Celestial Forum's Blog

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”- Seneca

Have you ever started doing something without even knowing why you are doing it or where you want to go by accomplishing it? Have you ever had the experience of doing many things but not achieving enough?

How did you feel in such situations? Exhausted? Confused? Drained? Overwhelmed? Lost? Dissatisfied?

Have you ever thought about what could be the reason for feeling exhausted, confused, drained, overwhelmed, lost, or dissatisfied despite all the activities that you have had?

The main reason is lack of a motivator called vision!

Without vision you are like the captain of a ship whose compass doesn’t function. Without vision you are like a driver who does not know where his destination is. Without vision you are like a traveller who does not know the purpose of her trip or where she is heading to.

Unfortunately, many organizations do not have a powerful vision or if they do, it is not communicated properly. Either way they do not succeed in the long term especially during tough times like economy crises.

Authentic leaders are visionary in both their personal and professional lives. They create powerful visions, communicate their visions to their people, and motivate them to act toward achieving their visions.

Having a clear picture of where we want to be or what we want to become is key in staying on track toward not only reaching the destination but also hitting the target. In any leadership task that I take, defining a clear and motivating vision is the first thing that I do because when I see the big picture and know where I am heading to the chances of getting to the destination are much bigger.

Following are 7 reasons why having a clear and powerful vision is crucial to your success:

Vision shows you the big picture

When you have a vision you see beyond what physical eyes can see. You bring your imagination into play. A powerful vision will help you zoom out and see the big picture. When you see the big picture, you would be able to connect the dots and understand why certain things happen. With vision, you no longer get stuck in details due to local events that happen here and there especially during tough times. You no longer count temporary setbacks as failures. By seeing the big picture, you know that you need to face challenges and adversities in order to get closer and closer to fulfilling your vision. As a visionary leader, the unexpected storms are no longer a surprise because you see the big picture and therefore you are ever ready.

Vision helps you focus

In the absence of a clear vision, you may become distracted with short term goals. You may lose control of your leadership ship when you hit unexpected storms. Presence of a powerful vision helps you focus on the worthy and what takes you to your final destination. When you are focused, you are not afraid of what comes in front of you because at any situation you turn the wheel of your leadership ship toward the destination with the help of you vision compass.

Vision gives you direction

When you define a clear and powerful vision, you are aware of where you are going. Your vision unfolds an invisible map on which your direction is clearly highlighted. Without vision you sail your leadership ship in the darkness and the chances for getting lost are high because you don’t have any compass to guide you. When there is no destination, there is no specific direction either.

Vision motivates

An effective vision can move nations by motivating them to act toward achieving a united purpose. Although many may claim that they have visions for their organizations, communities, or companies, their visions may not be motivating enough to excite people for moving toward the vision.

Vision stretches you

A powerful vision is normally big enough to challenge the dreamer. It helps the leader and his followers stretch themselves and increase their capacity. The bigger the capacity, the easier it is to accommodate change without being negatively impacted. A good vision takes the leader out of his or her comfort zone to achieve what once seemed impossible to achieve.

Vision energizes you

Powerful and motivating visions are designed and painted by passionate leaders. As discussed in the previous chapter, passion turns the switch of your positive energy generator on. Therefore, your vision has the potential to energize you and keep you energized all the time. Your vision can provide the necessary fuel for your leadership journey through its link with your passion and purpose.

Vision is pre-requisite for projects

Without a great vision, great projects that produce great outcomes cannot be defined. In other words, vision is a pre-requisite for defining and prioritizing projects. If projects are not linked with the vision, they may not be successful or they may not serve the purpose in the long term.
In sum, action without vision is nightmare. Without vision we may do a lot but may achieve a little. Without vision we may give up too soon. So, it is crucial to develop a powerful yet simple and clear vision for ourselves, our organization, and our people.

Kamran Akbarzadeh, Ph.D., CDC
Founder of Dream Achievers Academy
Author, Speaker, Trainer, Coach

http://www.dreamachieversacademy.com

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Challenges are the leading cause of failure when it comes to achieving goals. They are a necessary part of goals so learning to meet challenges head on is an important skill to learn. There are some practical tools and skills that you can use when you are faced with the variety of challenges that I guarantee will come up.

The first step is to be proactive and identify right away what some of the challenges will be. Some challenges are common to most goals, like time management, resources, motivation, energy and decision making. Depending on your past experiences with achieving goals and overcoming challenges you will have to decide which of these challenges, are going to be the most prominent for the goal you are working on. So, let’s choose time management and motivation for our example.

The second step is to brainstorm a variety of ways to meet these challenges. Here are some of the solutions I have used successfully to overcome these challenges. When it comes to time management I am always working on finding more efficient ways to do things. So, I start by making sure I’ve scheduled time to work on projects and I treat these appointments as if they are important meetings that I absolutely cannot miss. It is truly amazing how far you can get with a goal with even a 1 hour block of time each day.

