“Do not allow the distractions of your day, your body, and your thoughts to own you. Step outside of the body and observe it as a vehicle that you instruct, a vehicle that transports you through time and space and documents experience. When you have a thought of someone who has passed into spirit, you are with them. When you hold a thought of disease, you start to become it. When you have a thought of limitation, you are gifted it. Where your thoughts are is where you dwell, it is your creational address. This address then becomes your quantified universe and defined field of light. Redefine who you are to yourself and then it will follow as the day follows the night that you will be re-defined in every cell of your body, and level of your life.  Do not be humbled by your own light, for it is grander than you can conceive. That is your Divine Right and your Divine Inheritance. All things belong unto you.“  ~Rev. Angela Peregoff

There was a study done recently on goal-setting.  100 people were asked if they had goals for their life and out of that 100, only 10 people said yes that they had goals.  After following those 10 goal-making individuals, they found that only 2% of them actually went on to achieve their goals.  What was different about that 2%?  Why did they go on to achieve their goals but the other 8 did not?

I travel all over the world and have spoken to many different types of audiences.  I have facilitated lectures to CEO’s all the way to upcoming female leaders in Gambia, Africa that could not read, write or speak English.  One thing I find in common with all of my audiences is that when I ask the question, “Who in here knows what they want?  Who has goals for their life?” I get the deer in the headlights look.  A few stragglers raise their hands (that 2%), but the others act as if I just asked them a question in Swahili.  It still to this day puzzles me as to how any of these individuals make decisions in their life not knowing what they want?

One myth many seem to believe is that life just happens and our job is to respond to life in the appropriate way.  That could not be further from the truth.  That is like saying you are a pinball in a pinball machine getting knocked around this way and that by life and you just have to take it.  I choose to believe something different.  I choose to believe that creating our life the way WE want is a God-given right.  We are the Michael Angelo’s of our lives…we are the creators.

What is different about that 2% who go on to be creators of their lives?

1. They take the time to define their priorities – what are your top three priorities in your life right now…in order?  Family, career, physical health?  There is no wrong answer.  If you do not know what your priorities are, everything, my friends, becomes a priority!  Priorities shift and change as you change.  Define them today and revisit them often.
2. Their behaviors match their word – once you have identified your priorities, make sure your behaviors match what you say.  That is called self-integrity.  If I were a fly and followed you around all day long, at the end of the day, I should be able to tell you what your priorities are by watching your behaviors.  If your behaviors are not in line now, make adjustments.
3. They define very specifically what they want – make a bucket list of things you would like to do, have or accomplish before you “kick the bucket.”  Be as specific as you can (color, place, time).  Do not worry about how what you identified will come to pass, just write it down.  If it pops into your mind, it goes on the paper.
4. They have a plan of action – take the top 3 items on your bucket list and make a plan of action – dates and all.  Identify what you need to do, piece by piece, to accomplish this goal.  Work backwards from the end point to today.  Have the self-discipline to stick with it.  Ask yourself why you want this goal so bad and if you want it so bad, why haven’t you achieved it yet?  Make a plan of how to overcome these obstacles before they arrive.
5. They have an undying belief in themselves and see their goal as already accomplished – the old adage of seeing it before you believe it has really thrown a glitch into the thinking of many individuals in achieving their goals.  The true equation of manifesting what you desire is to BELIEVE IT, DO IT, HAVE IT.  You must believe a thing is true first in order to act accordingly. Your believing begins with your thoughts:  your conditioning leads to a thought; every thought leads to a feeling; every feeling leads to an action and this equals your end result.  Change your thinking and change your life (there is a great book with that as the subtitle coming out in 2 weeks!  Stay tuned… J)

Starting today, begin to believe you have the right to life; the right to live that life the way YOU want to.  Go grab a “paintbrush” and start your masterpiece.

One of the 2%,

Chris 

Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn, and Google+.

You cannot get to where you want to go until you know where you are starting from.

