accomplishing major goals Archives - Page 2 of 6

"I want to be like you when I grow up."

dressup-resized I hear this a lot, and until I read Tim Miles response to a similar question, I didn’t have a good comeback.

Now I do.

So you want to be like me when you grow up?

Okay, here goes in no particular order.

Get up at 5:30 AM every morning whether you have to go to work or not. (Yes, weekends too.)

Each day if you are able to get out of bed under your own power, or you are still alive, say “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118: 24

Write in your journal, morning pages, reflect on your day, go for a walk, meditate or other activity that sets your intention for the day.

Stop watching the news. It’s designed to scare and distract you. Someone will tell you if you need to evacuate your neighborhood.

Stop waiting for the right time to do what you want. I couldn’t figure out the order in which I should have a teaching career, a family, return to graduate school and be an entrepreneur. So, I did it all along at the same time. (Try giving birth to your 3rd child on the first day of school in the second year of your doctoral studies and returning to classes the next week.)

Strive for harmony in your life by making time for work, health, fun, family, friends and spiritual needs.

Be willing to do things that make sense to you even if not to other people, even your family and friends.

Learn to enjoy your alone time. Major projects require blocks of thinking and working alone.

When you have a burning desire to travel or go to some event, don’t postpone it waiting for a willing companion. Go by yourself.

Risk making a fool of yourself or failing miserably at something.

Face frequent bouts with self-doubt, knowing that you’ll regain your self-confidence and forge ahead.

Follow your dream for years even if you aren’t making any money from it.

Admit you don’t know everything. Take classes and read constantly.

Always be open to learning, especially from your kids.

When you figure something out, be willing to share it with others even when they won’t pay you a cent for it.

Accept the fact that when you open your heart to love someone (even your kids) they may not love you back in the way that you would like. Love people anyway.

Adapt to change. It’s the only constant.

Make a plan.

Abandon your plan and be spontaneous sometimes.

Show gratitude for all your life experiences, even the ones you that didn’t seem so great at first.

Then, when you are about to enter your 7th decade, share your life tips with someone who says to you “I want to be like you when I grow up.”

Filed Under: Happiness Tagged With: accomplishing major goals, adjusting to change, gratitude, Making choices, positive thoughts, time management

Does Intention-Manifestation Work? The Answer is in the Question

By Flora 3 Comments

manifestedchair--resized Today I met with my new fitness coach, Cyndi, and set up an eating plan to detox for 3 weeks that will also include an exercise regimen.

This plan is about much more than my weight, because when you declutter your body, your office or your home, it affects all areas of your life.

Cyndi explained that when I stop putting artificial stimulants in my body, such as caffeine, my natural stimulants will kick in and do what they are there to do: make me feel good and focus better which will improve my behavior which will lead to better handling of challenges and achieving my goals.

She then told me to watch for things that show up in my life now that I’ve turned my attention to decluttering. Some of those things will be things I need to let pass out of my life.

She further explained that I will now focus better and operate at a higher vibration.

When I left her office I stopped by Trader Joe’s to pick up some organic foods and other items on the list of foods and beverages I now will add to my life.

Next I stopped by Staples on to buy a new office chair. The one I have is falling apart, and has been annoying me for months.

Besides, I had Staples rewards coupons totalling $14 and wanted to use them before they expire. The chair I liked was on sale for $99, and with assembly, $7.95 more.

Buying this chair was not in my budget, but I was fed up with the one I had. I began to question whether I should buy this chair or not since I hadn’t made a disposable $99 + 7.95 in my business this week.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was not to spend money I don’t have.

I decided not to buy this chair for now.

In the past I would have bought it anyway with the expectation that I’d make the $, but this time I left the chair, decided to come home, put away the groceries and think about ways to earn the cost of the chair before buying it.

When I turned the corner to my house, I couldn’t believe my eyes!

Sitting in my neighbor’s driveway were not one, not two, but five office chairs with $10 signs on each one.

What’s the likelihood of that?

