Running Your Own Race

Today I like to share a story from Jill Koenig. I fully agreed with "Running Your Own Race". Many times, I compared myself with others, how much they earn, what they have achieved, and how lucky they always seem to be and felt demoralized!

Often, I forgot that we are competing with different goals, some times even different races!

Do not get discouraged when others are doing better, what's more important is, did we achieve the goal we set for ourselves? What others have achieved is what we can aim for, but for now, focus on our immediate achievable goal!

Running Your Own Race

Think back to a time in your life when you tried something new.

When I was a teenager I volunteered to work the water station at a 10k race. It was called the "Heaven Can Wait" 10k run and ironically, it was sponsored by the local cemetery.

My job was to pass out water to the runners. I remember being so excited to see all the different kinds of people who passed by and grabbed a cup of water. Some ran
past, some walked past and a few wheeled past. I saw so many types of people
doing it, I thought maybe I can do it too!

So the next year I signed up for the race and gave it a shot. Back then I didn't do much to prepare except jog around my neighborhood. I never tracked how far I jogged, or timed myself, I just ran around. I had no time goals for the race, no specialized training, no game plan, nothing. Needless to say that I prepare differently when I run races today, but back then my only goal was to finish.

On the day of the race, it was incredibly hot and humid. I remember struggling at about the 5th mile, thinking, "I must be crazy, why did I do this? What was I thinking? And at one point, I said, "I am never doing this again!"

Have you ever felt that way about something? You eagerly undertake a goal and in the midst of it comes a moment of struggle, and you realize it is much harder than you imagined it would be?

That first 10k race was quite an experience. I jogged, I walked, I jogged and I walked. At times, I didn't know if I could finish. Then came a defining moment.

At one point near the end, a 70 year old man ran past me, very very fast, and I felt embarrassed that I was 50+ years younger than he and I couldn't even keep up with him. I felt defeated for a second. But then I realized something. He was running his race and I was running mine.

He had different capacities, experience, training and goals for himself. I had
mine. Remember my goal was merely to finish.

How often in life do we compare ourselves to others and feel disappointed in ourselves when we really shouldn't? After a minute, it hit me that this was a lesson I could draw from. I learned something about myself in that moment. I turned my embarrassment into inspiration.

I decided that I would not give up on running races, in fact, I would run even more races and I would learn how to train and prepare properly and one day I would be one of those 70 year olds who was still running. As I crossed the finish line, I was proud of my accomplishment.

I am so glad I didn't give up on running. Today it is an incredible source of joy in my
life. I have run several races since then, 5ks, 10ks and I run purely for fun. I
have studied running books, made friendships with other runners and I can report
that I love it now more than ever.

In life we all have those moments where we compare ourselves to others. It's only natural. Don't allow those moments to disempower you. Turn them into motivation and let them inspire you. Use them to show you what is possible. Every struggle is rich with opportunity. You define your own race when you define your own goals.

With the proper preparation, coaching and conditioning, you can improve your results to achieve anything you want in life.

The impact of fitness and nutrition on my life has been remarkable. I can do things now that I could not even do in my 20's all because of coaching, proper nutrition and conditioning.

You decide your race and you decide your own pace. Rarely in life will your destiny
be determined by one little race.

"Success is a peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable." - Coach John Wooden

Life is a series of races. There are lessons in every race. There are life lessons to be learned every single day. If you don't win the race, but you get the lesson, and grow,
you are truly a success.

Live Your Dreams.

Jill Koenig

Jill Koenig, the "Goal Guru" is one of America's Top Goal Strategist's. A best selling Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker, she is an expert on the subjects of Goal Setting, Time Management and Business Success. Her Goal in life is to help you unleash your untapped potential. Visit her website at: www.GoalGuru.com

Dreams unleashed,

Albert Lee
Pursue Your Dreams

One Task A Day

When I just started planning my daily tasks in the early days, I always write down at least 10 or more things to be completed by the end of the day. At the end of the day, there are always quite a number of things on the list not completed, and I have to let them rollover to the next day.


Everyday I would add new things to the list, and the list became so long that I just got tired simply looking at it. There were so many uncompleted things, and it was so demoralizing at the end of each day and eventually i threw away the whole list.