If I got in my car and wanted to drive to “Destination B” I would need to know two things; where do I want to end up and where am I starting from.  I cannot get in my car and say, “Hey, let’s drive to Boston” and get there if I do not know where I am starting my journey.  How would I know whether I need to drive, fly or take a boat?  How would I know if there were going to be any detours along the way?  How would I know how long it would take to get there?

Many people can tell you at least vaguely at least one goal they would like to achieve in their lives.  Many set these goals and never achieve them.  Why?  They have failed to do two things:  clearly define exactly what it is they want and clearly define where they are starting from.  If I have a goal to be a New York Times bestselling author (which I do!), the first thing you might say I need to do to start on that goal would be to write a book (duh!), but you need to start even more basic than that.  I would need to look at my writing skills first and where I may need to brush up to make them better.  I need to do my research and study other authors who have made it to the New York Times list and see what they have done.  And most importantly, I would need to take a look deep within myself and define why do I want this goal?  If it is so important to me, why haven’t I achieved it yet?  (And you are not allowed to blame others for the answer to that one – leave the victim mentality at the door!)  The only reason you have not achieved what you want in life is because of one person…YOU!  Yes, there are outside circumstances that need to be in alignment for a dream to manifest, but have you been present to notice the opportunities when they arrive?  Have you “given up” in your head by procrastinating and making excuses not to do what you need to do?  Is F.E.A.R. stopping you?  Is low self-esteem getting in your way – do you feel “unworthy” of that level of success?

Sit down with a pen and paper and answer the following questions twice.  In the first round, answer the question after thinking about it for a minute…using your conscious part of your brain.  In the second round, answer each question with the very first thing that comes to your mind…use your intuition.  (This exercise works best if you answer the first set of questions, take a small break, then come back and answer the second set of questions.)

1. What do you most need right now?
2. What do you most want right now?
3. What is your deepest fear?
4. What is your biggest dream?
5. What do you need to be happy?
6. What is your greatest strength?
7. What is your biggest obstacle?
8. In what area are you your own worst enemy?
9. What is the most satisfying part of your life?
10. What is missing in your life?
11. Where would you like to see the most change in the next year?
12. What is your life purpose?

Do you see any patterns in the answers?  If so, there is your first clue as to where you may need to do some work on yourself.  When my coaching clients do this exercise, it always points to those places that are blocking them from living the life they want to live…these things are blocking them from achieving their goals.

Take one of the patterns you see, let’s say it is a fear of failure, and question your thinking?  Write down the answers to these questions.  What are you afraid of exactly?  Can you be absolutely certain that thought is true?  How do you feel when you think that thought?  Who would you be, how would you feel and what would you do without that thought?  Now create a different thought that makes you feel good (a thought in alignment with what you want) and whenever you catch yourself thinking the old thought, clear, cancel, delete and say the new thought to yourself.  Re-frame your thinking!

Thoughts are a choice my friends.  If a thought isn’t making you feel good, change it.  Every thought leads to a feeling and every feeling leads to an action/behavior.  If you want to change your behaviors you have to change your thoughts…that simple.

Don’t separate life from living.  Your life lies underneath your life situation at the moment.  You ARE living it!  This IS your life!  It is perfect just the way it is.  If you don’t have something in your life right now that you want, all that means is you probably don’t really need it right now.  If you needed it, it would be here.  The Universe is a kind place and there is a Divine order in everything that occurs.  Trust it!  Make life the best one you can…this is not a dress rehearsal.  😉

“God is the lead dancer and the soul is the partner
completely attuned to the rhythm and patterns set by the partner. She does not lead, but neither does she hang limp like a sack of potatoes.”
~Thomas Merton quoted in Listening to the Music of the Spirit by David Lonsdale

Hang in there,

Chris

Chris Sopa is founder and owner of Chris Sopa International, Inc. You can learn more about her at www.ChrisSopa.com. Find her at Facebook.com/ChrisSopaInternational, Twitter @ChrisSopa, LinkedIn, and Google+.