9 Ways to Achieve Your Biggest Goals—Quickly

Benjamin P. Hardy 

Research has found that having clarity about your goals is essential to having the motivation to achieve those goals.

If you’re not clear on what you’re doing, it’s hard to be motivated. Which is why seemingly easy tasks, like sending a fax, could end up taking months. There’s a lack of clarity on how to do it, so you don’t — until either you have to or it’s too late.

Can you relate?

Unfortunately, having a lack of clarity is why so many people settle for less than their dreams. Robert Brault, author of Round Up the Usual Subjects, says, “We are kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal.”

You want clarity so badly that you’re willing to settle for lesser goals, simply because the path to getting your true goal is less obvious.

When you’re trying to accomplish something big, you have the why but rarely the how. The path to achieving your goals is far from obvious.

You have no clue how you’re going to do what you want to do.

According to some scholars, fear of the unknown might be the foundation of all other fears. In order to avoid the unknown, most people bail on their dreams.

Here’s how you can find the clarity and understanding to achieve your biggest goals.

1. Embrace the unknown.

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”  —J.R.R. Tolkien

When you experience the unknown, what is your emotional experience?

Most people perceive the unknown as threatening, signifying a low tolerance for ambiguity. But some people are more open to the unknown.

Interestingly, researchers have found that children generally have a higher tolerance for ambiguity than adults. Children are often more willing to accept murky conditions—situations where the likelihood of winning or losing is unknown. As you get older though, your desire for surety and security keeps you safely protected in your comfort zone.

Research has found that the more satisfied you are with your work, the higher your tolerance for ambiguity. In other words, if you enjoy and believe in what you’re doing, you’ll take on the emotional discomfort of the unknown. Bill Walsh, former head coach of the San Francisco 49ers says, “If your why is strong enough, you will figure out how!”

2. Find clarity quickly.

It’s settled then: If you want to achieve big things, your path will be unclear and hazy. The emotional need for clarity and fear of the unknown leads people to abandon their dreams for more straightforward pursuits.

Having goal clarity is essential to motivation. Consequently, in order to get motivated to achieve your big dreams, you need clarity. But this does not mean you have it all figured out. It means you’re clear on the next step or two.

If you’re at mile marker 1 and your dream is at mile marker 50, you just need enough info and support to get to mile marker 3 or 4. Once you get there, you’ll need further instructions. But you have no clue what those instructions will be, because you don’t currently know what you don’t know. When you get to the next step, you’ll be able to ask better questions. You’ll be able to better assess who can help you get to mile marker 5, 6, 7 or 8. What got you here won’t get you there.

You’re on a treasure hunt and you’re finding clues and guides along the way. This is the process and emotional experience of pursuing a big dream.

Here’s what you need to move forward right now:

A clear checkpoint (so you actually know what to do)

A hard and fast timeline

The right tools and systems

A support structure

If you have these four things, you’ll have enough clarity—and thus enough motivation—to move forward. You’ll be stretching, growing and moving while other people are overwhelmed by the distance between mile marker 1 and 50. While they’re staring at the forest from a distance, you’re winding your way through the trees. And soon enough, you’ll be on the other side.

With this backdrop, here’s the most effective way I’ve found to getting just enough clarity to continuously move forward.

3. Learn with a purpose.

“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”  —T.S. Eliot

When you seek learning, it should be purposeful.

As an executive coach, I’m surprised how many people seek my advice without knowing what they want. I can’t make someone else’s decisions for them. And no one can make my decisions for me.

But when people seek my services for a very specific reason, and it’s clear I’m the right person to help them get from point A to point B, things work out marvelously. Because when you know what you want to learn, you can then decide who can help you get there.

Only you can decide the direction of your training. Research has found that self-directed learning is highly correlated with learning satisfaction. Thus, what you learn should clearly connect with your interests and goals. As Albert Einstein said, “That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes.”

