A Prison Cell?

Do you have a goal? A focus in life? Have you invested a great deal of time, effort, money to achieve and yet feel you haven't made it yet? For all your effort do you still feel that there is something missing in your life? It is obviously very important to set goals in your life. It gives you a focus a way forward a mechanism for making decisions when faced with a number of options. However, it can also be a prison cell.

How can making goals and having a focus be a prison cell we hear you ask. It becomes a prison cell when you create goals based on your past experiences. You look back at your skills and capabilities and then decide what you ought to focus on. In other words you set the future on the past. It creates the illusion that you are going forward when all the time you are stuck within the boundary of your past capabilities. It's like driving your car by looking in the rear view mirror all the time. You have a great vision of what happened in the past but haven't a clue about what is coming in front of you. The point is: whatever happened in the past is not a true indication of your potential.

As Alan Cohen stated: "To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny."

In other words if you continue to do what you have always done then you can only expect to get what you've always got. If you constantly focus on the past, the negative or on what is missing in your life you have no alternative but to create limited goals and focus. You are back in that prison cell again.

You need to break the cycle. How do you do it? You change your thinking.

To give yourself the chance of changing your thinking. A chance to create the life you want. A chance to create a focus and goals that you want to achieve. Start by answering the following questions. They are not easy, but they will enable you, in time, to become very focussed.

Where are you now? Where are you in life?

Describe your current situation.

What are your priorities in life?

How important are your close friends and relations to you?

What influence do you have on your partner's life? How do they influence you? Do you like this?

Do you like where your life is going?

Where do you want to go?

What is success to you? When you are on your death bed looking back at your life what would you like to think your life was about?

Visit the questions often until you feel you really understand where you are now and where you want to go. How you get there will become obvious as you progress. Don't rush, you have plenty of time. Keep focussed inside, on yourself. Think of yourself as opening a bank account of the self. The more time you put in, the more credit appears on the bank account and therefore in time the more is available for withdrawal.

Now the crucial question:

What holds you back? What stops you going for what you want to achieve in your life?

It is not enough just to create a focus and a plan. To understand where you are now and where you want to go. To change something you have to DO SOMETHING. Put your plans into action. Until you have put your plan into action, you haven't changed. You are still doing what you have always done.

Become a member of the 20% club. That's the percentage of successful people in the world. Put your focus into action. It's your focus, you have thought it, designed it and built it, now have the enthusiasm, desire and aim to implement it.

Change the I can't into I can. Think for a moment. Is this fear real? Or is it that your imagination has taken over, stopping you from embracing the future? Because, at the moment, you have no evidence of what is going to happen. The only evidence you have is in the past. And as you have not done this before, at this time, then you have no evidence.

Don't worry about your capabilities. Can I do this? I have never done anything like this before? What will I do when???.? There is something magical about this process called life. Whenever we are faced with an incident we have never faced before somehow the answer arrives. Somehow we have the capability. They appear just when you need them most. If you look back over your life we are sure you will find, like us, that most of the time you set out to do something you didn't have the capability before you started. The biggest example is education. When you started did you know all the knowledge you had at the end or did you become capable as you went along?

All you need is courage, enthusiasm and discipline. Have the courage to drive towards your goals, the enthusiasm to keep going and the discipline to create a new habit even when it is tough. Keep focussed, keep learning.

"The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams. "

Og Mandino

To give yourself a better than average chance of success. Each night before you go to sleep ask yourself: What did I do today to bring me closer to achieving my focus, my aim and objective in life? Break out of the prison cell.

