Ok, so its been two weeks and I wanted to touch base and remain accountable to my goals for the year… Here goes.

1. Be the very best Dad possible for my darling daughters. – In progress, if you know what the details are in this area of my life.

2. Have more fun then I have had in any previous year to date. – I can do better here still.

3. Be in better health then I have been in any previous year to date. – Haven’t cut down smoking as much as I want too yet.

4. Maintain a daily meditation schedule to keep centered and keep a positive mental attitude. – Need to focus more on this one, having schedule issues (i’m sure playing World of Goo until 4 AM didn’t help)

5. Learn 13 new songs on the guitar. – Wow, I better get my but in gear here I haven’t even picked up my Guitar yet this year.

6. Become proficient in last years new programming language (Ruby) and learn one new language. This is on target, Smalltalk may be interesting except I don’t know which variant to look at yet … Will have to ask the guys.

7. Inspire as many other people to be the best that they can be, and inspire them to inspire others. – Not sure that I can measure this right now, let me know if i’m inspiring you

8. Produce and be a part of a successful and synergistic Master Mind group. – On track (although we missed our meeting on monday)

9. Post a new blog entry for every day of the year (minimum 300 words). and create a healthy subscriber base. Still going except my posts from Mac Journal don;t seem to be automagically posting the way they should be.

10. Launch the clothing line. – Haven’t touched on this yet this year (lowest priority at the moment).

11. Learn, Laugh, Live. – Needs more attention still.

12. Make a metric ass-load (technical term) of money. – My Phone Project may be getting a new breath of life, just need to do some research and/or get a VA to do the research for me (thanks go out to the 4 hour work week).

13. Be debt free before Jan 1 of 2010. – Still have no idea HOW i’ll pull this off, but i WANT too, so I think everything will be ok.

There are other things that have crept into my awareness that I want to accomplish, this year… Things like:

a) Be a better Freelancer and get more work (having so much work that I’m constantly having to turn down new stuff would be good (assuming that I can pick and choose the best projects to work on).

b) A minimum of a 30 day trial of the Polyphasic Sleep Pattern … I SO want to do this, I honestly think it makes so much more sense.

c) Develop the sleep logging app for Facebook, I think it would be a lot of fun.

…. Ok, thats enough for now.

So I have been posting for a full week now, well actually, I have taken advantage of the Change Date Feature so that the posts roll out on a daily basis, although they don’t seem to be rolling out on the right time… Will have to look in to that.

Ok, so for the lazy readers, lets recap …

Step 1 – Document your goals (write them down)
Step 2 – Make yourself accountable (tell people that you have the goals and set deadlines)
Step 3 – When you fail, forgive yourself and keep going (don’t let a minor slip cause you to give up on the goal)
Step 4 – Focus on your goals for at least 68 seconds (several times a day and put feeling into the focus)
Step 5 – When you know what you need to do, act on it. (you will know when you need to do something, don’t delay, act)

Those are the key steps to achieving just about anything you want. It does not matter if you know how you will reach your goals, you don’t have to know how things will work out, you just need to want to reach the goal. Trust that the universe will show you the opportunities to make your dreams and goals manifest themselves.

Doubt me? Great!!! Try it yourself, I’m not here to tell you anything that you don’t already know, if you look inside yourself you will see that the above 5 steps are not new information, just perhaps something you have forgotten.

Now that I have provided the background process that I will use to achieve each of my 13 goals for the year, I can start documenting the day to day progress, and flush out the details I do know which will help me reach the goals.

This post is part of an ongoing experiment series centered around success and getting life back on track. (specifically mine, but these steps will work for yours too).
Today I’m giving you the fifth step in the process (action).

Like I pointed out yesterday (focus), you need to do more then just think about what you want, this is the 5th and final step in this part of the process. This last step is action. Once you have documented what your goals are, committed yourself to being accountable and accepting that you you are the one responsible for making the goals a reality, knowing that a minor setback is just that, focusing on said goal(s), you need to do one last thing. You need to act!

