The Joy

Think back to the start of the year. Remember the excitement and energy that you felt as you looked at the potential of what was to come. You had taken time to set your goals for the upcoming year, and there was nothing going to stop you from achieving them. Perhaps you had some New Year’s resolutions to make as well. You might have wanted to lose weight, to read more books, to grow your business, or bet a better spouse. Whatever your goals or resolutions you likely entered the new year filled with hope and excitement.

There is a similar thing happening this week on our campus. Students are arriving back excited about the year ahead. Freshman students are embarking on something very new and exciting. They are not fully sure what to expect, but they are here and ready to go. Returning students have a lot more of an idea about what to expect. They know the tough times ahead and the commitment they need to put in, and yet they too are excited (mostly). The new school year, just like the New Year in January, provides people with a clean slate. It is an opportunity to start over, no matter what has happened in the past. Students can set new goals in academics as well as in their personal and social lives. The new school year is waiting.

The Problem

Of course something happens as the days and weeks and months go by after a new beginning. After New Year’s Day you likely started well as you worked to achieve the goals and resolutions you had set. But over time those goals slowly started to take a back seat to other things in life. Your goal to eat better may have started well, but since then you have no doubt had a bad day or two. For many people those bad days start being the norm, not the exception. Your goals for business and your work may also have started well but likely some point along the way even those have been left behind as other stresses in life continue. For most students it will be no different. Many will start the year well and then slip back into their old habits, their old routines, and do the things they have always done.

These kinds of trends are natural. When something is new it is easy to set goals that are exciting and that inspire you. It is equally as easy for those goals to slip away over time and for your energy and inspiration towards achieving them to be diminished.

The Good News

The good news is that you can take advantage of a fresh start whenever you want! It is possible at any time, on any given day, for you to gain all of the benefits of the New Year experience. You do this by DECIDING to start over. You can decide to start over and start acting as if it is the New Year; as if you have a new beginning. In order to act like it’s the New Year, simply do the things that you would do if it really was the New Year:

· Celebrate your recent successes

· Set new goals and deadlines

· Plan how you will achieve your goals

· Reconsider your life priorities

· Recommit to the important things in life

· Connect with what inspires you

All of the things on this list are things that you do at New Year’s and other significant new beginnings. Further, all of these will help to reinvigorate you and push you into action. Restarting your life can be powerful.

One Part at a Time

Another good thing about starting over whenever you want throughout the year is that you have the potential to restart one area of your life at a time. While you may have times when you need to start over with everything, it is just as likely that you will have some areas of your life that are progressing towards your goals and some areas that are stagnated.

When you choose to restart like this, you can restart one part of your life at a time. Perhaps your family life is great, but you are struggling at work: then go through the restart list with your work life in mind. If you are doing well professionally but are struggling to exercise and get your weight under control you can simply restart that area as if you have just started a new year with exciting new resolutions. Whatever area you are struggling to reach you goals in is the area you want to choose to restart.

Automatic Restarts

Life also affords us with a number of automatic restarts. In fact you may be taking advantage of automatic restarts without even realizing it. The start of the school year that I described earlier is an example of an automatic restart for many. Certainly it is a restart for students and teachers, but it’s often a natural point of restart for anyone with school aged children. The pace of life changes and life routines must change with it. What better time to restart your goals?!

The calendar also gives us automatic restart points. The most obvious one is the start of each month. You can use the start of the month to celebrate your successes from the previous month, to set new goals and deadlines, to plan how you’ll achieve your goals, to reconsider your priorities, to recommit to the important things in life and to reconnect to the things that inspire you!

To a lesser extent the start of each new week can serve the same function. When I go through my weekly planning process, I’m in essence following the steps of starting over. This enables me to enter each new week recommitted to my goals and excited about pursuing them.

When to Restart

There are many reasons why it might be a good idea to choose to create a new beginning and restart yourself towards your goals. You may want to restart when:

· you haven’t taken steps towards your goal in sometime

· you’ve been working towards your goals but haven’t seen any progress

· or you’ve just had a significant failure

If any of these situations apply to you, you should likely consider starting over. Pretend it is New Year’s Eve. As of tomorrow morning, the calendar is blank, and you have the potential to reach all of your goals.

