Seventeen Best-of Articles To Make You Unstoppable

by Brad Isaac January 2, 2009

Is it just me or did 2008 go fast? It seems like just yesterday I was working on the 101 Goal Setting Breakthroughs series from last January. Which is now a book you can get with my free advanced goal setting newsletter. But in looking back through the blog, it just feels like it went too fast. Maybe it’s me being middle aged now? :-)

Anyway, I went through last years’ posts and came up with a list of the most commented, Stumbled, Dugg and otherwise most popular posts in the last 365 days. Below is the list for your review, and increased success.

Happy New Year and have fun!

  1. Special Report! Top 10 Time Management Booby-Traps in Goal Setting.
  2. 31 Days of Denials; or How One Tiny Word Helped Me Recover 3 1/2 Hours Per Day.
  3. 32 Disciplines & Psychological Stunts That Bring Optimism, Upgrade Visualization Skills and Make You Unstoppable.
  4. Short-Circuit Stress Fast with These 7 Feel-Good Tips
  5. 5 Reasons Why You’ll Never Amount to Anything…
  6. Do Insults and Verbal Abuse Motivate You? Some Self-Help Books Say YES!
  7. Increase Your Monitor Size – Increase Your Productivity
  8. Gabriel Byrne’s 6 Step Guide to Developing Persuasion
  9. Facing an Uncomfortable Past and Rolling Hard…
  10. Multitasking is Madness. 10 Tips to Stop
  11. Just Start by Putting Yourself in Motion
  12. 12 Hacks for Becoming a D.I.Y. Master – Amaze Your Friends & Baffle Your Enemies!
  13. How I Dropped A Whole Lot More Than 20 Pounds By Eating Chocolate Chip Pancakes…
  14. Video: Famous Failures Who Will Inspire You to Stick With Your Goals
  15. How I read an EXTRA 634 hours in the past year without cracking a book
  16. You’ll Pay to Quit This Job! One Company’s Nightmare Hiring Policy…
  17. 9 Important Reasons to Eliminate Personal Debt & Me Taking My Advice
  18. Freeware: Turn Off Windows Update Restart Nag
  19. The #1, Single Most Important Question A Goal Setter Can Ask All Year.
  20. 7 Ways To Trigger “The Zone” and Reader Tips…
  21. The Law of Attraction: How to Untangle A Crab
  22. IPod touch second-generation (2G) review for everyone else: Is it a good organizational tool?
  23. Make a Pocket Flashcard Caddy
  24. 4 Ways To Find A Goal To Get Excited About
  25. Goal Setting Diaries: A Fight to Lose 20 Stubborn Pounds
  26. The Ultimate iPod Touch 2G Dock: How to Make
  27. Is This Popular Lie Preventing Your Success?
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Wherever I Go Sawdust Follows…

by Brad Isaac December 27, 2008

In my post make a pile of chips I talked about Abraham Maslow’s wife and her mentor’s advice to make a pile of chips. The moral of the story is even though you may not know what you are doing, start something. By making a pile of chips, you allow underdeveloped ideas to take shape.

This year has been my best for woodcarving. Starting with a few blocks of basswood, saws and some new professional carving tools from my family, I set out to make some Christmas elf ornaments I found in a magazine.

I quickly learned I had underestimated the skill level required for these ornaments. Two weeks had passed and you couldn’t even tell what the first ornament was supposed to be!

I wanted to to give up and simply carve some beginner Santas. In fact I bought a book Carving Santas from Around the World. But I decided to stick with it a bit longer. After all, carving is fun, even if I am only making a pile of chips.

The challenge

My greatest mistake was not predicting how darn difficult the eyes would be. My first elf’s eyes may appear quite sunken due to me carving, re-carving and carving again. But finally, with the aid of an eye carving model and practice stick, I think I got the hang of it.

When it was finally time to part with the ornaments, I didn’t want to. My piles of chips had taken on personalities of their own. First came the elf I named Knibblesby, whom I gave to my sister.

carving_elf 001

During the carving of this whimsical elf, my kids and I would make up stories about his adventures sneaking into parties just so he could nibble appetizers.

The second elf I named Beardsly for obvious reasons.

carving_elf 005

He wasn’t as fun for the kids for he had an old stoic demeanor and quickly became known around the house as a grumbler about a great many things. But I love him and I’m quite happy with the end result:

Beardsly

Epilogue

Woodcarving really drives home the point “it’s the journey, not the destination.” The reason is since I’ve finished the ornaments, there is a void. Yes, I feel a little let down that I don’t have a project in progress.

