Goal setting is not a mind game. It is a process of developing the internal willpower to accomplish what you have set out to do.

~ Joan Benoit Samuelson (Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist)

Setting goals is one of the ways successful people use to get themselves moving. They use it, among other techniques, to stretch themselves and accomplish more than the average person. They don’t use goals as a trick though. The goals they set themselves are the result of an inner desire and get so ingrained in their system that there’s no way to stop them.

Joan Benoit Samuelson called it the process of developing the internal willpower to accomplish what you have set out to do. She won the first ever Olympic marathon for women in Los Angeles in 1984. I’d say she knows what she’s talking about.

The willpower needed to accomplish goals is not a fixed and unchangeable trait. It’s not something you either have or don’t have, it’s a trait that can be cultivated, trained and developed. There are several things successful people do to get that willpower ingrained in their system.

They focus on doing one thing right

To get that willpower successful people choose to focus on only one thing, but they do that extremely well. It takes guts to make this choice, because it goes right against common knowledge! In school we learn to spread our risks and never put all our eggs in one basket. While that minimizes the risk of losing it all, it also minimizes the chance of any real success. Even Warren Buffett works by this premises!

I can’t be involved in 50 or 75 things. That’s a Noah’s Ark way of investing - you end up with a zoo that way. I like to put meaningful amounts of money in a few things.

~ Warren Buffett (big time investor)

The mention of Noah’s Ark is funny, but I’d say Noah was kind of focused on one goal as well. And a pretty serious goal too!

They work hard to improve themselves

Successful people have in common that they work hard. No, even harder than that! They work - work - work and practice - practice - practice. They develop an inner drive to be better today than they were yesterday. And if they feel they’re not there yet, they don’t stop for the day yet. Success is not an accident, it’s the result of a lot of hard work and of wise choices.

It’s this work and improvement ethic that helps to develop that internal willpower to accomplish what you set out to do. It’s the “Don’t quit…ever” attitude, and is built on a strong belief that they will be successful at it at some point in time.

I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you’re a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you’ll win-if you don’t you won’t.

~ Bruce Jenner (Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist)

They can easily snap into concentration mode

Besides focusing on only one thing, which is more mid to longterm oriented, successful people have developed the ability to fully concentrate at the job at hand now. They block out all distractions, physically or mentally, and direct all their energy on the activity they are executing in the present.

And that activity is more often than not focused on their goal and destined to improve them to accomplish it in time or sooner. And that ability to concentrate is one of the ways to get there sooner!

When every physical and mental resource is focused, one’s power to solve problems multiplies tremendously.

~ Norman Vincent Peale (positive thinker)

Photo by starryeyez024

On Sundays I’m looking back on the past week. How did I perform towards my goals? How did my blog do? And how am I keeping up with my productivity habits?

This week was kind of a lost week as far as goals and blogging was concerned. Last Monday my left elbow started hurting, and it was clear that there was an inflammation of some sort in there. Turns out it’s bursitis of the elbow aka “Student’s Elbow“. I needed to rest it completely in the first days, so I had my arm in a sling. Now the swelling is considerably less, and I can use my arm again but only for mild activities. And I’m not allowed to lean on the elbow entirely, but that’s something I don’t want to do anyway (pain!).

With one arm in a sling, my typing skills reduced considerably. From 10 fingers, down to 2 effectively. And ctrl-alt-del is impossible with one hand! Anyway, I can type with 10 fingers again now the swelling has reduced.

Blog performance

Average daily subscribers:	1062	( 23)
Average daily visitors:	194	( 37)

This was a quiet week as far as new posts are concerned. I don’t have a bunch of posts lying around for situations like these (I know I should), but thankfully I had a guest post lined up for this week at The Thirty Day Year. I had a lot of fun writing it, trying something new with a lot of fiction-esque writing in the post. I loved how you can let your imagination run free with it. I’ll be doing more of that!

I also didn’t publish anything on the Scraping Pennies this week. Not even the weekly income report. By the time I wanted to write that, my elbow was really hurting so I skipped that one.

