Live Zestfully

Don’t Let Cynicism Cloud Your Goals

It’s easy to feel cut off from the rest of the world and to even feel a little out of sync from those around you. You work hard but maybe don’t feel like you are achieving all that you should. It might be that you haven’t defined your goals clearly in your own mind before starting out. Think about it, if you had to go on a long journey, would you do so in a haphazard way with no idea of how to get there? It’s unlikely, so why set out goals that are going to impact your life but that haven’t been thought through properly?

Goal setting is powerful and it’s vital if you wish to have a successful future. It might sound old hat, but you need to create stepping stones towards your end goals as otherwise it’s an almighty leap to get to where you wish to be.

The problem of living without defined goals is that there will be too many distractions en-route and you will end up wasting time if you let distractions interfere with your designated journey.

Anyone who is successful in life would have had very clear goals set out either by them or in the first instance perhaps by an employer or someone who is a source of inspiration.

If you wish to create your own, you need to create your own visual picture of where you need to be. These can be long or short term projections but if you set several goals do make sure that they have to be realistic and achievable, otherwise you will only end up feeling de-motivated and cheated.

Remember, that your end goal is to be able to change your life and to live the lifestyle that you have always dreamed. Don’t sell yourself short by not going full out for your ambitions.

Think:

Career How far do you wish to go in your chosen field?

Finances- How much do you wish to earn at each stepping stone point?

Knowledge- Is there any specific that you need to know before you start?

Of course, your own goals may be much more personal than simply career orientated but you should still set them out in the same way.

For all our modern technology, you still can’t beat a good book, I say. I do here confess it, I’m a bibliophile. Call me old fashioned, quaint or any darn thing you like, but I love those documents.

Weighty tomes they may be, but there’s something about the concerted thoughts of another human being, all that focused energy from that person directly to you and me that’s just awesome, don’t you think?

And I’ve never been a great believer in libraries. They’re a great source of reference material, but I love books too much to just borrow them and have to give them back. I want to own them. That way, they are silent friends, founts of wisdom that just wait patiently for the day you pick them up and work through them. I’ve tiptoed through books, ploughed through books, devoured them, and waded through them, but always I come out enriched. Touched by another human being.

Perhaps most significant to me about owning books is that you can go back to them a second or third time, sometimes years after the first reading, and suddenly the book gives you a whole load of new insights you wouldn’t have seen in a million years the first time around. Or sometimes, it has the opposite effect – the words you once held as a light for your path is now laughably trite.

And you realize it isn’t the book that’s moved on. It’s you. Paper barometers of change.

What is a vision board? It is a collection of pictures, words or photographs of all the things you want to attract into your life, usually fixed to a large sheet of card or pinned to a large cork board.

A vision board can be a very powerful tool to use to manifest your desires. It is best placed somewhere you are going to see it often, such as next to your computer monitor, in your bedroom or your kitchen. Some people choose to have more than one vision board, in different locations at home or work.

You should also spend some time looking at the images on your vision board- look at the images at least once a day and visualize having them in your life. Allow yourself to feel good and try to get into the feeling place of having them in your life right now.

What Images should be on Your Vision Board?

Think about what you want to manifest in every area of your life and find an image which you associate with actually having it. For example, if your goal is to own a certain make and model of car, find pictures of the exact car you want on the internet or in magazines. Put the picture on your vision board.

Want to travel? Look through brochures and on the internet and find pictures of the places you want to visit. Want to lose weight? Find photos of yourself at your ideal weight or else find images of people with the figure you want or pictures of clothes you will wear at your ideal weight. If you come across any quotes or poems you find particularly inspirational, or which make you feel good, put them on your board. If you can’t find an image you want, draw it- don’t be put off by thinking you can’t draw!

The images on your board should mean something to you, and should make you feel excited and positive about your intentions. A vision board is an evolving process; you may achieve one intention and need to update it, or you may realize that you no longer want a particular intention. Of course, you may find more intentions to add!

If you want to see examples of vision boards people have created, search Google images for vision boards’. Hopefully you will feel inspired to create your own!

A sense of entitlement

In the words of the late, great Og Mandino, “proclaim your rarity.”

Of all the five plus billion people on planet Earth right now, you are the only one of you there is, ever has been or ever will be. The only one with your looks, your beliefs, your particular patchwork of experiences, your talents and abilities, your special constellation of sheer being.

You should be shouting that from the rooftops!

Just as there are no ordinary moments, there are no ordinary people either.

I challenge you … this week, find a way to do something, no matter how small, that expresses the sheer essence of you. If you’ve always wanted to sing – go and sing, and make sure it’s somewhere where someone can hear you. In the street, in a playground, a hospice, a retirement home – but SING!

If you’ve always wanted to be a published writer, how about writing a letter about something you feel strongly about and make a dozen copies on your computer, (yes I know you’ve got one of those or you couldn’t be reading this!) and send it off to twelve newspapers or magazines? Or a dozen appropriate newsgroups?

Get passionate about who you really, really are. The world needs you, and it’s high time it knew you were there.

Have an amazing time!