4. Focus on context-based learning.

How the Mormon church trains their young missionaries to speak foreign languages so efficiently has garnered lots of attention. When an 18- or 19-year-old enters the Missionary Training Center (MTC), they enter something of a language learning boot camp. Students at the MTC learn in a few weeks what takes most college students three to four years.

Many universities have applied the MTC’s methods to their language learning curricula. The U.S. Military has also studied and teamed with the MTC to better understand how to efficiently train their soldiers. As a result, the Army’s Intelligence Brigade, based in Utah, draws on former Mormon missionaries to fill their ranks.

So what are some of the MTC methods?

Primarily, the MTC uses context-based learning. They start by reciting a phrase and working on the pronunciation. Once the student has a basic grasp, they are put into groups of two to role play real-world scenarios. Role plays make up approximately 70 percent of learning at the MTC—learning while doing—with a teacher standing by to individually coach when needed.

The system is simple:

Learn a concept.

Practice and use that concept in a real-world scenario.

Get coaching and feedback.

Repeat.

Get coaching and feedback.

Interestingly, researchers examined the effects of role playing on the self-concept of shy adolescents. One group of adolescents received traditional discussion-based training while another did role play based training. The group that did role plays experienced a significant positive change in their self-concept, which has a significant impact on their behavior.

In our digital world, simulation training—based on role playing real-world scenarios—is becoming increasing popular. Additionally, research has found that getting consistent feedback is essential to effective learning

5. Apply context-based learning.

“If you want lasting change, you’ve got to give up this idea of ‘trying something.’ You’ve got to decide you’re going to commit to mastery. Most people dabble. They say, ‘I’d like to change my body,’ or ‘I’d like to make my relationship better.’ These people don’t have enough detail to follow through.” —Tony Robbins

I define learning as a permanent change in cognition and/or behavior. In other words, true learning involves a permanent change in how you see and act in the world. The accumulation of information isn’t learning.

If you want to learn something quickly, you need to immerse yourself in that thing and immediately implement what you’re learning.

The fastest way to learn Spanish, for instance, is by immersing yourself in a Spanish culture. Flash cards for 15 minutes a day will eventually get you there. But you’ll make deeper connections with a few days fully immersed than you would in months of “dabbling.”

You need enough clarity to have high motivation to move forward. The more clarity you have of the path set before you, the higher your motivation will be to go down that path. So rather than trying to motivate yourself, your goal should be to clarify the next few steps ahead of you.

Here’s how.

6. Get a teacher.

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear. When the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear.”  —Lao Tzu

When you move beyond dabbling to full commitment, you’ll want to learn quickly. So, you’ll need a teacher. Someone who can help you take the next few steps.

This teacher can be in the form of a book or an online course. Or it can be an actual person. The benefit of a real person is getting immediate, relevant feedback and direct answers to your questions.

Recently I hired someone to help me learn software for my online business. I wanted an immersion-type experience. Turns out, he lives seven hours away from me. So I drove down to his house and spent two days straight with him. I slept on his couch in my jeans and T-shirt.

In these two days, I learned more than I could’ve learned in six months on my own. My teacher could quickly assess where I was. I was able to ask him questions. On an easel board, he would explain the software and how it worked.

After explaining the concepts and answering my questions, he would immediately have me apply my learning. This exposed the true gaps in my understanding. Being able to apply something, after all, is the difference between knowing something and understanding it. Napoleon Hill says, “Knowledge is only potential power. It becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action.”

7. Repeat until your learning becomes unconscious.

While implementing what I learned, my teacher would watch me from a distance. He let me struggle as I tried to remember what he had just shown me.

The first time applying what he taught took a lot of time and effort. So we did it again, and again, and again. Over time, I became competent and confident.

Learning something new is all about memory and how you use it. At first, your prefrontal cortex—which stores your working (or short-term) memory—is really busy figuring out how the task is done.