During the relaxation exercise you will have thoughts, its part of the process, make note of any thoughts that support or are congruent with your goals, we all know (even if we don’t want to admit it) what we need to do (most of the time). This last step is crucial, ACT. Do something that takes you one step closer to the goal. It should be the smallest thing you can do in the shortest time possible. Like Nike … Just Do It!

Step 5. – Take action towards a goal, regardless of how small the action is, and give yourself credit for the action.

For example, if you want more money, look at your spending, brown bag your lunch one day a week, cut out an excessive ‘treat’, you don’t have to make a drastic and uncomfortable change right away and become miserable about it, you just need to align yourself with the goals, and you can do it one baby step at a time.

Then give yourself the credit for the action, you want to get into better health? Skip a smoke. Do 20 jumping jacks (please consult your Dr. prior to doing physical activity), take the stairs, walk to the store for milk, etc, etc… Want to be a better guitar player? Pick up the guitar and practice it for 10 minuets. There is no excuse except the ones you allow yourself to make.

By giving yourself credit, you will feel good, and that will want you to take another action.

Does the goal seem insurmountable? Ask someone you know for ideas like the ones I have presented, (you did tell people your goals right? you are going to make yourself accountable right?) … I thought so

Tomorrow i’ll re-cap and ramble a bit more

This post is part of an ongoing experiment series centered around success and getting life back on track. (specifically mine, but these steps will work for yours too).
Today I’m giving you the fourth step in the process (focus) and some simple exercises.

I have to admit, focus is one of my personal nemesia. I’m the guy that reads 4 books at a time, always has multiple projects on the go, get distracted easily, etc … in a nut shell I’m ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) … (if you are the kind that buys into disorders (which, for the record. I don’t … (another post))) … See that distracted thought? but it was still along the same thought process and not totally all over the map, so thats a bit of focus and I’ll give myself the kudos for it.

Focus is essentially, a discipline of the mind. In todays fast paced instant gratification society where we bombard ourselves constantly with 30 second ads, and 500+ channels on the television, its no wonder that there are so many people that have a hard time keeping focus. Focus is a key to the universe, I’m sure that almost everyone here has read or seen ‘The Secret’, or understand the ‘Law of Attraction’ or the ‘Power of Deliberate Intent’, or has read some Napoleon Hill. If you haven’t you may want to check out one (or all) of the aforementioned so that you have a grasp of the direction I’m coming from.

Step 4. – If you can focus on a goal, for a minimum of 68 seconds, several times a day, you WILL manifest that goal into your physical reality.

Now that isn’t to say that all you need to do is focus on your goal, you still need to write it out, and you still need to make yourself accountable, and you still need to not focus on the negative side of the goal (for example, if your goal was a specific amount of money (coming up) don’t focus on your current lack of that money, that will continue the manifestation of the lack of money). Focus instead on the positive side of the goal (for example having the money in your possession already), and you need to know forgiveness for yourself when you fail. Being hard on yourself will not help in anyway.

So what can you do to improve your focus? As you will see for yourself, that mere 68 seconds of intended focus on a goal is not nearly as simple as it sounds, you will undoubtedly tell yourself that you are focusing (even when you are not), and in rather short form you will forget to focus and then you will say ‘that doesn’t work’ … well thats breaking Step #2 (accountability). So rather then do that, try this instead.

Tonight when you go to bed, get into a comfortable position (on your back) uncross your legs, put your hands at your sides, and take a few breaths (in through nose, out through mouth). Relax. take a few more breaths, don’t force them, don’t try to alter your breathing, just relax. Once you have started to relax I want you to direct your attention to your toes. Just your toes, I want you to ‘feel’ your toes, forget about the rest of you, there are only toes. Let them relax, then move into the ball of your foot (top and bottom) and again keep only that part of your feet in your attention, let that part relax, next into the arch (middle of your feet), same thing, relax that part and hold your attention on it.