Happy New Years!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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The Olympic Flame on a Smog-free Day in Beijing

One of the most remarkable parts of my Olympic experience was to see the drastic changes that have taken place in Beijing – many even over the past year. When I arrived in Beijing for the Olympics it was only 13 months since my previous visit, and yet in many ways it was a very different city. These changes show the results that can come from having a clear goal, a deadline and strong motivation.  There were many significant changes to be seen.

Changes in Beijing

• New Airport Terminal – $3.5 billion terminal, bigger than the city currently needs, and complete with a full-time attendant/cleaner in each restroom.

• Trees, Trees and Trees – planted millions of trees, particularly lining important roads

• Lots of fresh paint – almost every apartment building was painted

• Walls around ugly areas – walls were built surrounding construction sights and slum areas

• Beautiful new venues – the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube set the new standard for architecture in sports venues

• New subways – a number of brand new subways were completed including an airport express subway

• More public washrooms

• Better translations – removed much of the “chinglish” and corrected it with proper English translations

• Line ups – instead of pushing to get on buses, subways etc. people were trained to stand in line

• Reduced spitting and public urination – two habits common in Beijing just a year ago, were drastically reduced

• Traffic limitations to reduce smog – cars were only permitted to drive every second day leading up to and during the Olympics. It took some time for the smog to clear but the reduced traffic was a benefit in itself

Olympic Stadium - aka The Bird's Nest

Certainly Beijing had some advantages in their preparation for the games. With China being a communist country the government could do things that couldn’t be done (as easily) in a free market economy; they forced people to move, used significant levels of cheap labour, and made laws that would never fly in Western countries. For the purpose of this article I’m not going to debate whether these decisions are right or wrong. Instead, we’ll consider that China was simply using the resources at its disposal to reach its goal. So how did China do it?

How China Did It

1. Clear goal – China’s goal was to put on the best show and make a grand re-entrance onto the World’s stage. The Olympic was its showcase. The goal was clear and everyone in the country knew this was the goal.
2. Deadline – The Olympics had a built in deadline for the changes to be completed: 08-08-08, the date of the opening ceremonies. A goal with a deadline is much more powerful than an undated goal. You are more likely to take action and less likely to procrastinate when the deadline is clear.
3. Motivation – Your motivation is the reason behind your goal. It is the core point that will drive you. In China that motivation was national pride and the desire to impress others. It is hard for an outsider to understand the level of national pride that exists amongst the Chinese people. Westerners might think that a reduced level of individual freedom would potentially lower the levels of national pride, but that is not the case. Almost everyone in China was excited about the games and wanted the country to look its best while the world was watching. They wanted to impress others.
4. Massive Action – The amount of work put into making these changes in Beijing was massive. Every resource was put into making the games the showcase to the world that China wanted. Massive action is needed to move towards any goal.

In light of the example of Beijing there are several questions you should ask yourself:

• What is your goal?
• Is it clear?
• Do you and your team have a clear understanding about what you want to go and how you are going to get there?
• What is your deadline?
• Is it firm and written down?
• What is the reason behind your goal?
• Will you allow this to motivate you?
• Are you willing to take massive action?

The start of the month provides a perfect opportunity to set some goals and begin to move towards those goals. This list of questions can serve as starting point (or reminder) towards achievement of your goals. If you follow these steps by setting clear goals, establishing a deadlines, understanding your motivation and taking massive action, you will achieve your goals!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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How do you start your day? Do you slowly get up, spend 30 minutes having a cup of coffee and reading or watching the news? Do you have days where you feel like you didn’t get much accomplished and where you wonder where the day went?

You can increase your effectiveness and create momentum for your day by starting with a Power Hour. A Power Hour is when you set aside the first hour in the morning to work – uninterrupted on important projects. Ideally the Power Hour takes place immediately when you wake up, but it could also take place immediately when you arrive at the office, or perhaps both!

There are many benefits of having a Power Hour:

• You start the day by accomplishing or making progress on an important project
• You feel good about your day right off the start
• You create momentum for the day that continues over into other activities
• You get done things you otherwise would not do.

