Vote HipHop Music

I cannot stress the importance of setting goals enough. Goals give us something to work toward, and help us feel like we are moving along a specific path. Establishing goals invites us to look at the big picture, break it down into smaller pieces, and get started toward accomplishing our important hopes and dreams.

It seems though, that many people aren’t quite sure how to set goals. One of the most common problems is that their goals tend to be too big. It is much easier to achieve smaller goals that fit with a larger objective, than to try and accomplish everything all at once. Here are some simple tips that you might find helpful:

Formulate two to three goals that you want to work toward in the next six months. Use the S.M.A.R.T. technique to help you define these goals:

1) Specific – set clear, concrete goals. Some examples might be implementing an exercise plan, working toward a certification, or improving your relationship with your spouse.

2) Measurable – identify markers that will indicate when you have reached your goals. If your goal is implementing an exercise plan, a marker is going to the gym three times per week. Or, if you want to have a better relationship with your spouse a marker might be checking in with him/her for at least 10 minutes per day.

3) Achievable – ensure that your goals are realistic. Ask yourself the question of whether your goal is actually achievable or not, and be honest! For example, setting the goal of losing 10 pounds in two weeks is not realistic (and definitely not healthy!).

4) Relevant – choose goals that are applicable to your personal or professional development. Make sure that these goals are something you are truly invested in, because you will be focusing a great deal of time and energy on them.

5) Time-Related – set a timeline that will guide your progress. Specifying a goal for two years down the road is not as powerful a motivator as one that you set for the next six months.

Once you have set a couple of goals for yourself that you feel comfortable with, share those goals with a close family member or friend. Often voicing them out loud makes them much more tangible, and may increase your motivation for reaching them. Also, the person you entrust with these goals could become a cheerleader, and someone to celebrate your successes with.

Rick Hansen sums up the importance of setting S.M.A.R.T. goals very well:

“The goal you set must be challenging. At the same time, it should be realistic and attainable, not impossible to reach. It should be challenging enough to make you stretch, but not so far that you break.”

By: Tanja Haley

About the Author:

Create a video blog…instantly.

(excerpted from the Jim Rohn One-Year Success Plan)

Jim Rohn’s Second Pillar of Success: Goal-Setting, Part Three – S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Hi, Jim Rohn here. As you know, we are focused on the Second Pillar of Success this month – Goal-Setting.

We have introduced the four main components of Goal-Setting:

1. Evaluation and Reflection.

The only way we can reasonably decide what we want in the future and how we will get there, is to first know where we are right now and secondly, what our level of satisfaction is for where we are in life. As we focus this month on goal-setting, our first order of business and our topic two weeks ago was evaluation and reflection.

2. Dreams and Goals.

What are your dreams and goals? Not related to the past or what you think you can get, but what you want. Have you ever really sat down and thought through your life values and decided what you really want? This isn’t something that someone else says you should have or what culture tells us successful people do or have. These are the dreams and goals that are born out of your own heart and mind. These are the goals that are unique to you and come from who you were created to be and gifted to become. Last week we showed you exactly how to find out what you want from life.

3. S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

Specific: Don’t be vague. Exactly what do you want?

Measurable: Quantify your goal. How will you know if you’ve achieved it or not?

Attainable: Be honest with yourself about what you can reasonably accomplish at this point in your life – along with taking into consideration your current responsibilities.

Realistic: It’s got to be do-able, real and practical.

Time: Associate a timeframe with each goal. When should you complete the goal?

We will spend time this week looking at how to apply the S.M.A.R.T. test to your goals to make sure they are as powerful as they can be!

4. Accountability.

Think of the word “accountable.” It means to “give an account.” When someone knows what your goals are, they help hold you accountable. Whether it is someone else going through this program with you (have you thought about inviting a friend to join you on this one-year journey?) or just someone you can give the basic idea to, having a person who can hold you accountable will give you another added boost to getting your goals! Next week we will show you how to set up an accountability partner.

This week we will be discussing point 3 – S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

S.M.A.R.T. means Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-sensitive.