Now if you have never done a relaxation or meditation before this will seem very foreign to you, but honestly what have you got to loose? you’re the only one that will know where you are directing your attention, there is no reason to feel foolish, and I know that the more you practice this exercise, the better you will become at it.

If you have done a relaxation or a meditation before you will undoubtedly be rushing through this part of it (don’t). Take your time, relax. The point of this exercise is to gain focus, that only happens by taking your time, the longer you take, the more your mind will wander and that’s OK and perfectly normal. its part of the process. So for the experienced, SLOW DOWN.

Your mind will wander, you will think about something that happened during the day, or anticipate what you need to get done tomorrow, or repeat a conversation in your mind, or review a TV show, or Movie you watched, or some other less important thought will come along. Thats all perfectly normal, what you need to do as soon as you become aware that you are distracted and not focused on the part of your body you should be, is finish the thought (that point where it changes into another thought) and gently but firmly direct the thought back to the last part of your body you were on and continue.

Personally, I like to use the following format … toes, balls of feet, arch(mid foot), heels, ankles, shins, calves, knees (back of knees / kneecaps), outer thighs, inner thighs, ass, genitalia, hips/pelvic, spare tire, tummy (lower abs), lower back, sides, abs, mid back, soloplex, rib cage, upper back, chest, sides, shoulders, finger tips, thumbs, palms, backs of hands, wrists, forearms, elbows (inner/outer), biceps, triceps, back of shoulder, neck, back of neck, throat, jaw, base of skull, back of head, ears, mouth (open slightly), cheeks, temples, top of head, nose, bridge of nose, eyes (closed), eye sockets, eye lids, forehead, and end on the ‘third eye’ (center of forehead just above your eyes.

The first little while you will undoubtedly drift off to sleep long before you finish this exercise, thats ok. Do it again the next time your laying down to go to sleep. The important thing is to take your time and relax each part of your body, make the part your attention is on the only part that you are aware of, don;t worry about littel itches, sounds, ringing, twitching, or any other distractions, just keep the attention and the focus on one part at a time.

You will get a refreshed feeling from this once you have managed to get all the way to your third eye and then focus on one of your goals for a few minutes.

I’ll expand on this exercise later, I think thats enough for now.

This post is part of an ongoing experiment series centered around success and getting life back on track. (specifically mine, but these steps will work for yours too).
Today I’m giving you the third step in the process and a real world example of how it applies.

So far so good, although I did oversleep yesterday and was kinda irritated with myself for it… Additional to the 13 primary goals that I would like to accomplish this year is at least a ‘30 day trial’ of the polyphasic sleeping pattern… for those that don’t know what that is, put simply rather then sleep for one long stretch each day, sleeping in much shorter duration’s throughout the day (25 to 30 minutes every 4 hours). Typically this would happen at say 2 am, 6 am, 10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm, and 10 pm. totaling 3 hours of sleep for every 24 hour cycle.

While that may just sound totally insane to some people, I know that personally I have functioned best on 4 to 6 hour night time sleeping with an hour nap in the afternoon/evening for pretty much my whole life. So the thought of being more productive and alert, and the reported benefit of less brain chatter and clarity of thinking make this sound like an ideal way to live.

A 30 day trial is really just that, 30 days to try out something new, (like the plan to reduce my nicotine intake over the next 30 days (which seems to be going well so far)).

That aside … I did over sleep today and thats ok, because it helps to exemplify the next step.

Step 3. – When you fail (and you will fail), accept what happened as an opportunity, learn from it, know forgiveness for yourself, don’t dwell on it as negative, and keep going.

So, with that in mind, today is another day to try and get it right, I want to sleep less and get up earlier. So I will try again.