Other ways I have learned to meet the challenges of time is to delegate. Most people hesitate to delegate, but if you truly want to achieve your goals you have to look at which things only you are able to do and which things someone else can do. Hopefully, you can find someone to achieve those tasks for a small fee. This will free up time for you to spend on the more important steps to achieving your goals.

Motivation is a bit more complicated and requires more effort when it comes to overcoming this challenge. You have to decide how important this goal is to you on a scale of 1 to 10. Obviously, if you are working on a goal that is a 10, that in itself provides more motivation. The other thing you need to think about is what is the end result of your goal; what does it look like, how good will it feel when you achieve it and how will you reward yourself for achieving it.

We have all been programmed to respond to rewards so make sure you think of an appropriate reward to validate and celebrate your achievement. When you reward the successes you are also providing motivation to continue with your goal. At this point, you can choose to expand the goal and keep moving forward or choose a new goal.

In the end, no matter what the challenge is that you are facing, the key to overcoming it, is to focus on solutions and ask for help if you need it.

Courtesy: Wendy Collier, B. Ed. (SelfEsteemAngel.com)

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Most people know that when you plan a goal you need to write it down and make it plain. A real goal will be something much too important to just try to commit to your memory. The steps below outline a very successful process to keep you motivated in achieving your goals.

1. First of all, goals must be SMART goals. The acronym “SMART” stands for: Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely. (For more information; See our article on “How to Create SMART Goals” at our blog site listed below)

2. Ultimate Goal. Goals should be result-oriented and not activity-oriented. Let’s be real. You can associate a lot of activities related to accomplishing a goal, but if they don’t directly affect the desired results, you’re spinning your wheels in the sand. If your goal was to loose 8 pounds in 30 days and all of your activities are limited to researching weight loss methods, the only thing you’ll lose is your motivation.

3. Purpose and Reward. This is a big one. This is essentially your “why.” Why are you really setting this goal? Dig deep. What does accomplishing this goal mean to you? What is the actual base reason within your psyche for completing it? Come on…DIG DEEPER! What do you personally get out of it? Your “why” has to be big and true because it is the catalyst that helps fuel the motivation you’ll need to achieve this goal.

A poor example would be; “to get out of debt.” If all you want out of life is to get to zero, that goal might be okay. But, how about something like; “to create the Dream Lifestyle my family deserves so we can spend more time together?” Remember, dig deep!

4. Emotional Ties. Humans are emotional beings and many of our actions are tied to the way we feel about something or the way something makes us feel. This is why a good salesperson will try to get you to picture yourself in the backyard of a house they’re trying to sell you. They know there’s a better chance of making that sale if they can control your emotions and trigger you into imaging “quiet time in your new backyard.” So, imagine this; how will it make you feel when you accomplish your goal? Will you feel free, in control, complete, proud? Write it down, you’re going to need it later.

5. Massive Action Plan. Tackling a real goal will take real effort and a massive plan of action. It might be compared to eating an elephant. Since the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time, your ultimate goal should be broken down into smaller targets and milestones. Each milestone will have its own result-oriented tasks and deadlines.

So if you take your ultimate goal, break it down into milestones and working from the completion point, backwards to the starting point, you will create your massive action plan. For example, if your goal was to plant a garden, the ‘purchasing seeds’ milestone would come before the ‘harvest plants’ milestone. So purchasing seeds would be near the top of the massive action plan because its a prerequisite of latter parts of the plan can’t be completed before it.

6. Exercise: Take a piece of paper and draw vertical lines from top to bottom creating four columns. At the top of the left-most column write: Massive Action Plan. At the top of the column to its right write: Ultimate Goal. At the top of the column to its right write: Purpose and Reward (My Why). At the top of the last column write: Emotional Ties (How does it make me feel?) Using sections 2 – 5 above fill in the columns.

First, write your ultimate goal in the Ultimate Goal column. Next write your purpose and reward and emotional ties in their respective columns. Save your massive action plan for last. Remember to fill in this column chronologically with prerequisite milestones (and all of their result-oriented tasks) at top and subsequent milestones following to the bottom of the column. Be specific and don’t forget your deadlines.

Upon completing you Massive Action Plan, take several minutes of quiet time at least twice a day everyday to read and meditate on your goals. Close your eyes and form the mental picture and the emotions that will accompany each completed goal. Okay, now open your eyes and get to work. You’ve got a lot of work to do.

Conclusion

I use this method for setting all my major goals. It has been extremely helpful and relieves a lot of anxiety that I used to have completing those day to day tasks while pressing toward a goal. The plan is there and all I have to do is follow it. You can do it too.

