestyle and work—where you want to be.

I think we do resist doing the things that are the most meaningful to us because it’s going to get us closer to unlocking some wonderful, grand, glorious part of us that we really aren’t ready to engage with yet. I think it’s our own self-image and esteem. It’s probably the biggest angel at the gate—if I don’t think I’m really worthy of that, then I’m going to find all kinds of reasons to avoid getting involved with it. It’s a fear of success. But when you start to make things happen, you really begin to believe that you can make things happen. And that makes things happen.

Courtesy : Success Magazine

That dash represents all the time - that you spent alive on earth and now when your Eulogy is being read, all those who loved you know what that little line is worth.

It not matters how much we own - the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love, and how we spent our dash. It is the ”dash” between our date of birth and date of death.

The little dash is our life.  It is not the length of the dash that matters. It is the worth of the dash that matters.

So when your Eulogy is being read; with your life’s action taken to rehash, and you see your “life” as a recap, would you be proud of how you spent your dash, and what difference you made with it. Or would you regret the way you have spent your dash.

Think about this long and hard; are there things you’d like to change ? For you never know how much time is left.

If we could slow down enough to consider what is true and real. And always try to understand the way other people feel. And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more and love the people in our lives - like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect  and more often wear a smile, remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

Together let us make our dash - a truly special one. To Ourselves and to the World.

Sijith

Do you have a definite purpose that guides your ambitions, vision, and goals?

It doesn’ t matter how you think you arrived here on this planet or under whose direction — the fact remains that each of us has specific talents and gifts that are uniquely coded within our own DNA.

As you go through life, you don’ t just pick up things you like doing by chance. You discover what you’re good at because you were meant to discover it, just as you were meant to figure out what your fingers do, and how your elbows work. Your unique gifts are hard-wired into your system just as surely as your lungs are given their blueprint to breathe.

And it’ s from these specific talents and gifts that you’ re able to define and determine your definite purpose ? the reason why you’ re here. What’ s in you cannot be found in another living human being. In fact, it’ s quite possible that what you bring to the table hasn’ t been duplicated — ever — since time began.

That’ s right! This “ purpose” is serious business.

If you fail to determine your definite purpose, everything else is wrong. It’ s like working with a broken compass — you may think you’re going North, but you’re not. You’re not sure which direction you’re heading, so, you’re just wandering aimlessly.

Without your purpose identified firmly in your mind, you will wander through life, never quite feeling that you’ re “ in the flow.” I say, then, that it’ s imperative you recognize what it is you’re good at — what it is you really love to do. Your purpose in this lifetime is to do the thing that you love.

Now, people will tell you they already know what they’re good at, and what they love to do most, but they’ll never earn money doing it. Whoever gave you THAT idea? When you’re sorting out your purpose, I don’t want you thinking about THAT non-issue at all. You can earn money at ANYTHING. Once you determine your purpose, you won’t even have to think hard on HOW to earn money — it’ s as if you’ re being guided by an unseen hand, heading in the right direction ? and everything falls into place.

The key to your life is not that you settle for the “ safe” thing that will bring in the money. The key is to turn and do what you really love. Fall in love with an idea. That’ s your life! That’ s your purpose.

Fall In Love With An Idea

More often than not, when we think of “ love,” we tend to think of two human beings in love. When they’re in love, they enjoy the same ideas; their feelings are in harmony.Love is resonance. Love occurs when two entities are on the same frequency. So, when a person falls in love with an idea, his conscious and subconscious are resonating ? they’ re in sync. And, it’ s what’ s going on in the mind that dictates the vibration of the body and moves the body into action. So, you must first allow yourself to fall in love with an idea ? what is it you really love to do?

The psychologist Alfred Adler once said, “ I am grateful for the idea that has used me.” When you fall in love with an idea, it guides you ? you don’ t guide it anymore.

Nor are you going to find yourself digging around for ambition or seeking to achieve your purpose. It’ll push you out of bed in the morning long before your alarm clock considers doing the same. When you land on your purpose and truly start doing what you love, it’ s like being 12-years-old again, waking up to your first glorious day of summer vacation. What might have been drudgery for you just a day before is now grand opportunity and discovery. You’ re loaded with ambition.

Did the weather change? Did the sun rise several hours sooner? Of course not. The only entity that changed between the last day of school and the

first day of summer vacation was YOU. In similar fashion, acting on your purpose pushes your ambition through the ROOF. The gifts within you were programmed to SING in a spotlight on center stage! Ambition is the talent agent that promotes these gifts and believes in your gifts to get them to that stage. The performance you do from that stage

That’ s your life’ s purpose.

Getting Past The Negatives To Find Your Truth Purpose gives meaning to WHY you’ re doing what you’ re doing. It’ s time to listen to that inner voice, to give serious attention to what comes naturally to you ? to what gets YOU juiced ? to what gets YOU moving at the start of each day.

It’ s time to sit down and have a serious truth session with yourself. Nobody knows your gifts better than you — it’ s an innate sense you have. I don’ t care what your parents, guardians, teachers, bosses, and best friends have said in the past ? and neither should you. In this session, don’ t entertain ANY negatives about yourself, past or present, real or imagined.

