Will Your Life Work The Way You Want In 2010?

It's never too early to start planning for next year, especially now that we've marked 2009 as one of recession and things may turn brighter in future months. This year carried with it uncertainty and unsettling economic news, but I say these circumstances compel us to take a deeper breath and pause to think about our lives. Are they moving in the direction we want them to be? Will you be ready to embrace 2010 when it arrives in a mere months?

When people ask me about the single most important ingredient to success, I always share the same response: realizing what's making you achieve success, and then realizing what is stifling your success. Sometimes recognizing the things that are NOT working in your life can be painful, yet more powerful to shaping the life you want. Don't try to rationalize them, make excuses for them, or hide them. This is when it's even more critical to take personal inventory and evict those excuses, rationalizations, and hidden habits that don't serve you. Let me give you some examples:

• Do you want to be active, fit, and strong? Then you have to stop making excuses about your weight, diet choices, and lack of exercise.

• Do you want to embrace Monday mornings and feel excited about going to work every day? Then you have to stop hiding your true passions and go after whatever it is you really want to be doing day in and day out.

• Do you want to lose the debt forever? Then you have to stop ignoring your spending habits and get real about a budget that will pull you out of debt and allow you to reach financial freedom.

• Do you want to feel more connected to the people in your life, such as your partner, children, friends, and colleagues? Then you have to stop complaining about your poor relationships and figure out why you don't feel as connected as you'd like to be.

Successful people do not waste time in denial (or complain or make excuses for that matter). They face situations like a warrior. It's okay to identify a problem even though you haven't a clue about solving it right away. The first step is just recognizing the issue, and then having faith that you'll figure it out with careful attention to it.

Following are the three things to do constantly in pursuit of your successes, however big or small:

1) Awareness: Life tells you things every day. Do this. Don't do that. Think about this. Try me. Forget that. We live in a world that seemingly encourages us to live on autopilot. Successful people fly manually every day and so should you. When those feedback signals come in, listen to them and use them in planning your next step.

2) Commitment: Commit to finding out why things aren't working and learn what will fix them. Once you start the process it will be much easier to continue. Nothing fruitful stems from inaction.

3) Trust: Trust that making changes to the situation will ultimately bring about the best results. Sure you might go through a bit of discomfort during the change, and some unlikely or unwanted outcomes, but in the end you will triumph!

So are you ready to admit the things that just are not working out?

Make a list of the things in your life that are working against your success and ask how the situation can be improved. If you need help organizing those "things" in your life, try using the following list of categories. I recommend reflecting on each of the these 7 areas and ask yourself, what's not working here in each one?

1. Financial Goals
2. Career/Business Goals
3. Free Time/Family Time
4. Health/Appearance Goals
5. Relationship Goals
6. Personal Growth
7. Making a Difference

Remember, by facing what is not working, you can only improve your life!

And if you don't know where to begin, just start writing. I have a set of handy worksheets for you that can help you make plans. Click here to download these free resources and start creating all that you want from your life.

© 2009 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield is America's #1 Success Coach, co-founder of the billion-dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul brand, and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to be more accomplished and have more fun in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessPrinciples.com.

 

 

Comments

[feyangel]

I think there is a lot of value to doing this exercise and I plan to do it,-- again, as I have done it many times. And as I read through the comments, I hear a lot of understandable disgruntlement about setting financial and career goals in times like there, especially if you are one of the the folks who have lost a job or whose business has gone belly up, or someone who is drowning in medical bills due to unexpected illness and a crappy health care system, or someone whose savings and/or retirement is depleted as a result of recent circumstances. It is hard to budget NO MONEY or unemployment checks and food stamps to get out of debt. So-- to some degree, some of what Jack talks about may be unrealistic or unhelpful or pie-in-the-sky for folks really being hit by the brunt of the economic decline. AND it does make sense and is probably good advice to set goals and to maintain a focus of moving towards fulfilling them, just cos a hopeful, forward-th­inking/mov­ing attitude feels better than giving up . . . though I will comment, that sometimes lately having financial and/or career and even fun time/recreational goals (ie: travel and anything else that costs money) can be discouraging when circumstances don't seem to line up with their fulfillemnt.

[khanti]

2010 is going to be a bleaker compared to 2009. You don't see the depression bottoming out this year. The government is bankrupt of new ideas to revive the economy; the funds are gone and more troops to Afghan which mean more money needed to maintain the war there. It is going to be another year to tighten our belt, stick to whatever job we still have and slog it through. Thanks for the lessons anyway.

[Theda]

Don't do a sweatlodge, Jack!

[Nomccain]

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail......­..........­........

[tubette]

Sometimes it's not what a a person thinks or believes that causes their demise.... Sometimes it's much bigger.... what a whole society does. People in place like Darfur have a bigger problem then individual failure to think correctly.

[RenoSage]

I have always believed "the future belongs to those who prepare for it."

"random acts of kindness bring joy to both the giver and the given."

And my mission in life is to "spread sunshine".

Beyond that I worry not about myself, but about others.

[sedonarocks]

Tolle helped to OPEN my eyes in the last year. I went from reading his book to going to a local mediation class. Then I added yoga to my life. I try to stay in the "present" as much as I can. It is almost like fasting. I find the tv media toxic and limit my time there. I seek nature more. I am on this path and nothing is going to push me off of it. I listen....really listen to people now and don't feel obligated to add my own two cents. "when there is no enemy within....the enemies outside cannot hurt you".
Wishing everyone peace on their own path.

