The First Step to your Breakthrough

HOW TO CREATE A BREAKTHROUGH: THE THREE CRITICAL ELEMENTS

What is a Breakthrough?

It’s a moment when everything changes—when what seemed impossible suddenly becomes possible, and you no longer settle for anything less than extraordinary. Breakthroughs are the reason people succeed and companies thrive, no matter what’s going on around them.

There are literally thousands of triggers, but a lasting breakthrough requires a change in one or all of these elements:

A New Strategy

A better way to do something that changes the result overnight. Most people think of success as simply a matter of finding the right strategy by itself. If you’ve ever thought about making a change, from growing your business to shedding a few pounds, you know there are a million strategies out there—some good, some bad, all claiming to be “the answer.” But all those answers beg the question: If it’s that easy, why aren’t we all living lives of mental, physical and financial wealth?

Strategies are an important part of success, but they’re only one-third of a much bigger equation. The real problem is often the second element…

Our Story

Our personal narrative often keeps us from finding the keys that can help us to be most effective and transform the quality of our lives. We all have stories about why we can or cannot achieve something.

When you change your story, you change your life. People who succeed don’t develop stories about why they can’t do something. Their stories are about how they will achieve their goals, no matter what. With an empowering story, individuals tend to find effective strategies. To get to that empowering story, however, we have to deal with the final and most important element of all…

Our State

The psychological and emotional state we are in at any moment in time tends to shape our story. We all develop emotional patterns—moods—that filter how we look at our lives. The states we go into most then become the most powerful filter of all. This filter determines whether or not we find the strategies necessary to succeed and whether or not we come up with a story that will empower us.

Only after your state and story are truly aligned with your desired outcomes can you identify the strategies and make the decisions that will lead you to success. One moment is all it takes: With a new state, a new story and a new strategy, life will never be the same again. Create your breakthrough now!

original post: http://training.tonyrobbins.com/tag/story-strategy-state/

100 Things Every 20-Something Needs to Realize

  

As Generation-Y, you’re the new frontier. You’ve experienced the largest generational gap in history and sometimes life isn’t easy. These are 100 things every 20-something needs to realize:
1. You need a minimum of an hour to get ready before work or class.
2. Don’t hit the snooze button. If you gotta get up, then get up.
3. Friends are hard to come by. Don’t ignore those you have.
4. If you eat enough pizza, you will turn into a tub of oily cheese.
5. Most people want something from you.
6. Getting high gets old.
7. Getting drunk doesn’t. But don’t tell that to your liver.
8. Unprotected sex is a regret waiting to happen.
9. The quiet ones are the best between the sheets — although it may take some time for them to open up.
10. Date when you’re ready, not because you’re bored.
11. Don’t date unless you think you may fall in love with them.
12. Facebook is boring and a waste of time. It is. Really. (except for the BodyRock page )
13. When you think you’re missing out, you’re not.
14. Nothing good happens after 3 a.m.
15. Stop using hashtags. They’re not always appropriate.
16. Reading is always better than watching TV.
17. Watching reality TV makes you dumber.
18. Yay, you can twerk!! But can you do anything useful?
19. The way people see you is just as important as the way you see yourself.
20. Learn to play chess.
21. Running isn’t just for four-legged animals.

22. There is no such thing as free.
23. You don’t have a hole in your wallet; money just disappears.
24. Putting more money into your car than the car is worth makes you look like a dickhole.
25. Listening to music too loud CAN make you go deaf.
26. Stop relying on spell-check and calculators.
27. Don’t spend money on things you don’t need because you won’t have money for the things that you do need.
28. If you want to know if the relationship will work out, then let him see you without your makeup.
29. Being in a relationship is not a reason to let yourself go.
30. Own a dog before you have a child.

31. Ladies: your teeth are for chewing.
32. Guys: See #31
33. Sex is better if you are emotionally involved with your partner.
34. If you can get her into bed before date 3, then you’ll get bored with her by week 2.
35. If you give it up too soon then he’ll consider you conquered and move onto the next mountain.
36. Women are never free.
37. Men may not only be looking for sex, but sex is definitely a part of it. A big part.
38. Waiting until you get married to have sex is ignorant.
39. Bad sex = bad relationship.
40. More tongue is not the answer.
41. Savings accounts are not for dummies.
42. You will hate yourself for getting a new credit card.
43. If you’re feeling sh*tty, get some exercise.

44. You should always do your best to look your best because it will make you feel your best.
45. Experiment.
46. The world works, in large part, by manipulation.
47. Having the ability to read people will get you further in life than anything else.
48. It’s not just whom you know, but also what you know that matters.
49. You don’t need to be an assh*le to get ahead in life, but you can’t be a pushover either.
50. You should live in a huge city for at least a year.
51. You should live abroad for at least a year.
52. As a rule of thumb, don’t do drugs. You don’t ever know what you’re actually taking.
53. Less is almost always more.
54. Beauty lies in simplicity.
55. Overcomplicating things leaves things overly complicated.
56. If you sleep around with a lot of people, then you are a whore. But who cares? As long as you’re clean, you’re clean.
57. Make mistakes now. Making them later will be too late.
58. We all want what we can’t have. Remind yourself of that every day.
59. You can do less and produce more.
60. It’s all about efficiency.
61. #60 to a degree…Slow work > Sloppy work
62. You can’t buy time.
63. Time itself is an illusion. Always think: “I’ll be there before I know it.” And you’ll prove yourself right each time.
64. They stopped making good music in the 90s.
65. You don’t actually want to be a DJ. You just don’t understand what it means to be one.
66. Using toys can be fun for both parties.
67. Size does matter. It goes for both sexes.
68. If you expect oral sex then have the courtesy to lather and rinse beforehand.
69. Don’t say I love you unless you mean it.
70. Don’t be afraid to fall in love.
71. Yoga.