Understand that negative images have been crowding your mind since your first week on this planet. Even your first school papers were marked in red slashes when you were “ wrong.” That red mark drew your entire conscious attention, even if it was the only mark on the entire page. It shifted your energy completely; you might have brooded about it for days; it might have made you fearful of the next mistake you’d make. In many cases, it’ s this ongoing conscious attention on negativity and failure that keeps people from making any kind of different directional move in their lives.

You’ve had failings in your life. I’ve had failings in my life. When we fail, it’s not a fault issue — we simply were not in harmony with what we were trying to do. You might have a failed relationship in your past that’ s left you with the opinion that it was your fault. You play the tapes back again and again rethinking what you said or how you acted. You’re so embroiled in what you should have done differently that you’re not seeing the bottom-line truth: The relationship was not in harmony, it wasn’t resonating.

You might have failed in school. How can you get straight As with something you’ re not in harmony with? When I was in grade school, I was bored to tears. I didn’ t pay attention and I didn’ t get very good marks. Because I didn’ t get good marks in grade school, I expected the same — and my teachers expected the same — when I got into high school. So, what did I earn in high school? ? Bad marks. In Canada, we high schoolers had the option of attending a more academic college setting versus a trade-school setting. I remember telling a teacher that I was going to be applying for the academic college, at which point I was immediately told, “Don’t go there. You’ll never do well in academics. Go to the trade school, instead.”

See, the masses are obsessed with conformity rather than creativity. I know you’ve had a great deal of input from well-meaning people who would rather you just stick to the status-quo . . . even if it’ s making you miserable. In their eyes, the status quo is safer ? less invasive ? more comfortable ? and it doesn’t push them into thinking about their lives.

I listened to my teacher. I conformed to what the masses thought of me, and off I went to trade school. I wasn’t even there a month before I shoved my thumb into a bandsaw ? Why did I fail there?

I was going in the wrong direction. I wasn’ t on purpose. I wasn’ t listening to myself, to what was true within me. In fact, I didn’ t think I

was very special. I spent decades of my life thinking I wasn’ t very special. You must recognize the unique gift of you. You’re an individualized, phenomenal

expression of life. If you start focusing on the mysteries, the spectacular parts of you that come together in perfect harmony in order to just accomplish the writing of your name ? you begin to see the wonderful, complex person that you are. Add to that the ability to:

paint in oils, put a car’ s engine together, program systems that make thousands of people’ s lives easier, play the piano without looking at a note, add and subtract reams of numbers, speak from a platform, match a person’ s hairstyle to their personality and lifestyle, fashion chairs and tables from a log of wood, put to paper a blueprint in your mind that becomes an architectural masterpiece ?

and you begin to discover the absolute, awesome uniqueness that resides only within YOU.

You’ re Not On This Planet To Live Someone Else’ s Dream

What is it you love to do? Don’ t bother yourself with what anyone else says ? that’ s why you’ re here. As I have already explained, when you’ re not on purpose, odds are that you’ re not going to build in the right direction. But equally as important is this: When you believe you’ ve found your purpose, do not allow yourself to be dissuaded by others’ opinions — don’ t allow them to tell you in which direction to build.

After about five years of working at Nightingale Conant, I landed on an alarmingly great idea ? I was going to do this on my own.

I wanted to do just what my close friend and mentor, Earl Nightingale, was doing, but I wanted to do it under my own name and with the education and knowledge I’ d been personally acquiring over all the years. So, I got a tape recorder — you know, one of those old fashioned kinds with the big buttons and the red “ RECORD” button. You put the tape in and it click-click-clicks away while you talk into the microphone ? that kind of thing. And I sat down and recorded my own thoughts on the subject of personal growth.

Now, I needed someone to give me feedback, so I called up a good friend and told him I had a great idea I wanted to share with him. I took the tape and recorder up to his house, turned it all on and ? well, Joel Goldsmith’ s phrase “ Thunder of Silence” couldn’t have fit the situation better. As the tape played on, the pressure in that room became enormous. I eventually turned the tape recorder off, and mumbled, “ Well, it was just an idea.”

As I was driving back to my house, it hit me: I was letting him steal my dream! This was my DREAM! I wasn’ t going to let him steal my dream! And that’ s when it clicked in my mind ? I can DO this.

Had I listened to him, I would have fallen off my life’ s purpose. I would have kept obtaining goals and building long-term visions in my head, but I would have been going in the absolute wrong direction.

See, if you’re not on purpose, EVERYTHING is off course. When you have the right purpose, you’ll easily develop the right vision. When you have the right vision, you’ ll quickly recognize the right goal.

Purpose Leads To Vision, Vision Leads To The Goal

Once you’ve found your purpose, how do you express it? By creating and maintaining a vision. Vision is what you do with your life. Vision is the strategy behind the fulfillment

of your purpose. You accomplish this strategy by creating several short-term goals to keep you on course.

Van Gough once said, “ I dream my painting and then I paint my dream.” We all know that Van Gough knew his purpose in life. His vision, then, was the completion of paintings, each uniquely different from

the other. How he put his vision to canvas involved a series of short-term goals. I work with a young woman who builds websites. Now, for most people, putting

websites together can make your head hurt so bad that you just quit and decide to go do something else — anything else. Websites are complicated — and, unlike a house or an office building, you can build the whole thing before you realize you forgot to put in the plumbing ? most websites aren’ t really functional.