[healingwords]

Eckhart Tolle changed my life as well when I read The Power of Now and A New Earth. Acceptance and loving "what is" are the key to peace, not efforting and acquiring success in the world of ego-based attachments. My new book, CHANGE YOUR MINDSET NOT YOUR MAN, Learn to Love What's Right Instead of Trying to Fix What's Wrong, is inspired by Tolle and is based on the ancient non-dual wisdom that informs his work. A relationship with the 'self' is what we are seeking and one can be happy with a flawed imperfect spouse or anything that helps us grow in consciousness.

[itssafetosay]

So what about the many "successful" people out there who don't excel in the 7 areas, or maybe don;t excel in any of them? I agree with much of this, but please let's be honest about why many people achieve "success". Saying these things without perspective is kind of like shaking your finger at people who are struggling to make things work, and failing.

I know people who definitely don't excel in all of the areas, maybe in 1 or 2, and they are much "better off'" than me + many aren't even what I would call "good people". They don't have a world view, don't care about the welfare of others, and frequently lie to get what they want. What they do have is a series of fortunate circumstances: they were born to fairly well-off parents, had college paid for, were set up in businesses through family ties, were given nice down payments on houses. I also know people who inherited money fairly early on in life. Not huge amounts but enough to pay off student loans, buy houses, etc. My husband and I, frankly, have struggled far more than any of these people never having a safety net to fall back on and having paid for everything from college to first home by ourselves.

Please let's acknowledge that there are a large number of "successful" people who don't need to work as hard to achieve things, but simply were born with or came by some huge advantages.

[Caliwoman]

Better off can't just be financial security or the rich kid will almost always win. Let's all be nonmaterialistic and make their conspicuous consumption look selfish and insensitive!

[missmaryc]

Look at the seven categories he sets out for personal assessment:

1. Financial Goals
2. Career/Business Goals
3. Free Time/Family Time
4. Health/Appearance Goals
5. Relationship Goals
6. Personal Growth
7. Making a Difference

Yes, I know things are tough in a down economy, but of the seven, only two of these would be very difficult to address. Personally, I am unemployed, but that should not stop me from addressing points 3 through 7. What's more, I really should be spending more time on my job search and addressing points 1 and 2.

While I understand the tough economy makes it more difficult to be positive -- I'm experiencing it myself -- it is precisely why such an article is necessary...to remind us what's possible if we take some control, even if the cards are stacked against us.





Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-canfield/will-your-life-work-the-w_b_318427.html

[Car84]

It's both interesting and depressing to see how many posters look to government as a significant source of their abilities to succeed and thrive.

The author is not saying you'll become wildly rich and successful if you do x and y. It's a matter of putting yourself in a position to succeed. Truth be told, we have a lot of failures walking amongst us who have made terrible choices in their lives, and who somehow think the system or the government or their relatives or aliens (legal, illegal, extraterrestrial, etc.) have screwed them.

No. If you do not prepare for success, you likley will not succeed.

Despite what you read in these posts, you have no right to a family vacation every year, to food, to health care, or to anything else that is meant to be purchased. I have more of a right to be protected by my government from those who feel so entitled, if you really want to get into what "rights" are, in the Constitutional sense.

[3Lunches]

i think it's always wise to take stock of where you are, the progress you've made and to reassess your goals.

That said, life can throw curveballs and success and achievement tools may seem irrelevant when your life is crashing down around you. To the list: Awareness, Commitment and Trust, I'd add Friendship. No one can do it alone in this world and friends can offer support, love, and occasionally, practical advice and assistance. If we spent more time sharing with one another, building support networks, offering ideas, time and attention to one another, we might achieve our goals, but more importantly, we'd be a whole lot happier.

The point of life is defined differently by everyone, but a life based solely on personal achievement seems meaningless. A life lived with love and compassion is preferable to me and is a different kind of success. The comments on this post are revealing of a disenchantment with easy fixes. I think that's a hopeful sign; reality is making a comeback. As a part of this new reality, I hope we include compassion, friendship, loyalty and responsibility.

[Dugwood]

A great example of "farming the farmers."

[hottingers]

I'm sorry, by the picture I thought this would have something to do with horses.

[DeeDubya]

What's stifling my success?

Getting a job would be nice. Maybe I need to be willing to get on my knees and beg the politicians to throw me a bone.

Toss me some scraps, guvna?

The state of affairs in this country are stifling my success, and my life.

[balancedsolution]

yeah i beleve "the secret" basically the law of attraction plays a part but there are so many factors as well.

why did rush limbaugh become rich and famous? because of his positive thinking?

why did oprah become rich and famous? because of her postiive thinking?

no a lot of it is TIMING.....people are in the right place at the right time.

some, rather most things are out of our control. we only set the sails the boat goes where it goes.

[flow555]

Well ... both of your examle are reportedly very positive thinkers ... especially in terms of believing in themselves and believing they are here for a purpose.

Then when the time comes.... and that door opens.... those examples and many others... march right through. The don't spend time hanging around the doorway, hand-wringing wondering if they are good enough, or smart enough. Or any of the other ways that we get in our own way.