Sure, I can start another one, but which one? heh…maybe I’ll start a gargoyle for my next journey. What do you think?

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My Christmas Story

by Brad Isaac December 23, 2008

Last year I was smacked with inspiration to pen a Christmas story.  Like most inspiration, the idea for the theme, characters and plot came in an instant.  If I didn’t begin work immediately, I would have lost the story.  So, I did start writing on the spot.

I wrote most of it while my family made the yearly pilgrimage to Williamsburg, Virginia last year.  Here’s what I had to say about it back then:

I remember touring Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia and seeing Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in one of the shops.  And I thought, that’s it!  I need to write my own Christmas story.  It needs to be timeless and reflective.  One that makes you think.  And I want it to inspire joy and a Christmas spirit for those who read it.

I wrote it over the period of 3 weekends mostly from the passenger seat of our family mini-van as Kim drove us to some getaway locations.  The story was easy, the ending was hard.  Editing was tougher than everything else.  But it’s here, at last. 

A few comments made about it online and off:

Nice writing Brad. I like the powerful imagery. – A. Lange

Wow, that’s quite possibly the darkest Christmas story I’ve ever read, but I loved it. – Gary

I am going to lose sleep thinking about the note – Kerri

So if you are ever curious about what might be tumbling around in this head of mine, this story is a good place to start.

You can download a copy by right clicking the link and choosing “Save Link As” or by reading it in your browser:

The Woman on the Mountain

Comments or criticisms about the story are appreciated in the comments below.

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Is This Popular Lie Preventing Your Success?

by Brad Isaac December 15, 2008

learn_by_doing We were packing to leave Williamsburg, Va.  One of my son’s jobs was to pack up his and his sisters’ air mattresses and sleeping bags.  He got them all rolled up, ready to be inserted into the carrying bags.  This was the point at which he got stuck.

“Son, you need to put the air mattresses into their carrying bags.”

“I can’t” he said.

I didn’t miss a beat.  I said “you can and you will.”

He asked me how.

I said “you’ll learn how when you do it.”

He probably figured I couldn’t be budged on this subject, so he simply bagged up the air mattresses as if he’d done it 100 times.

When he was done, I wanted to reinforce the lesson.  .  I asked him “when you said ”i can’t’ while you were trying to bag up the air mattresses, what did that mean?

“That I was wrong?”  he said.

I said not only that, but almost always ‘I can’t’ is a trick.  If you couldn’t, the sleeping bags and mattresses wouldn’t be bagged.  It’s important to understand this lesson.  Can’t is usually a lie.  The opposite of the lie is I can.

 

You can

There is a difference between “can’t” and not knowing how.  We have to get out of the habit of saying “I can’t.”  Because with very few examples, it’s a lie.  The word can’t, by it’s meaning, implies permanence.

When we talk about being a no-limit person, this is one of the first steps.  Eliminating the word “can’t”  from your vocabulary is an important psychological step.  If you run around saying “I can’t” all the time, you eventually won’t be able to do the important steps necessary for your success.

Not knowing how…Yet!

So if “I can’t” is a lie, but saying I can isn’t true either, then what?  “I don’t know how…Yet”  is the target.

Where can’t implies permanence, I don’t know how yet implies transition.  It means I’m at the beginning of the journey of which I will reach the destination.  The word yet means eventually.

You might think my 12 year old is different.  You might think nobody over 18 says “I can’t”. 

That’s funny, I hear it all the time.  “I can’t open this spreadsheet.”  “I could never build a program.”  I can’t lose weight.  Almost every day someone makes an excuse to me about something they “can’t” do.

So don’t shrug off what I’m saying.  I’ve caught myself at times saying “I can’t”.  Don’t be surprised if it sneaks up on you too.

I will

“I will” is liberating.  Let’s break it down shall we?

If we go back to my conversation with my son, I finished the sentence with “You will.”  You will means there is no options except to succeed.  The verb will is a permanent direction or end.  I will means it is going to get done, no questions asked.

So bringing it all together, if we are to reach the level of no limits, I encourage some changes of attitude.  Another sentence to add to your habitual sayings is “I will”.

The two phrases “I will” and “You will” are effective.  What options have you left yourself if you say “I will”?  You can do it and meet your commitment or not do it and disappoint those who are expecting you to stick to your word.

