Tag Archives: Goals

Reflect & Keep Going: 3 Keys I’ve Learned This Year

Posted on December 30, 2014 | 1 comment

This year has been by far one of the best years I’ve had regarding on growth. The amount of knowledge that I have acquired is twice as much as I did in the previous year. I am to say that I am happy with the amount of work I did and consumed, yet I still find more desire to grow from my capacity.

I want to give out three keys that I’ve learned that can help other individuals grow from where they currently are, and get to where they want to be. I believe they are a great starting point for those who want an advantage. The three key factors that I’ve learn that helped me grow this year are: people, books, and execution.

People:

This year I set out to spend more time with the people that were experienced with the area of expertise that I wanted to be. Examples of this are going to networking events that you are most interested in, conferences, seminars, it was all about getting in there and not be afraid of the outcome. It makes such a huge difference as you spend more time with them. Your mindset adapts, and you learn insights better than on your own. The saying of ” you are the average of the five people you spend your time with” is about right. You feed what they bring in, however; we can’t always be selfish, we as well have to bring something to the table and show them that we appreciate their time for giving us their time. It’s one of the best keys I could tell someone that has helped me so much this year.

Books:

Reading is nourishment for the mind, need I say anymore? Reading the books on the area that you want to further expand your abilities will give you the knowledge and confidence that helps you gain results you want them to be. There is something about reading I think that gets you way ahead of your competitors that don’t read. Of course you need to put in the time to get reading checked off, but there are alternatives. Some people read, while others would rather listen to the audio form. A great time to read I recommend would be first thing when you wake up in the morning. Your mind is empty, at peace, and having your brain consume what you picked up, is the first thing it will think about.

Execution:

Many of us have placed in mind that someday we will start a business, they keep procrastinating, and soon it becomes their habit that someday they will. This is quite irritating and frustrating for the person receiving these words and the one saying it. I know starting a business is hard, it’s not easy, but there are small methods we can do that can at least get the foot in the door so you can start a business. Worried about something going wrong? Get the knowledge on what to look for by meeting people or reading books. Starting something and doing it is all the experience you need. This is how I learned quickly. JFDI

These three key factors are a great starting point that helped me gain a vast amount of knowledge and skills in order for me to get ahead to where I want to get, and I believe this will help you out also. If you have any other key factors you would like to add, please do so as I would like to know what three factors have helped you further grow this year.

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Let’s Get Started for New Years

Posted on December 6, 2013 | Leave a comment

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving week, where you’ve spent time with loved ones and those close to you. I’ve been spending a great time with loved ones as well, plus the cold winter temperatures that start to set the mood for Christmas. As we begin this week of December, now is the perfect time to make your goals for the New Year. Why wait until January to plan out your new goals, those new year resolutions do not work. A majority of those that make New Year resolutions give up on them after an average of 17 days, that’s scary isn’t it? So at this moment, what do you plan on doing for next year?

Is it a year to go big? To some yes to others, no. It’s ok and understandable, but as a quote I read stating don’t let time pass you by as if it does, you will regret having that same time back again. How do you know if next year is your year? Was this year not the year you had in mind?

I think a good course of action would be to take action right away. If this year wasn’t your year, why wait until January to start making steps. How about making next year your year by taking action as soon as possible. Plan your goals today, and start on them as soon as you can. If you’re planning on loosing weight for next year, get a head start. The busiest time of the month at the gym is January because of all the new year resolutions people make, of course it all settles down in February. But take the advantage, and start before the end of this year.

Let’s go out and make a difference in ourselves, flip the switch and let’s get going.

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What Now? Post Goal Achievement

Posted on October 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

After adding much effort and enthusiasm in setting up our goals, doing them step by step is part of the process, but what do we do when we’ve come to the point of completing them? I’ve been in this situation several times and after doing several research, there are steps that have helped and you can take after you have achieved a certain goal.

The question I’ve came across recently however is if the goals we set to put out, should be achievable? Tim Ferriss talks about this in one of his articles, and he states goals are not always meant to be achieved, rather are there to help you navigate close to where you want to get. I came to think this is true in a way because I’ve completed several certain goals in my past but after competing them, I’ve gone back to my old habits and feels like I’ve gained nothing there.

