Expert's Secrets To Having Olympic Style Effectiveness Every Day

Image by chazferret via Flickr9 Traits of Success - How Michael Phelps Won His Olympic Eighth Gold

Guest Author, Joan Clout-Kruse - Michael Phelps showed us the traits of success as he won his eighth Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games on August 17, 2008. Can you imagine the excitement and emotions going through Phelps, his family, and his teammates as he accomplished this Olympic record?

What about you? Do you have the traits of success just like Phelps? Are you as dedicated to your business and personal goals with the same zest as Phelps? Imagine what would happen to your goals if you were.

Do you want to achieve and exceed your goals? Take a look at the nine traits of success below and set up your own plan to raise the bar to "Go for the Gold."

9 Traits of Success

1. Work hard on your plan. We know that Phelps practiced many years to achieve the Gold record he has today. How hard do you work on your plan? You have to work on them every day and keep your list in front of you.

Your first step towards the Gold is to write down the tasks you want to accomplish for the month and then determine what activities you need to do to achieve them.

2. Prioritize your tasks. Focus on the most important tasks and do them first. I imagine that Gold Medal Winner Michael Phelps at a young age learned how to swim before he started competing with others.

Phelps at age 15 began competing in the year 2000 at the Sydney Summer Olympics. He didn't win a medal. Five months later he won a world record becoming the "youngest man ever to set a world record." After that he began breaking his own world records.

Phelps always had a plan. Win or lose he just kept on going. Do your tasks one step at a time. Stay focused, prioritize your tasks, and do each activity until you get it done.

3. Avoid interruptions or obstacles. Do your best to avoid interruptions or problems that might distract you from accomplishing your tasks for the day. Sometimes you just have to shut off the phone and avoid reading your email messages.

Decide if an obstacle must be handled right now or if it can wait until you finish the task at hand. Stay focused. Last year Phelps took a nasty stumble and broke his right wrist. He tripped on a patch of ice while climbing into his friend's car in Michigan.

He was in despair after the fracture was discovered and he said, "It's over. I'm finished." During his rehabilitation he was confined to kicking in the pool with a kickboard and it strengthened Phelps's legs. He had a rough training cycle, but he did it.

The training made Phelps's kick stronger than ever and he was able to "kick his way to victory." He had a mission to win. Do you have a mission to win? Stay focused.

4. Learn what you need to know to complete your tasks. Sometimes we get stuck achieving our goals because we don't know how to do a step in the process. Can you imagine what it was like when Phelps was a child and the first time he had to go into the water?

He comes from a family of swimmers so he had ready-made swim coaches to help him along the way. It is important to find the answers you need from friends, mentors, colleagues and research.

We usually slow down, procrastinate, or avoid the next task when we don't have the answers. Don't let that happen to you. Be proactive and learn how to finish your task.

5. Stay focused on the solution, not the problem. When I was interviewing some Silicon Valley entrepreneurs a few years ago for a book I was writing, Cesar Plata networking guru, had an interesting philosophy on handling problems.

"Problems?" he said. "I have endured many personal and financial struggles but I never saw them as problems," he self-assuredly told me. "I see them as unmet challenges.

When something doesn't work you try another way until you achieve the results you want." Stay focused on the solution and soon you will have the answer.

6. Be responsible for your actions. If you get stuck, if your plans don't work, don't blame others. Don't blame the world.

Take charge of the situation.

Decide what YOU can do to move forward. There are no Stop signs-you have the GREEN light. "With so many people saying it couldn't be done," Phelps said upon winning his eighth Gold medal, "all it takes is an imagination, and that's something I learned and something that helped me."

Phelps didn't listen to others when they said it couldn't be done. Be responsible for your actions and your dreams can come true.

7. Be a team player. "Without the help of my teammates this isn't possible," Phelps said. Even solo professionals have a team: friends, associates, assistants, colleagues, mentors, coaches, and many others. Listen to your team. Support them with your wisdom and guidance as they support you.

8. When it gets tough, work one more day. Phelps said, "Nothing is impossible." When he broke his wrist, he kept on going. He never gave up. He practiced one more day, then another, and another.

He kept on breaking records. What records can you break? Can you work one more day even in tough times and improve on what you already accomplished? Never give up.

9. Although passion is listed last on this list, it is really first. You must be passionate about what you are doing in order to succeed. There is no doubt Phelps was passionate about his sport otherwise he would not have been able to overcome the obstacles that got in his way as he was reaching towards his goals.