But once you’re proficient, the prefrontal cortex gets a break. In fact, it’s freed up by as much as 90 percent. Once this happens, you can perform that skill automatically, leaving your conscious mind to focus on other things.

This level of performance is called automaticity, and reaching it depends on what psychologists 0 call over-learning or over-training.

The process of getting a skill to automaticity involves four steps, or stages:

Repeated learning of a small set of information. If you’re playing basketball, for example, that might mean shooting the same shot over and over. The key here is to go beyond the initial point of mastery.

Make your training progressively more difficult. You want to make the task harder and harder until it’s too hard. Then you bring the difficulty back down slightly, in order to stay near the upper limit of your current ability.

Add time constraints. For example, some math teachers ask students to work on difficult problems with increasingly shortened timelines. Adding the component of time challenges you in two ways. First, it forces you to work quickly, and second, it saps a portion of your working memory by forcing it to remain conscious of the ticking clock.

Practice with increasing memory load—that is, trying to do a mental task with other things on your mind. Put simply, it’s purposefully adding distractions to your training regimen.

Essentially, you want your understanding of something to be fluid and flexible. You want to be able to apply your learning in different contexts and for different purposes. You learn your skill in and out.

8. Set specific goals with a hard timeline.

“Inevitability thinking is thinking and acting as if what you are doing is a forgone conclusion because you set up the conditions for it to happen.” —Eban Pagan

Once the training is complete, you need to take it into the real world. You do this by setting huge goals requiring you to use the knowledge you’ve just acquired.

Just before leaving my teacher’s house, we set goals together. Although the goals seemed overwhelmingly big, I felt confident I could achieve them because I now had clarity.

The timeline to achieve my goals was three months. At the end of those three months, I’d be back at his house for more training. We were on each other’s Google calendars and I paid him in advance for our next immersion learning experience.

9. Tracking and accountability.

“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” —Thomas S. Monson

Clarity is what creates motivation.

Tracking is what creates awareness.

Reporting is what creates accountability.

Having these three will help you progress quickly.

If you’re not tracking your daily behaviors, you are undoubtedly doing worse than you think you are. For example, most people have no clue where their money goes because they don’t track their expenses.

According to research, self-regulation is the psychological process that detects inconsistency between your goals and your behaviors. It is the ignition of your motivational forces helping you get from where you are to where you want to be.

Specifically, self-regulation works in three ways:

Self-monitoring determines how well you are currently performing.

Self-evaluation determines how well you are performing comparative to your goals.

Self-reaction determines how you think and feel comparative to your goals. When you feel dissatisfied with your performance, self-reaction pushes you to reallocate your motivation resources.

Beyond tracking, research has found that accountability improves performance. When you report your performance to someone, particularly someone you respect, it adds external and relational motivation to succeed.

During your accountability sessions, you can get coaching and feedback on where you can improve.

Striving to accomplish big goals is not easy. Most people will give up on their dreams in order to have a clear path to lesser goals.

If you want to move quickly toward your big goals, you’ll need to become proficient at acquiring clarity for the next few steps of your journey. The best way to do this is through context-based and immersion-style learning.

The deeper and wider your clarity, the bigger your goals can be. In order to ensure you achieve those goals, you’ll need to track your behaviors daily and have an intense accountability system in place.

It’s all in the setup. When you set up the conditions effectively, you make the achievement of your goals inevitable.

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4 Ways to Declutter Your Mind

by John Addison

In our world today, it’s easier than ever to be unfocused. So many people are attracted to their distractions, staring at their phones and allowing crazy stuff to fly into their brains in a steady stream of clutter.

If you really, truly want to achieve your biggest goals, it’s so important that you work hard on decluttering your mind. Here are four ways to do that.

1. Focus.

What you focus on grows. That is an absolute fact. So do a real inventory. Be aware of what’s going on inside your brain.

