Happy New Year times 10

Scott Schwab:
Let us be the first to welcome you to 2012. It is a little early, but we all know it is coming. 2012 can be whatever you make it. The great part is that you have complete control over what you will make of the year. I have some suggestions that will change your year and change you life.....

1) Make a plan for what you want to do, become, and accomplish. The more specific the better. If it is important to you, you will break that down into some benchmarks weekly and monthly. Holding yourself accountable is #1.

2)Visualize what you want and continue to visualize. The power of thought is incredible and produces millions of neurons that help to get things in motion. The most powerful thing you possess is your mind. Use it to visualize exactly what you want.

3) Write it down. If you are serious about change, you will not just decide and keep it in your mind, you will put it down on paper and other places that you will see often. A goal is not a goal until it is written down. Get serious about accomplishing what you want.

4) Be realistic. Dreaming and visualizing is great, but also for your emotional sanity and keeping hope in check. If you need to climb Mt. Everest, realize that it is a process and will take time. Thinking we can do something quickly may not happen. Be prepared to adjust and then re-adjust to make your goals a reality.

5)Put in the work. Nothing good comes from little to no work. It comes from doing things that at times you will not want to do. That one principal can help you become whatever you want to become. Do the things that others wont do. In a job, in a relationship, in life. If you consistently push yourself harder and farther than others, you will consistently achieve what others will not achieve. It is habitual, so stick with it on a daily basis.

6) Do what you say you will do. It is important for you to be true to what you say, your principals, standards, and values. People find themselves in trouble when they make no declaration of who they are or what they want to become and when the moment arrives for them to act, they are stuck trying to decide. Decide now who you are and what you will become. That way, you declare what it is you want to do,become, and accomplish.

7) Help others. Not only because it is the right thing to do, but because you learn about yourself. An old parable talks about the student becoming the teacher and truly learning when the student becomes the teacher and teaches other students. The greatest learning is not by telling, it is by showing.

8) Find balance in your life. You may be an expert in one area and have need for refinement in another. It is not enough to say that you are not good in that area and that is just the way it is. You are not justified in that! Be the person who learns from your weaknesses and has the goal to make them strengths.

9) Be prepared. Often times opportunity does not come to those who do not see it. One of my favorite quotes says "Opportunity is when preparation and luck meet." Any athlete or performer or warrior, can tell you, the work had to be done before they stepped onto the stage.

10) Have fun. Sometimes it is the most challenging thing to do. If you do not enjoy what you are doing, find a way, change your attitude, and implement a specific strategy to make it happen. Personal perspective has a lot to do with this one, but realize that life will not be perfect, but it can be enjoyable. Despite what people may tell you, real joy does take work and that is why work; when balanced, can provide some of the most enjoyable opportunities life has to offer.