I really like this acronym S.M.A.R.T., because we want to be smart when we set our goals. We want to intelligently decide what our goals will be so that we can actually accomplish them. We want to set the goals that our heart conceives, that our mind believes and that our bodies will carry out. Let’s take a closer look at each of the components of S.M.A.R.T. goals:

Specific: Goals are no place to waffle. They are no place to be vague. Ambiguous goals produce ambiguous results. Incomplete goals produce incomplete futures.

When we are specific, we harness the power of our dreams and set forces into action that empower us to achieve our goals. We then know exactly what it is we are shooting for. There is no question. As we establish our priorities and manage our time, we do so for a specific goal to achieve the results we expect. There is no wondering or guessing. The future is locked into our minds and we see it – specifically – and that is powerful! Never underestimate just how important it is to have very specific, concrete goals. They act as magnets that draw you toward them! A S.M.A.R.T. goal is specific.

Measurable: Always set goals that are measurable. I would say “specifically measurable” to take into account our principle of being specific as well. Our goals should be such that we know when we are advancing and by how much. Whether it is by hours, pounds, dollars or whatever, we should be able to see exactly how we are measuring up as we proceed through the journey of life using our goals. Could you imagine if you didn’t measure your goals? You would never know which way you were going or even if you were going anywhere! A S.M.A.R.T. goal is measurable.

Attainable: One of the detrimental things that many people do – and they do it with good intentions – is to set goals that are so high they are unattainable. Yes, it is very important to set big goals that cause your heart to soar with excitement, but it is also imperative to make sure that they are attainable. In the next section we talk about being realistic. So what does it mean to be attainable? An attainable goal is one that is both realistic but also attainable in a shorter period of time than what you have to work with. Now when I say attainable, I don’t mean easy. Our goals should be set so they are just out of our reach; so they will challenge us to grow as we reach forward to achieve them. After the next paragraph, I will give you an example of a goal that is both attainable and realistic. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is attainable.

Realistic: The root word of realistic is “real.” A goal has to be something that we can reasonably make “real” or a “reality” in our lives. There are some goals that simply are not realistic. You have to be able to say, even if it is a tremendously stretching goal, that yes, indeed, it is entirely realistic — that you could make it. You may even have to say that it will take x, y, and z to do it, but if those happen, then it can be done. This is in no way to say it shouldn’t be a big goal, but it must be realistic. This is to a great degree, up to the individual. For one person a goal may be realistic, but for another unrealistic. I would encourage you to be very honest with yourself as you do your planning and evaluation. Perhaps it would be good to get a friend to help you (as long as that friend is by nature an optimist and not a pessimist). This can go a long way toward helping you know what is realistic. A S.M.A.R.T. goal is realistic.

Example of Attainable and Realistic: Knowing that perhaps you could use a bit of help differentiating attainable and realistic, here is an example: You are overweight and have 150 pounds to lose to get to your proper weight. Is that goal attainable? Yes, considering that you also make it realistic. For example, it isn’t realistic to think you can do it in 5 months. 18-24 months would be realistic (with hard work). Thus, losing 150 pounds in 2 years is both attainable and realistic, while losing 150 pounds in 5 months is neither attainable nor realistic.

Time: Every goal should have a timeframe attached to it. I think that life itself is much more productive for us as humans because there is a timeframe connected to it. Could you imagine how much procrastination there would be on earth if people never died? We would never get “around to it.” We could always put it off. One of the powerful aspects of a great goal is that it has an end, a time in which you are shooting to accomplish it. You start working on it because you know there is an end. As time goes by you work because you don’t want to get behind. As it approaches, you work diligently because you want to meet the deadline. You may even have to break down a big goal into different measured parts time frames. That is okay. Set smaller goals and work them out in their own time. A S.M.A.R.T. goal has a timeline.

Be sure to spend some reflection time this week to make sure your goals fit the S.M.A.R.T. parameters. Go through the reflection questions below and the action points associated with them. Doing so will put a real engine in your goals and make them charged with power to help you accomplish your dreams.

Until next week, let’s do something remarkable!

Jim Rohn

By: Jim Rohn

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content

I have read several scientific articles comparing R-Alpha Lipoic Acid and Stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid and understood that the Stabilized R ALA is by far superior to unstabilized R-ALA. I must confess it was quite difficult to go through all those scientific terms, but what made things clear for me was seeing the results of an experiment, a practical demonstration. So what I will do here is write about the most important differences between unstablizied R-ALA and Stabilized R ALA as clearly and practically as I can. All ALA is not the same!