But when this woman starts working on someone’ s website, she gets a feeling for what the client is looking for, and sees the site’ s entire blueprint in her head. Then she just follows the blueprint. See, she has the vision in her head — what she does to get from vision to a completed website is a series of short-term goals between herself and the programmer.

Vision is the key connector between one’ s daily goals and one’ s lifetime purpose.

Fix On Your Vision, Then Plot Your Course

This summer, I had a wedding to attend in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I had a few days to spare, and my wife and I enjoy each other’ s company, so I suggested to Linda that we drive instead of flying. She readily agreed and started collecting the maps we’d need for the trip. As we plotted the course, we would be driving from Toronto to Detroit, Detroit to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Lexington, Lexington to Louisville and then into Gatlinburg.

We were plotting the vision, you see, to get us from Point A to Point B.

When we got in the car to begin the trip, which city was I thinking of? ? Detroit. I had to get to Detroit first; if I missed Detroit, there’d be a good chance we wouldn’t find our way to the wedding at all.

Detroit was first on my list — that was my GOAL. After Detroit was accomplished, Cincinnati became my goal and so on ? all the way to my final destination — Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

I’ ve had people come up and tell me that they’ ve given up on their big dreams because they never seemed to get closer, no matter what they envisioned or tried. The error they’re making is that they’re looking for their Gatlinburg, Tennessee while they’re still sitting in the driveway in Toronto. In many instances, they’re writing their Gatlinburg goal on a Goal Card I’ve given them, or they’re writing it in a journal somewhere. This is all well and good, but if you’ re not also plotting your course to get from where you are to where you want to be ? if you’ re not figuring out the first goal for Detroit, then following that plotline forward in progressive order, you’re going to end up in Montreal instead.

You’ve GOT to plot the course. Figure out what you need to do between here and there and make those your goals.

Once you have the course plotted, though, there are three very distinct rules of thumb I want you to remember.

First, just because you’ve plotted the course doesn’t mean you can put your whole plan on auto-pilot. When pilots reach cruising altitude they’ll quite often put the plane on auto-pilot and let years of genius physics and calculus computations steer the plane toward its destination. But even with auto-pilot, you’ ve got to manually get the plane in the air and manually land it. And even with auto-pilot, you’ ve got to keep an eye on your instruments and pay attention to possible curve balls Mother Nature might toss your way.

You cannot rely on auto pilot to get you where you want to go. You have to be personally involved and focused on the process.

Second, don’ t get so carried away with the details of plotting the action steps within your vision that you don’t ever get out of your driveway.You know what I’m talking about — you see people around you do it all the time. They get so caught up in planning and charting and graphing their future that they never BEGIN it. This is fear in disguise — that’s all it is. Your plan doesn’t have to be perfect. Get the foundational elements in place and get moving.

Third, don’ t be so intent on motoring to Detroit that you miss the scenery along the way. You’re on purpose ? you’re on your way ? enjoy the journey, for heaven’ s sake. After all, that’ s what you’ re doing this for, isn’ t it?

When The Vision Doesn’t Work

Now, it’ s imperative that you not confuse your purpose with your vision. In our solar system, the sun is the one stable element around which all the planets revolve. Your purpose is your sun. It doesn’t move; it doesn’t change. Your vision and its subsequent goals are the planets that revolve around your purpose’ s perimeter.

People will often say that they THOUGHT they were keyed in on their purpose in life but, for some reason, nothing seems to be falling into place to further that purpose. They mistakenly conclude that it’ s the purpose that is off-kilter. While this may be true, in most cases it’ s not the purpose that’ s off-kilter — it’ s the vision that’ s not getting you there.

If you’ ve really honed in on that inner voice ? if you’ ve been true to yourself ? if you’ ve not allowed any negativity to sway you from what you believe your purpose to be? if you have duly noted that these unique gifts of yours actually run in your blood ? then you’ re on purpose. It’ s simply time to do some analysis of the vision you’ ve put in place.

I want you to imagine that you’ re in Chicago and your goal is to go to Detroit. Away you go in a rush. You’re driving and driving, you stop and grab a coffee, you get back in the car and keep driving and ? all of a sudden ? you see a sign up ahead that says “ Nashville, 186 miles.”

You think, “ What the heck? I’m going to Detroit. Nashville is in the opposite direction.”

You’re concerned now and even a little worried. You might even be a bit miffed. But you keep driving in the same direction. An hour goes by and you see another sign ? Nashville, 102 miles ? at this point, you’ re downright annoyed. “ How in the world could this be happening?” you ask yourself. ? But you keep driving ?

Now, if this were a real-life happenstance, you wouldn’ t keep driving. As soon as you’d come across the FIRST indication that you were traveling in the wrong direction, you’d brake the car to a halt and do a U-turn right there on the highway. You’d bump across the dirt median between the two highways and you wouldn’ t even care if a sign stood right there telling you that this median was reserved for “ official use only.”

“ This IS official use!” you’ d grumble to yourself as you swing across and merge with the oncoming traffic. “ I’ ve been going in the wrong direction for an HOUR, for heaven’ s sake!”

Why is it that in REAL life you’ d have no compunction about immediately changing your direction ? but when it comes to changing direction on the VISION you have in place, you keep driving in the wrong direction, even while you know it’ s the wrong place to go?

