Aspirations – What Are They?

Do you have a goal you want to achieve in your future? If you have hopes and dreams, you have aspirations. You have a sense of purpose and direction for living with these big picture goals. But you need to know, having goals and having aspirations are not the same thing.


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Aspirations are more long-term and geared to the future, while goals are actions you need to take to get you to your destination. Look at it as looking back on your career and knowing that you were able to meet your goals, that is an aspiration. When you get a new position in six months, that is a goal. They have different, separate functions but they do work together.

Aspirations Breakdown

You will have more meaning and focus in your life when you have aspirations. There are various types of aspirations you start to look for when you start to dream about your future. People’s aspirations give them a different outlook on their lives. Some, like being a good provider are simple while others aim to be a lot higher like becoming rich and famous.

We try for two types of aspirations – intrinsic and extrinsic. They have some common themes that are indicators of s sense of purpose in our lives. The breakdown here will help you to understand which of the two types that you tend to focus on.

Intrinsic : these aspirations will satisfy your well-being. These are usually centred around relationships, your contributing to your community, health and your personal growth. An example of a social aspiration would be to make friends and build your relationships and volunteer. There are also family aspirations and skill aspirations where you develop a new skill.

Extrinsic: These types of aspirations are for achieving an instrumental outcome in your life. An extrinsic aspiration would be that you are physically attractive, wealthy or being popular. A financial aspiration when you were growing up would be to have a million dollars. If you wanted to be popular when in high school, you had popularity aspirations.

Your career aspirations can be both intrinsic and extrinsic. There are certain things that you want to accomplish like having a certain salary and image. These have parts of personal growth and community contributions mixed together.


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9 Misconceptions of Success

success

Sometimes it isn’t about what you don’t know. Often, it’s more about being mistaken about the things you’re certain are true. Misconceptions create challenges. What if your preconceived notions about success are incorrect? How might your beliefs about your likelihood of success change?

If your beliefs are accurate, you might find that achieving success is a lot easier than you originally thought. With a fresh set of beliefs, new actions and outcomes can be expected. Success starts with you!

Check out these 9 misconceptions of success:

  1. It’s too late to reach your goals. Many of the world’s most successful individuals didn’t get started until later in life. Consider Colonel Sanders, who started Kentucky Fried Chicken in his sixties.

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  1. Successful people have to work insane hours. While many successful people do work many hours, that’s primarily because they enjoy what they’re doing. But it’s unnecessary to focus all your efforts on work.
    • It’s important to spend time doing things that help you move forward in a positive direction. Sometimes, that even means doing things that make you feel uncomfortable.
  1. It takes a long time to become successful. It depends on what you’re doing. If you want to become a doctor, it does take a while. But many things can be accomplished quickly with a good action plan
  1. You have to play by the rules to succeed. The alternate, “You have to break all the rules to succeed,” is also false. Each situation is unique. You can make up your own rules, as long as you avoid hurting anyone or breaking any laws.
  2. Money isn’t important. Money is very important for those things that require money. Money doesn’t provide emotional support, but it can do a whole lot for you. If you’re unable to pay your bills or buy food, you already know the importance of money.
  3. Success is only about making money. It’s important to have enough money to support your idea of success. But money isn’t everything! Maybe your version of success is about having freedom and enjoying life. Having more money than you need is of questionable value.

  4. You’ll achieve the most success if you do it alone. Success rarely happens in isolation. You’ll probably need help along the way. Partnerships, joint ventures, favors, and mentors are often part of becoming successful. Hopefully, you’ll be able to pay it forward and help someone else on their road to success someday.
  5. If you lack education or come from a certain background, you won’t find success. Successful people come from all backgrounds and levels of education. In fact, a disproportionate number of highly successful people didn’t complete high school!
    • Having a certain background and education can provide different opportunities, but there’s an alternative path to success. History is filled with success stories of those with serious disadvantages.
  1. Success is the goal. Success is the condition of having met your goals. It isn’t a goal in itself.

Success is frequently different than what we think it is. You’ve learned to talk, walk, and read. You’ve made friends and achieved many other things. Use those experiences to lead you down the path to success with your bigger goals.

To work together to help you develop your success goals and get you moving towards them, click on the blue button below to book a 15-minute, no obligation “Get to know you” call.

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Going alone on creating a better life is difficult. Find out how working with a Life Coach can make the journey to success and a better life easier.