Subscribers are steadily rising, visitors showed a little drop. Overall I’m very happy with the blog’s performance during an “off-week”.

Progress towards goals

Obviously there’s no progress this week.

Renovation Project
Status:
Overdue, since 02/2008.
Progress this week:
No progress. Arm needs rest.
Planning next week:
Resting my arm, making sure it gets well.

Semi Marathon training
Status:
On hold, but still on schedule. Deadline is October 12, 2008.
Progress this week:
I did not run this week. With one arm in a sling, it’s not nice to run. Didn’t buy the shoes yet either.
Planning next week:
Resting my arm, making sure it gets well.

Productivity Habits - weekly review

I noticed a funny thing this week. Since my typing speed went down by over 80%, perspectives change on some aspects. A quick email, suddenly isn’t so quick anymore. I decided more often to just call people, or walk by their office to ask or answer a question.

It made me realize that a lot of productivity tips I have shared here, are also based on hidden assumptions of skill levels. Now that I experienced a serious drop in certain skills, I found that not all productivity tips are equally productive if you don’t have the skill set to execute them correctly or timely.

This stresses the importance of adopting what works for you, and dropping what doesn’t. You need to find the best tools for you. What works for me, may not work for you. Heck, sometimes it even doesn’t work for me either

A man, obviously a traveller, slows down his walking pace as he gazes over the beauty of the land unfolding before his eyes. A beam of sunlight breaks through the clouds. Like a spotlight on a stage it highlights only subtle parts, but by doing so they appear extraordinary. Magical at times.

The man decides to stop and puts his backpack on the ground. As he sits down in the grass besides the path he is travelling, he unpacks his lunch. After soaking up the spectacular scenery pointed out by the randomness of sunlight and clouds, he takes the first bite. The richness of the flavours spreads through his mouth and add another dimension to the moment.

He notices that his legs particularly enjoy the rest. It was a long walk since they paused for the last time this morning when he had a lovely conversation with that eager young lady in the forest. He really enjoyed it, and learned something too.

Curious about that conversation? Head over to Jeniffer’s blog The Thirty Day Year and read my contribution to The Achievers series she’s hosting: Getting Started and Learning As You Go. Don’t forget to stumble or bookmark it, if you like it.

On Sundays I’m looking back on the past week. How did I perform towards my goals? How did my blog do? And how am I keeping up with my productivity habits?

A day late is not an excuse to skip it.

Blog performance

YES! It has taken a while to get from 900+ to 1000+ subscribers, but the average number of subscribers last week was 1049! It feels great to finally get past that milestone.

Visitor numbers are pretty steady around 200 - 250 a day for quite while now. And they are pretty evenly divided across the week as well. Weekends a little slower than Monday through Thursday.

Progress towards goals

There’s hardly any progress on these goals this week. I was babysitting most of the week last week (at least that’s how it felt).

Renovation Project
Status:
Overdue, since 02/2008.
Progress this week:
Hardly any progress. Made the drawings for the construction with sliding doors and windowsill, and bought the materials I need. That’s all.
Planning next week:
Buying radiators. Making the framework for the construction.

Semi Marathon training
Status:
On schedule. Deadline is October 12, 2008.
Progress this week:
I did not run this week. That’s partly because I went to a shop specialized in running gear. They made a video of my running pattern and showed me that I need anti-pronation shoes for running. However I have such a small size feet that they did not have any stock in my size. It’s on order now.
Planning next week:
Buying the right shoes.

Productivity Habits - weekly review

Nothing here for this week either (just like last week).

You’re faced with a situation, a problem of some sort that requires your attention to solve. You’ve worked on it a lot, but now you’re stuck. You’ve looked at it endlessly, played with it, yelled at it, growled at it, even punched and kicked it. But it’s not working. You’re stuck. Know the feeling?

Other people give you great advice: “Take a different perspective!”