The key is that you take note of the “ street signs” and indicators that are trying to alert you to the fact that you’re going in the wrong direction. You know what those nudges are — they happen every day, these “ inner knowers” that are working to keep you on track and on purpose. When you are not on track to your goal, when you are not moving on your vision, you’ re going to feel bad about yourself and what you’ re doing. This is a clear indication that you’re not on purpose. Your intuitive mind isscreamingat you — intuition is that marvelous mental muscle that is telling us the direction wsehould

be going. It’ s part and parcel of the orderly universe we exist in; it’ s here for a very definite reason.

Now, there’ s a difference between bumping up against dead-end brick walls ? this is where your intuition kicks in ? and meeting up with resistance as you pursue your vision. When resistance comes up, that old, crotchety paradigm might perk up to assure you that you’ re on the wrong path, that it wouldn’ t be this difficult if you were on the right path. Those old “ quitter” programs in your head are not at all connected to your intuitive source, and as you get to know your “ inner knower,” you’ ll begin to recognize the feeling you get that distinctly separates intuition from a bad-talking paradigm.

Resistance is not bad, it is not negative. The good that you are seeking is here — in fact, everything you’re seeking is seeking you. Your action causes a reaction, and that reaction represents resistance. Remember that airplanes would not only not fly, but they would never get off the ground without resistance. When you are on purpose, your goal guides you toward the good you desire. And through the Law of Vibration and Attraction, the good you desire is moving in your direction. Keep going through the resistance and, as Henry David Thoreau said, you will “ meet with success unexpected in common hours.”

When You’re Not Doing What You Should Be Doing

There’ s one last point I’ d like to make about recognizing your purpose. More often than not, people have difficulty getting focused on what it is they’re put on this planet to do because they’re already doing something day in and day out that exhausts their time and, in the end, feel they are on the right track because they are covering most of their bills. Just because you have a 9-to-5 obligation and your bills are getting paid doesn’t mean that you’ve figured out your true purpose. This fact, however, can often block or impede your progress toward that better and higher use of your time and talents.

Now, some people get stuck and are afraid or reluctant to make a move because they just can’ t see how their purpose will pay the bills. Furthermore, they have been programmed from infancy to believe it is better to be safe than sorry.

In this context, it’ s NOT better to be safe than sorry. When you picture yourself reaching the end of the road, do you think you’ll be happy because you had a safe trip? But you never did the things that you dreamed about and, rather than reliving the exciting growth-oriented experiences that you had, you end up wondering what would have happened if you had stepped out and molded your own future.

On the other hand — there are people who land on their purpose and, throwing all caution to the wind, stop everything they’ re doing ? including their paying jobs ? to seek out this higher end for their lives.

While I have some admiration for this attitude and believe that people who take this action are eventually going to land on their feet, drastic action such as waking up and quitting your job tomorrow morning is not something I’d recommend. You see, you can’t pursue your purpose if your basic needs of life are not met. Over the years, I’ve seen a number of people quit their full-time jobs because they want to devote more time and energy to building up this master plan, this dream in their mind. Within weeks, when they begin to see that their needs are not taken care of, they immediately begin to worry about “ making ends meet” and they blow it.

When your needs are taken care of, you’re free to move; you’re free to take action. Freedom is simply the clear expression of spiritual power to and through you. When you’re enjoying freedom, you’re free of constricting worry. You don’t lie awake at night planning your escape from your less-than-satisfactory life ? because you’re already free.

It is absolutely essential then that, before you take any drastic action, you first sit down and decide what your true needs are. What do you need to survive — to pay rent, to buy food, to keep the lights on and the water running? What do you NEED — not WANT — what do you NEED in order to ensure that freedom in your mind and in your reality. Come up with a figure.

When you have that figure, give yourself a mental break for just a few hours, then come back to that figure and whittle it still further. What can you cut from the first figure you came up with? What can you honestly live without for a period of time? I have found that when people take a first run at what they need, it’ s usually more than what they need. We’re talking only absolute essentials here so that you’re free from worry.

Now, find a way to get that financial need met. Can you go to a part-time basis with your existing company? Can you switch to another position within your company that allows that part-time base? Can you find a new job completely that still gives you the freedom and flexibility to work a few hours, each and every day, on what your true purpose is?

Just How Ambitious Are You?

And what are you willing to sacrifice or endure in order to get yourself moved onto this right track?

The fact is, no matter how easily your purpose comes to you, you’ ll be asked to make sacrifices in order to fully bring it into your life. In order to have ANY good come into your life, you must create a space for it first. That’ s the law.

When I mention “ sacrifice,” there are people who envision some kind of Old Testament ritual that involves really unhappy goats ? I’m not talking about that kind of sacrifice.

There’ s a common misconception out there that a “ sacrifice” means you’ re losing something. You’re not losing here. When you’re sacrificing something in order to operate at your higher level — your purpose and mission on this planet — you’re just giving up something of a lower nature to bring in something of a higher nature.

You can’t get to the top of the ladder unless you leave the bottom.

This is true in every facet of life. Think of the people who are looking for a new relationship, but they still haven’ t let go of the old one. Look at the people starting diet programs who just can’ t give up their morning bagel with cream cheese. And in today’ s economy, there are all kinds of people who have been downsized and are out looking for a new position — but they’ ve still got the old position — with its negative emotional baggage — fixed in their mind.

