Prepare for Success in 2010

It IS a new year. How are you going to make this year better than last year? Nana says one way is to take inventory and set goals. How about trying this to prepare for the success you want.

1. Create a template on a sheet of paper.
On the left side write down what you say you value and desire such as time with friends, getting good grades, performing well at work or spending some quiet time alone.

On the right, make a scale from 1-10 (highest) and rate how much time and effort you actually put into these areas last year. (For instance, you say you are interested in performing well at work; however in review, you realize you do just enough to get by. You might rate "6" for this category.)

2. Target your focus: Review your ratings. Decide which areas are truly important to you, on which areas you are willing to action and upon which you want to improve in the coming year.

3. Categorize: Make a list of all these areas of things you want to be, do and have. Set it aside for a moment.

4. U-tube the Future: Now imagine that you have already lived through 2010. You surf the web and find a U-tube entitled: (Your name) Sandy's 2010 Review. Imagine yourself at the end of year. Think about what are you doing, who are you with, how you are feeling. What's new? What's been left behind?

5. Create a collage of your future: With the future fixed in your mind, rip out of old magazines pictures, phrases, words that represent what you desire in 2010. Don't over think it, just let your heart lead you. There are two ways to use your collection. One application is to paste some pictures in a design of your choice on a piece of construction paper or poster board. Put this collage on a wall where you see it daily. The more you see a picture of your future, the more you are energized to create it.

6. Step back and review: Study the list of categories in the first exercise and then at your collage. Add any areas in which you want to grow and change to your previous list.

7. Set goals: Much research has proven that people who write down goals are more likely to achieve them. Use SMART Goal Setting to make your dreams reality. (SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Reasonable and Timely.)

Make your goals SPECIFIC.
Poor: I will do better in school (or) at work.
Better: I have asked my science teacher for tutoring to improve my grades. (or) I have received training in _______a specific skill to be more promotable.

Make your goals MEASURABLE.
Poor: I want to get better grades. (or) I want a promotion.
Better: I have tutored with my science teacher for a six week time frame and have raised my grade from a C to an A. (or) I have obtained ________certification, added to my work value and submitted my creditials for a new position.

Make your goals ACHIEVABLE.
You want to stretch yourself, but also not bite off more than you could possibly achieve.
If you've never learned a different language, being proficient in one month is not likely.

Make your goals REALISTIC.
Can you invest the time it will take to accomplish what you set out to do? Do you really want to do this? On a scale of 1-10, how high is your desire?

Make your goals TIMELY.
Affix a date and time to your goal. This serves as a computer chip in your brain. Once you set it, your body wants to make it real.
Example: I have benefited from six weeks of tutoring with my science teacher beginning February 1st and ending on March 5th and have raised my grade from a C to a B and am working on making it an A. (or) I have obtained my _____credentials in April and submitted my resume for a new position opened in May.

8. Affirm Your Progress: Affirmations are positive statements that have feeling words in them. They are written in the present tense as if you are enjoying the results of your efforts now. They are written for you, not for what you want someone else to do or be. (Not, I want Jim to act more respectful.) Use affirmations to support your goal in the exercise below.

9. Design your own Success Cards:
A)Take a sheet of card stock and make strips for each goal about 5" wide and about 6" long. On the top of the card, write your goal.

B) Skip spaces and write beneath your goal an affirmation of your obtaining that goal.

Example:
Goal: I have achieved an A in my Science class by tutoring with my science teacher. (or) I have a new position as a direct result of obtaining my certification in __________.
Affirmation: I am happily reaping the benefits of my tutoring with my science teacher and have received an "A" on my April report card. (or) I am confidently accepting a new position starting May 1st that is the direct result of adding value to my capabilities with a new certification.

C) Add a picture of your success: Select a portion of the magazine pictures and words and phrases you previously cut out plus a picture of yourself (Adding you in the collage enhances making your goal a reality.) This collection will represent your vision of achieving this goal in the coming year. Paste the collage of pictures and sayings on the back of your Success Card.

Now you have your goal statement, affirmation and a picture of achieving your goal all in one place! Nana recommends focusing on five goals which makes five success cards. Pretty cool, uh?

