This is the last week of the month. It’s the fourth week of the decade. When we start the year, we are excited to accomplish our goals. Whether that is professional, personal, relationships, hobbies, fitness, or any other type of goals, we are excited. The first part of our goals is fueled by excitement. However, as we start working on our goals, that excitement ebbs and flows. We have to battle the War of Attrition.

The War of Attrition

As human beings, we always like something new. Our goals seem like shiny new toys.  However, most goals require constant and repetitive action. Some of these actions may get boring, frustrating, or just tedious. The first couple of times that you eat that salad you might feel emboldened, but, after the tenth, the twentieth, or even the hundredth time, you may resent eating healthy. Treating your goals as your job is very important.  You have to take your goals and your dreams very seriously.

Considering the Alternative

When...

One powerful method to make your goals real is to actually write them down or document them. This will take your goals and make them more tangible. It also can give you a roadmap to look at and track progress. While writing down your goals, you will come up with more ideas, rather than just pulling ideas out of the air. If you work with other people, it will show them a roadmap and ways they can help you. It simply makes your goals more tangible.

Over the winter break, I wrote down all my goals and put them into a nice presentation.  As I was putting the plan into place, I thought of many more steps. It  allowed me to get excited about accomplishing them because I had a visual and tangible map that I could follow. It also gave my team more clarity on the next steps.

The document will also serve as a source of motivation and inspiration. Let’s face it.  When you start working on your goals, you will experience feelings of boredom, frustration, apathy, and other...

 One of the principals at the Sourena V. Group is Chris Stevenson.  He presents on stage with me and also takes my content and puts it on video.  In addition, he also speaks internationally about customer service and the fitness business.  He’s been a serial entrepreneur for over two decades.  Lastly, he is one of my best friends.  We have so much fun together.

Once a week he writes a newsletter.  This is one of my favorites.

One of the reasons I like this is because we have similar views on what it takes to become amazing.

Welcome to 2020! To kick off the new year correctly, I thought it was appropriate to share some thoughts in the area of new year's resolutions. You often hear people say resolutions don't work. While you could argue both sides, I would say that the real issue isn't about resolutions, it is that change in general. Change is hard because we often approach it the wrong way. The new year hits, we are motivated and...

20/20 Clarity For 2020

We have embarked on a new decade. We want to welcome the new decade with clarity and a way to reach amazing success. When many people start a new year, they set resolutions. These resolutions are a wish list of goals that they would like to have materialize. Without consistent actions, you will have a challenging time achieving what you want in life. One of the keys of mindset is getting clarity on what you want to do, why you want to do it, the challenges involved, the people you need to help you, the habits needed, and the next steps. No matter how big or how pedestrian your goals or dreams are, the clearer you are, and the better mindset you have, the more likely you are to achieve your goals.

What do you want to do?

The question of what do you want to do is simple, yet, complex. We all have desires and wishes, but it takes clarity to turn the wishes into concrete goals. If you ask most people what they want out of life, you will hear answers such as...

Joy is something that we have to constantly infuse in our lives. Since the human brain is not wired to be happy part of our job and habits is to be conscious of the joys and blessings in our lives.

Every day we are faced with situations that we can interpret as blessings. Likewise, every day we are faced with situations that can ruin our day. For example, minute by minute, I can lament everything that I can’t do. My disability makes most activities exponentially more challenging. Activities such as eating, typing, using my phone, using the restroom, and getting around are taxing. Everything would be easier if I didn’t have a stupid little disability. Even the blessings in my life would be so much better if I could do what others do. In the past, I used to spend countless hours wondering about how my life would play out if I were not disabled.

I am learning how to as Brendon Burchard says, “honor the struggle” and "bring the joy” into my life. This does...

Perhaps the purpose of life is to find joy and happiness. What’s the point of having an amazing life without joy and happiness?  After you achieve them for yourself, it’s time to bring joy and happiness to others.

People often assume that achieving goals will bring them happiness and joy.  Statements such as “when I have a million dollars, I will be happy,” or “when I meet the love of my life, I will be happy,” or “when I have kids, I will be happy,” or “when I get to travel the world, I will be happy,” are often said when people talk about joy and happiness.

Limitations and challenges are often seen as obstacles to happiness. People tend to look at their limitations and see gray skies; however, behind every gray sky is an infinite amount of sunshine. 

Wherever you are in life, you have to find a way to be happy. There have been periods of my life when I was not happy, and I blamed my lack of happiness on...

 Mindset is critical in achieving our goals. Mindset is the way we go after goals, deal with challenges, deal with others, and so on. Mindset also touches every aspect of our lives.  There are five keys to develop an amazing mindset. Also, mindset is not binary. It’s something that keeps evolving and changes over time. If you want to reach amazing success, change your mindset.

1. Rewriting your narrative. We all have a story about how we can achieve success. Any opinion about anything goes into our narrative. Part of our narrative can be limiting. If you don’t challenge the part of your narrative that holds you back, you limit yourself and the amount of success that you can have.
2. Success takes consistent action and those actions are your habits. It’s the Olympic swimmer who has swam laps for two decades. It’s the writer who can crank out pages daily. It’s the real estate investor who scours the internet for deals. You cannot improve your...

As we approach Thanksgiving, I am going to take a closer look at gratitude. When people talk about gratitude, they do it as a method of feeling better about their lives.  Factors that prevent us from achieving our goals are the lack of connections, resources, or anything that we feel that gets in the way.

One of the exercises that we need to do when we are going after our goals is focusing on the resources that we have at our disposal while simultaneously navigating our challenges or what gets in the way of success. For most, the latter is stronger than the former. This is where gratitude comes in as a tool for success, not just as a temporary feel-good gimmick.

When I was in my 20s, I was obsessed with the fact that my disability got in the way of my goals and my dreams.  Although I was accomplishing my goals, I thought that my disability made everything more challenging and more cumbersome. To tell you the truth, it did. It still does. However, now I realize that was...

The environment that you are in or the environment that you create has a tremendous effect on your goals and the way you go after your dreams. Unfortunately, when people set goals they don’t take their environment into consideration.

Also, a big part of success is mindset. Mindset is the way you think about your goals, go after your success, and even go about your day. Environment plays a big part in your mindset. Environment can be categorized into two buckets. The first bucket is your physical environment. This can be the tools for success. Your computer, your workout clothes, the food in the house, even your phone are part of your physical environment. These are the tools that you need to achieve success. If you have more access to the tools used to achieve your goals, you are more likely to use them. For example, if you have a treadmill in your living room, you are more likely to use it than if it is located in your garage. If you have junk food as opposed to healthy food...

We are in November and, this time of the year, most people are slowing down and getting ready for the holidays. However, I want you to have a head start on the brand new year and decade. Now is a great opportunity to think, plan, and get reenergized regarding what you want in your life. 

It is normal to have the instinct of slowing down, taking it easy, and enjoying the holidays. This is awesome and need not be abandoned. I want you to be present, enjoy your family, possibly take a couple of trips, and be grateful for the blessings in your life.  However, I want you to take a little of that time to really consider what you want from your life and how you can achieve amazing success.

Summary:

It is time to embrace this time of year and prepare for what the new year and decade will bring for your amazing success.