Now I will keep the list very short. As it is a list on daily tasks, I will make sure the things i wrote down can be completed within 1-2 hrs. After I threw away the old list, I started a One Task A Day List. Yes, I only list down the most important and urgent task that i need to do for that day. 1 task only, and I must be able to complete it within 1-2 hr. Once I started this routine, it changes everything!!


At the end of the day, it feels GREAT to strike off that single task off my list, and I have this sense of achievement as I have cleared my List!! (Although it only has 1 task on it)


Amazingly, with this method, I completed more things within a month than what i have done for the past one year!! Every month I completed 30 tasks and imagine how much I can do in a year!!?? Just One Task A Day!!


Now some days I will have 2 or 3 tasks as I know I can complete all of them! And I always refer to the list, and make sure no tasks get rollover to the next day, unless due to unforeseen circumstances. And most importantly, I no longer hate looking at my daily task list!!


If you have problem clearing your task list everyday, or you have already developed the phobia of looking at it, try ONE TASK A DAY LIST. You will be amazed.


Dreams unleashed,

Albert Lee
Success University Student

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Click here to access Success University, one of the best online mlm program that focus on Personal Development.

You can subscribe to the FREE Success University weekly newsletter "First Bell" here.
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Have You Plan Your Daily Task List?

I have been telling myself it has been a while (I thought around 2-3 days) since I last wrote in my blog, and I must take some time out to write as I have so many personal development knowledge I like to share!!


But when I see the date of my last post, I have a pretty bad SHOCK! Its been 5 days!! How can time flies so fast without me realising it??!!! Then I realised the problem, I have been so busy arranging my personal finance for the past few days that I did not plan my DAILY TASK LIST! I just keep focusing on arranging my finance and cleanly forgotten many other important things!!


Daily Task List is extremely important. Everyday before you sleep, sit down and spend the next 10 mins to write down the list of things that you need to do the next day. Then throughout the day, make sure you keep referring back to the list and cross out each task whenever you get it done!


Daily Task List ensures that you do not forget important things due to busy schedule or some unexpected events. It keeps you on course and steer you back whenever you wander off track!


So do start the habit of planning your daily task list starting from today! It will help you achieve more in shorter time!



Dreams unleashed,

Albert Lee
Success University Student

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Success University is one of the best online mlm program that focus on Personal Development. It has a library of Elective and Achievement Courses from over 50 of the world famous speakers in the like of Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Les Brown and many more. With less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day, you can access these courses and earn a second income while learning. Click here for the 14 days Free Trial to have an inside look of the program, and donate $2 to a charitable organization.

You can subscribe to the FREE Success University weekly newsletter "First Bell" here.
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Ten Steps To Goal Getting by Zig Ziglar

After we have written down our goals, and make sure they are SMART, I would like to include the following Excerpt from Zig Ziglar on the Ten Steps to Goal Getting.


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These ten steps will help you achieve your goals in 2007.

1. Make the commitment to reach your goal. "One person with a commitment is worth a hundred who only have an interest." Mary Crowley.

2. Commit yourself to detailed accountability. Record your progress toward your goals every night, and list the six most important things you need to do the next day. Daily discipline is the key to reaching your goals.

3. Build your life on a sold foundation of honesty, character, integrity, trust, love, and loyalty. This foundation will give you an honest shot at reaching any goal you have set properly.

4. Break your intermediate and long-range goals into increments.

5. Be prepared to change. You can't control the weather, inflation, interest rates, Wall Street, etc. Change your decision to move toward a goal carefully--but be willing to change your direction to get there as conditions and circumstances demand.

6. Share your "give-up" goals (i.e., give up smoking, being rude, procrastinating, being late, eating too much, etc.) with many people. Chances are excellent they're going to encourage you.

7. Become a team player. Remember: You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

8. See the reaching. In your imagination see yourself receiving that diploma, getting that job or promotion, making that speech, moving into the home of your dreams, achieving that weight-loss goal, etc.

9. Each time you reach a goal your confidence will grow so that you can do bigger and better things. After accomplishing any goal, record it in your journal, Weekly Planner or Palm Pilot.

10. Remember, what you get by reaching your destination isn't nearly as important as what you become by reaching your goals--what you will become is the winner you were born to be!