Thanks go out to two of my mentors: Gregg Davison and John Jackson who imparted most of the above mentioned disciplines to me.

Courtesy: Sam Lee and his wife Kathy ( http://sam-and-kathy.blogspot.com)

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Creativity too needs planning. New ideas, thoughts and innovative thinking will keep you ahead of others. If you wish make a name of your own, you have to develop your kind of creativity. Many organizations invite innovative thinkers. This kind of people will be entrusted with leadership responsibilities. You will be made a party in crucial decisions. Your creativity in discharging duties will be respected more than the decisions you take. All your creativity should be result oriented and must bring benefits to the organization. Creativity which does not bring desired results is futile in any organization.

You have to encourage creativity in your employees by following these steps.

1. Vision: You must be visionary about the performance of your employees. Identify their creativity and mentor them keeping in view of their abilities to deliver. In this way, employees realize their goals earlier than the target dates.

2. Division of work: Dividing work will help creativity bloom in the work place. The work must be divided equally among the employees. This will help them to perform each task creatively and integrate them to get the big results. This will help employees manage their time effectively to achieve results.

3. Team efforts: Team efforts will bring success in the workplace. Motivate your employees narrating the stories of CEOs of great companies what they achieved with their team efforts. N.R.Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor of Infosys, Azim Premji of Wipro are such people who inspire employees through the mammoth organizations they build with their team efforts.

4. Encouragement: A pat on the back of employees will create wonders which enhance their performance levels. You have to encourage your employees the way you are encouraged by your management. Suggestions and advise by your employees must be tried to implement, if they are worthy of bringing results.

5. Express to impress: You have to take proper care while giving your ideas and suggestions. Though you have creativity, if your behavior and expression are not up to the mark, the Company may not heed to your advice. You have to talk to people outside of your organization to learn about the developments in the external world with regard to your business. Think twice before you discuss your plans and goals with people outside of your organization.

Courtesy: Challa S.S.J. Ram Phani

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Only a very select few of us in the human species can be creative, right? The world is divided into those who create and those who cannot create. And if you happen to be one of those who is not creative, then you have to give up on the idea of ever painting, photographing, writing, and anything else that can be considered dreamy or romantic or creative, right? Wrong! Despite what all of the artists and authors tell you, there is no secret inner creative gene. You are not born an artist. You don’t have to have “an artist’s eye” to be able to see beauty and to be able to create something all your own. Don’t buy into the hype. That’s all it is: hype. Even if you are a business brainiac who has never picked up a paintbrush, you can create something special. Oh, it may not (and probably won’t be) a Mona Lisa. But, the important thing to note here is that it will be something that you create. Something that you can look at and be proud of. But what does it take to actually create something? Use these ten ideas to spark the creativity that is lying dormant within you.

1. Take a class. If you have never taken a class in writing, photography, painting, whatever it may be, then you do not even know your own hidden potential. You may have a painter/photographer/whatever trapped in that brain of yours. The only way to find out if you have potential is to try. And taking a class is a great way to test the waters and bring out your creativity. It’s also a great way to meet like-minded people who may be looking for their inner creativity too!

2. Do something you’ve never done before. There’s no better way to get out of the box than to get out of the box! Climbing out of your own box might spark the creative aspect of your brain to get out of its box! Go sky-diving, bungee jumping, hot-air balloon riding. Okay, okay, you’re right…it doesn’t have to be something dangerous and wild. You could go ballroom dancing, horseback riding, sailing. Anything that is different will spark different feelings/thoughts within your brain and this can get your creative juices flowing like mad!

3. Take a vacation. Go somewhere inspiring. Need some examples? How about Hawaii, Bora Bora, Cairo? Like history? Visit England, Scotland, Italy. Can’t afford an extravagant vacation? How about a road trip to the awe-inspiring Blue Ridge mountains, or the Rockies out west? The Grand Canyon has served as inspiration for hundreds of years. Being in a place where people were thousands of years ago can inspire even the most rigid person.

4. Go to the bookstore. The local bookstore has a wellspring of knowledge on almost any subject imaginable. There are books on every creative subject out there. And a magazine for every one too. You’ll find ideas that will spark your imagination and give your own creativity a boost. Skim books and magazines that you normally don’t gravitate to. Read articles that strike your fancy, but don’t tell you anything about the stock market. Even if you don’t buy a book, you won’t leave there empty-handed.

5. Read a good book. While you are at the bookstore, don’t forget to pick up a good book. Often a novel will spark the creativity of the novelist/artist within. Reading someone else’s art is the surest way to get a kick in the pants for your own artistic endeavors. But don’t just take my word for it. Go out and read a book. You’ll see the evidence as you are inspired.