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Goal Setting Diaries: A Fight to Lose 20 Stubborn Pounds

by Brad Isaac November 30, 2008

This is the first in our new series The Goal Setting Diaries.  The Goal Setting Diaries is a group-think project similar to the sex diaries and the money diaries.  Real stories from real people who want to achieve a goal.  This is a diary from Carol, do you see any tips you can give her?  Post them in the comments below.  P.S. She was awarded a free copy of Achieve-IT! goal setting software for submitting her goal diary.  You can get the same if you submit yours and I post it on this site or in my newsletter read the FAQ for more information.

The goal: My goal is to lose 20 pounds. I started at 180 pounds and want to get down to 160 or below. I am 35 years old single woman.

Sunday

Started out well. Had a good breakfast of two boiled eggs and some toast and strawberry jam. In the past, I haven’t eaten breakfast a lot, but they say to eat it if you want to lose weight. Had a cheese sandwich for lunch, cleaned my kitchen. Got bored, popped some popcorn and watched TV. Eventually, guilted myself into going to the gym to work out. Had hamburger helper for dinner.

Monday

I hate Mondays. I had a bowl of Basic 4 cereal and after I finished, there was some milk left so I poured more cereal in the bowl. It was busy as hell as most Mondays are. Went to lunch with a friend from work. It was her turn to choose so we ended up at the Deli. I thought about having the salad. “Yawn” I had the burger instead with chips on the side. I didn’t have anything else to eat until dinner. I felt guilty for what I ate for lunch and wanted to be good. So I had a can of tuna and some Rice-A-Roni (not the whole box, thank you.) Watched Greys Anatomy on my DVR as I ate. I didn’t work out.

Tuesday

Woke up and hit the snooze button 3 times. It made me too late to make myself breakfast. Decided I’d stop at Starbucks and get something. Picked up a Grande Mocha Latte and saw Starbucks new Oatmeal advertised on the counter. It looked healthy, but too messy for the car. I went for a bagel instead.

At work, people kept stopping by my desk and interrupting me. At least it wasn’t Monday. Got shaky around 11A.M. from the caffeine. And I feel a little nauseous.

Went to lunch with friend again at the deli downstairs. Had an egg salad sandwich on Whole Wheat and a side of carrot sticks. (that’s healthy right?)

But a dumb co-worker brought in a cake for no reason. I couldn’t resist, so I had a big piece. Got tired at work and dragged myself home. Thought about going to the gym, but I was too tired. Took a nap.

Wednesday

Wednesday – I had a small bowl of Basic 4 cereal and coffee for breakfast. Work was an average Wednesday. A lot less busy than Monday or Tuesday.

I brought my lunch today and surfed the Net as I ate. Had Peanut Butter and Jelly on white bread and a bag of Lays light potato chips. Felt good about saving money and eating lighter than if I had gone out. Had some trail mix as an afternoon snack and talked to Tom (guy I met online.) We are going out Friday night.

For dinner all I had was two packages of Top Ramen noodles with green peas stirred in.

I was starving an hour later so ate a Chocolate marshmallow Cliff bar as a snack.

Thursday

Thursday – Skipped breakfast, with the exception of coffee. Started feeling sick around 10 so I ate some trail mix. It didn’t do much to calm my stomach. Started getting a headache.

Drove up to Subway and had a full Subway club for lunch with lettuce, tomato, onions, peppers, olives and light ranch dressing on white bread no chips and water to drink.

Didn’t go to gym today, but I started to feel guilty so I put on some sneakers and sweat pants and did some fast walking through the neighborhood (about 15 minutes). Back home did 30 situps while watching Entertainment Tonight.

Dinner, had 1/3 a box of spaghetti with Ragu sauce and 1 piece of white bread with butter. Felt full afterwards but during sitcoms, I ate 3 Chips Ahoy cookies (normally I’d eat 4) and 1/4 cup of 2% milk.

Friday

Woke up late again, but it’s Friday! Went to Starbucks and got a regular grande coffee and a scone. Lazy at work, I didn’t do much except surf the Internet. Went for Japanese with a group from work. Had the teriaki chicken with rice and vegetables. It was a lot of food. Took half of it to go for later.

Tonight is my big date with Tom. We went to Fridays and split an appetiser of potato skins. He’s a computer engineer and two years younger than me. I guess that makes me a cougar. ;) I had the Chicken Ceasar salad and 1 glass of chardonnay. He bought dinner, even though I offered to pay for mine.

Afterwards, we went to see the Batman movie (I paid because I didn’t want to be obligated.) Great movie!

Tom and I will see each other again, so it’s been a good day!

Saturday

I slept through breakfast and woke up at 11. Had a lunch of a bagel with cream cheese and some orange juice. Popped some microwave popcorn for a snack at 2 and then went to the gym at 2:30.