(Her husband had gotten them when he bought the contents of a storage unit.)

As soon as I pulled in my driveway I dashed next door and started trying out chairs, like Goldilocks.

The perfect one was blue, not the color I wanted, but it was the right height, firmness and had an adjustable back and seat.

And best of all, the price was right! I had $10 in my wallet.

Eureka!

I rolled my selection to my neighbor’s front door and rang the doorbell.

She laughed so hard as she told me the story of how something told her to put those chairs out there. She had just sold the first one before I came by.

As soon as I placed the $10 in my neighbor’s palm, I thought of a simple way to cover the chair to make it coordinate with the living room decor where my desk sits.

This is not the first time in my life that I have manifested something I wanted. I have a string of experiences that convince me of the power of the law of attraction and that intention leads to manifestation.

In this experience, even just the intention of detoxing and decluttering my body and mind increased my vibration to guide my actions to getting what I wanted.

There are some of you who don’t believe that this is proof of any connection between my thoughts and results. You may even say it was coincidental or luck.

The trickiest part of intention-manifestation is that when you don’t believe it works, it is working just perfectly for you by bringing you what you expect. You see these laws were not created by mankind and do not choose when to work or not to work. They just obey our thoughts by bringing us the equivalent.

That’s why for centuries, poets, sages and clear thinkers have all stressed the importance of our thoughts.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7
“What we think, we become.” Buddha
“A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks he becomes.”~Mahatma Ghandi
“Every thought is a seed. If you plant crab apples don’t count on harvesting Golden Delicious.” ~ Unknown
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches.”~ Napoleon Hill
“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”~James Allen

I say Wow!

Imagine what amazing things are in store for me when I actually get this program under way!

What experiences have you had with intention and manifestation?

Filed Under: decluttering, Getting what you want, Happiness, Law of attraction Tagged With: accomplishing major goals, decluttering

Roll Over Your Resolutions

By Flora 1 Comment

pushingbigball Each year there is so much emphasis on creating New Year’s resolutions that you would think we had completed the ones from before. The truth is, of course, without radical effort and determination your “new” resolutions slip into oblivion within a few weeks as you slip back into your old habits.

Instead of creating new resolutions, why don’t we just roll over the old ones year after year until they drop off the list by being accomplished, they give birth to offspring who need tending or we lose interest in them altogether.

Our resolutions are painfully predictable and usually too general. Most people want to lose weight, exercise, quit smoking, get out of debt, and get organized.

When I thought about my resolutions from a year ago, I’m glad to report that I made progress, but they’re not the kinds of things that get neatly completed and tucked away. They grow tentacles and continue to require attention and care.

Two things on my list from last year continue to be there: become fluent in Spanish and learn to play gospel music.
I confess that these two things have been on my list since I retired three years ago and need to be chopped into doable chunks.

It’s not that I haven’t made a stab at them. I signed up for a Spanish program, Spanish Pod, that I can do from my smartphone, but dropped out after the trial period when I realized that other money-making tasks were getting pushed aside.

Learning to play gospel music stood a chance a few years ago when I discovered an online program, www.hearandplay.com by Jermaine Griggs, but I was eager to travel when I first retired, so that’s what I did instead.

Maybe I’m foolish to aim for so many big goals in one year.

Or maybe it’s just that I wasn’t ready to commit.

After all, I achieved my 2008-2009 resolutions to write a book, start a blog and start a talk radio show. Yippee!

In 2010 I resolved to complete a coaches training program, start a group coaching program and visit the East Coast to see the fall foliage. Done!

The biggest challenge to completing my goals is my love of research and learning that deters me from carrying out the tasks that will accomplish them. I spend way too much time in that exploration, preparation and reflection stage. I wrote this poem to express how I was feeling about all this today.

=============

Resolution
by
Flora Morris Brown

I don’t need another resolution,
Another vision board,
Another fact-packed webinar,
E-books from kids who’ve scored.

I’ve gathered piles of weighty tips,
That’s how my last year was spent.
Now my starving bank account
Squeals, “It’s time to IMPLEMENT!”