6. Surf the web. Just as a bookstore is a plethora of creativity and knowledge, so has the internet become. You can find almost as much information on the internet as you can in a bookstore. And as you browse, take time to notice the web designs, the photographs, the words that the artist who created the site used. The internet is not just for adult entertainment and e-mail. Can’t get to a museum? You can view many fine paintings on the web. Not to mention poetry, prose, sketches, photographs…well, you get the idea. Chances are you will find something inspiring on the internet.

7. Take a walk in the park. Nature has inspired artists for centuries. Take time to look at the passing clouds and see the possibilities like you did when you were a child. Listen to the breeze blowing through the leaves. Listen to the birds singing. Really study the flowers-you’ll find that they are truly amazing and breathtaking in their detail. Look closely at that butterfly. Can you see his soul on the backs of his wings? If you are not inspired by nature, you may not have any creative chops.

8. Hang out with children for a while. If you don’t have any children of your own, borrow some! You can babysit your sister’s kids for a while! Give them a piece of paper and some colored pencils and tell them you want them to create something. Then sit back and watch the creativity fly. Children haven’t had a chance to develop that cynicism that blocks the creativity of adults, so their creativity knows no bounds. Learn from the children. Ask them questions about how they got their ideas. You will be surprised how much you can learn from a child.

9. Brainstorm. This is key, especially for writers. But it can also help the visual artist as well. If you don’t know what to write about or paint, start with a blank piece of paper and start writing. Write the first thing that comes to mind. Then make a list. Set a timer if you want for say, 5 minutes. When you have finished your list, go back and write two things about each word that you wrote down. It doesn’t matter if it is silly. You aren’t going to show your list to anyone. Only you will see it. After you have completed this, go back and read your list. You now have some ideas to start you off.

10. And finally, exercise. I know this does not sound like fun, but trust me, you need it! And so does your brain. In order for your brain to produce ideas, it needs to be fed. And your brain eats oxygen. And how does your brain get oxygen? Through exercise! You need oxygen to move right? Well, so do those brainwaves! Get up and exercise! You will feel better, and you just might stir up some creative juices in the old cranium.

There is no guarantee that you will ever write that novel that you’ve dreamed of writing, or become the next big photographer or painter. But the potential is there. And to unlock that potential, you have to do something inspiring. Whether it be surfing on the open water or surfing the web, do something to unlock your creativity and watch the sparks fly!

Courtesy: Melinda Hunt

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A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

Words coming out from us are powerful enough more what we can imagine. It could bring encouragement to person who needs it most.

In contrary, our words can also destroy a person. Unknowingly, we might end up as dream stealer.

Be sensitive to what you say or you may end up inflicting emotional pain to others. Always put yourself on the other person’s side.

Choose your words wisely. Once those words of power have left your lips, you can not get them back. Think before you speak. Never forget the power of your words and the long term effect they may have on your life, and the lives of others. A destructive words maybe all that is needed to stop someone from achieving their dreams in life.

Your words have the power to enlighten and empower anyone, destroy or hurt them or give encouragement to someone. We have the ability to mold or break not only ourselves but other people’s lives as well.

Let’s add value to other people’s lives by encouraging them and complementing them even in small ways.

Courtesy: Richard Macalintal

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Do you want to learn how to get motivated right now? If you do, this article will teach you how. Continue to read on and you will discover the 3 tips how you can get motivated and stay motivated right now.

One of the most common reasons people fail to achieve great success in their lives is because they fail to get themselves motivated. If you do not have the drive and motivation to take action, you will never get things done. And if you cannot get things done, you will never produce the results and success that you desire in your life. So here are the 3 tips that can help you…

1. Control the focus of your mind. Think about the end results or the rewards that you are going to get from finishing the task, not focusing on the process. Think about it, if you need to clean the kitchen, and you focus on the process of doing it, you definitely will not feel very motivated. However, if you think about the end result such as having a clean kitchen, get praised from your family members and friends, how are you going to feel? Motivated? This is how you can get motivation by focusing on the rewards.

2. Next, write down all the reasons you want to achieve your goals and your dreams. Do you know that it is actually the reason behind that will support you to do it? If you have a strong reason behind your goal, you will definitely do whatever it takes to achieve it. Thus, take a piece of paper and write down all the reasons for your goals right now. Make sure you know it specifically why you want to achieve it. The clearer and the more emotion that you associate into your reasons, the more motivated you will be.

3. Finally, form a mastermind group. This is a group where you can refer to whenever you face any difficulty in your journey to achieve your goals. This is where people with like-minded and with the same goals come together to help each other to be more successful. Almost every successful person has their own mastermind group; you must do the same if you want to achieve great success in your life.

Courtesy: Shawn Lim

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Courtesy: Joshua Rodriguez

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Courtesy: Andrew Papas

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