As you try this you will quickly see how you can a lot done in an hour of uninterrupted time. This sort of progress towards your goals will accelerate your accomplishment, helping you achieve your goals in less time.

But what do you do with your time? There are many options, and what you do will depend greatly on your personal life goals.

Here are some tasks that I do in my Power Hour:

• Go through my business follow up list and plan which prospects to call
• Write a guest post for a blog
• Follow through on commitments you have made
• Send postcards or letters to business partners to celebrate their success
• Clear up my “to file” pile
• Do monthly planning
• Start a project you’ve been procrastinating on
• Make improvements to my websites
• Do something for my wife as a surprise.

It is naturally best to come into your Power Hour prepared and knowing what project you intend to work on. I plan my Power Hour as part of my weekly planning (during step #4). This way, as I enter my week I am sure of getting several important projects done that will help me achieve my goals.

In reality the list of possible tasks you can do during your power hour is nearly endless. Whatever you choose to do in your Power Hour there are some rules you should follow:

• Only do tasks that are important – not just urgent
• Only work on projects that move you towards your goals
• Allow no interruptions – this may mean training your family members or coworkers to leave you alone for the hour
• Do not check email, answer the phone or read blogs.
• Be consistent – do this every day.

Start this right away. You may be able to move around your morning schedule, or you may have to wake up a little earlier. Even if you need to get up an hour earlier – DO IT! The amount you will accomplish in your day will be impressive.

- The Success Professor

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When you combine a burning passion with a clear goal and add in a strong level of persistence, you will be able to achieve almost any goal you set.

My Olympic experience was a clear example of this. And surprisingly, it was not watching the amazing athletes move towards their goals (although these points would certainly be evidenced in many of their stories) rather it was the pursuit of a goal that my friends and I set out to achieve.

The event I most wanted to see at the Olympics occurred on the very first day of competition: The Cycling Men’s Road Race. The race contains the top professional cyclists, most of whom have just completed the Tour de France. At the Athens Olympics, the Road Race took place through the streets of downtown Athens past the Acropolis and other historic sites. The race had been sixteen laps so my friends and I wondered the course watching the athletes go past at a variety of key places and making sure we ended up at the finish line for the final lap. Athens was perfect for spectators as the race was very easy to watch.

Not so in Beijing. Everything about the race made it difficult for spectators. To start with, the official Olympic website was very vague about the race. In fact even now, after the Olympics have been completed, the venue information on the website shows the race as TBD (To Be Determined)! Eventually in the weeks leading up to the games a prominent cycling website posted the map. The race, of 245 kilometers, would start off in downtown Beijing and end at the Great Wall with 7 laps of a finishing circuit. Getting to the Great Wall has some challenges and can be fairly expensive on a normal day, but in the Olympics and when an event is happening made it seem nearly impossible.

Our pursuit of the goal of seeing the Road Race began almost as soon as we arrived in Beijing. My friend and I went to work trying to figure out how to get from downtown to the Great Wall. Our goal was to see the start of the race and then move out to the Wall to catch the finishing laps from a position along the track. Our first option was to find a bus or train that could take us there. We knew this would be the cheapest way, and from the Lonely Planet travel book we knew that a bus was supposed to go from near our hotel to this particular location on the Great Wall for only about $3 a person. I went to the bus stop and after scrounging for someone who spoke enough English to understand me and waiting as several Chinese volunteers worked to find the information, I discovered that the busses would not be running during the race. My friend found out the same information about the train.

We were not completely surprised by this, so we started looking at other options. We naturally thought about a taxi, and while taxis in Beijing are very inexpensive they have a maximum capacity of four and our group had five people wanting to see the race. Instead we started making use of all of our local contacts to find another option. Until the day before the event we did not have an option that would work. Thankfully our hotel manager came through and was able to arrange a minivan and driver for us to hire. The cost was higher than we would have hoped, but there was little other choice. The government restriction on vehicles (each vehicle could only drive every other day) had lowered the supply available thus increasing costs.