Of course it’s something to celebrate if we do come to the point where we’ve accomplished a goal we intended to, but what do we do afterwards?

One helpful advice I received was while planning your goals, make sure you have something leading it to another. In the case your mind becomes numb not knowing what to do, set out another goal bigger than the previous goal you’ve made. This was very helpful because all the experience and knowledge I gained trying to complete my first goal, helped me stay on track using the same resources I had to get to the other.

Another helpful advice is trying to stay motivated. As previously stated, after completing a goal, we tend to wine down back to the things we used to do. Instead find motivation by surrounding yourself with other people who’ve had the experience of completing their goals or by listening to audios that elevate you to strive for more.

With all the hard work we did to complete our goal, rewarding yourself would be the other option. By doing this you’re setting your mind to saying that there are benefits after accomplishing something. With that mentality, you are moving forward of what you did and you’re off to new heights you’ve planned out.

These are the steps I’m currently using after I’ve completed one goal, and hope they could be of good advice for you as well. What else do you do; that hasn’t been mentioned, after you’ve completed a certain goal? Do you agree that goals are not always meant to be achieved?

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Lessons at Work

Posted on October 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

Throughout the year I went out into the job market to study how it really is like working in a field that I did not enjoy. Having grown up and worked/made small projects for my parents, I’ve learned the complex life of working at a nine to five job. I decided to do this because I figured it might be a way to motivate myself to start my own business. Was it a good idea? More than likely yes. I want to share with you three of the issues that has build upon me throughout the year that I’ve taken noticed and what I have done to resolve them.

First and foremost I think we can all agree that depression takes a hit when you’re at a job you don’t love. I didn’t start noticing this as much until I began planning out other projects I had apart from my job. During the weekends, I would spend most of my time studying and finding ways to strategize a business project I wanted to start, but once Sunday night hit, it felt frustrating because I knew I wouldn’t have enough time over the week. Throughout the week I would just think about the project, any changes or when I get back I’ll look at other related projects. The frustration began to build up, not only because I didn’t want to be there, but because I felt like I had so many things going on at the same time and I wanted to get it done.

Depression tends to hit people hard. Your mind barricades itself from the outside world and it is difficult getting yourself out once you’re at mid-point. There are many helpful articles all over the web that helps you out of depression. I denied I was depressed and kept saying I was mostly frustrated, but it ended up being the same. So what did I do about this?

I was very fortunate enough to have read many articles about depression in high school, I had friends that would feel like this after a rough breakup in their relationships, and I would give them advice of my own what I knew at the time; if anything, to help. One of the very and most important things I had to do was to talk it out with someone whom could guide me out of it. I think this was key to getting out of it quick. I knew signs of depression was rising and once it hit, I had to talk to someone to give me their feedback about what they thought. If you have signs of depressions I would encourage you to talk to a therapist or someone that could guide you out.

Next, I’ve tried questioning why are people afraid to leave their jobs or why people rather waste time watching television after they get home rather than spending that time studying on something they want to achieve?

The answer is comfort! While working at my job, I began to really feel comfortable. What do I mean by comfortable? Comfortable by making expenses bigger than what I could afford, and the feeling of depending on that job.

I read helpful tips from Noah Kagan and wrote down what’s the worst that can happen if I left my job at this moment. What I came to figure out was that, money played a huge roll. We get comfortable with with our salaries that it gets hard to leave that to accept something much lower.

So what I had to start doing was change my habits. I started lowering my expenses dramatically, and saved my salary instead. Although there’s this issue I’m debating about that I stumbled upon with Robert Kiyosaki saying saving doesn’t work anymore, rather invest in things you will benefit from.

Finally, the people you don’t enjoy working with. Before being hired at the place I worked at, I didn’t know about this problem. I thought, no that can’t be true, I’m sure the leader in charge will solve that out get. Unfortunately where I was at, this was not true.

