Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them
Why is it that 95% of people who set themselves goals fail to reach them? In one word: impatience.
The most important and difficult stage of goal-building is the immediate stage after you set your goals. In the first stage, there's a brief blip of euphoria. But this soon passes and then you hit the arid plateau of learning. It's in this phase that most people lose their way and give up.
But this is the phase when you have to hang in there despite appearances. Otherwise, it's like digging up the seeds a week after sowing them.
So, here, for those who need a roadmap through the arid plains of goal-building, is a 6-step guide to managing your impatience and keeping your plans on track.
1. Have Plenty of Motivation Reminders. One of the cruel tricks that life plays on us is to make goal-setting easy and goal-building hard. This is no more true than in the opening phases of working towards a new goal. When we choose a new goal that seems within our reach, we are full of excitement and anticipation. It's like the start of a marathon when everyone cheers us over the start line.
But the cheers soon become a distant memory when we move into the second phase, the hard slog. It's in this phase that we need to have a ready supply of motivation reminders to keep us going. Here's one I often use. It's from Ray Kroc, founder of the global restaurant chain McDonald's. Kroc was an amazing entrepreneur.
He says that it is in the early stages of working towards a new goal that you learn the most: "When you're green, you grow. When you're ripe, you rot."
2. Be A Fly, Not A Bee. The chief problem with the early stages of goal-building is that you can never be sure of the right way forward, particularly if you are breaking new ground. You try something and it doesn't work. You try again and it doesn't work again.
And again. And again. That's tough. But it's essential. Because you're learning.
Karl Weick says that in this situation it is much better to be a fly than a bee. When you place a fly and a bee in an upturned jam jar, the bee will head straight for the light and repeatedly buzz against the bottom of the glass. The fly on the other hand will dive frantically around the jar exploring every corner until he finds a way out. That's the example to follow when you want to succeed: be a fly, not a bee.
3. Accept The Struggle. Those who are eager to succeed often treat the second phase of goal-building as an unnecessary waste of time.
They would prefer to skip it and jump to the next phase of success. But this is to misunderstand the whole point of the second phase. It's there to toughen you up. You may have heard the story of "The Man and the Butterfly" about the man who saw a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. To help it out, the man cut a bigger hole in the cocoon and pulled the butterfly through.
However, instead of flying away, the butterfly was unable to fly. Its body was too swollen. What the man did not understand was that the butterfly's struggle to emerge through the hole forces fluid from its body to its wings and thus makes them strong and ready to carry its weight. Like the butterfly, we need to struggle to succeed.
4. Be Objective. In stage two of goal-building, it's valuable to stand back and distance ourselves from what's going on.
We need to be tripeds not bipeds. Bipeds are people who see only themselves and others. Risk-taking is a do-or-die undertaking. Progress is either a triumph or disaster. Life is black and white, winning or losing.
Tripeds, on the other hand, can distance themselves from their situation by finding a third position where they can observe things with objectivity. Life isn't either-or any more. It has depth, colour, and many angles.
5. Don't Judge Yourself. Our win-lose culture puts great pressure on us to consider ourselves at any moment in life as either winners or losers. This means that failure is a bad thing and winning is everything.
One of the most quoted expressions in our modern culture is: "Failure is not an option". But this is to misunderstand the real nature of success. We need to fail in order to succeed. And we need to fail big-time in order to succeed big-time. Practically every successful entrepreneur, from Thomas Edison to Walt Disney, experienced failure many times over.
But they didn't judge themselves. They interpreted failure as "not succeeding yet" and saw it as just one more step on the road to success.
6. Manage Your Morale. Of course, it's not always much fun to be stuck in the hard slog phase of goal-building. Nobody's cheering any more. You have nothing to show for your efforts.
And the dream still feels as far away as ever. That's when you have to manage your morale. That means managing your stress, keeping things light, and working on the things you can't see: your thinking patterns, your emotions, and your spirit. And, like the fluid in the butterfly, these may just be the things that will make you fly. "I can say: "I am terribly frightened and fear is terrible and it makes me uncomfortable, so I won't do it." Or I could say: "Get used to being uncomfortable." It is uncomfortable doing something risky.
But so what? Do you want to stagnate and just be comfortable?" (Barbra Streisand)
We human beings are very similar to the plant world. We grow best when we work with Nature and time. Don't be in too much of a hurry to achieve your goals. If you hold on with faith, certainty, and determination, you'll get there in due course when the time is right.
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Why The Internet Doesn't Work
I started selling things in the fifth grade. Seeds, door to door.Some of my friends would try that for a couple days, too. Even amonth. Then they would hold meetings about how selling seedsdidn't work.Well, at least that's how the meetings started -- I always hadto leave early to do more selling ... or collect my money.I've heard "It doesn't work!" about everything.For example: "I spent $600 on an Xer-Cycle eight months ago, and Ihaven't lost a pound." ...
although usually it's just"Xer-Cycle? It doesn't work."Well, do the pedals turn? "I mean I haven't lost a pound." Well, did you follow the directions? "Yes, I read the directions."Did you follow the directions? "I already told you I read them!"That's not what I asked. I asked if you followed them -- and, ifso, for how long?Sometimes the spouse will reveal that the Xer-Cycle was used for20 minutes the first day, ten minutes the next, and, well, "Itdoesn't work."The truth is that nothing works, including the Internet. Not onedamn...