What would you sacrifice in order to move into a new life ? in order to obtain your dream ? in order to do every day what you love to do?

As a guideline, I tell my coaching students and seminar attendees to consider sacrificing — first — what is not vital to your survival and — second — what is not required to achieve your purpose.

You’re not going to endanger your life or the lives of those around you. You’re not going to give up your health. But you might give up something you enjoy as a pastime or hobby in order to devote more time to creating this dream of yours. You might be willing to endure a temporary cash crunch in order to get a brilliant idea up and running. You might be willing to give up one or two nights a week in order to receive the education, training or certification you need to get you one step closer to your goal.

How ambitious are you in reaching this stated desire? Ambition is the expression of your desire — it’ s the thing that drives you. Remember, I pointed out earlier in this session that ambition is the talent agent that puts you in the spotlight on the stage of life. It’ s the fuel that pushes you forward. It gives you confidence. I’ ve often stated that confidence is strength with style. Arnold Palmer says that confidence is a mix of concentration and pure hunger.

There’ s an enormous difference between hunger and greed. Hunger is understanding that you have an infinite source of supply and that you’ re here to do God’ s work — after all, God is the creator and God’ s work is creation. It’ s why we all possess this hunger to express this power in a greater way every day.

Greed, on the other hand, indicates there is a limited supply and we may not get our share so we will take it from anyone and everyone. We don’t care what happens to the next person — it’ s every man for himself, Jack.

When you’re in harmony with the law, greed thinking does NOT exist. So, let’ s review what we’ re doing here:

We establish our purpose. We build our vision. We set our goals. It’ s absolutely essential that the goal is something you want. There’ s no playing it

safe by simply going after what you THINK you can do. You’ve got to want it. And you want it because it’ s moving you in the direction of your vision. It’ s not just getting a nicer car or earning an extra dollar — your goal is something you dearly want, it’ s your heart’ s desire. It’ s helping you move in the direction of your vision.

Your vision was established with a long-term view of doing the thing you love doing, day in and day out on purpose, because your purpose is doing what you truly love to do.

Now you’ve got all three elements. There need be no excuses. Regardless of what’ s happened up to this moment, it’ s part of the past. Forgive it. Release it from your mind. Abandon it. Rejoice. Wrap your arms around yourself and recognize what you truly love to do.

I’ ve given you the compass — now stay on course.

Fantasy : This is the realm in which most of the New Year’s resolutions and “new-me” programs actually dwell.

I have a fantasy to buy - say a Jaquar automobile, and I fantasize it. But when it actually comes to me to buy the vehicle, I back off. I back off because, the realities of what I want don’t match my fantasy. I want a vehicle that gives me good mileage, not too expensive to maintain, and more than that - the parts are easy to replace. This is the reality, and even though I love my Jaquar vehicle, I prefer to keep it as a fantasy alone.

A fantasy is actually a fiction. It is a typically pleasant image lying inert in the imagination.

Imagine my fantasy to own a Jaquar. When it comes to really being offered it, I back off. There are too many things I want to do that are incompatible with the implications of my fantasy. Its reality would preclude other things I truly want.

Desire : A desire is a conscious choice, tendency, or a force – weak or strong. You can fantasize about something you don’t desire.  Like fantasizing to buy a Jaquar car.

It is also possible to desire something you have never fantasized. I can desire a coffee to drink, but I don’t fantasize about it. Fantasy and desire are just two different things.

Many announcement of New year resolutions and new-me programs are just revelations of fantasy. They never get off the ground because they never get any grip on the will.

Even when there is will involved, as in the case of a desire, something more is needed that mere influence or inclination – if there is to be a significant chance of real change. It’s possible to have a desire, even a strong one, that never reaches the status of a goal.

Goal : A goal is a commitment. You never have a goal without a real commitment.

Desires just to come to us. If we start acting on all of our desires, our life would be a complete mess. Some of the desires would do permanent damage. Some would lead to situation that would not be good to us. Some would have consequences for the people we care about. We have to learn which of our desires to pursue and which to resist. This is often the most difficult tasks to achieve.

A desire is an influence on choice, but a goal is the result of a choice. What you have chosen to pursue is your goal. It’s not just a fantasy. It is not just a desire. It’s is a selected target, the determinant of a chosen direction, which gives guidance and direction to your subsequent choices.

A goal is never inert. If you are not moving in the direction of losing weight, you haven’t really taken weight loss as a goal. Not yet. If you are not moving in the direction of financial independence, then that’s not really one of your present goals. It may be a fantasy. It may be a desire. But it’s not yet a goal.

Too many new year resolutions and other “decisions” to make a new-you often fails because they never get out of the realms of fantasy or desire and achieve the true status of a goal, a genuine commitment of the will.

Once you know your goal - Bring back desires and fantasy

Once you take something as a goal, once you make that commitment of the will, you should then work backward through the progression we have just been discussing. Now we need fantasy and desires to support our goals. The desires which will move you towards your goal and not those that will move you away. The fantasies that increases your imagination and you begin to see things in your mind even before you have achieved your goal.

One example of this would be of an Olympic athlete who wishes to win Olympic gold. He(she) now fantasize about walking down the road with a gold medal in her neck. She sees press and media around her. She fantasize her winning about the medal. Everything for a purpose – to achieve her goal of winning her Olympic gold medal.