The opportunity is to access the amount and quality of sleep that I’m getting, I have been sleeping a lot more n the past few weeks, and that isn’t really congruent with my wants, by missing out on a good portion of my morning and feeling rushed for the first part of my day I was able to see that isn’t what I want, and see that it isn’t congruent with the direction I really want to go in, and that will server to re-enforce the goal.

Hopefully that makes a good example of a real life lesson in the process.

Next will come the focus stuff… something that I personally have had a great deal of experience with, so hopefully that will benefit some other people out there.

This post is part of an ongoing experiment series centered around success and getting life back on track. (specifically mine, but these steps will work for yours too).
Today I’m giving you the second step in the process and some details of the goals already listed.

Remember this is an experiment, and at all costs it should be fun if it isn’t an enjoyable experience then there is less likelihood that you will actually follow through on the process… Did you notice that yesterday when I posted my goals that they all have an upbeat feeling to them? This helps me in part with goal number 4 (meditation and a positive mental attitude).

Step 2. – Make yourself accountable to your goals so that they are not just willy-nilly dreams (set specific time frames and tell people about your goals).

Notice that I have already accomplished this in part, just by blogging about it (everyone now knows what my goals for the year are). I do need to enforce some stricter times (other then just within the year) to these goals to help make them a reality, after all someday doesn’t ever come along its always right now.

Goal 1 is an ongoing process, I think I’m a great Dad, and more importantly my kids think so, but there has been a lot of turmoil in their lives, specifically in the last year. So I need to ensure that I come up with fun and creative ways to grow our relationships stronger then ever before. (we will re-visit this one).
Goal 2 is a breeze providing that I can remember that life is far to short to take seriously all of the time and loosen up. (again, an ongoing process that we will re-visit).
Goal 3 is something that I can make firmer. I need to stop smoking (this would be congruent with better health), and even though I have some stressful days in the very near future, I do want to stop, so from today forward I will smoke at least one cigarette less each day (I currently smoke about a pack (25) a day). That will have me down to zero smokes before the end of this month. (hows that for a timeline?) I already know that nicotine addiction is so retarded that I never even really experience a physical withdrawal its a 99% mental addiction (the physical withdrawal isn’t strong enough to wake me up in the middle of the night), I also know that my main trigger is coffee (with lots of cream and sugar), so I will switch back to tea which I drink black and that too helps to achieve this goal.
Goal 4 I placed into my daily routine by waking up 30 min earlier starting yesterday, I spent the first 30 minutes of my day in quiet meditation, I typically have done this off and on several times a week for years and I uses a relaxation technique at night (and have for years), I started adding in a chakra centering meditation last month and I’m enjoying the calmness and clarity that it has brought (i’ll document the details in a future post).
Goal 5 I need to get a move on, I think that I will follow the lunar months for this one, that will give me 13 songs in a year, were coming up to the first quarter of the moon cycle (so from full to full were a little over half way). I’ll start with
Goal 6 is ongoing for the Ruby stuff, I’m currently working on a project in Rails, and I’m learning more and more every day (even if it doesn’t feel like it all the time).
Goal 7 is hopefully being met by the posting i’m doing here, but I will find other things that inspire I’m sure as the year progresses. (will re-visit).
Goal 8 will take some planning, I will spend a minimum of 68 seconds of focus on a synergistic mind mastering group and see what the universe shows me in the way of direction (this is where the documenting of such things gets exciting). I know that my friend T will be part of this group (from a spiritual standpoint). But do not yet have a clear picture of the direction / purpose for the master mind. (will re-visit)
Goal 9 ongoing and on track, still longer then I would like to have, but the start of something new usually has that over abundant eagerness too it, I’m sure that the post will start getting smaller at some point (I have taken the liberty of scheduling a few of these so that they roll out on time, even if I sit down and brain fart two or three out at once)
Goal 10 I will get this underway today. (update tomorrow)
Goal 11 through 13 … I think that were underway with these (will re-visit)