Consciously Achieve Your Goals

I recently came across this quote from Stephen Covey PhD "Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant."

I find this to be a very true statement. Either everything we do is done with a conscious commitment or we are going through life asleep and unconsciously living out our daily lives based on habits. Many of the habits we have developed overtime no longer serve us.

Do you wake up in the morning with a plan? What are you committed to being, having or doing? I meet many people who dream of having a lot of money, being in great shape, having a fantastic relationship with the love of their life, but they are not doing anything but dreaming to make that a reality?

I challenge you to make a commitment this year to create a plan to achieve what you desire in life. Once you have that clear plan and vision, start to select small baby steps each day to make that plan a reality in your life. This year will pass whether you make a plan and put it into action or not. However, if you want this year to be the year you reach your goals you will need to commit to taking conscious action.

Habits are difficult to break. They are something we do unconsciously everyday. This means we do things without thinking about them. We reach for that bag of chips while watching TV and consume half the bag before we realize what we have done. We go to the office and get done what we must do, but are we thinking outside the box to look at all the possibilities for how we can work more efficiently, be more productive, add more value or serve others?

Some simple tips to become more conscious about how you live your life are:

1. Create a clear vision of what you want. Spend some time everyday visualizing you in your ideal life.

2. Select a baby step or small action step every week that will get you one-step closer to your vision.

3. Start to do things differently, if you eat with your right hand, try eating with your left hand. This will force you to think about what you are doing. You will not be able to eat in a habitual way.

4. Begin to journal everyday. This will help you reflect back on your day, your feelings and focus your mind on what you are doing.

5. Evaluate your progress towards your goals on a regular basis. Focusing your attention on what you want and measuring your progress will assist you in consciously working towards your goals.

6. Celebrate your successes everyday. Look for what you did right today and celebrate in some small way. Many people tend to focus on what went wrong, what they didn't accomplish, what they could have done better, but if you are consciously looking for what your successes are, you will bring successes to your life.

Each of us has the ability to choose to live our lives consciously or unconsciously. It is easy to fall into the trap of running our lives on autopilot. I encourage you to set an intention to be more mindful in what you do everyday. Notice what you are thinking about and how are those thoughts making you feel.

In order to consciously achieve your goals in 2009, make a commitment to live a life where you are deciding what is important and what you will focus your attention on. You have the ability to create the life of your dreams. Consciously commit to what is important and notice what you are able to accomplish.