Where You've Been... Where You Came From... And Where You're Going.
Dear Friend,
If you celebrated Christmas, did it go as well as you planned?
Or was it more like another psychotic holiday with your dysfunctional relatives... the drunken uncle who curses too much... and your overbearing and guilt-ridden mother?
Hopefully if you had to deal with some of these things -- and Lord knows we all do from time-to-time -- you've developed a system for handling these issues that's effective, and one that swiftly removes you from the situation as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
For many people, myself included, this is the time you sit back and take a good hard look at what you were able to accomplish this past year -- and... if you're like me, you're also going to take a painful look at what you didn't accomplish that you should've.
Along those lines, during the rest of the week I'm going to share some of the goals I had this time last year, for 2005, along with some of my successes and some of my failures.
Hopefully, you'll be able to relate with some of these things, and even better, maybe you'll be able to get something out of this, you weren't aware of.
In fact, even though I've always been open-minded, more than ever, I want to expose myself to as many new sources of information as possible next year.
I've learned the hard way that getting the scoop on things you DON'T know about -- although far riskier -- is far more important than picking up a thing-or-two more about issues you already know.
You see, adding another chapter of knowledge to your book of tricks, feels very safe.
But dusting off a completely new book -- perhaps one that you've been avoiding for some time now -- is a little more difficult.
Because whenever you venture into unknown territory, you're getting out of your comfort zone. And as you're probably aware, this isn't always easy to do.
But by-and-large, this is where nearly ALL your biggest breakthroughs come from.
So I figued, why not make as many HUGE breakthroughs as possible in 2006?
After all, the chances of failing at the big breakthroughs, aren't likely to be any greater than your failure rate at the smaller stuff, so why not shoot for the moon ALL the time, instead of just every once-in-a-while?
One way I'm going to up the ante dramatically in my life, is by spending a BIG chunk of change, with a few select coaches and consultants, to help me get to where I want to go -- as efficiently and as quickly as possible.
Doing this makes it like "Weight Watchers" -- it adds a layer of accountability and gives you a tremendous vested interest in your results, and if you're goal-driven, usually... the pain of NOT succeeding, especially in light of the financial sacrifices you're making -- will be far greater than the pain of any "out of your comfort zone" experience you might ever have.
To date, I've paid out $21,900 Dollars towards that end already, for next year.
And in my mind, if I don't multiply that investment by at LEAST 7 fold, something's very wrong.
I had some real successes this year, and I also had a few disappointments as well -- some of which, I'm already working on, to fix for 2006.
And here's one way you can easily overcome the "out of your comfort zone" issue, so you can start doing this yourself.
I once heard the controversial and outspoken North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano, make a speech about goals. Jim, who died of cancer just a few weeks after he turned 47, back in 1993, was notorious about doggedly pursuing his goals.
Jim said, in order to accomplish ANYTHING, you need to know where you've been... where you are right now... and where you're going.
And the truth is, for nearly all of us, if you look back at where you've been, you'll see... there's no way in hell that where you want to go, can be anything BUT out of your comfort zone.
So unless you're content with merely being the same as you always were... which is the only thing you've ever known... which is very likely what your parents did -- based on "where you've been" alone, nearly ANYTHING is going to be out of your comfort zone.
Right?
And I'll bet if you take a good hard look at where you are right now, you're already MILES from where you started.
In fact, in the football field of what your life's accomplishments are, I'd be willing to be you're W-A-A-Y past the 50 yard line, and you may even be inside your opponent's 10 yard line.
But if you stop playing now, you'll never know the outcome of your game.
Just remember, those last ten yards are usually the toughest, and no one's giving up anything down there -- not even an inch!
So for 2006, look in the mirror, and then ask yourself, "Do I have what it takes to grind this one out?"... Or will you simply and contentedly end up turning the ball over yet one more time?
Because the choice... really is... yours.
Now go sell something,
Craig Garber
P.S. I'm going to reveal some very personal things about myself during the rest of the week, so don't miss even ONE of my tips.
Any comments?
Send them to me by scooting over to the contact form on my "Here's How To Contact Craig" page, and maybe I'll publish them -- I appreciate your feedback!
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