Today I received a comment from Evan Carmichael on that article, that led me over to his website. I will reproduce the comment here so you can check the resources and articles he offers on his blog about Mastermind Groups.

Check it out. The website includes everything you need to know about setting up and running successful, effective Masterminds. By the way I recommend you sign up for his Blog RSS feed and get the updates as written.

Starting a Mastermind Group that can help you achieve not only your goals, but that of the groups as a whole is one of the most powerful success habits you can develop! It is an extreme high leverage activity when it comes to speeding your goals journey along.

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Evan Carmichael Said:

We launched a Mastermind Group Resources Blog to give entrepreneurs strategies to get the most from their Mastermind Groups and I was pleased to see your post!

Evan.
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Thanks Evan. I appreciate your taking the time to visit with us.

Al Smith

One of the things I do is write out my goals every morning and I find that this gives me direction for the day. Get yourself a goals book and start your day with goal setting and you will find yourself not only getting more done each day but you will also find more ways to achieve your goals.

Here’s Tony’s article:

The Top 7 Steps to Managing Your Goals

The subject of goal setting is really important in ensuring you have a direction in life and a way to get to your destination. So having goals and being able to use them effectively is a must. But how many goals should you set? Well there is no right or wrong answer to that as each of us is different and looking to achieve different things.

We are all going to have long-term goals that set down where we will be in, say, 5 years time. (Note it should be stated as where you WILL be in 5 years not where you want to be or hope to be - always be positive.)

Equally you will have medium-term goals - you probably, like most people, set goals at the start of each year for what you are going to do that year. That’s OK as long as they are properly formulated and written goals that are SMART - Specific; Measurable; Achievable; Realistic; and Time-Constrained.

But also you will have short-term goals, such as simply the things you do each day, week, or month. When learning about time management, using a closed daily task list is recommended so that each day you simply tick off your tasks as you complete them. Your goal then is completing everything on your list.

So you may have a long-term goal, 4 or 5 medium-term ones, and several short-term but just how do you manage them and ensure that each is followed through? All of your goals require some of your resources: time, money, effort, etc and as these things are limited, your goals can sometimes appear to conflict with one another. If you work on one will it mean falling down on another?

Well no, it shouldn’t, but good management is essential and these tips will help you in managing all of your goals:

#1 Always Write Down Your Goals

If you fail to do this one simple thing you will fail to achieve your goals. It can be completing the simple daily task list as already mentioned for short-term goals, or a full statement of the goal and its outcome for your ultimate long-term goal. Just be sure to do it!

#2 Break Your Goals Down

The easiest way to achieve your goals is to break them down into smaller manageable chunks. Schedule tasks relating to each part of the goal so that each day you know exactly what steps you have to take.

#3 Be Realistic

Having a number of goals all running at the same time is OK but be realistic about what you can achieve in any given time-frame. Don’t overload yourself with tasks.

#4 Stagger Your Goals

Don’t fall into the trap of having all your goals due for completion at the same time. That’s why setting New Years Resolutions as goals, for example, is not a great idea as the deadlines will all come together. That will only increase the stress and lead to frustration causing you to become de-motivated.

#5 Mix Simple and Difficult Goals

Always work on simple and difficult goals at the same time. Just working on the challenging, long-term goals can be stressful but having simpler, short-term goals that will give you quick results will boost your enthusiasm and motivation for the harder tasks you need to do.

#6 Be Flexible

Whilst it is important to have time-frames and measurable targets for your goals, it will be counter-productive if they become unrealistic. So rather than becoming frustrated and giving up, just adjust your goals so that they become achievable again. Even if you have to put a goal on hold it is not a problem as long as you are managing it and that you write down what you plan to do.

#7 Don’t Let Your Goals Control You

The whole point of having goals in your life is to ensure that you achieve the things you want to do. They are the means to getting to where you want to be and becoming the person you desire. If doing the tasks associated with them starts to become a chore then you are getting it wrong. You must retain control and be happy doing what is required.