People today are trying their absolute best to be aware of what they eat—probably more so than at any point in my lifetime. They want organic choices and they want healthy food. But at the same time, they’re allowing so much junk into their minds.

Look at something going into your mind the same way you look at something going into your stomach. What are you spending your time on? Are you spending all day staring at the news, feeling like the world’s going to hell in a handbasket? Do you follow 87 million people on Twitter so that every second you’re digesting random thoughts from some crazy stranger?

Be careful what you’re allowing into your brain. Focus on what you’re inputting.

2. Tune out the noise.

Just as important as what you listen to is what you don’t listen to. Look at all the things coming your way and ask yourself, Is this really doing anything for me or making my life better? If the answer is no, then stop getting it. Don’t let it into your brain.

Being quiet is incredibly important. I believe everybody needs quiet time—meditation time, reading time, prayer time. Everybody needs a sanctuary, a place they can go to just be quiet, be still and just be. To think about what you’re thinking about. To ask yourself, What can I tune out?

3. Control your activities.

Everyone is busy, but are they getting anything done? What are you spending your time on?

Don’t mistake activity for progress. It’s easy to be busy. It’s easy to be overwhelmed. It’s easy to have people pull you in too many different directions. But the question is this: Are those things moving you toward a worthy, long-term goal? You need to look at where you want to get to, what it is you want to accomplish, what you want to do in your life. Then you need to be honest about whether your activity and actions are congruent with reaching that thing. If they’re not, make a change. Spend time on the activities that will help your overall progress and growth.

4. Keep it simple.

I heard Nick Saban, the head football coach at the University of Alabama, speak one time, and he said the one thing he constantly asks himself is, What’s the most important thing right now for the continued success of my program? And is that what I’m doing? He checks in daily with himself to make sure he’s not wasting time on things that have nothing to do with what’s important now.

Keep it simple and focused. You must eliminate silly distractions, anything that pulls you from that main thing.

To me, the most successful people are the most focused on singular, straightforward goals. They are the people who are very good at rising above the noise and getting clear in their head about what it is they want to accomplish. They don’t allow life and all its noise to overwhelm them. They don’t let negative, frustrated, whiny people control how they think. They focus on keeping the main thing the main thing.

With these steps, you’ll start to get rid of that clutter in your mind that’s keeping you from getting where you want to go. You can get there. But you’re in charge of how you do it.

10 Things High EQ People Don’t Do

by Sarah Hansen 

Many people hang their success in life on their IQ level. Yet, there is something that can be an even stronger predictor of success. We all know really smart people who are limited in their lives because they just don’t play well with others. They have high IQs, but horribly low EQs. The good news is that while your IQ may be a bit harder to change, anyone can work on developing a better EQ.

Why should you care about enhancing your EQ? Because people who have developed their emotional intelligence enjoy more success in every area of life: social, emotional, physical, and financial. This is because life almost always involves interacting in some way with other people, and high EQ people just make each interaction more rewarding for everyone.

While EQ isn’t always easy to change quickly, with a bit of effort, most people can improve their emotional intelligence with coaching, self-introspection, and feedback from others. The other good news is that EQ naturally increases with age, even if you don’t conscientiously work on furthering it.
There are four main pillars that support a healthy emotional intellect.
High EQ people are self aware. Instead of just feeling without understanding the source, they can trace their emotions back to their origins and see them logically. They also have a realistic grasp of their strengths and weaknesses.
High EQ people conduct self management. They can rein themselves in, delay gratification, account for the needs of others, and balance their desires accordingly. They can also walk the middle ground between initiative and patience. They handle change well and follow through with commitments.
High EQ people are socially aware. They understand and tune into other people’s emotions and can adapt to unspoken social cues. They can also see the interpersonal interactions within groups and larger organizations.
High EQ people excel at relationship management. They just play well with others, inspire and influence people positively, communicate well, and manage conflict proactively.