There were two particular people that I could not stand to be working with. Now as studying to be a leader, I would take steps to make the situation better, but I would say those two at first would not accept anything and go on with their own. I had to acknowledge the fact that there are people out there that carry a mind full of negativity and do not want help.

One very helpful way to resolve these situations is to always carry a positive mind. Perhaps it sounds cheap, but if you look at this from an outside prospective. If one person is angry and you show positive energy towards them, they’re going to want to bring you to their level by you responding angry as well.

They’re going to do things that makes you bring out negative emotions, and by doing so, your on their playing field; they’re taking advantage of you. Instead avoid that, show you are bigger by being positive and bring them up to your field.

These three issues I think are the biggest that I have noted and impacted me over the year while having a job. I’ve really learned a lot from this experience and I hope this post gives you some guidance on what to do and avoid as well. What are your experiences while working at a job you don’t enjoy? Would you agree that the feeling of being too comfortable at your last job was difficult for you to go out on your own and start your business? What steps did you take to let go of it?

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Setting Up Our Goals

Posted on October 2, 2013 | 4 comments

What goals do we tend to set ourselves in life for? Have you accomplished them or have they slowly become disinterested and faded away? What techniques do you use to set your goals in life of what you want to achieve? I want to give you some advice of my own to describe to you what I do to set up and accomplish my goals.

One of the first things I do when preparing to set up goals is to go to a setting I know I will feel comfortable without being disrupted by others. It helps clear my mind and gives me more focus to what I want to achieve.

After sitting down at a comfortable setting, write it down in pen and paper so you can see it everyday. Why write it down? There’s some form to it that the mind pays more attention to a physical thing rather than something that hasn’t been written down- don’t keep it in your mind.

Let’s get more into this: what strategy do you use setting up your goals? Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar both demonstrate their planning strategy, which is highly helpful. I took some advice from them and when strategizing my goals, I tend to be specific.

The first thing I look at is the dream, what do I want to be or have accomplished? I write down the end results. After writing down my dreams goals I start with the realistic and reachable goals, I write what I want to accomplish this week, followed by this month, six months, and 12 months.

Usually by 12 months I want to accomplish a big goal, something I could be proud of, therefore; when I write a goal for this week, I’ll have something that will benefit me getting close to what I want to achieve for next week, followed by month, etc. Making those small steps.

However, we shouldn’t just write one goal that we keep all our focus on. Instead make more than one goal for yourself such as goals for your health, and your finances, family, but make sure they’re enough to have yourself focused on, don’t carried away.

Once I’ve written my goals down I visualize and review them to myself. Visualizing the end results of my goals gives positive motivation and keeps me focused. I also tend to share my goals with people who are also in the same experience.

As the time goes by, I often go back and mark out the small goals/steps that I’ve accomplished getting me closer to the bigger goals I set myself. Remember to keep in mind that we may become distracted, not having enough time, or slowly lose interest in our goals. The key here is consistency and discipline.

Are there any other techniques you use to plan your goals? One question I look at is, what do you do when you accomplish your goal before a deadline? I hope these tips will help guide you through making your own goals today and in the near future.

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Goal Accomplishing: Who We Spend Our Time With

Posted on July 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

“Surround yourself with smart, dedicated people – to build something isn’t a one-man show. It’s more important to have smart people who believe in what you’re doing than really experienced people who may not share your dream.”

I think this quote has a lot to say about who we should revolve our lives around if we want to accomplish our goals. Like the saying goes, if you want to be successful, be around successful people. If you want to be positive, gather yourself around positive people. If you want to be negative, gather yourself around negative people. Determining our lifestyle depends part on who we spend most of our time with. It’s what makes us.

Perhaps our fathers have told us early in our childhood years, “I don’t want you around them.” But we didn’t listen and we had to learn the hard way why they didn’t want us revolving around them. Early in my years as a kid growing up and getting to know many people, I didn’t listen very often. I had many friends, but in today’s world the definition of a friend could be slightly different (not that I’m that old, I’m a 90’s kid. That’s not old right?).

