Have you ever had that moment, where you suddenly decide you are ready for change?

It might be that point of deepest frustration, where you will no longer tolerate the state that you are in, or it might be when you are at a high point in your life and you decide that you just want to go for more.

Next thing you know you are visualising the realization of your goal where you are (put in your own vision here) and you are ready to succeed.

Day 1

All out effort towards the realization your goal, you are not just accomplishing the goal, you ARE the goal

Day 2

Day gets of two a bad start. Half way through the day you remember your goal and put a little effort in.

Day 3

The day was more than stressful. You go to bed at the days end, and just as you are nodding off you remember about your goal.

As you drift off to sleep your goal joins the other goals that have come before it. It becomes just another dream.

You had such great intentions.  What went wrong?

The proverb goes “The journey of 1000 miles begins with one step”.

Why one step?

Why not say “The journey of 1000 miles takes 5,280,000. Get moving” ??

Because you would try to cover as many steps in that first day that by the end of that day you would be exhausted, and after three days of pushing yourself really hard you would give up.

As important as it is to envision the success of your goal, it is equally important to plan the steps to get there.

Once you know what your goal is and you have planed the process to achieve that goal, then you begin to only focus on the process “the one step”.

And as those steps add up you start to do them subconsciously, they become habits.

One easy step at a time, and before you know it you will have reached your goal.

If I would ask you if you can walk 1000 miles you might reflexively think it quite unlikely. Interestingly though, the average person takes 4000-6000 steps a day. Which means that in the past 3-4 years you walked 1000miles.

You didn’t even realize it, but you did it ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Years ago a Real Estate magnate buys a beautiful ten story building in the center of Manhattan. A few days after the purchase the demolition crew moves in and they begin to rip down the building. After the demolition is complete, giant excavators come in and begin digging deep into the ground. On this particular day that the excavation begins, a resident of the city walks buy and stands before the site in shock. He remembers growing up on this street and the beautiful building that used to be there. He goes to speak the the magnate.

“Why did you destroy this beautiful building?” he asks.

The magnate tells him that he wishes to build a new building that will be 100 stories high.

“Why couldn’t you just add 90 stories on top of the old one?”

The magnate explains that the old building would not support the new floors and the foundation was only designed to support ten stories. To build a 100 story building the foundation must be very deep and strong.

Lastly the man asks “Why could you not build outside the city where there is plenty of space, why did you have to build right in the middle of the city?”

The magnate explains that if he would build outside the city it would take many years for him to see a return on his investment, but by building in the heart of the city he will be able to realize a great profit in a few short years.

The taller the building the deeper and more solid the foundation needs to be.

So too with our personal development - the greater the goal, the higher the purpose- the deeper and stronger the foundation needs to be.

Whether in relationships, health or business, I you wish to acheive greatness, you must start from a solid foundation.

If your current foundation is one of doing things is sloppily, last minute, and only as a result of frustration, your outcomes will always be substandard.

Whatever your desired goal may be, try to imagine what habits a person who has already accomplished these goals might have. Once you have that information, slowly but diligently begin to work on the habits and the rest will start falling in to place.

I remember as a child seeing Superman II for the first time. In times of trouble, mild mannered Clark Kent, became the blue tight-ed red caped Superman, flying in and saving the day.

If I would walk down the street today in a full body suite and cape, super hero would not be the first thing that would go through peoples minds. Nuts, flake, crazy are much more likely.

But when Superman Returns came to the theaters, I know that 10 of thousands of people flocked to the theaters waiting breathless for the first appearance of that spandex-ed super hero, who represents Read the rest of this entry »

Often the most simple of questions can not only unleash the greatest impact in our lives but it can also be the most difficult to answer.

Often when you ask a person “What are your dreams?” you receive little more than a blank stare. It’s almost as if you just short circuited their brain. I know that for many of you if you ask yourself the question, you will begin to feel a tightening in your chest, or a lump in your throat, you wont even know where to begin.

This is a far cry from the response you get when you ask a child the same question. A child will give you a wide smile and then excitedly share with you all their dreams and aspirations. We were like that too at one point, but somewhere along the way Read the rest of this entry »