“Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.” –Aristotle

It seems like there’s always a good amount of talk about goals and goal setting. While it may feel overdone, honestly, there’s a good reason for it. If we don’t know where we are going, how are we going to get there? Obviously it’s an issue many need help with – otherwise it wouldn’t be such a popular topic. I’ve found that the problem with goal setting for most people falls into two categories – selecting a goal and staying on course. Today’s bit of “zen” is going to focus on staying the course.

When we take a road trip, there are two methods of approach. One is to consider traveling to the destination as part of the journey and allow yourself to get distracted along the way with whatever novelties catch your eye. The other is to suck it up and just get there. Neither approach is wrong, however, depending on your situation one may the better choice at the time than the other. If you have things you need to accomplish at your destination, than the quickest path is going to be more advantageous for you. If you have nothing better to do and your trip truly is your journey, then by all means dawdle at every step.

When it comes to business, your dreams and your big plans for the future, however, dawdling can become more than just another rest stop on the road of your life. It can get in the way of real progress. It can become the excuse you use instead of confronting what you really want to do. Basically, it becomes a justification as to why you haven’t gotten where you want to be yet.

Keeping Aristotle’s words in mind, think about when you’ve been the happiest and most self-fulfilled. Chances are it’s when you were striving for a reachable goal. If you’ve fallen off track or allowed yourself to be distracted, take this time to become the navigator and captain of your own life and get back on course to attaining your dreams and desires.

What could you accomplish if you knew you couldn’t fail at the task at hand? This question is asked frequently in self-help and motivational workshops and seminars, and I have to wonder how many people have ever truly felt the empowerment and freedom that understanding the answer to this question creates. The reason for this, I believe, is simple. We live in a society that focuses on the negative and as a result of this, we tend to let our failures (or perceived failures) stand out stronger and taller than our successes. This is unfortunate, because it completely negates the power of averages.

Average you say!? Most people with an entrepreneurial spirit are taught early on that we should NEVER settle for average. Average is the kiss of death in a competitive market where you need to stand out and shine. In this case, I’m not talking about creating something that is “average.” I’m talking about looking at your “failures” from a different perspective. Let’s look at averages this way… If you have one or two glaring failures and ten to fifteen glowing successes, with the law of averages, how do you think you’re faring overall?

So, if you’ve been feeling a little unmotivated or if past failures of have gotten your confidence down, apply the law of average. List all the things you think you’ve failed in and then list all the things you’ve done well or succeed in. Clearly some things will have a little more weight then others, so you’ll have to use your own discretion at comparing the lists. In most cases, you’ll find that your average rate of success is pretty high.

If you find your failures are pulling more rank, look at what the cause may be. For many, the problem is that once they hit their first failure or possibly second failure, they never give themselves the chance to average out and truly succeed. Just keep in mind that you’re going to have failures. The key is recognizing that the real goal is to have your successes outweigh your failures.

Personally, I’ve always been a goal-oriented person. I’m not necessarily a person who has the next five years of my life mapped out, however, I have a good general idea of where I’m going. For me, goals are a great way to keep yourself in check – kind of like a road map. I use them to figure out where I want to go and the best route to get there, but if something interesting pops up, a little detour isn’t going to hurt anyone, as long as there is a clear way back to the original route.

With the excessive amount of distractions to “entertain” us, goal setting is even more important than ever. For most people, there’s no real purpose in their day-to-day life. They get up, go to work, come home, spend time with family, go to bed and do it all over again. There’s not much creativity or inspiration with the daily grind.

Goal setting is a way to move past this. You can use it to help you professionally or personally. The best part? The method is incredibly simple.

First, pick your main overall goals. They could be anything from starting your own business to developing a new hobby. Maybe you want to lose weight or quit a bad habit. Whatever your goal is, be clear about it.

Next, do something EVERY day (or nearly every day) to take you closer to that goal. If your goal is to lose weight, do something each day to get you there. Take a walk, drink more water, or eat more vegetables. It doesn’t have to be a huge lifestyle change. Just do one thing each day.

I’ve found this approach is incredibly helpful with the goals you think may be unattainable or just a little out of reach. If you’re able to do just one thing each day that will get you towards your goal, you’re one step closer. After six months or even a year, you’re considerably closer to your target then you were when you fell victim to becoming overwhelmed.