10. Create Momentum: Reap the payoff-- you move in the direction of the pictures in your mind.

For maximum impact read your goals, affirmations and pause for a moment to look at the pictures of your achieving your goals on your Success Cards once first thing in the morning and again just before bed. Keeping the cards by your bed makes for easy access. Of course, your cell phone or computer could work. Try it out and see what works best for you!

Nana Says: When you combine your desire, thinking and imagination (Creative Tools by Dr. Edna Lister) you can create wonderful outcomes! If fact you can create a NEW Year! Good Job!

In Search of Beauty, Boobs, Buts and Brawn

• How to Do Life Nugget:
  Beware being set up by accepting ideas found in fairy tales.
  
  Love and Beauty are common fairy tale themes. Two things we seek and two things we define in many different ways. What if ideas found in fairy tales “set us up” for unhappiness? What if we no longer allowed these ideas to run our lives?
  
  Figure-nometry is the obsessive study of and search for physical perfection. Figure-nometry requires a magnifying glass to measure, compare, and highlight every flaw. A lifelong process I call Picking for Perfection (PFP) is set up and the search for beauty, boobs, buts and brawn--six pack abs, "V" shaped frame, up turned nose, uplifted buts and perky breasts-- is born.
  
  Undoubtedly some ideas of perfection are kept alive by identifying with photo-shopped models, air-brushed figures and plastic surgery-altered shapes. However, I wonder if these mis-guided ideas, these Plastic Implants, of “what beauty is” and “the way relationships are” were inserted early on while reading fairy tales of our youth. Setting the keynote of them all is the Cinderella Fairy Tale.
  
  Let's step into the characters in Cinderella, because you know that's what we do when we read or are read to; we take on the role; we identify with the characters.
  Down on her hands and knees, Cinderella scrubs and toils; her hands red, knees chafed. A servant, she is expected to fetch, fuss over and attend to the fuming of her Ugly Stepsisters. Here we get to peek through the mirror at a model of support. Jealous of her beauty and kindness, her stepsisters are mean to her; they talk behind her back; play tricks on her; and miserably treat her. She wishes she could be someone else. And guess what, she gets her wish. Bibbity Bobbity Boo, she is transformed by a Fairy God Mother into a princess complete with carriage, men in waiting and of course, those glass slippers!
  
  She attends the ball and meets Prince Charming, handsome, moneyed, titled and well, charming. Smitten by her, he dances with Cinderella all night until, of course, the clock strikes midnight and all fun has to end. Racing down the steps to beat time, she looses one of her glass slippers. Everything goes back to the way it was for Cinderella.
  
  Mesmerized by one night of romance, Prince Charming begins a country wide search for the glass slipper’s owner. Women of all shapes and sizes try on to fit into this one tiny size. Finally, the slipper fits Cinderella and you guessed it; she wins a life of happily ever after.
  
  Fairy Tale “set-ups” for unhapppiness:
  We must grab at happiness, it doesn’t last; therefore, we must constantly be on guard and afraid (Dare I say it?) for the next glass slipper to drop.
  Nugget: If you focus on lack, you often receive lack.
  • We can (escape) our problems by (wishing) to be someone else.
  Nugget: Ultimately there is no escaping. EVENTUALLY we have to deal.
  • We must subscribe to the “one and only”, Glass Slipper Theory. Love and beauty are in short supply. We must squeeze ourselves into the right size and shape because if we don’t, we will be unbeautiful, unworthy and unable to find love.
  Nugget: Beliefs act like magnets drawing to us more of the same.
  • Beauty is to be sought after. If you don’t have it; you want it. If you have it, watch out someone will go after you for it.
  Nugget: Beauty is from the inside-out.
  • Expect a lifetime of happily-ever-afters following one night of romance.
  Nugget: Happily ever afters are created by work-at-it ever afters.
  • Someone else can save you.
  Nugget: You give up your ability to change the way things are if you leave to someone else.
  • To live a fairy tale love; girls must act like princesses--eternally beautiful and needing to be saved and guys must be a Prince Charming--our savior from boredom, dreary labor and the testimony to our beauty and soul.
  Nugget: Impossible expectations cause misery. Become what you want from another.
  • Living happily ever after will happen only after the magic powers of a Fairy Godmother.
  Nugget: Check out "Good Ever After" below in blog
  
  Nana asks, how are these "fairy tale" ideas working for you?
  
  

Ask Nana a question: http://dear-nana-says.blogspot.com