In short, high EQ people draw you in and make you want to stay in their circles. How do you know if you have a high EQ? One way is to look at what emotional intellectuals don’t do.

1. They don’t react rashly.

Instead of reacting, high EQ people craft calculated responses. Life is full of stressors. Everyone has their own battles. However, people with high EQ learn to manage their responses to triggers in a proactive way. They learn how to calm down and relax in situations where low EQ people revert to panic and fear. They manage their more basic tendencies to react emotionally and filter that through their reasoning abilities to default to stress management activities.

High EQ people learn to not make decisions when angry, hurt, or scared. Instead, they self manage, get to a better mental state, and then make better decisions after reviewing the situation from their happy place.

2. They don’t avoid new experiences, ideas, or people.

I’m not saying that people with high EQ don’t have strong beliefs or ideas. They do. However, they are not afraid of learning more about other perspectives or having their beliefs challenged. They are open in their thinking vs. closed. They are intellectually curious. They often have friends from every walk of life and faith. They always seek new possibilities. They understand that they can’t always be right, and have the humility to embrace the fact that there is always more that they can learn.

Even when they do disagree with a concept, they consider why their first initial response was to dislike the idea and self analyze why this occurs. They refrain from reacting solely emotionally, and instead respond intelligently.

High EQ individuals see the best in other people. They aren’t afraid to accept help from others, as they realize their own limits and lean on trusted mentors when necessary.

High EQ people are not afraid of change and don’t need rules and structure to feel secure. They don’t remain emotionally unavailable to others or withhold intimacy from their loved ones. They aren’t afraid to have their beliefs or ideas challenged. They also don’t stubbornly cling to concepts and refuse to even entertain new facts that are presented to them.

3. They don’t focus only on self.

This is not to say that high EQ individuals don’t take time for themselves when needed. In fact, going into martyrdom mode is also not healthy. However, high EQ people are empathetic towards others. When it comes to people, they focus more externally vs. being self-absorbed. Instead of seeing life through the lens of their own needs and wants, they have the ability to look at the world from a bigger perspective and walk a mile in another person’s shoes. They are also more forgiving of themselves and others.

High EQ people don’t attack, judge, interrupt, invalidate, criticize, command, lecture, or blame people. They also don’t try to analyze others when they try to share their feelings. They aren’t jealous over loved one’s successes, but celebrate their victories.

4. They don’t become bitter.

Many people don’t take responsibility for their feelings; instead, they blame outside sources for them. However, if you think about it, this is a very basic way to behave. What happens if you take a toy from a child before they are ready to give it up? They cry and throw a tantrum.

You may have met people who still react like a two-year-old child when they are challenged. It’s so much more healthy for people to grow up emotionally as they grow up physically, but this doesn’t always occur. We can all usually “see” what’s wrong in a situation, but most low EQ people don’t move past that step of identifying the problem to finding a solution for it. Instead, they follow the predicable negative chain reaction that can lead to implosion.

High EQ individuals are also not afraid of a challenge, and don’t throw in the towel when they realize that they are not on the correct course. They make adjustments and keep working on solutions to their obstacles.

High EQ individuals don’t go through life feeling like the world owes them. They look within to determine why they do what they do, so they aren’t doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

5. They don’t stay ignorant about inner motives.

Ultimately, it comes down to what Socrates proclaimed so long ago. To have high EQ, you must “Know Thyself.”

High EQ individuals understand the chain reaction that occurs that brings about their emotions. They also can explain why they are experiencing certain feelings without blaming someone else. High EQ people are never emotionally dishonest and don’t withhold information, or downright lie, about what they are feeling. They also don’t minimize or exaggerate their emotions, nor do they let things build up until they blow up.

Being self aware helps you understand why you react as you do and if needed, to take steps to change it. You must learn who you are, and more importantly, not let others define you with their self-imposed expectations. As you become more self aware and manage your emotions more effectively, you also are able to subsequently better understand the reactions of others. This ultimately creates better personal relationships and overall happiness.