So how do you put this into a practical application? Here’s what I do…

I start each day with one or two specific goals for the day in mind. For instance, get everything on my work to-do list done and have time to go to the movies with the family. As distractions enter my day, it’s easy to avoid them or quickly handle them and get back to the bigger picture of what I’m trying to achieve that day. This works for both professional and personal issues. On days off, my goal may be to finish laundry and find a new restaurant to try. If I do those things, I know my day has been a success.

On a broader perspective, I also do this for my week and month. On a Sunday evening or Monday morning, I look at everything I want to accomplish that week. It could be to finish a certain number of projects, write a post every day for the blog or try three new recipes that week. I try to keep things fairly general, because this type of goal setting should be fluid and work intuitively with you. The more specific you are, the more it becomes like another to-do list – not very inspiring to finish.

Each year, I also create a very loose set of things I’d like to achieve. This year, I want to get my house more in order and work on improving existing areas of my work. Last year was about setting things up, this year’s focus is on improving those things.

This method works extremely well for me. I’m able to handle multiple projects at once, homeschool my daughter, run my household, manage a retail store and still have personal time. My hope is that it helps inspire you to also get moving towards those bigger dreams you’ve been unable to confront. Just remember to take it one day at a time!

A lot of talk is given to inspiration and tips for success, but in my business adventures, I’ve found one thing that trumps everything. If you have this one thing right, then everything turns out great. When you have it wrong, you can almost certainly guarantee failure. So what is this key ingredient to success? It’s a little thing called attitude.

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect It’s successful outcome.” –William James

For me, attitude is everything. If I get up in a funky mood, the rest of my day tends to mirror that funk. When I’m charged and excited about something, the outcome of whatever I’m doing usually reflects that enthusiasm. When I stumble into a case of writer’s block or experience a break in creativity, I can usually trace the source of my lack of inspiration down to my attitude toward the project. In most cases, I’m putting too much pressure on myself to be a creative genius, instead of just “doing it” and working as inspiration hits me. So on a personal note, I know I can change the outcome for anything I’m doing by changing my attitude.

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” –Muhammad Ali

I believe fear is probably the most motivating and demotivating force a person experiences. You either react to avoid a negative outcome, or you do absolutely nothing to keep the possibility of failure at bay. This is where attitude can be a great adversary against the battle of controlling your fears. If you believe in yourself, and if you believe in the outcome of your tasks, you’re taking away the power of your fear. In return, every action you do takes you one step closer to actually being who you believe yourself to be. There’s a reason “fake it ’till you make it” is repeated as a mantra.

“Of all the ‘attitudes’ we can acquire, surely the attitude of gratitude is the most important and by far the most life-changing.” –Zig Ziglar

There’s much written on the topic of positive thinking. In fact, if you are a fan of self-help books, you’ll probably find that the topic has been fairly exhausted. However, what is now getting even more of the attention is the topic of gratitude. Of all the attitudes you can have, an attitude of gratitude is the most powerful. It is the secret behind why positive thinking works. It’s not just enough to hope for good things – you need to be thankful and pay forward the successes and “good things” you experience in your life. When you give from an attitude of thankfulness, your cup can’t help but be overflowing with positivity.

“A healthy attitude is contagious, but don’t wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier.” –Anonymous

The personal approach is only one way attitudes are important. I can be in the most amazing mood ever, and have someone be around me who is clearly having a bad day, and the mood rubs off. It may not completely ruin my mood, but it certainly dampens it for the time I’m around the other person. In this regard, I try to remember to keep an open mind and help others by keeping my mood uplifting. The next time you’re feeling the stress or annoyance of something running afoul, keep things in perspective, and realize that a positive outlook will make things work more smoothly and is significantly less toiling emotionally.

There’s no shortage of comparisons you can use to correlate how the relationship between success or failure and your attitude relates. If you’ve found that there are some areas you could improve, try one of these tips for flipping the attitude switch:

• Start your day by writing down three things you will be extremely thankful for.
• End your day by writing down three things you were thankful for.
• Before starting a task, think about what you’re about to do and focus on getting mentally psyched to do great work.
• Feeling down? Force yourself to smile for a few minutes. The physical act of smiling releases endorphins that actually make you happy.
• Need to be super inspired? Be a positivity Nazi and keep negative news at bay for a while. Only let in media or information that will inspire you.
• When you’re feeling bogged down, take a break and go do something just for yourself.
• If someone or something is getting you down, take a few minutes and think up positive thoughts or resolutions for being involved with the person or project.