72. Violence is for idiots. Use your words.
73. Being smarter does make you the better person.
74. Kill them with kindness.
75. Your cellphone is ruining your life.
76. Sleeping in has no benefits.
77. There is no substitute for face-to-face human interaction.
78. Get checkups regularly. It could save your life.
79. If you’re going to smoke, then use a vaporizer.
80. It is careless to be obese.
81. It is morally wrong to allow your children to be obese.
82. Live beyond your means once. You’ll never do it again.
83. If you’re using the pulling-out method, then you have a good chance of pulling out a baby in a few months.
84. Don’t drink cheap liquor.
85. Don’t eat crap food.

86. Drink lots and lots of water. Most of you are chronically dehydrated.
87. Meditate.
88. Sudoku helps fight off future dementia.
89. You don’t have ADD.
90. You’re most likely to be your own cause of depression.
91. The way you see the world is all that matters. But understand that you may be delusional.
92. There’s always more to the story.
93. People lie.
94. You are alone in this life. Accept that and appreciate the moments when you don’t feel so alone.
95. Family is more important.
96. If you don’t work to improve yourself everyday then you are wasting your life.
97. Passion is what makes life worth living.
98. You are always better off than most people in the world; appreciate this.
99. You aren’t entitled to sh*t — nada. You get what you earn.
100. No matter what happens, never give up. Ever.


Source: http://elitedaily.com/life/the-100-things-every-20-something-needs-to-realize/

90 day goal setting

I’ve been following a system I created for myself in 1989. It’s worked for me and I promise it can work for you.

I spoke about this topic last year in my video blog, but I believe it’s important enough to come back to it in the springtime.

Why 90 Days?
When I first started setting goals, I’d set six-month goals. But I discovered I didn’t start working on them until I had 90 days left. I’d procrastinate.

Procrastination is the killer of all goal setting. You have to set a goal with a time limit that causes you to take action today.

I picked 90 days because I wanted to give myself enough time to accomplish something but not so much time that I wouldn’t.

How To StartDon’t make a goal so far out that it doesn’t affect your behavior today. I need a goal that makes me move now.

The key to setting a goal for anything is to make them time-bound, measurable, and written.

The vast majority of people who make goals fail to give themselves a deadline, and they fail to write them down. But, according to Stanford’s executive program, 90% of high-performing people:

• set specific goals with outcomes,
• set a deadline for their goals,
• and write them down.

I’ll set my goals at the beginning of each quarter. I set three personal and three professional goals.

First, Set Three Personal Goals
When I say personal, I mean personal. They’re just for me and I don’t share them with anyone.

I’m not trying to prove to anyone that I can reach goals. I’m trying to push myself to get better. I make myself reach new heights.

Most of our lives, we’re told what we can’t do and what we can’t become. We have a lid placed over our self-belief and our aspirations.

But successful people don’t accept that. They push themselves beyond what others tell them they can’t accomplish.

When I set these personal goals I ask myself this question:

“What can I accomplish over the next 90 days that will make me feel good about myself?”

I really believe this is important:  You must set goals that help you feel good about yourself. Aim to lift yourself and your expectations.

Why? When you feel good about yourself, you act differently; you carry yourself differently. This creates a personal feedback loop that changes you.

Then, Three Professional Goals
The second set of goals is focused on identifying what I can achieve that’ll have an impact on my business.

In contrast to my personal goals, these three time-bound, measurable goals are shared with my boss and with those I serve. I ask my boss and my team how they would feel if I were to achieve the goals over the next 90 days.

Most times they feel good about my choices, but at times I get great feedback about the goals. This helps me hone and focus them.

The beauty of getting feedback is that it helps me sharpen the goals before I’ve even started work on them.

And Finalize your goals
Now that I have my six goals—three personal, three professional—there are three steps I follow.

First, set the goals aside for a day.

Second, come back and read each one, asking myself if I’d be proud of myself to achieve the goal.

At this point I may tweak the goal to aim a little higher. Not massively, but enough to affect me.

Remember: You’re not setting these goals to make others proud. You’re doing this to make yourself proud. Once you realize this, it can become a breakthrough in your mind.

Push yourself as high as you can go. The goals don’t have to be huge. They can be small steps to achieve—so long as they stretch you.

Third, make these goals your highest priority. Schedule action items for each goal; they’re appointments that you cannot break.

For example, if your goal is to exercise more, and you schedule your exercise at 7am every Wednesday morning, then that appointment has to be your highest priority: It doesn’t get rescheduled or moved down the priority list. Treat it as if it’s the most important meeting of the day, because it is.

You are important and you need to treat yourself as important.

Do all this, and you’ll do things you never dreamt possible.

Time To Reach Higher
At the end of 90 days you’ll have done something you’re proud of and you’ll realize you can do more. You’ll expect more of yourself, as will others.

You’re on your way. This is a system, but more importantly it’s a change in mindset.

But it’s not a failure if you don’t achieve all six. In fact, the first time I did this, I hit four of the six goals and I was ecstatic. I’d aimed at something and made tremendous progress.

Then came the realization that I could aim higher. And every quarter I started to shoot higher.

The Bottom Line
I define my goals, I have a target to aim at, I write down and commit to my goals.

For more than 20 years this system has worked for me. Many high-caliber professionals have adopted this system and found success—they’ve contacted me over the years to say so.

I promise it can work for you. It changed my life and it can change yours.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/netapp/2013/03/20/90-day-goals/