=============

I’m feeling especially confident about my resolutions for this year. Maybe that’s because they are so familiar.

But it’s more than that. They are a mix of work and play so I ensure balance in my life.

I love to entertain and attend theater and live performances, for example. Already I’ve had 2 dinner parties and am going to see Earth, Wind and Fire in February. Good start, heh?

One of my key resolutions is to take action on money-making projects that I spent so much time researching last year, one at a time. I’ve curtailed watching TV, hunkered down and resisted following bright, shiny objects.

How about you?

It’s mid-January.

How are you coming with those resolutions?

Filed Under: Happiness Tagged With: accomplishing major goals, New Year's resolutions

Another Thing Happy People Do

By Flora 2 Comments

Photo by blmurch

I recently asked my customers to answer a few questions about their experiences with my book, Color Your Life Happy. Here are responses that customer Renee Gailey, was kind enough to share:

What motivated you to make your first purchase?
I was feeling overwhelmed and very much wanted to get to overjoyed! I also joined the meetup for that reason.

What is your favorite feature of my book?

My favorite is the everyday language that you use and the stories to illustrate your points. Real life examples helped me to understand and also to know I was not alone in this situation.

What life lesson or change have you made as a result of reading my book or receiving my coaching?

I have made several changes. One, I have learned that when I am feeling overwhelmed I am looking at too much of the “picture” at one time and need to break it down into smaller “steps” or sections. Focus on the step you are working on and maybe the next step just to keep yourself on track. I have also learned that no goal no matter how outrageous, is achievable.

Who seems the ideal kind of person to benefit from my book?

Actually anyone who is struggling with their goals or with just handling life. The organization, coping, and “curing” tips are invaluable to them all.

Renee is referring to some of the points I made in Chapter Four. Here’s an excerpt from pages 79-80

If you’re like many people, then you may have trouble visualizing a big dream. Even if you aspire to becoming a millionaire, owning a beachfront villa, running a successful business, or traveling the world, you may not be able to see it just yet.

No amount of mental calisthenics can help you reach goals if you can’t visualize or believe you can achieve them. So why not set small, reachable goals that move you toward your big goals?

Approach it the way you eat a steak (sorry vegetarians, but work with me here). There’s no doubt you can finish that sizzling steak on your plate, but you wouldn’t try to get the whole thing down in one bite and gulp.

There’s an old joke: “How do you eat an elephant?”

Answer: One bite at a time.

Instead of frustrating yourself with the fact that some goals take time, think about what you can do today and tomorrow that will move you an inch toward that goal.

I spent years longing to travel to Europe, for example. I would browse travel magazines, read travel books and watch travel shows. My friends patiently listened to my daydreams until one of them hit me with a key question: “Do you have a passport?”

All those years of longing to travel abroad, wishing I could save enough money for a trip, and I hadn’t even taken the VERY FIRST step to foreign travel—getting a passport.

Getting a passport was very much within my reach. Post offices and libraries make passports accessible. I didn’t have to know where I was going to travel to apply. As a matter of fact, I discovered, it was less stressful to obtain my passport before making any travel plans, while I was in no rush to receive it.

If I didn’t have the money to buy my passport immediately, smaller steps would have been finding out where to apply and picking up an application. Even just discovering the passport fee is an important small step.

The Chinese proverb is right. “A trip of 1,000 miles begins with one step.”

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Filed Under: baby steps, Happiness Tagged With: accomplishing major goals, time management

Want to Be Happier? Take Action About Whatever You Care About

By Flora Leave a Comment

What do you do when something in your life, family, city or job displeases you?

Most of us grumble, complain, grouse. We do everything but take action to resolve the problem or make a positive change in the situation.

When Mrs. Harris fell on a misaligned sidewalk in Oswego, NY she was told by the city that they were not responsible unless they had received notice of the sidewalk problem in writing. So watch the video below to check out what Mrs. Harris did. Then think about something that is bugging you and go out and do something about it.