My #1 Goal begins, “Each day I wake up feeling happy…”

It’s a pretty good place to start!

This article was written by Tony Hall who runs his own business dedicated to helping individuals develop their personal and business skills. You can learn more about how to develop your own life skills and get your complimentary copy of “The Process of Success” by signing up for his weekly newsletter at:

http://www.selfimprovementskills.com/newsletter.html

Everyone on this spinning planet has the capacity to be successful in every area of their life if that is what they choose. Success results from cultivating certain habits, sticking to them, and commiting to practice them consistently.

Consistency is a ‘must’, not a ‘should’. No negotiating here.

Successful people have a certain type of personality. They have created it, they have developed it, and . . . it is learnable by all. Successful people think in a particular way, talk in a particular way and act in a particular way.

Are you already a successful person? Then you already practice some of these principles below, if not all of them.

Would you like to be a successful person? Here are 10 of the principles of success that are bound to help you if you practice them.

1. Develop a clear vision of what exactly you want to achieve in your life. Carry this vision in your mind at all times. This is the starting point to success.
2. Believe without any doubt that you will achieve your dreams. Believe that the higher power that has already been giving you whatever you needed so far, has also given you the capacity for everything you will need in the future.
3. Stay away from negative influences such as negative people, books, articles, etc. Surround yourself with people and things that boost your belief that you will succeed.
4. Take responsibility for your past and your future. Don’t let your success depend on anybody else, take responsibility for your own life.
5. Create the habit of repeating positive affirmations to yourself. Speak your affirmations in personal and present tense. Write down your affirmations. Affirmations cause your mind to stay fixed and focused on your goal. They build your self-confidence and deepen your belief.
6. Set a specific goal that aligns within your vision. No conflicting goals allowed. Your goals need to be precise, measurable, realistic and time deadlined.
7. Work out your plan of action. Break down your plan into small tasks. Remember consistency is vital to reach your goals.
6. Make a firm commitment to take action. Once you decide on what action, stay committed and don’t give up.
9. Persistence is the key to success. Treat every failure as a learning opportunity. And always push yourself towards your goal.
10. Maintain an attitude of gratitude, realizing that your dream is already becoming a reality. Look around you and be grateful for things that you already have, and be grateful for all you will have. Just stay grateful, it is an awesome place to be.

These are just some of the principles of success. Act on these with faith and persistence, and you will never fail again. (unless you want to quit that is)

Al

P.S.  If you think your dream or vision is impossible, you may be interested in this post:

How Do You Achieve The Impossible?

That is a brilliant collaborative effort by him and a group of successful people, to bring that kind of success to market. Here is the strategy he uses to start mastermind groups.

How to Accelerate Your Success with a Mastermind Group

We all know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem or creating a result. So imagine having a permanent group of five or six people who meet every week for the purpose of problem solving, brainstorming, networking, and encouraging and motivating each other!

This process is called masterminding and is one of the most effective success tools you can adopt! It is a powerful way to support your dreams and bring unlimited resources to your business and personal life.

Participating in a mastermind group has been critical to me. I can’t imagine achieving all I have without one, and it certainly made my goals happen much faster.

A Process for Accelerating Your Growth

The basic philosophy of a mastermind group is that more can be achieved in less time when people work together. Sometimes called a “dream team”, your mastermind group is made up of two or more individuals who voluntarily come together on a regular basis - weekly, biweekly, or monthly - to share ideas, thoughts, information, feedback and resources.

Your group can be composed of people from your own industry or profession or people from all walks of life. You can focus on business, increasing each other’s income, building a business, raising better kids, or solving a social problem.

Within your mastermind group, you benefit from the other members who empower you and draw out your full talents, resources and abilities. They trigger, stimulate, and motivate you to become all you are capable of being.

Creating Your Dream Team

The key is to choose people who are already where you’d like to be in your life - or who are at least a level above you. In forming your mastermind group, start by carefully enrolling another friendly, on-purpose, like-minded individual. Start by meeting together and then adding other selected, unanimously agreed-upon individuals who will work in total harmony for the good of each other and for the good of the group.

