The truth is that success is not difficult to achieve. Well, here are the 3 simple keys to success:

1. Set achievable and specific goals

How do we know if the goals we set are achievable? Well, here’s my definition of ‘achievable goals’. I personally believe that a goal is not achievable unless you believe that you have the resources to achieve outcome that you desire.

The Day I Found the Lump
By Alex Blackwell

Part Three in the “Coming Into Your Own” Series

Sometimes in life we are given circumstances and conditions that are unwelcome and unfair. Going through particularly hard times can make us bitter and can cause us to feel victimized. However, there are no accidents without value. What this means is no matter what happens to us, we can find value in the event.

There’s no question it is difficult to find the meaning or value in an uncomfortable situation as you are encountering it, but when you step back and look at the outcome it produces, you can almost always find some measure of value.

The enemy waits and listens for your desperation. When you are at the end of your rope and can no longer see or feel what hope looks like, the enemy of your soul pounces on your confidence, shreds your dreams, and will cast a very dark shadow of doubt over what you want to be or do in your life.

The enemy does not want you to be successful. It delights in breaking you down to the point you surrender and exclaim things like, “What was I thinking, I can’t do something like that,” or “There is no way I will ever be able to [fill in the blank].”

A 7th century Arabian genius once said, “Success is the result of foresight and resolution, foresight depends upon deep thinking and planning, and the most important factor of planning is to keep your secrets to yourself”. The name of this genius was Ali Ibn Abi Thalib, one of the most illustrious, noblest and brilliant leaders of the continent-sweeping Islamic civilisation that was left behind by the Prophet Muhammad.

However, it is not the object of this article to discuss a religious figure or the history of a civilisation. The quote provided above is to set the impetus for the rest of this article.

You’re reading this for a purpose. You want something. You need something. You want to become something. You want to have something. You want to do something.

Two words only - You Want.

Human beings; You and I, are goal-seeking machines. Well, maybe ‘machines’ is too crude a word to use. Our brains are goal-seeking mechanisms.

Now let’s think about this thing called “You Want”-ism. Let’s say you want to be a more confident speaker.

What (effective) questions can you ask yourself that will lead you to the right thinking that in turn will lead you to the right decisions and the right actions, and lastly to your desired goal (becoming a more confident speaker)?

Just as setting small and attainable goals are the building blocks for achieving success; living a lifestyle of making good health choices leads to greater and more sustainable happiness.

The cliché “You are what you eat” does resonate with pieces of truth and common sense. There have been several health and fitness studies over the years that suggest people who are overweight, smoke and drink excessively have a predisposition to experience more bouts of depression than people who live a more moderate lifestyle in these areas.

Perhaps “goal setting for a kid” hits you with the bizarre picture in your mind’s eye of a first grader drawing up “smart” goals in a day planner or on their PlayStation PDA?

Relax! Put your grownup concepts of goal setting on the back burner and start to see possibilities in the world with childlike eyes. This article looks at how goal setting for a kid of junior school age can be woven into the natural fabric of their daily living — and be fun too!

You can identify a successful person by the company they keep, they mix with others who can give rather than take from their lives, unsuccessful people allow their social circle to keep them at the level of the group. All successful people have a vision of how they want their world; this is the common thread that has been spun down through the ages. Through persistence and perseverance, you can emulate them by developing a vision of your future. Today you are what you are because of all the decisions and actions you have taken in the past, you are the sum result of all of your thoughts to date, you have attracted to your life everything you are so you can apply the same law of attraction in the future by controlling your thoughts, decisions and actions positively.

Setting goals and achieving them are two totally different things. I believe that you can achieve any goal that you set as long as it is set properly. Here is a goal setting example that will give you a guide line for your own goals.

The goal setting example that I will use is losing 20 pounds since losing weight is one of the most common goals set. The first thing that you need to do is be specific in your goal. A goal to lose weight is very none specific. Losing 20 pounds is fine tunes it. Now you need to set a time frame for your goal. You don’t want to set a time frame so that it’s nearly impossible to do but you don’t want to set it out so far that you lose the motivation to do it.

Before we get into family goal setting I think it’s important to remind you that personal development means just that — personal, as in “a person”! If that sounds a trifle harsh, please believe it is not intended to belittle any growing enthusiasm you may have to share the best of personal development with your loved ones.

Rather, it is a plea to exercise a degree of self-restraint in how you choose to share your knowledge. In this article I present four simple ways you might introduce a family goal setting toolkit.