Remember, at the end of the day you have one freedom no one can ever take away – the power of free thought. You get to choose whether to live happily or depressed. It’s all a question of attitude. What’s yours?

How much time do you spend reading Twitter updates, Facebook posts or your RSS feeds? How often to you visit your favorite websites or read an inspiring book? All these actions can be extremely beneficial for your self-improvement and business success, however, there can be a downside if you’re not monitoring your exposure.

With so much information easily accessible at our fingertips, it’s easy to reach information overload. This is when you’ve taken in so much information that you’re almost paralyzed from making any forward progress. You have so many ideas or concepts in your head that your mind just gives up in confusion.

Luckily, the solution to this problem is simple. The best way to handle too much information is to output information or ideas. There’s a measurable balance between outflow and inflow. The more you outflow, the more able you are to receive new ideas and inspiration. If you really want to move forward, make sure to take a break from “receiving” good ideas and shift to “giving” them instead.

Some examples of this in action:

• When you read an inspiring book, instead of going straight to the next one, give some time for the ideas to really sink in and then force yourself to “do” something about it.
• If you spend an hour reading Twitter or Facebook updates, spend some time actually posting some yourself.
• If you’re reading articles, engage in the conversation by leaving comments.
• Reading emails daily? Send some out to your subscribers or get caught up with business contacts.

The beauty of this formula is that it works for many other areas of your life besides informational intake. If you’re not experiencing the growth you desire in an area, put more attention on it and find ways to output information or ideas. It’s definitely an application of “you reap what you sow.”

So, how can you benefit from a little outflow today?

“You can’t build a reputation on what you intend to do.” –Liz Smith

I love this quote. So often we get so caught up in what we want to do that we forget to just go out and do it. It’s far easier to think about doing something great than to actually get up and try to do it (and possibly fail).

No one wants to do something wrong or make mistakes. Even if it’s a necessary evil in life, it doesn’t feel great. The fact still remains that most people will do everything they can to avoid feeling pain or embarrassment.

So how do you overcome the fear factor and chug along anyway? Here are my tips for pushing through the wall of fear.

1. Realize what you’re feeling is completely normal.
The more amazing, incredible or potential-filled your idea is, the more resistance you’re going to feel about moving forward. In fact, the closer you get to realizing your idea, the harder your lizard brain is going to try to stop you. Everyone goes through this. What separates the successful from the dreamers is the courage to push past your internal naysaying.

2. Get clear about exactly what you’re doing.
Sometimes a lack of preparation can cloud judgement and create extra roadblocks that don’t need to be there. A confused mind stops in its tracks. It doesn’t want to take any steps forward because it doesn’t know which way is forward. With a proper road map, it’s much easier to reach your destination. If you’ve found yourself hesitating for long periods before taking any action, more than likely you’re not clear as to what specific action to take. Take some time and really put together a plan of attack for what you’re trying to do. Even if it’s the wrong thing to do at first, some action is better than no action.

3. Think positively about your outcome as often as you can.
Consider this step a way to retrain the negative tape running through your head. Everything you want to achieve or have is possible. It’s just a matter of finding a way to make it happen. Sit down and really think about how this project or endeavor will benefit you. What do you hope to achieve from it? As often as you can, consciously think about it. Imagine how it will feel and what it will be like when you’ve reached your goal or hit your target. Keep that thought in your mind as often as possible.

4. Have an accountability buddy.
It’s funny how we’re more concerned with letting someone else down than we are ourselves. When it comes to motivation, however, this is a great trait to exploit. Let someone in on what you’re doing and keep checking in with them. If you have a group or following, let them know your goals and keep them updated with your progress. You’re more likely to follow through with something when you’re being held accountable for it.

5. Be realistic.
While every goal is attainable, you might not get the results in exactly the fashion or time frame you were looking for. Keep an open mind about when and how you’ll attain your goal. Sometimes, what seemed like a roadblock ends up being blessing in disguise. If you’ve planned ahead for these possible interruptions, they’ll feel less like detours and more like small speed bumps.

It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and create something. However, it always pays off in the end, even if they only payment is wisdom gained through the failure. I’ve shared my own personal habits for pushing through the wall of fear. How do you push through yours?