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Dreams unleashed,

Albert Lee
Success University Student

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Success University is an online mlm program that focus on Personal Development. It has a library of Short Elective Courses and Achievement Courses from over 50 of the world famous speakers in the like of Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Les Brown and many more. With less than the cost of a cup of coffee a day, you can access these audio and video courses and earn a second income while learning. Click here for the 14 days Free Trial to have an inside look of the program, and donate $2 to a charitable organization.

You can subscribe to the free Success University weekly newsletter "First Bell" here.
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How to set SMART Goals

After you have decided what you want and written them down, you have to make sure these are S.M.A.R.T. goals. What exactly is a S.M.A.R.T goal?

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Realistic
T - Time-sensitive


SPECIFIC
Vague goals cannot produce any good results. Instead of saying "I want to be rich", be specific and write down exactly how much you wanted to have. Instead of of saying I want to travel around the world, write down which countries you wanted to go, what you wanted to see and activities you want to participate!


MEASURABLE
Your goals must be measurable, or specific and measurable! for example above, write down the exact amount, $5,000, $20,000 etc.. so you know how much you are away from reaching your goals.


ATTAINABLE
We all have big dreams. But if you set a goal that is so high that it is almost impossible to achieve, very soon you will give up as you will realize that it is simply not possible to attain it.


REALISTIC
Just like Attainable, your goals must be realistic. I am not saying not to have big dreams, set goals that you need to stretch far so that you will improve, but the goal must be "real" or can be made real. Do not expect to become the president within a year if you are not even in politics and nobody knows you!


TIME
All goals must have a time frame attached to it. If there is no deadline, you will never have the urgency to complete it. If we all can live forever, imagine how much procrastination there will be!! We will always put it off since we have all the time in the world!!


So now you know what is S.M.A.R.T. goals, let's go through our goals and make sure they are S.M.A.R.T goals ya!


Cheers!


Dreams unleashed,

Albert Lee
Success University Student

P.S. You can subscribe to the free Success University weekly newsletter "First Bell" here. You can check out my previous blog entries for some of its excerpts.

Goals Setting

Happy New Year my friends. Today is the first day of 2007, and it is a day where we sit down and think through what we wanted for 2007. Therefore today I would like to share with you how to set goals.


Setting goals is very simple. Decide What You Want and Write It Down! Yes, that's it, decide what you want and write it down!


LONG RANGE GOALS

Get yourself a piece of paper, and on top of it write "Long Range Goals". Then spend the next 12-15 minutes brainstorming what are the things that you wanted within the next 1 - 10 years. Write fast and abbreviate. Try to write down at least 50 items. Do not describe or write any details, we will get to that later. Just abbreviate and write fast. The following will gives you some ideas on where to start,

1. What do I want to do?
2. What do I want to see?
3. What do I want to be?
4. What do I want to have?
5. Where do I want to go?
6. What would I like to share?


Remember to include the following 3 areas,

1. Economic Goals
2. Material Items (Tangible)
3. Personal Development


Now go through the list and beside the goals that you need 1 year to accomplish, write a 1, beside goals that you think you need 3 years to accomplish, write a 3, and do the same for 5 years and 10 years goals.


After you have finished, go through the list one more time and see how many 1 year goals you have compare to 5 years goals. You may realised that you need to add more 3 year goals to the list. Do it now.


Finally, go through all the 1 year goals and circle the 4 most important goals, and do likewise for 3 year, 5 year and 10 year goals. Now these 16 goals will keep you busy for a long time. Now take another piece of paper and describe in details each of your 16 goals. The color, the size, the model, etc.. now is the time to either talk yourself into it or talk yourself out of it. There must be strong reasons why you wanted the goal.



SHORT RANGE GOALS

Setting short range goals are easy. You can do it anyway you like. Write a list and set a time line, there are people who like to do it weekly, while others set monthly goals. Write down all the small goals that you can complete within a day, week or month. Everytime you complete a goal, strike it off your list. That's it!


Remember, whenever you completed a Long Range Goal, CELEBRATE! Celebrate your achievements, that is what keeps us going. The Joy of Winning. And when you cannot hit your target, put it on yourself. Give yourself the Pain of Losing. So that this will motivate you to do better.


Let's start setting goals and make 2007 the Best Year ever!


Cheers!


Dreams unleashed,

Albert Lee
Success University Student

P.S. You can subscribe to the free Success University weekly newsletter "First Bell" here. You can check out my previous blog entries for some of its excerpts.