First, we’ll have to remember the terms we are working with. It’s not as difficult as it may look.

R-ALA = unstabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid

Stabilized R ALA = Stabilized R-Alpha Lipoic Acid

And now let’s go to the differences:

What does this stable versus non-stable actually mean? It means that you don’t have to keep the stable R ALA in the fridge. You can just keep it on a shelf and it will be good for 3 years without becoming polymerized. “Wait a minute!” you say. “Polymerized!” Oh, that’s what I did not understand either till I saw the experiment. The “polymerized” sample became hard and stuck to surfaces (table and even the spoon they mixed it with in water). R-ALA will do that easily when exposed to light, heat or moisture. So the unstable R-ALA can become polymerized even before it gets to you -while handled by its producers, when the powder is put into capsules. That friction will cause heating which will lead to polymerization even before the product leaves the factory! Then, on its way to you, the mail won’t keep it in a fridge, so the R-ALA will most probably be affected by the heat it is exposed to. I’m sure that if you saw the polymerized R-ALA you would never again put it in your mouth and stomach.

Stabilized R ALA is water soluble, it dissolves in water, while the R-ALA is not soluble. This also leads to another point -stabilized R ALA is easily absorbed, which means it gets into the system where it becomes efficient and does its job, while the R-ALA absorption is slower and far less. In a clinical trial, the concentration of lipoic acid in the plasma was 40 times higher in the people who were given stabilized R ALA than those who were given R-ALA!

You should also know that unstabilized R-ALA can cause heartburn or indigestion, while stabilized R ALA does not cause heartburn, indigestion or stomach discomfort.

I think these differences (and I only wrote about those I considered most important, but there are more) make it clear for anyone why Stabilized R ALA is much better and why you should get it and not just R-ALA.

To read more information about these differences follow this link: R ALA

By: Ruth Taylor

About the Author:

Create a video blog

Often when we are editing, we come across sentences that we can revise in several ways. When we cannot easily select a particular revision, we employ a strategy we call R & R, which stands for “Rephrase and Replace.”

Rephrasing the sentence is creating a new sentence that follows the same sentence structure as the original and that contains the same problematic words. We do this so that we can evaluate the structure and word choice in a simpler, easier to understand sentence.

For example, we were recently revising a sentence and came up with two options. Option one was “The book is fearless as it rips through the veils of illusion.” Option two was “The book is fearless. It rips through the veils of illusion.” We were having a difficult time deciding which option we preferred. The main reason we were having a hard time deciding is that the context of the sentence was unfamiliar to us.

We used the Rephrase part of this strategy to rephrase each option, giving them a more familiar context. The first option is one long sentence with two parts joined by the word “as”. We rephrased this as, “The man was fearless as he walked into his boss’s office,” because we wanted to simplify the context. This proxy (i.e., substitute) sentence, like option one, is one long sentence with two parts joined by the word “as.” The second option is two short sentences divided by a period. We rephrased this as, “The man was fearless. He walked into his boss’s office.” This proxy sentence, like option two, is two short sentences divided by a period.

When examining these two proxy sentences, we noticed that each one conveyed a slightly different meaning. The first one seemed to indicate fearlessness during a specific event. The second one seemed to indicate a general fearlessness, and, perhaps, an example of that fearlessness. We believe that the first meaning was more representative of the author’s intention than the second.

This completed the rephrasing part of this strategy.

Replacing means replacing the words of the rephrased sentence with the applicable words from the original sentence, while keeping the same sentence structure. Thus, we replaced the words “The man” with the words “The book,” and the words “he walked into his boss’s office” with the words “rips through the veils of illusion.”

Having used the Rephrase and Replace strategy we were able to make our choice: “The book is fearless as it rips through the veils of illusion.”

When you edit your writing, see if the R & R strategy is useful to you. This simple strategy has helped us revise unclear writing into easy-to-understand writing. It has also helped us determine which potential revision, among several, will most effectively communicate the author’s meaning.

By: David Bowman

About the Author:

Create a video blog