Some great questions to help you discover more about your inner workings are, “Why do I act like that?” “Why do I believe this way?” “Why am I afraid of having that concept challenged?”

6. They don’t clam up or blow up.
High EQ individuals are communication masters. They have excellent verbal and non-verbal communication and listening skills. They manage conflict better, have stronger relationships, and are able to convey thoughts in a non-threatening, respectful manner. Good communication also increases their ability to influence others in a positive way.

High EQ people, in addition to being more aware of their feelings, are also not afraid to share those feelings with others. And, they check their ego in at the door when it comes to gaining wisdom, insight, and feedback from trusted sources.

High EQ people often use phrases such as “I feel..” to express their emotions. However, they don’t use “I feel that…” This phrasing is often a tip off to a thought disguised as a feeling. For example, “I feel like you…” While the true “I feel” messages give necessary information in a non-threatening manner, the “you” messages usually do not reveal the person’s actual feelings, but can be thinly-veiled accusations.

High EQ individuals also don’t lay guilt trips on others. Instead, they always tell them where they honestly stand in the relationship. Instead of acting out their feelings by resorting to negative actions like door slams, moodiness, passive aggression, or silence, they talk about them calmly.

High EQ people also never resort to playing emotional games and manipulating others. They are excellent listeners, and do not interrupt or invalidate. They are open to other opinions and won’t try to “win” an argument by focusing on facts over feelings. They also don’t act superior or use intellect to judge and criticize others without considering the impact of their actions.

7. They don’t forget about balance.

High EQ people look at life from a balanced, positive viewpoint. They aren’t overly pessimistic or unrealistically optimistic. They tend to be happy and successful. They recognize the good in others and in themselves. They are forgiving of flaws. They make the best out of difficult situations, embracing hardships to help fuel their personal development and improvement. They also keep their sense of humor and find the light side of their trials. High EQ people understand what is within their control, and what is not. They don’t beat themselves up for things that they have no ability to influence.

8. They don’t embrace negativity.

High EQ people are not dominated by fear, worry, guilt, shame, embarrassment, obligation, disappointment, hopelessness, powerlessness, dependency, victimization, or discouragement. They do not give or receive manipulation.

High EQ people let their own personal goals and desires motivate them—not power, wealth, status, fame, or approval. They don’t do things because of a false sense of duty, guilt, force, or obligation. They balance out their feelings with reality checks of logic when needed. They are independent, intrinsically motivated, and self reliant. They also aren’t afraid to push out of their comfort zone to reach new heights.

9. They don’t let others get to them.

Do you know people who cause others to walk on eggshells? If you are unlucky enough to inadvertently make them upset, do they carry grudges? This is a sign of very low EQ.

People who have matured emotionally are resilient, able to agree to disagree, and do not internalize failure. Even if they have had a difficult life, they have managed to learn from the pain and become an even more amazing individual. They don’t dwell on the past, but learn from it. They realize that the past is out of their control, so they choose to live in the present and shape it into a better future.

Individuals with high EQ never hold onto self-destructive belief systems and negative self talk. They refuse to feel inadequate, bitter, disappointed, resentful, or victimized. If they have a pity party, it ends quickly and they certainly don’t send out invites. Instead of focusing on their weaknesses, high EQ people target their strengths.

High EQ people refuse to entertain insecurities or cling to negative experiences. They will not be defensive and freely admit when they make a mistake and apologize. They never avoid responsibility by saying things like, “I had no choice!” They never allow other people to make decisions for them, but take the steering wheel of their lives. They are patient people and can roll with the punches when life doesn’t go as planned.

High EQ people never shut out others. While they realize relationships can be painful, they understand the value far exceeds the hurt. They will never seek out substitute relationships with less threatening and more controllable subjects like pets or imaginary people to replace the real thing.