Imagine she loved ice cream. It is a desire. Now her coach asked her to keep her away from icecream for diet reason. To achieve a goal, she has now to forsake a desire. Because her desire to eat ice cream and her goal to achieve Olympic gold are complementary to each other, and only one can exist at the same time.

Summary : Goal setting must be an act of will that engages the whole person. Once we have a goal,  we go back to bring desires and fantasies to our world - to help us in our goal. We make sure to cultivate supporting desires that will facilitate reaching that goal. And we resist and uproot desires that will make it more difficult to hit our target.

In short - A fantasy is a dream, a desire in an inclination, a goal is a commitment of the will. What we need to have is a goal – not mere desires or fantasies.

He know that - this day - he has to start everything over again.

Yes. It is going to be a new beginning for him.  He will have to come back, because failure is not something written in his blood. Salsar is aware the enemy is not weak. They are powerful. More powerful than his whole empire combined, and now, he as a sole person, is just an “ant” in the hills.

Our king in the woods has a plan to take his life forward. In his attempt to regain his lost kingdom, he decided to do 5 things.

1) He decided to get a personal advisor. He is wise. He know things. But he need someone who can be part of his journey to get back his lost kingdom. To this person, he will tell his current position, where he wants to take himself. The strength of his enemy. Everything. In our current world, we can call this person a “life coach”. Yes. He decided to get himself a life coach.

2) He decided never to repeat his old mistakes again. Salsar realized the mistakes he made in his previous life - his extravagant way of life, not giving enough attention to welfare of his people, and then his army - who didn’t have a great commander in chief.  Today he made the decision that his current situation is because of his mistakes, and he should not repeat them in his new journey.

3) He decided to begin a new life in his life today : Salsar knew that he has to accept his life. What he has done has taken to what he is now. But he has to move on in his life. There are things for him to complete. Clock is ticking. Living an idle life wont help to get where he wants to go - from where he is now.  He want to begin a new life, and he decided to do it today.

4) He decided to use what he have to get what he want : Right now Salzar don’t have anything. He is going to begin from zero. And what he want - to get back his kingdom - is a very big goal. To achieve what he want, he decide to use what he currently have - to get what he want.

5) He decided that things are not an end - they are just a beginning. Even if  it feels like an end, he knows that things are just a beginning. There are lessons for him to learn. And he will get back everything - one step at a time.

We all have a time when we become the King Salsar. If you are now a King Salsar, then you can do the exact 5 things what he did.

You can close our eyes and count 10 seconds, and when you open your eyes - you have begun a new chapter in his life.

A new light for your future. A new chapter that will be rewrite your life for ever.

1. Enjoy Life( No Worries)	2. Reach office on time	3. Spend time with friends and family	4. Go for Trips & Outings
5. Keep House Clean	6. Quit Drinking & Smoking	7. Say no to junk food	8. Buy & Read Books
	9. Workout & Exercise	10. Write Diary

By January 15th, things begin to change. You see that most of the resolutions that we said we would maintain is no longer done. The result – we are back to where we are on Dec 25 (the time when u started your new year resolution). Now, there is something that you look forward for. Eagerly waiting for another Dec 31 and another new year, so that you can work again on your New Year resolution.

This is a rat race that happens to each of our lives. Instead of creating New Year Resolution, create a Life Resolution.

A life resolution is something you will commit to work on, no matter what the date is on the calendar. This is a round the year resolution. It can start any time. You are committed for the entire life time of yours, and thus even if you slip in the middle, you just start over the very next moment.

One Goal for Each Slice of your Life Wheel

We can divide our life into various slices – Health, Finance, Relationship, Career, Social Life, etc - as shown below.

Instead of just having, say Career oriented goals, you can pick one goal for each of these slices. When you put a goal to this slice, you also have to decide “what” will give you a 10/10 for this slice. And this is what you will be aiming to achieve for this year - “To get a 10/10 for your each of the life wheel slices”.

Analysis your past year resolution

Have a look at the goals you put last year and see how you did last year. On the rate of 1-10, rank your goals you made previous year.

Congratulate yourself for the success you achieved in your goals last year. If there were goals that didn’t work out as you planned, take time to analyze them. Are they on your current New Year resolution list ? Were they closer to completion (say 7/10) or you did very bad (2/10).

If there are unfilled resolutions in your plate carried over from last year, it is important for you to understand the reason why you did not complete it last year. Because, without knowing that, the “reason” itself will be carried to this year, and you will end up having lots of incomplete resolutions.

Here are few instructions while setting you life resolutions.

1. Be realistic by setting achievable goals. Winning the lottery, for example, is out of your grasp.

2. Describe your resolutions in specific terms. Instead of “I don’t want to be lazy,” opt for “I want to exercise regularly” or “I will cut down on my television watching.”

3. Break down large goals into smaller ones. For instance, commit to losing weight by resolving to join a gym and improve your eating habits.

4. Find alternatives to a behavior that you want to change, and make this part of your resolution plan. So you want to quit smoking but you smoked to relax yourself? What other forms of relaxation are available to you?

5. Above all, aim for things that are truly important to you, not what you think you ought to do or what others expect of you.

Good bye 2009.

The year which made us jump with joy, brought some tears due to the unexpected. Lots of happiness and achievements, and it is time to tell a fair well good bye to 2009 - good bye 2009. We loved you so much.