1. Your Dream Team should consist of 4-8 people. Most people find that 6 is the ideal number.

2. Meet weekly, if possible, for an hour to an hour and a half. This meeting must be held sacred as a life-enhancing priority. The meetings should be upbeat, enriching, encouraging and beneficial to each individual and the group’s purposes. I always start our meetings with a prayer or an invocation. You could also start with an inspiring story.

3. Each member must agree to play all out — to openly share ideas, support, contacts, information, feedback, and anything else that will help advance the individual and group goals.

4. Start by having each member share something positive and good that happened since the last meeting.

5. Next, have each member share an opportunity or problem they have experienced since the last meeting and ask for whatever support they would like on it. Appoint a time-keeper to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of time. This is important if you want your group to last. Everyone must get value at each meeting.

6. End by sharing appreciations and acknowledgements.

You’ll find one of the real values of a mastermind group is the accountability factor - other members checking up on you to make sure you meet your stated commitments. It’s one way to ensure you’ll accomplish a lot more!

For more details about masterminding, read Success Principle #46 in The Success Principles book or utilize the mastermind worksheets found in The Success Principles 30-day Audio Course.

© 2008 Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

]]> http://realgoalgetter.com/104/masterminding-explained-by-a-master-masterminder/feed/ http://realgoalgetter.com/103/why-should-i-set-goals-basic-goal-setting-thoughts/ http://realgoalgetter.com/103/why-should-i-set-goals-basic-goal-setting-thoughts/#comments Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:37:51 +0000 Al Smith http://realgoalgetter.com/103/why-should-i-set-goals-basic-goal-setting-thoughts/ Goal Setting can be an extremely powerful tool. It is just about the most important thing you can do if you want to be successful. You can create your ideal future and motivate yourself to turn negatives into positives through long term views.

Keep in mind that when it comes to personal goal setting you are basically setting direction to your life. You are writing out your life plans and you are making commitments to how you want your life to be. You must be courageous in making these decisions. Many give up right here.

There is a process to setting goals and you will need to complete the process for each and every personal goal. No one ever said that setting goals would be easy. Thinking is just about the hardest work anyone can do, but the rewards are so worth it. Please don’t put this off.

Planning is vital in every undertaking you set out on. Yet you will find that your plans rarely go as you want them to. Understand this point. More often than not you need to be flexible enough to changing situations and think and act on the fly so to speak. But . . . it is still worth completing the planning stage.

Set your paths with milestones to each goal, and re-check your goals every day. Many people neglect to review their goals frequently, and this can be disastrous to the effectiveness of your new goal setting program.

Work at it. Keep your goals right in front of you, revise them until you can visualize yourself clearly enjoying the benefits they are bringing to you. Create those new habits that will propel you towards what you want.

We are creatures of habit, so let’s make those habits serve us not destroy us. If a current habit is not serving us, we need to rethink our actions and create another habit which empowers our goals journey.

A goal out of sight generally means out of mind and the result is that our focus can be easily distracted away from getting our goal to the possibly more negative events staring us in the face at any given moment.

We must focus on the prize not on the process, when things get tough.

When it comes to goal motivation you will find that the success of a goal will be such an emotional high that it will enable and increase your self-confidence as you progress towards the next goal. You will absolutely find that the success in one goal actually helps push you to reach your next goal. Momentum is hugely critical and beneficial. Inertia can be deadly.

When goal setting, take others into consideration. Include your family in on the goals that you wish to achieve. As long as they support your goals program, your power will be exponentially increased.

Clearly define your goals, your responsibilities, and what they can do to help you, so that as a team there is no blurry line. There will be times where you will get off track, and they can help you reaffirm why you are doing all this. Supportive people around you can help to insulate you from otherwise damaging or overwhelming negatives.

All in all, goal setting is hard work and many will not take the time to do it properly. So, don’t let that person be YOU. Don’t you become one of them, those who watch others do. The pain of regret weighs pounds and the pain of effort only ounces, so do the work and save yourself all that grief.