Why did you want to work for yourself? Chances are the main driving force, besides money, is the freedom motivator. The ability to choose your own path in life and do the work you really want to do. Freedom isn’t just being able to do what you want, whenever, however. It’s also the ability to be fluid and mobile.

People go into business for themselves so they can “live the dream.” Living the dream means less work, more money and enjoying the fruits of your labors. It means having more family and leisure time. It’s setting up your life so you’re able to get out and do what you really want as often as possible.

Is this you? Does this describe what you want? Let’s take a look at how your work style is promoting or hindering this desire.

It’s no easy ride to create your own business and wealth. It takes work and lots of it. This fact alone may seem like a contradiction to living the dream. What I’ve found, however, is that the problem isn’t with the work load, but rather how it’s managed and executed.

THE PROBLEM

People tend to stick to what they know. When you’re branching out on your own, that translates to most people sticking to the same modes of operation they’ve learned “on the job.” These are the same patterns that keep you from enjoying the most desirable benefit of working for yourself.

In a world of cloud computing, mobile devices and mini-laptops, it’s hard to imagine being tethered to a fixed location. However, that’s exactly how some of us still approach our work load. Being tethered to one device or location can severely limit our flexibility and cause us to needlessly lose time. With the demands on our time constantly increasing, who can really afford to waste any of it?

In the vein of productivity, I’m going to share my three main strategies to keeping it fluid. These strategies help me stay mobile and allow me the freedom to work when I want, where I want – no matter what else is going on in my life.

THE SOLUTION

Strategize Your Time
Sometimes it’s quite possible to kill two birds with one stone. You should always be on the look out for moments where you can maximize your time. In line? Catch up on your emails through your mobile phone. Driving in the car? Listen to a motivational audio tape or record your thoughts for an upcoming product or meeting. Need to be around your family more? Use a laptop and do “busy work” such as checking in social media sites or answering emails in the same room so you can stay connected.

Work Anywhere, Anytime
Inspiration can strike at any time. Are you able to leverage that motivation into something tangible? Many bloggers keep voice recorders, video cameras or a mobile computing device with them at all times. This ensures that no matter where you are, your ideas are never wasted, forgotten or even diluted.

Access to Everything, Everywhere
If your files are located on your hard drive and there’s no way to access them from another device, you’re stuck to working in one place. I’m pretty sure this isn’t your idea of “living the dream.” There are quite a few applications that allow access to documents via multiple devices, such as Google Docs and Evernote. Using these types of services gives you the freedom to work anywhere you want.

Flexible Living
Once you have the technical side of these strategies down, it’s important to remember that flexibility is also a mindset. Don’t use work as an excuse to not partake in the joys of life. Say “yes” and then figure out a strategy to make it happen. Remember, necessity is the mother of all invention! If you force yourself out of the box, even if you’re not quite making the wealth you want, you can still live with the freedom you desire.

What habits are you creating each day? Take a look at what you do every single day. Are your actions creating habits of excellence? What should you be doing every day?

Have you ever met someone who left you with no doubt they were going to reach their goal? What is it that makes that person different from the hundreds that won’t even get off the couch and get started? The answer? Relentlessness. The unyielding drive and determination to get what you want. The only way to overcome obstacles hindering you getting from Point A to Point B is to be relentless in your efforts.

Everyone wants something they don’t currently have in their life. The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is successful people are relentless in their quest to achieve what they desire. They don’t give up. They look at obstacles as a challenge, not a barrier. They find opportunities where others wouldn’t. When it comes down to it, relentlessness is really about never giving up and knowing there’s always a solution to every problem.

What is your current goal? How badly do you want your to achieve this goal? What are you doing RIGHT NOW to reach it? Remember the shortest path from Point A to Point B is the straightest path. If you’re not taking steps that are going to move you closer to your end goal, you’re not being relentless. You’re ignoring a largely successful action, and it’s hindering your ability to progress. More than likely, it’s also costing you money.

So, how relentless are you?

Are you following the straightest path to achieve your goals? Do you let obstacles get in your way or do you tear through them? If you’re not, you’re fooling yourself into thinking you’re going to achieve your goal. Maybe it’s time for a new goal, or maybe your just need to hear someone tell you to go do it. Hey… “Go Do It!” There, now there’s no excuses.

You never know what can happen if you don’t try. So get out there and do it!