Welcome 2010.

As fresh as it could be. A new year to go for our life ambitions. Life passions. A new year to see our dreams being fulfilled. A new year to bring out the best out of us, and make 2010 the best year we ever had in our life.

Instead of creating just a New Year resolution, create a Life Resolution. And let your new life begin today.

Specifically, he asked what time they wake up, when they have their first cup of coffee, when they start on email, what if anything they do for exercise, what time they leave for the office, and what else they do before walking out the door.

He discovered seven interesting practices. See if there is something that we can learn from these CEO’s in order to make the most of our morning.

1. Start early.This is the part of your morning routine over which you have the greatest control. To fit it all in, it’s a must to start early. The latest any of the surveyed executives wake up is 6 a.m., and almost 80 percent wake up at 5:30 or earlier.The early-bird-gets-the-worm award goes to Padmasree Warrior, chief technology officer for Motorola, who rises at 4:30 a.m., spends an hour on email, reads most of the news online, and then does an hour of either cardio or resistance training each morning. This allows her to get her son ready for school and drop him off, and still get to work by 8 or 8:30 in the morning.
2. Get a jump on email.If you think you’re alone in feeling overwhelmed by email, take comfort: even top CEOs and the most senior executives feel compelled to stay on top of their email, and most of them find time in the early morning to do so.Ursula Burns, the No. 2 executive at technology giant Xerox, says, “I do email from the minute I get up [5:15 a.m.] and all day long, finishing around midnight.” Haim Saban, chairman and CEO of investment firm Saban Capital Group, starts email right after his first cup of coffee “at 6:02 a.m.” and works on it for about an hour before his 75-minute morning exercise regimen.Lou D’Ambrosio, chief executive officer at telecommunications equipment leader Avaya Communications, is “on email literally within one minute after waking up. I spend about an hour at home in the morning doing email to jump-start the day. This allows me to have a clear mind when I set priorities for the day.” Lou also does email from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. at night.

   Several executives wait until they get to the office before they start working on email. Matt Ouimet, president of the hotel group for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, for example, rises at 5:30 a.m. and leaves the house at 6 a.m. to get to the office very early — “I’ve always been anxious to get to work: game time” — and responds to email undisturbed for an hour while the office is very quiet.

3. Exercise every morning.It’s often difficult to find a way to fit exercise into your busy schedule, but knowing that some of the most successful businesspeople do so might motivate you to find a way to work it into your routine.More than 70 percent of the business leaders in my survey perform their exercise in the morning, while 15 percent find a way to do it during the day (one does it late at night before turning in). Only two of the executives admit to not exercising on a regular basis, although one said, “I know I should.”The individual who demonstrates the greatest exercise discipline is the CEO of a high-performing global technology company (I promised him anonymity so as not to blow his cover). “I exercise at lunchtime,” he says. “I block the time every single day. This is because I’m a runner and that’s the best time to run outside all year long.”
4. Be thoughtful about the source, form, and timing of your news.Much has been written about the demise of the newspaper, and, along those lines, about a quarter of the executives I spoke with has switched to online news. Yet most of the others maintain the morning newspaper as a central part of their routine.Steve Reinemund, the CEO of PepsiCo, reads the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and the Dallas Morning News. Rafe Sagalyn, CEO of the prestigious Sagalyn Literary Agency of Bethesda, Md., blends traditional and new media. He says, “I simultaneously skim online newspapers from Boston to Los Angeles and half a dozen blogs one really has to keep up with. At about 6:30 a.m., I fetch three morning papers — the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal.”
5. Problem-solve.The quiet of the morning is often the time when your mind is at its clearest and most well-suited to solving important problems.Steve Murphy, CEO of publishing company Rodale, says, “A line in a William Blake poem inspired me to think differently about my day: ‘Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening, and sleep at night.’ This has made a huge difference in my life. Now, I take out a yellow pad every morning and write my thoughts for the day, which allows me to be much more strategic and proactive than reactive.”
6. Make family time.Many business leaders find that the morning encourages important family time. Some have breakfast with their families or make taking kids to school a central part of the morning routine.Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Media Corporation, says, “I try to talk one of my kids into going outside to get the paper, but end up getting it myself. I then have breakfast with my wife and kids, help the latter get dressed, and drive the older boys to the bus stop at 7:40 a.m.”
7. Be creative with your morning routine.Despite all the discipline and structure described in the above best practices, it doesn’t mean you can’t be creative with your morning rituals. Gerry Laybourne, founder, chairman, and CEO of Oxygen Media, maintains a routine similar to other business leaders.However, she adds a unique twist to her schedule: “Once or twice a week, I go for a walk in Central Park with a young person seeking my advice. This is my way of helping bring along the next generation. I can’t take time at the office to do this, but doing it in the morning allows me to get exercise and stay connected with young people at the same time.”

The examples cited here have led me to reassess how I structure my early-morning time, and I hope they help you in making the most of your daily routine as well.

“You are right John, today is my daughters marriage. The book you hold in your hand is a witness to my life. I just had a flash back on my life and I really felt those missing moments. It has the day when I first went to school holding my fathers fingers. My mom looked at me and I could see the tears of happiness in her eyes. I never knew I was opening a new chapter in my life, but I don’t know john, I just cried. I came back to my house eyes reddened with tears. How can I forget my first day at school? This book will never make me forget it.