Good Luck

Graham and Julie

www.desktop-meditation.com

About The Author

Graham and Julie

To see more of our work please go to: www.desktop-meditation.com

graham@desktop-meditation.com

---

5 Simple Tips For A Better Life

How can we enjoy a better lifestyle?'Easy' I hear you say, all you need is a few million dollars a beautiful home a happy loving family and... Read More

Get Out Of Your Own Way

One of the biggest obstacles to our self growth and personal development is.................ourselves!No, make that THE biggest obstacle.When we say that we want to make changes, but... Read More

Motivation and Inspiration: Illusions 101

Q: I was wondering if you could recommend any books on motivation and change that are fun to read and that aren't all rah rah, if you... Read More

Resistance to Change

All of us are resistant to change, whether it's in using a different tool, a technique a choice in partners, or lifestyle.The ones that resist the most... Read More

Heavy Weather Guide

Direct Answers - Column for the week of April 26, 2004My girlfriend and I are basically the same age, just a six month difference. When I went... Read More

Worship and Football: Lets Take Another Look

At a recent seminar we were asked to imagine if some football commentators were giving advice to churches about how to increase their attendance. They might suggest... Read More

Blessings for the Soul

In Corrogue I count my Blessings.These are numerous. There is every breath in. There is every breath out. There is every heartbeat that reminds me of the... Read More

Discovering The Art of Bending Your Mindset And Manifesting Your Multiple Intelligences

Discovering the Art of Bending Your Mindset and Manifesting your Multiple Intelligences in selling.Doctor's cant' sell Real Estate! What's your mindset? A number of people related this... Read More

One Woman?s Story of How Her Smile Increased Her Confidence

For one who takes pride in being involved with different community organizations, possessing a high level of confidence is essential. Especially when that involvement includes speaking to... Read More

Getting Past Those Blah Days

Get It OutWhen something is bothering you, whether be a family problem or business roadblock, write it down or talk to someone about it. Keeping problems inside... Read More

Keeping Your Attitude Up When Circumstances Are Down

Everyone knows that a positive attitude is key to the successful life. But what happens when things go wrong? What happens when circumstances deal us a blow?... Read More

Playing With Fire

Direct Answers - Column for the week of October 21, 2002I am a stay-at-home mom, 24, married to my husband, 26, for six years. He has a... Read More

Labor That Works Miracles

(excerpted from The Challenge to Succeed series)Two thousand years ago on April 15th one of Jesus' disciples came to him and said it was time to pay... Read More

Giving Life Meaning

Have you thought about what you want people to say about you after you're gone? Can you hear the voices saying, "He was a great man." Or... Read More

Need for a Belief System: A System of Organization for Your Experiences!

I've spoken with many people who, over time, have felt inundated by their lives. It seems as though they've accumulated all of these memories and experiences, but... Read More

A Life of Purposes Extraction

Purpose. What is purpose? Drinking coffee when you wake up and making a habit of drinking coffee only when you wake up? No. Trying to drink coffee... Read More

Discover The Magic Of Doing What You Love

Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love... Read More

Just Say, I Love You to Those Who are...

Life is beautiful and lovable with the type of people we have around us. We talk about unconditional love, what is that? The way we love GOD?is... Read More

Win Your Own Lotto

When people talk about enrichment, they are usually thinking of financial enrichment. (Show me the money!) But, we can enrich many other aspects of our lives too... Read More

Moral Obligation & Responsibility

Chances are you have seen some type of disturbance in your lifetime. Whether it was a bully picking on someone or a piece of trash on the... Read More

Journaling for Two

Journaling is a powerful tool that can enhance our lives and support our well-being. It can also add to our relationships at home, work, and play. When... Read More

Trusting Your Genius Within

Comments about New Theories in the Professions and Business!I recall reading an article in The New York Times which fascinated me entitled, "Geniuses, Crackpots and a Grand... Read More

A Prison Cell?

Do you have a goal? A focus in life? Have you invested a great deal of time, effort, money to achieve and yet feel you haven't made... Read More

The Power of Courtesy and Kindness

I'm currently listening to The Secrets of the Power of Intention audio program by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I highly recommend the program. In the program, he speaks... Read More

Its Better to Give than to Receive

"It's better to give than to receive." You've probably heard that popular saying.From the Bible, Acts 20."In everything I showed you that by working hard in this... Read More

Learn to Deal in Challenges

(Excerpted from the 2004 Jim Rohn Weekend Leadership Event)To really help people in extraordinary ways, learn to deal in challenges. That is what sports is all about,... Read More