All of us would gathered after school and plan on what we wanted to do. Sure some had bad thoughts in mind while others had positive, it was a mixed-variety. But I’ve learned the way of what negative people revolving around you can do. You start thinking the same as them and your life is so close minded. You cannot help but start to complain about one simple thing. Your mind goes into this state where it thinks of everything as no good and this is where problems start to rise and you lose hope within yourself.

I became aware of the situation and slowly but surely I started separating myself from them. Some of these friends I had to start choosing carefully; out of the many, I had to narrow it down. It’s probably a tough thing to do because I’ve grown up with them but the difference is that ones started to gain leadership knowledge while the others are still in the back seat running around without a path for goals nor are they motivated.

I only have a few great supportive friends that I’ve grown up with that are amazing. I’m grateful I still have them in my life, we all tend to discuss our issues and solve them as a team. But another problem is that they don’t have the same goals as I do. So how do you handle this situation when you want them to be close to that mindset?

I try and inform them of what I enjoy doing, what I see myself doing in the future and what my short/long term goals are. By doing this, their minds become relevant with mine so we don’t go off on topics that should be of no interest. We always have fun even when we are not in the same mindset, but at the end of the day we come to a close on discussing the best interest, and yes we’ve all gained each others trust.

It’s harsh to say, but apart from that now most of my time I’ve minimized being with those childhood friends too. The reason being because I’ve gotten to know few people who have the knowledge and habit to achieve their goals. I want to keep learning what they have to offer and listen to their experiences in dealing with obstacles. I don’t know if it could be balanced between them and everyone else, but I’m putting it with a good positive mentality and seeing what the results may bring.

What are your past experiences with the people you revolve yourself around? Do they give you a boost to stay motivated or have they distracted you from your goals and found it difficult to get back on track? Have you found a balance to spend time with both those not in the same mindset as you and those that are not?

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Don’t Break It: Keeping Success Growing

Posted on April 18, 2013 | Leave a comment

“It’s easy to give up and fail than to continue growing forward.”

I don’t know if there’s a quote like that where I’ve read, but this morning it just came to mind. Going through Facebook looking at the great friends and people I’ve met through the years they all have one thing in common, they’ve continued to grow and carry on with themselves. I see they’re doing so well, some are starting to have a family, others joining the army preparing to be deployed. It brings a smile on my face knowing the people I grew up with are continuing their success. As for me, something I focus myself in is to keep growing through this embarkment which I choose to take.

Visiting my family in Boston last year for Christmas, many of them I had the chance to meet for the first time since more than 8 years; it’s been a while. Having the chance to catch up on things, most already had kids. One had a new born while the other had three kids already, I’m glad to see that they’re doing well and being safe. One of my cousins’ asks “So how come you don’t have any kids?” I have a slight pause and answer her that I feel that I’m still too young to have kids at my age, although there may be some people that think the age of 23 is appropriate to have kids.  It felt as if I was left out because everyone was growing families and I was seen as the selfish one. Thing is I can choose to have kids grow a family and carry on with my life, but what I have focused in mind is too big for it. Not that it’s such a demeaning move, but I want continuous growth to succeed and  having more responsibility increases the risks of failing those goals I have set myself in.

The past years of reading John C. Maxwell, Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Zig Ziglar, and many more books, I felt that I have gained such great knowledge from them. I want to keep continuing my success to grow. Books are a nourishment for the mind, and I plan to use it so I can grow forward.

However, sometimes it comes across that it seems so complex that after all this much of listening to these speakers and trying to come up with ideas and methods of improving myself, that I can just drop it, let go, give up and just carry on with whatever life throws at me. But reality is I just can’t, it’s not in my mind to even have it mentioned. Something I talked about in earlier post about discipline. When it’s looked at, failure is a simple task. Throwing our goals away or giving up after going through a long process being many steps far from where it was started is so easy. Compared to setting our mind straight and having this constant go looking forward to each step we make, planning our strategies and making it happen. It’s something that pops in mind at times, and perhaps it’s a bad thing but I tend to get over it and continue my path.

Has anyone ever felt like this after looking at yourself and wondered how it’d be like to “blend in” with the crowd sort to say? How is it handled when it occurs and what are your responses to those who ask you why?

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