I knew I’d be splurging for dinner so I wanted to offset it with gym time. Speed walked the treadmill for 20 minutes. Then did some weights for 10 minutes.

Tom called me around 4. We had a light conversation and decided to go out again next week. My turn to pick the place. I’ll probably call him tomorrow to set up.

Met my friends at Red Lobster for dinner. Had the Crab fettuccini which came with a salad. I ate the salad and 3 biscuits. I had 2 glasses of chardonnay to drink and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.

Felt sick afterwards.  Why do I do this to myself?

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Balancing Organic vs. Formulaic

by Brad Isaac November 19, 2008

This is a guest post written
by Rick Anderson from The Goal Geek blog.

Some people are predisposed to accomplishing things “organically”; that is, their orientation toward life and accomplishment is one that allows maximum freedom to “see what happens”. Others are more formulaic–they define objectives and milestones and start taking deliberate actions toward their objectives with varying degrees of conscious effort. Sometimes the two types of people collide, with the organic folks abhorring the discipline and predictability of well-formulated plans and actions while the formulaic among us struggle to value what they imagine to be an aimless life, void of the satisfaction of accomplishment.

The question is not, “Who is right?” All of us inevitably fall somewhere along the continuum of organic versus formulaic approaches. A better question is, “Where do I fall on the continuum and what is it costing me?” Clearly there are costs on both sides. If you lean toward the organic most often, you risk failing to find yourself “happening” into acceptable (much less, fulfilling) situations. On the other hand, if you rigorously define and map your life too far in advance and never look up as you’re “working the plan”, you may well miss the greatest opportunities for fulfillment and accomplishment that life and circumstances make available to you. Regret is a very real possibility with both approaches.

The obvious solution is to try and strike the best balance possible for you. While this solution may seem obvious and trite, closer examination reveals that balance is a complex and costly objective itself. Balance requires sacrifice on both sides of the continuum. Balance, although widely recommended for many facets of life and achievement, is seldom practiced. Further, the principle of balance itself is easy for both sides of the organic-versus-formulaic dichotomy to criticize. To the organically disposed, a move toward balance is a move toward selling out–sacrificing valuable time and energy for the purpose of inviting and adopting limitations in life. For the formulaic, a move toward balance is a conscious decision to “fall behind” or “lose focus”, in addition to forfeiting valuable energy.

To overcome our natural tendencies and move in the direction of balance, we must first determine which side of the continuum we fall on. For many, the answer may be obvious. Perhaps you’re the person who is forever focused on your objectives and have a very difficult time adjusting to interruptions and unanticipated setbacks (formulaic). Or, maybe you’re the person that’s forever dreaming or having to pull others into spontaneous activities (organic). If it’s not obvious which side of the continuum you fall on, ask yourself which approach would be more painful for you to more fully implement in your life. Does the thought of “buckling down” repel you? If so, you’re more likely to be organic in your approach to achievement. Does personal reflection and holistic evaluation sound too amorphous to be truly helpful? Then you’re probably formulaic in your tendencies.

Once you know which way you lean in your approach to life, (organic versus formulaic), you can begin to take the proverbial baby steps to move you in the direction of a better balance. Here is the best part: You can use your strongest tendency to help you get there! If you tend to be organic and you know you could use more structure and intention in your life, choose a suitably comfortable approach to defining the areas in which you might improve..and then capture them in writing as a first step. This might be as simple as carrying a small notebook and recording the ideas that occur to you as they are occurring. If you tend toward a formulaic approach, schedule time to look at the broader picture of your life, including things like relationships, and then list the areas you’ve neglected and the actions you can take to remedy the situation. The idea here is for organically-inclined people to find non-burdensome ways to actually pin some things down (by doing some spontaneous “planning”), and for formulaic people to stop and consider the areas of life and fulfillment that may have been left behind (by planning to be “spontaneous”).

Whichever your predominant inclination, organic or formulaic, fulfillment and achievement are more likely to be realized with a more balanced approach to life. Defining goals, or, if you prefer, “desired results”, is a valuable exercise for everyone to complete regularly. Find a way to reflect on where you are today, as well as where you want to go, for every facet of your life. Then begin the journey with the help of your natural strengths!

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Natural Vision Correction Part 3

by Brad Isaac November 17, 2008

This is part 3 of my series on natural vision correction.  If you haven’t read the first two parts, please read them via the links below before reading this post. Vision Correction Without Lasik: Exercise Your Eyes Two Principles of Vision Correction without Lasik A good place to start with this 3rd lesson is to […]

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