OK so I have been very busy with you name it in working a business from the ground up and I honestly haven’t made time to blog lately but I am offically BACK!   I want to take a moment to talk about the difference between being proactive vs reactive and explain what I perceive are the benefits of having a proactive attitude.

•One of my favorite quotes is a quote by Michael Jordan, “Some people want it to happen, some people wish it could happen, others make it happen.”

Of course Michael Jordan wanted the ball at the end of the game, he wanted to be in a position to make things happen and win the game. I love sports related quotes because they can and do relate to everyone and every area of life, are you one those people that says I wish this or that would happen.  Or are you one those people that constantly desires and wants something to happen but never does anything about it. Finally do you make things happen, instead of just wishing and wanting. We all fall into one category or another.

This is where being proactive comes into play, you must begin to think, visualize and put a plan together to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.  Michael Jordan did not become the greatest basketball player ever over night, as a matter of fact when he started out in youth basketball he was not very good.  He came home and told his dad that he wanted to quit, and his dad said to him well Michael that’s fine quit but what did you learn today and Michael said ”I found out I hate to lose”.

So what do I do from here, how do I begin to take myself from just wishing and wanting to making things happen and can you be a Michael Jordon in your area of life? I submit that we can be the best at what we do and that we can have more success than failure if we would only plan for success. Simply put we must proactively plan to succeed and not just sit back and take whatever happens and then react to the situation.

•“Setting a goal is NOT the main thing, it is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.”  Tom Landry

The funny thing about goals are they become the things we talk about rather than the things we do. So we talk, wish and want but we don’t proactively go about achieving our goals. Often our sales staff will tell us that the main reason for their success is luck and I am always quick to point out that it’s not luck but it’s when preparation meets opportunity. Just as Michael Jordan had to practice and prepare to take that last second shot, we must proactively plan and prepare to succeed at whatever our goal might be.

To me the difference between proactive and reactive, is not being satisfied with what might happen or could happen but turning the odds in my favor and being prepared for success.

Are you prepared for success?

I honestly wrote this at the end of 2008 for 2009 and thought…. this is still great advice and I am glad I found it…

Enjoy!

Many have acknowledged in recent conversations that the Holiday Season and the New Year is a time to sow, how there’s so much fear in our world right now and how it’s related to some of the universal laws that modern society has forgotten.

We have put together a quick, easy-to-apply Top Tips on how to THRIVE in this economy and how to apply knowledge you might want to know:

1.  Clearly define what inspires you. 

There’s a big difference between taking action out of inspiration versus desperation.  Use this season as an opportunity to hibernate into the recesses of your own mind and define what you choose to create in your next spring.

2.  Control your focus.

Energy flows where attention goes.  Are you focusing on lack or opportunity?

3.  Feed your mind.

What’s your constant mental diet?  Do you spend hours in front of the scare news or are you reading good books, attending more positive classes/seminars, watching uplifting DVD’s and listening to powerful CD’s?

4.  Strengthen your body.

Your physical health and vitality have a tremendous impact on your performance as well as your mental and emotional fitness.  Exercise releases stress as well as strengthens your body and mind.

5.  Inventory your friends : )

Doom and gloom attracts more doom and gloom.  Jettison those “energy vampires” around you and surround yourself with opportunity seekers.

6.  Quiet your mind.

Take time to meditate daily and to slow down if only for a few minutes.  Ten to fifteen minutes of meditation will relieve hours of stress and increase creativity and resourcefulness.

7.  Rid your life of escapist activities.

Overindulgence in TV, sleep and alcohol only accelerates the problems you’re attempting to avoid.

8.  Make a daily gratitude list.

Focusing on all the good, gifts and God  in your life puts you in the right line of thought, feeling and their subsequent actions, which will attract and create more good, gifts and God.

9.  Change your attitude. 
Realize that everything that’s happened in your life thus far is here to serve you, teach you and help you grow.  Find the lessons in your past results, forgive yourself for anything you could have done better and apply the lesson to move forward and create a better future.

10.  Get resourceful.

For the next seven days, go to a place where you can have uninterrupted time… Come up with 10 new ideas to grow your income, creat new results and improve your life.  You cannot leave your spot until you have 10!  And no editing!  All ideas are good ideas. 

Now take your list of ideas and pick the three to five most powerful and leveraged ones to put into action.  Pick these 3-5 based on:  ease of implementation, rate of return and speed of return. 

Just like our friend Macgyver did…

So during this New Year and this New Decade I am blessed to be a resource to you!  It’s all about resourcefulness.  Get resourceful and get busy!

DH

Click here to view the embedded video.

Goal Setting vs. New Years Resolutions…  The ultimate showdown

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. To me, they are like a fad. Something that is all the rage for a short period of time, and then gone so fast it’s like they never existed at all. How many times have you heard or even given the half hearted declaration to lose weight, quit smoking or change jobs? That’s not goal setting, that’s wishing.

I believe the best time to make changes is today, no matter what day of the year that is. I don’t wait for tomorrow to start if I have decided to do something. And I certainly wouldn’t wait for a new year to begin goal setting. Once I set my goals, I review the goals on a regular basis, adjust them, adjust the plan and then keep moving forward. Things don’t always work out according to plan (one of my goals for 2009 was to buy one more property – which didn’t happen for many reasons), but I don’t stop making goals; I just adjust and move forward.

Lets take a quick look at my brief video and a Study: 

Study about goals at Harvard MBA program, 1979.

From the book What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School by Mark McCormack:

In the book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack tells a study conducted on students in the 1979 Harvard MBA program. In that year, the students were asked, “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Only three percent of the graduates had written goals and plans; 13 percent had goals, but they were not in writing; and a whopping 84 percent had no specific goals at all.

Ten years later, the members of the class were interviewed again, and the findings, while somewhat predictable, were nonetheless astonishing. The 13 percent of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all. And what about the three percent who had clear, written goals? They were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

In spite of such proof of success, most people don’t have clear, measurable, time-bounded goals that they work toward.

In the bestseller “Goals!”, Brian Tracy teaches you how to identify in the clearest terms the things you want out of life, then how to make the plan to help you achieve those things. Brian Tracy says there are four reasons why people don’t set goals:

• They don’t realize about the importance of goals. If the people with whom you spend the most time — family, friends, colleagues, and so forth — are not clear and committed to goals, there is a chance that you will not be, either.
• They don’t know how to set goals. Some set goals that are too general. These are, in reality, fantasies common to everyone. Goals, on the other hand, are clear, written, specific, and measurable.
• They fear failure. Failure hurts, but it is often necessary to experience failure in order to achieve the greatest success. Do not unconsciously sabotage yourself by not setting any goals in which you might fail.
• They fear rejection. People are often afraid that if they are unsuccessful at achieving a goal, others will be critical of them. This is remedied by keeping your goals to yourself at the outset; let others see your results and achievements once you’ve accomplished your goals.

I have also included what I use to gauge goals for not only Financial aspects but for Spiritual, Mental, Physical and Relationally. 

Happy Holidays to you