Competitive swimming was his dream; it was his love. Nothing is impossible when we strongly believe in it. The passionate feeling that we have for something we love and believe in is like a feeling of mild ecstasy. It's a wonderful feeling. It drives us. It keeps up going.

Are you passionate about your dream, your business, and your actions? That is the key to "Winning the Gold."

Take these nine steps above and make them part of your life. They can help you achieve anything you desire.

If you get stuck, identify which step above have you bypassed then start working on it again. With a plan, your determination, and a passionate commitment you can achieve your dreams and goals . . . just like Michael Phelps.

Joan Clout-Kruse, International Low-Cost Marketing and Book Coach, is the author of one of the top weekly Ezine reports for small biz owners covering writing, marketing and publishing on anything words to make money and boost your business.

Sign up for her FREE weekly Ezine how-to articles today at Words4Money.com

The Key To Long Term Motivation Is Your Dream, Your Passion!

Motivation is a popular topic when it comes to people's goals journeys. Usually when people run up against obstacles and brick walls, the success of their goals program is determined by their reasons for going for it in the first place.

Their dream, their motivational foundation, determines whether they continue on their path or just QUIT, and settle for second or third best.

IMHO, I have developed a number of habits which enable me or empower me to get things done. I believe that creating powerful habits is the key to a balanced, fulfilled life.

I crowd out the poor choices by consistently acting and moving towards my dream. That is not to say that I have perfected a strategy for staying on track yet, but, that I get back on track ASAP when I stray.

This article has been moved to the new site:

The Key To Long Term Motivation Is Your Dream

Remembrance Day - Lest We Forget

Image by ViaMoi via FlickrThis morning I watched "We Were Soldiers" with Mel Gibson and a whole host of great actors. Watching this movie deeply reminds me of the sacrifices made by all of the men and women of the armed forces on my behalf during the many wars waged.

Even the act of tapping on these computer keys has been made significant. I can choose what I do with my life and it is because of people who have risen to the occasion and went to war to defend our way of life.

I am deeply moved each year on this day and any other day that I watch such great movies as this.

Thank you to the men and women of the armed forces who have given sometimes the ultimate sacrifice for protection of the very freedoms we enjoy each day. Thank you.

I will always remember. I will always remember. I treasure this freedom that has been paid for so dearly by so many.

Al

Goal Setting Persistence Will Pay Off Big Time

Just before we get to the article, I wanted to let you know that there is another free report available from Stephen Pierce. It's called Stephen's Goal Get'Em Report. It's a short 13 pages of goal setting strategy, but it packs a punch. Go ahead and read it.

Now to today's article on Persistence . . .

We are used to living in a fast-paced world. You can have just about anything you want and have it just about when you want it. Food can be delivered to your door in 20 minutes or less. Information about anything is just a mouse click away via the Internet.

Everything has become about speed. In such a fast-paced society, persistence has been forgotten. Commercials scream that they have found the latest quick fix.

People set goals and then days later become discouraged when nothing happens. How many New Year’s resolutions are broken before the party is even over?

Stop for a minute and think – what is it that you really want? How much time have you really invested in it?

An Olympic athlete does not become an instant success overnight – he or she has spent hours of practice and training to hone their abilities. A concert pianist cannot pound out a difficult song with just minutes of practice – without hours of exercises she would sound like a two-year-old beating on the keys. Rome was not built in a day.

Why should any goals that you have be any different?

Calvin Coolidge once said, "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

Do you have the persistence it takes to press on? Dennis Waitley says, “Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning.”

Those who have persistence are the ones that meet their goals. They are the ones that are successful in what they do. They are the ones that the world looks up to and admires.

What is persistence? According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, it is “continuing, especially in the face of opposition.”

It is that ability to get out of bed and say that you are going to do something for one more day – and to do that every morning.

It is being like the tortoise in the immortal story of the tortoise and the hare that realizes that "slow and steady wins the race.”

It is holding onto that dream you have with such bulldog tenacity that you will let nothing and no one rip it from you.

Everyone has known persistence once. How many times have you watched a young child struggle to crawl or walk? They reach and they stretch and they fall down and they get back up.

If you did not have persistence you would never have gotten this far in life – you would still be helpless infants in your mother’s arms.

According to Napoleon Hill, “Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel.” You just have to learn how to find that persistence again.