It has the day when new friends came to my life giving me new meaning to friendship and love. Days of happiness and days of sorrow one after another creating new entry to my book as the day passed. I joined college and moved to another city. I left most of my belonging behind, but took this book with me, giving it a chance to witness my yet another phase of my life. The fun filled days in college was sometime disturbed by the sour memories I had to go through in the campus. Exams, assignments and other academic works, not to mention the games and fun filled activities. All the daily events and memories took a place in this book.

My graduation from college, a workaholic life in search of a successful career, then my marriage, our first daughter Lisa, and now her marriage. All those life memories were recording as it is in this book and I can replay them life a video.
Today I completed 50 years of my life john. The glorious 50 years. All my life is written down in this book. I really miss everyone john. I don’t know. Replaying my precious moments of my life gave me an intense feel of happiness and the tears you saw in my eyes is the result of that.

How exciting is to record the cherished memories of my life and may be many years later, I would flip through those pages to view the precious moments I spent with my friends and family, and all those who came and walked through my life.

The day I jumped out with joy. The day when I went exhausted. The day when I felt emotionally lost. Cried because of the unexpected. A wonderful way to play my life back as a movie and see all the silly and crazy things I did in my life. All the wonderful people I met in my life. All the excitement I went through in this great journey called “life”.

We video record or take photographs of important occasions of our life. How about recording every detail of our life day by day in some kind of storage medium? How many of us have the habit of spending a few minutes daily to “diarize” our day.

I started this habit when I was studying in tenth grade. The thing which started just as a fun later became a passion for me. Now I keep record of how I did well in my life. What things I did which I shouldn’t have done. All the glorious memories and events in my life are being recorded.

If you have not yet started, then you are probably missing all those fun and excitement of recording your life. It gives us a chance to record the days you felt extremely delighted and happy. It gives chance to retrospect our own life.

There are a few important things to be considered in order to effectively cultivate this habit.

One, we need to religiously allow our-self regular writing times. Many people like to write in the morning when they first awaken. For someone who keeps a dream journal or a creative journal, this is a wonderful idea as it starts out your day by awakening your mind. A few others like to write at the evening before going to bed,
and this time, you reflect your day in one page.

Two, Write because you want to write and not because you have to. Don’t allow diary writing to become an obligation or chore. Let the need to write naturally flow from your heart. If you miss a day, accept that. In my case, if I miss a day because of some pending works or schedules, I write it together with my next day journal or decide to leave that day altogether (especially if nothing worth full or important happened that day).

Three, your journal listen to you what ever you say to it. Remember you feel so dejected about something, and you get a person who just sits in front and do nothing other than just listen, then you will start opening all your issues and feelings to this person. Your diary doesn’t talk to you, but it listens. Listens to everything you say. Once you get started, your journal will become one of your good friends — one who is always available and has the time to listen attentively.

Four, do not lie to yourself. Be honest. You may feel Happy, Great, Mad, Bad, Sad, depressing, confusing, embarrassing, frustrating, heart breaking, disgusting, lonely, shocking or rewarding. What ever you feel, reflect them in your words. You are talking to your best friend and you need to be honest to it right!!

Nowadays my diary is password protected. Instead of writing in a diary, I feel more comfortable to type and store them online. I use www.penzu.com for my journal writing. In this way, I don’t need to carry them with me wherever I go and I don’t have the trouble of someone “unknowingly” reading my journal.

How much time you spend, how often you write, the medium of the journal are all personal choice. One method may be perfectly applicable to one but may not be applicable to another. We can allocate a minimum of 2-5 minutes (i.e. 0.2% of time we have in a day) every day, any time, preferably early morning to record the previous day/ or at night to record current day.

You feel only you are interested in your what you want in your life.

At this point, you feel sad. Unhappy. You say to yourself - why in the world no one is interested in my dream.

Then you remember : You are climbing a mountain and this makes you special. But, only you will climb your mountain, no one will do it for you.

What is this mountain ?

The mountain is what you want to climb in your life. It is the true reason for your existence. It is Your passions, ambitions and dreams. The difference you want to make. The mountain is your dream to live, love, learn and leave a legacy.

It is what you really want. The mountain is how you want to spent your life.  If you really dont know what is your mountain, write down ten thing you want in your life, and from it pick three big things you really want.

This is your mountain. Understand one thing - Only  you will climb the mountain -  no one will walk it for you.

Once you know your mountain

Now you will work for your mountain. You will transform the mountain into individual steps. These becomes goals and milestones.

Put these goals where you will see them several times each day. For example, a note taped on your car’s dashboard. A note on your computer screen. A postcard in your shirt pocket. A sticker on the inside of your wallet. Anywhere you will constantly see the goal.

Every time you get stopped by life’s roadblocks, do not get sad. Do not give up. Do not look for excuses. Instead, just look at your goals. Look at your mountain. Never forget to look for the mountain.

When our life is hit by a roadblock - You will look for the mountain . Your feet will then follow your eyes.

You keep this mountain in mind at all times. If you constantly look for the mountain, you will persist. You will work to reach it, day and night. You will find the time and energy it takes to reach the top.

No obstacle will be big enough nor strong enough to stop you.

It is a great journey, and nothing should stop you from reaching your mountain top. You are indeed climbing a great mountain.