The day of the Road Race came and the real adventure began. Sure we had to have persistence to arrange for the vehicle and driver, but that was nothing compared to what was to come. The driver first took us to the Start Line where we had hoped to see the start of the race. Leading up to the Olympics everything published about the race stated that it was a “free event with no ticket required”. When we got to the start line we quickly found out that to the surprise of everyone except about 200 locals they had placed a ticked section around the immediate start line. We were there in plenty of time so we showed the volunteers the Official Olympic Guide Book where is stated clearly that there were “no tickets required”. We were shuffled from one volunteer to another as they each tried to find someone in authority that could help us get in. No one was able to make a decision and so they all stuck with the rule as they understood it. We needed a ticket.

The start of the Men's Road Race

Thankfully, I eventually found a local willing to give me a free ticket to the starting area. The rest of my team settled for watching the race start from about 500 meters down the course. Getting in to the ticketed section was amazing. I was able to watch the cyclists getting ready and warming up. Seeing many of my heroes up close like this was awesome. The cyclists were eventually introduced one country at a time and came out and took their positions at the start line. It was neat being able to watch them interact with each other while they waited for the full field to be announced and the race to start (about 15 minutes of a wait for the first riders to be introduced).

After the race began my friends and I reconnected and found our driver. We set off to get to the Great Wall. We had hoped that we might get to the primary road to the Wall before the cyclists did so that we could beat the road closures. Unfortunately we missed them by only a few minutes. As we were being forced off the road by the blockade we actually saw most of the riders enter the road up ahead of us. The road to the Great Wall was about 70 kilometers which meant that it would take the cyclists most of two hours to get there. We spent those two hours in our rented minivan with our driver trying anything he could to get us closer to the wall. Unfortunately all the traffic normally going on that road was trying the same thing and so we spent as much time sitting in traffic as moving.

Eventually our driver persisted and found us a way to get passed one set of blockades and to the town nearest the finish line. Unfortunately at this point all the roads were closed except to local traffic (and no taxis). We saw that other foreigners were getting out of their hired vehicles and taxis at this point and starting to walk so we had no choice but to join in. We realized very quickly that the finish line was still 8 kilometers (or 5 miles) away so it would be a long walk.

What would you do in a foreign country, where almost no one speaks your language and you need to get 8 kilometers as quickly as possible? Stick out your thumb and hitch hike of course! Almost immediately a local picked us up. I don’t think she had any idea about what we were doing or where we wanted to go but she did drive us a short distance until another road block stopped her. We got out and continued walking. After going the wrong way for about 10 minutes we eventually found ourselves on the correct road. At least we assumed it was the correct road because of the scattering of other foreigners walking towards the supposed cycling course.

The day was hot (close to 100 degrees) and very humid, and the road was uphill so the walk seemed to take forever. Occasionally a car would pass us and we’d try to hitch a ride. Every car seemed to be either already filled with foreigners who they had picked up, or was an official Olympic vehicle that was in no way going to stop for anyone. After about 45 minutes of walking we were finally picked up by a local. She drove us rapidly towards the Great Wall. We quickly became very thankful for the ride as we realized that it would have taken at least another hour to walk that distance.

Even after arriving at the course things were difficult. The spectators were restricted to a small section of the course and were not allowed to walk the entire course as we had hoped. We didn’t care too much by this time. Our adventure had taken us by rented minivan, hitch hiking through a foreign country, and through a long walk. The section we were at was a great spot to watch the race come through and we made it just in time to see the second of the seven laps. We didn’t miss much and had an amazing adventure to go with it.

Looking up the course to the Great Wall

That night I reflected on what it took to achieve that goal. The day was a success but it didn’t come easily. In fact the adventure we went through became as important to us as the race itself. By the end of the Olympics we all chose that day as our highlight. Success truly was a journey more than just a destination.

The first key was that we had a clear goal. We knew exactly what we wanted to achieve. Not only did we have a goal but we had a high level of passion to achieve it. How passionate about your goal are you? If we didn’t have a strong passion to achieve our goal we could have given up at many points. Thirdly we committed ourselves to achieving the goal. After we spent the money on the car and driver we were committed. We had spent the money and were going to get our money’s worth – no matter what we had to do to get there. Finally we had persistence. We never gave up. We moved passed the each obstacle that was presented to us.

What is your goal? Take your goal and get clarity. Develop a deep passion to achieve your goal and you will do everything you can to achieve it.