Life in the world is very competitive, and we have to learn not to fear obstacles but to embrace them. Otherwise we will be trampled by those who can.

What do you have to lose? If you do not change what you are doing, you will continue on at the status quo.

According to Ted W. Engstrom, "The rewards for those who persevere far exceed the pain that must precede the victory.” Everything comes with a cost. The price is persistence.

With persistence you can achieve anything. It might not be instantaneous, but a little bit every day over a long time can add up. With each brick a house is built higher. With each shovel full a hole is dug deeper. With each note a musician improves. Over time the tiny steps can build into magnificent results.

The main thing behind persistence is to focus on the positives. "Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses . . . on your powers, instead of your problems, says Paul J. Meyer.

No one can move a mountain with one push, but everyone can move a single stone. Over time, stone by stone, that mountain will be moved. Start small and build!

Al

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Success Character Traits Of Successful People

Image via WikipediaDo successful people have the genius of supreme achievement by an accident of birth, a favorable environment or from their own individual effort?

Whatever the reasons, superstars really are a different breed. They must succeed and they will succeed. They have an amazing capacity to dream big, strive even bigger and come through against all the odds. They seem to will themselves to do whatever it takes.

Can we learn to become better achievers by looking inside the minds of the big-time peak performers? Successful people do not wait for something to happen; they take action to achieve their goals.

Successful people seem to have a "make it happen" way of thinking. They take it for granted that they will succeed. They act as if it's a done deal that they will win. They are infectious in their enthusiasm for a project and enlist others easily to make it become a reality. They are bursting with positive expectancy that everything will be a smashing success.

A successful person’s motto is, “I will get it done.”

Successful people take action. They start acting on an idea or plan quickly and make room in their schedule for tangible, concrete objectives that take them closer to their goals. They spend time reflectively, but take action when action is required. They don't waste time over-planning. They get right down to it.

Successful people are often not one hundred percent happy with their performances. They are not negative about them, but they are realistic and demanding of themselves and often of those around them.

They continually seek improvement in even the tiniest areas of their performance and regularly raise the bar as each new ability level is surmounted. They hold their best all-time performances as the ideal and seek to rise to that level always.

Successful people typically have superb organizational skills. Successful individuals know how to break projects down into manageable sizes. They know that many details placed together in proper order lead to something big. They spend time planning and keeping records to show progress and to stay on time projections. They are in a hurry to succeed, but never seem to rush.

Successful people are decisive. This is a critical characteristic of all successful people. They gather information and quickly decide to act on it and later make changes based on new information. They take advantage of the windows of opportunities that arise and go for it.

They have confidence that they made the right decision and the confidence that if they do not they can successfully change gear and recover for a positive outcome. They have disciplined themselves to take action from their proactive first creation.

They do not deviate from their chosen course of action. They have highly developed goals, and they have in front of them always, their detailed written plans for the creation of their Goals and Dreams, and they enjoy scoring themselves at the end of the day. It's all good.

Successful people know how to sacrifice to make something happen. They know they often can't have it all and that they must have singular focus to succeed. They are good at getting into a zone where they can block out all distractions and rapidly advance past their objectives.

They will deny themselves those things that do not contribute to making them successful. Again, they know how to be self-disciplined and stay on track.

Successful people love the battle. They love the process. They love the climb up the ladder. This is what it is all about for many of them. They are excited to pursue their goals and they take extreme pleasure in the big challenge, to see what impossible obstacles they can leap on their way to success. They want stories to tell, bragging rights as part of the success trophy.

Achieving is a passion for the successful individual. Meeting objectives and reaching goals is energizing to top achievers. They can't wait to get to work and see the results of their efforts.

They boost their self-esteem and self-confidence as they finish a project or task that is highly satisfying. They pour their entire passion into what they love to do and complete it with all their energies and enthusiasm.

Some people look at successful people and think that they could never do what they do. They get discouraged at the gap between what is and what could be.

Other people look to the superstars and are inspired. They use the superstars as a template or benchmark and use them as models for what they would like to achieve. They view them as the best practices and measure themselves against the successful.

Rather than feel discouraged when you see a successful person let it inspire you to be the same!

Don’t Wait for Something to Happen. Take Action and Achieve your Goals starting right now! If you don't feel successful today, then act like successful people would, and practice one of the above traits every day. Pretty soon your successes will mount up and you will be living the life of your dreams.

And . . . you will be tremendously successful in your own right.

See you next time.

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