Yeah, great advice, but if your head over heels in a problem that’s not easy to do. They tell you what to do, but not how to do it. In this post you’ll find a handful of actionable things to do that will help you change that perspective and may inspire that breakthrough thought.

If they don’t…well then you had a lot of fun anyway

Play in a sandbox

And I mean this literally, go sit down in the sandbox, get your hands dirty and sculpt something out of the sand. The pyramids of Chichen Itza for instance, like Lisa Bettany did on the beach. Or when you have the luxury of the beach (or a really big sandbox), why don’t you make an X-wing fighter. Or anything really.

How is the problem like crafting objects in a sandbox? In what order do you build, and how’s that related to the order of crafting a solution? What tools did you use, and how are they related to crafting that solution?

Listen to your very first cd

Go to your music collection and take the very first cd you ever bought and listen to it. My first cd was Gloria Estefan’s album “Anything for you” (don’t ask), it was released under the title “Let it loose” elsewhere in the world. You may not particularly like that music anymore, or don’t want to be remembered about that first album, but the music will bring back all kinds of memories regardless. And a different perspective.

How would you have handled the problem you’re dealing at the age you bought this album?

Go watch a movie

Movies can really take your mind of everyday life. And there are often lessons hidden in there, lessons you will recognize when you’re ready for them. But they can also help you very much when you’re stuck with a problem. First they set your mind of it and you can relax a bit while watching them. And then:

How would the hero of the story have solved the problem? And the villain? Imagine the villain was the problem, how did they catch or defeat her? How does that relate to your problem?

Doodle Doodly Doo

Grab a piece of paper and a box of crayons. Doodle like you were when you were five. Draw stick figures, trees, houses, cars, trucks, airplanes, planets, flowers, birds, kissing people, knights, castles, mountains, meadows, oceans, ships, pirates. Get the creative juices flowing, go wild with colours, be unrealistic, don’t draw between the lines.

Cartoonize your problem, and draw the surroundings. Add the things that you associate with it. Does it look something like you experience it? Now add color! Grab the vibrant colors and change the picture all together.

Play tourist

Go to your local tourist office and act as a tourist. Just ask what someone visiting only for a day should’ve done in “this town”. Chances are that they come up with ideas that may sound like the standard stuff, but you have never done before. Did you ever take a guided tour through your own town? There’s more stuff to explore than you realize, more stories to be told than you could’ve imagined.

How does a guide relate to your problem? What untold stories does the problem have?

Take your camera outside

Go grab your (digital) photocamera and play outside. Take pictures of stuff you see, change perspectives, photograph from the bottom up, from high points down on things, through holes, from upclose. This exercise will activate creative thought patterns amongst other benefits. Those will spill over to other areas.

How can you do change perspectives on your problem? Are you upclose or framing it from a distance? How does it look in black and white?

Take a route less traveled

When you go to the office, the daycare centre, the mall, the supermarket or whatever place you regularly go to. Take a different route. Heck a detour even, start by driving or walking away from your destination and take some unexpected turns. Then drive towards your destination, but don’t stop when you get there. Go past it and see what’s behind it.

Visualize your problem as a location in town, then drive away from it. Circle around it and see how it looks from the other side. How does this change it?

Write, write, write

Take some nice paper, get a comfortable pen and start writing. Just write what comes to mind, and keep going and going and going and going. It’s going to be complete gibberish, but that’s okay. Write some more. At first you’ll find all kinds of thoughts, ideas and worries on the paper. Gradually it will change to more creative and fictious writing (if it hasn’t you’re not done writing yet). Worries have been trusted to the paper, there’s room for creative thought again.

Dwell in the fiction, and then think about how the problem would fit in the story you’re writing. How would the dwarves solve it? Or the angels? Or the ants? Or the leprecons?

Get drunk

One thing is for sure, perspectives change when you’re drunk Okay…getting drunk is maybe a couple of drinks too much, but there is definitely an effect that will take away inhibitions that are slowing you down in solving that problem. Just don’t implement before you sober up again

Photos by Scott Thompson, laffy4k and Boocal