Why The Internet Doesn't Work
Seeds > Why The Internet Doesn't Work
Wedding Favor Creator
Wedding favors have always been a nice, personal gesture to include in your wedding preparations. Unfortunately, there are too many "cookie-cutter" type favors out there, which portray the couple's lack of interest in providing something unique.Here is a Wedding Favor Creator for you to use for your upcoming wedding or one that you're planning for your best friend. You can mix and match to your heart's content and according to the budget you have.Small containers to use for candies, chocolates, small floating candles, decorative soaps, etc. (many of them can be purchased at your local dollar store)
- tiny wicker baskets or straw hats
- egg cups
- candle holders
- flat shells (scallops)
- small filigree metal boxes
- decorated wooden boxes
- coffee mugs
- wine glasses
- small decorative dish
- tiny flower pots
- little tin watering cans
- small jars
- ceramic spoon rest
- heart-shaped candies or chocolates
- Hershey's...
Seeds > Wedding Favor Creator
The benefits of a Low Sodium Lifestyle
A low sodium, low salt diet shouldn't be a burden at all! Personally, I have kept to an "under 1000mg" a day diet with out giving up much but fast food (and who misses that anyway?)
When I was first told that my blood pressure was high ( 160/95) and labeled as having hypertension, I decided at that moment to do some serious research into what had created this "new-to-me" health concern.
I wanted to find a permanent solution to lower the numbers to an acceptable, healthy range without taking medication.
As I reflected on where I was in life at the moment, mid-life, not overweight, but not exercising regularly either, I began making small changes in my day-to-day lifestyle. I was not going to give in to hypertension.
First, I bought a nutritional handbook that lists most foods and their nutritional content. I decided to try and stay under 500mg of sodium daily. This took some work, but it paid off very well.
I had lowered my...
The benefits of a Low Sodium Lifestyle
Seeds > The benefits of a Low Sodium Lifestyle
Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them
Why is it that 95% of people who set themselves goals fail to reach them? In one word: impatience.
The most important and difficult stage of goal-building is the immediate stage after you set your goals. In the first stage, there's a brief blip of euphoria. But this soon passes and then you hit the arid plateau of learning. It's in this phase that most people lose their way and give up.
But this is the phase when you have to hang in there despite appearances. Otherwise, it's like digging up the seeds a week after sowing them.
So, here, for those who need a roadmap through the arid plains of goal-building, is a 6-step guide to managing your impatience and keeping your plans on track.
1. Have Plenty of Motivation Reminders. One of the cruel tricks that life plays on us is to make goal-setting easy and goal-building hard. This is no more true than in the opening phases of working towards a new goal. When we choose a new goal that...
Seeds > Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them
Flower Seed
Flowers have been grown and nurtured over years for personal and business purposes. A flower provides visual bliss in addition to a soothing aroma and an array of delightful colors. One can give cut flowers as gifts to celebrate events, express feelings or just grow them in a backyard.
It may sound strange when a botanist refers to singular divisions of a flower while referring to male and female reproductive organs. However, this is true.
Flowers are used as a reproductive organ only in certain angiosperms plants. A pistil is located in the center of a flower and it contains female organs. It has a rounded lower base, which is the ovary. These contain reproductive cells called ovule.
Pistils contain a style and a stigma, which are sticky. Pollen grains stick to the stigma through fertilization or pollination from insects, wind or other means.
This facilitates the development of pollen tubes inside the style, which navigate down to the ovary....
Flower Seed
Seeds > Flower Seed
Flower Bulbs: Nature?s Greatest Gift
Flowers are one of nature's greatest gifts. Their scent, their colors, their shapes? everything about flowers is beautiful. A colorful, cheerful flower can brighten even the darkest day. Even more enjoyable than looking at flowers, though, is growing them. Flowers can be bought from pots and replanted.
They can also be grown from clippings. However, one of the most popular ways of growing flowers is from bulbs and seeds.Growing flowers outdoors from bulbs is simple; in fact, it is so easy that it's almost foolproof. One of the most important aspects is timing. Bulbs need to be planted about six weeks before the first frost. Bulbs must be planted in an area with good drainage and a lot of sun.
Make sure the soil is loose, and then plant the bulbs about six inches in the ground. (Package directions may vary depending on type and location; when directions differ, following your package.) Try to place the bulb in the hole with the pointed end facing up. Cover the hole and water....
Flower Bulbs: Nature?s Greatest Gift
Seeds > Flower Bulbs: Nature?s Greatest Gift
Acapulco, One of Mexico?s Top Travel Destinations
Today's AcapulcoAcapulco is probably Mexico's oldest established resort town but, thanks to a recent renaissance, this remarkable town has maintained its status as one of Mexico's top travel destinations and the place to be to enjoy a magnificent Mexico vacation.It's easy to see why Acapulco attracts travelers of all ages. During its endless sunny days, this Pacific coast town offers beaches that are second-to-none. Visitors can enjoy amazing water adventures or lie in the warmth of the sun and...
Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them water Seeds Acapulco, One of Mexico?s Top Travel Destinations
Seeds > Acapulco, One of Mexico?s Top Travel Destinations
Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them skirts Seeds
Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them Seeds party
Diamond Flashes
Beyond magnificence and splendor, the world of diamonds evolves on stirred grounds. When the stake is so important, interests collide. But technology develops following its onward course. Here are some interesting off-stage events in the diamond industry and innovations in technology.De Beers sued by head of the Diamond BourseDerek Parsons, the president of the Diamond Bourse of the Southeast United States has filed a lawsuit against De Beers, on the charge of the company's disregard of American...
Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them Seeds
Seeds > Diamond Flashes
Obesity in America
Obesity in America has been blamed on many different things; increased technology such as video games is one, as well as more fast food restaurants. However I do not believe that these are the only causes of such a large amount of obesity within the USA.The cause that gets mostly overlooked is the portrayal of men and women in society. Not video games or more fast food restaurants, but the way women and men are portrayed by the media, movies and television shows over the past decade.There are...
Don?t Pull Up The Seeds When You?ve Just Sown Them depression
Seeds > Obesity in America