Have a great day!

The Success Professor

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By the time you are reading this I am somewhere over the Pacific ocean on my way to the Olympics in Beijing.  In the late 1990’s I set the goal to see every Olympics starting in 2002 in Salt Lake City.  To date, that goal has been achieved as Beijing will be the fourth Olympic Games for me.
One of the goals of the group I’m trave

The Success Professor and his wife in Beijing last year.

ling with is to meet as many Olympic athletes as we can. The Olympics are great for that.  The attitude of international friendships and positive attitudes provide a great place for meeting new people, and athletes in particular.  There is so much we can learn from the sacrifice and hard work that these athletes have put forth.

I will attempt to provide some updates although for security reasons I will not be bringing my laptop so my connectivity may be limited.  I will attempt to share a first hand experience of Beijing and the games themselves.

Watch for me on TV,

The Success Professor

Effective planning and goal setting is important. Often we hear lessons about having long-term goals, and annual goals, but to keep on track and keep your business, and life, moving forward the goals and plans to achieve those goals must be broken down into weekly and daily bites. As the famous saying goes, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. By following these simple steps, you will get more completed, you will accomplish more of the right things, and you will reach more of your goals.

Step #1 – Define your life roles
In his book, First Things First Stephen Covey recommends dividing your life into the various roles you fill. For example, my roles including: my job as a college professor, my role as a blogger, and my work as an entrepreneur. I also have an important role as a husband, and another with my involvement in my faith community.

Beyond these sorts of roles, everyone should also include personal development goals. Covey recommends capping your number of roles at seven. These roles will change from time to time as your life changes, but they should cover the important aspects of your life.

Step #2 – Set goals for each of your life roles
Now that you’ve divided your life into a number of manageable roles it’s important to set goals for each goal. By setting important goals each week in each of your roles, you will be able to keep a better balance in your life. I recommend setting about 2-4 goals in each of your important roles. Now at certain times you will need to be in a period of focused imbalance for a few weeks, putting more efforts into one of the roles than the others, but over the long-term you should remember to always be setting goals in each of the life roles. The goals on this list should be based directly off of your long-term goals. In other words, you should be doing things each week that help you move towards your long-term goals. It is these activities that are your weekly goals.

Step #3 – Schedule all meetings and booked times
Each week you will likely have a number of appointments, meetings and scheduled events that you have to be at. These are things that you can’t avoid as you have to be at a certain place at a certain time. Schedule these into a day planner. I strongly recommend using a planner with a week at a time view. Each week I book in the classes I need to teach, any athletic events I’m participating in, and other meetings and obligations. You should still have plenty of blank space remaining for the rest of your tasks and other meetings that may pop up.

Step #4 – Schedule time for your most important projects
Using your goals list that you developed in step two, schedule the most important ones into the space left in your day planner. Be sure to allow time for goals in each role including those that are not directly professional goals. Allow for time with your spouse and children. Allow time to serve others and time to grow.

Step #5 – On a daily basis plan your next day
Each night before you go to bed, take 10 or 15 minutes with your weekly goals sheet and plan a daily to do list for the next day. Use your weekly goals to plan tasks to do the next day. Write this list in order of importance starting with the most important tasks to complete the next day. Add to this list any phone calls you need to make, emails you need to send or any other small things that may have come up throughout the day. By writing them down you won’t forget any important details. With a daily plan like this when you start each day you will have a list of priorities that correspond to your weekly goals.

Step #6 – Remember people are most important
One risk with any type of weekly or daily plan is that you can become so focused on the goals and schedule that you don’t have time for anyone who comes in your way. You may find yourself angry when you are interrupted by your child or spouse. While some uninterrupted time is important, it is also vital to remember that people are more important than things. Chances are that you are working so hard in order to provide for your family. Don’t neglect the opportunity to act with love towards them now. Use your schedule as a guide but don’t let it control you.

As you follow these steps, be sure to adjust them in anyway you need so that you can be most effective and most efficient at what you do. Set weekly goals, organize your daily tasks and work hard to achieve them. You will reach YOUR goals!

Danny Gamache
The Success Professor
Visit: http://dannyg.makemoreathome.com