10. They don’t fight with their head and heart.

High EQ people are able to get in touch with what they are feeling, are interested in other people’s feelings, and are comfortable talking about their emotions. However, they also can recognize that feelings don’t equal fact. They tend to look at situations logically, understand why they feel a certain way, and then work through it proactively.

Emotional intelligence is certainly not easy to obtain and requires a lot of introspection and work; which is why it is so rarely found. However, once you have mastered this skill you will stand out from the crowd, and will soon discover better interpersonal relationships, career success, happiness, and peace. That will bring about a lot more inner satisfaction than bumping up your IQ score any day!

We all probably know people, at work or in our personal lives, who are great at listening and helping us feel more hopeful and optimistic. 6 Ways To Raise Your Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Featured photo credit: Young woman with guitar in forest in early autumn via shutterstock.com

Your Focus And Your Money

by James A. Godin 

It costs $0.00 to THINK like you are wealthy.

It costs $0.00 to FEEL like you are wealthy.

Want a tip for getting out of debt?

Focus on prosperity. Not debt.

When I ask people what their #1 goal is, about 80% of the time they tell me it’s to “get out of debt”, but there’s a HUGE problem.

They are focused on thoughts and feelings related to being in debt, so guess what they attract? More debt.

If your goal is to be debt free, you need to remove the word ‘debt’ from your vocabulary.

Your goal should never be to be debt free. In fact your goal shouldn’t even be to become financially secure.

Money itself is a horrible goal. Money is the RESULT of reaching a worthy goal. It’s not the goal itself.

Therefore, if you want the be debt free, and your focus is on debt, then more of the same must come.

When you decide to place your focus on becoming financially secure, you can begin forming ideas of a WORTHY GOAL that will cause you to move into living a financially secure life.

The thought focus and emotional focus should be on PROSPERITY, while the GOAL itself should be something that CAUSES prosperity when the goal is reached.

In other words…

THINK and FEEL like you are financially secure NOW while you are ACTING in a way that moves you toward the achievement of a worthy goal that results in you living a financially secure life.

Do that, and do it consistently over time, and your financial situation WILL get better, the laws of this universe say that it MUST!

Your December Action Plan: 10 Ways to Be a Better You

Start by focusing on the people you love.

by Cecilia Meis

This month, spend some quality time with your family, and then some introspective time with yourself and your hopes and dreams—and become a better you in the process.

1. Character First

Consider the character traits that will allow you to be the best version of yourself, and work to improve a different facet of your character each day this month.

2. Tally Up

Write down the top 10 motivators that drive you to succeed. It could be family, legacy or influence. Now identify what items on the list haven’t been receiving the time and attention they deserve.

3. Influential Roots

Who taught you the strongest life lessons? Who do you influence? This week, focus on those people and commit to positioning yourself as a positive role model.

4. Draw the Line

If you and your spouse both run successful individual operations, take time to establish professional boundaries, but still leave room for shared goals. Talk through any doubts you might have.

5. Conquer It

What do you fear? Focus on that fear, write it down, and then construct a plan to overcome it. Sometimes putting our greatest fears in perspective gives us the mental power to get rid of them.

6. Spread the Love

Spend this month finding ways to give back to others. It can be as simple as buying coffee for a stranger or donating clothes and blankets to your local homeless shelter.

7. Memory Lane

Dig through old family photos. Remind yourself how many reasons you have to smile. Stick your favorite one on the bathroom mirror as a daily source of happiness.

8. Nice to Meet You

Strangers can change your life. Venture out of your comfort zone today and make a goal to meet and interact with five strangers for at least five minutes. Ask questions, listen and embrace unexpected conversation.

9. Branch Out

Reach out to an extended family member—a distant cousin or aunt you haven’t seen in years. Write a letter or pick up the phone. Reconnect and revel in the power of the family bond.

10. Give Happiness

You have the power to turn a negative situation around. Respond positively to that co-worker who complains too much. Happiness is contagious. Pass it on.