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To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

 

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

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Simple Guide to Setting Realistic Goals for the New Year

setting goals

The New Year is the perfect time to start fresh. If there’s any aspect of your life that you’d like to improve, set some clear and attainable goals for yourself that will help you get there.

Take It Slow

Work towards your goal one piece at a time. It’s important to take it slow and not take on too much at once. The main reason that some people fail when it comes to their New Year’s goals is because they fail to plan out a realistic path.

Follow Through With a Plan

It’s easy to say: “I want to lose 50 pounds” or “I want to learn a musical instrument.” Keep in mind that big goals like these will take some time and effort. Diets are hard to start because you may feel unmotivated or hungry. Musical instruments require time to master, and you may start with weeks of just learning notes before getting to any fun melodies.

Remember that the beginning is tough. Muster up the courage and enthusiasm to continue with your efforts. Remember that most people give up, but you’re not most people, are you?

You’re different because, unlike most people, you’re going to create a clear and realistic plan to take you right to success. If you’re going to lose 50 pounds, define how you’re going to lose those pounds. Are you starting an exercise routine? Are you going to join Weight Watchers or count calories?

You know that you won’t lose the weight quickly; it’s a steady loss that brings success. Even if you’re short a couple of pounds on one of your short-term goals, you can revise your plan and kick up the pace, or just continue on your path because you’ll reach your 50 pound goal before the year is out. That’s what you’ll be able to accomplish with a solid plan in place.

Be Real

You have to stay realistic when it comes to your New Year’s goals. The holidays are a joyful time, and often times you’ll feel motivated to achieve something big. Know that you can achieve big things, but there are also only 24 hours in a day.

Avoid making goals that would take more than a year to complete. If you want to make a long-term goal like this, break it up into parts and give yourself a realistic plan for your first year goal.

Visualize the Outcome

When you run into snags in the road, as you’re bound to in life from time to time, it will help to visualize yourself reaching your end goal. Visualizing it makes it feel real and motivates you to continue to work hard to make it happen.

The Right Attitude

If you’re practising the right attitude, you can go far. It’s true that all you need to do is believe in yourself. You’ve probably realized that if you don’t believe that you can accomplish something, you simply won’t. How can you expect to achieve great things if you don’t believe in yourself?

An optimistic attitude is critical to your success. Think about how you felt when you first set your New Year’s goal. Chances are that you had an excellent attitude, so try to maintain that mindset throughout your journey to success with your goal.

Once you’ve determined a realistic goal and divided it up into short, achievable tasks, you’re bound for success as long as you take action to complete each step. Go ahead and make that New Year’s resolution, knowing that this year is going to be your most successful yet!

You can book your 15-minute “Get to know you” call by clicking on the blue button belowbook nowand we can talk about how we can work together

To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

Confidence and Life Coaching

 

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Set Your Game Plan for the Coming Year

game plan

You probably have goals that you hoped to achieve this year, but didn’t. This time of year, it’s natural to lament about goals you seem to have lost.

Thankfully, your goals don’t have to remain mere dreams. You can take yourself from a path with unachievable goals to one with attainable targets by just changing your approach.

Once you’ve committed to believing in your abilities, you can start to put things in place to actually attain what you’ve set your mind and heart on. And this holiday season is the perfect time to set that game plan.

Use this step-by-step approach to make an effective plan to achieve those goals:

  1. Be thankful for the year’s achievements. Even if you didn’t reach the targets you wanted, there are undoubtedly things that you did accomplish. Take a few moments to run those accomplishments through your mind and give thanks for them. Feel good about yourself. You’ve most likely achieved far more than many others!
  2. Start with a master list. Instead of just dreaming about the things you’d like to achieve in the coming year, take the time to sit down and write them on a master list. Be specific about exactly what you want and how much (make it measurable).

 

  1. Prioritize your goals. By the time you’re done writing, you’ll probably have a list of 20-30 goals. First, arrange your list in the order in which you want to achieve them and then zoom in on the top four or five.

 

  1. Plot and set attainable targets. Now that you’ve identified the four or five most pressing goals, plot out attainable sub-targets for each of these goals and give yourself a timeline to achieve each step.

 

    • Remember that the best way to achieve mammoth goals is to break them down into smaller pieces that you know you can achieve. Now, you know it’s attainable because you’ve figured out how to achieve each step. It’s only a matter of completing each step, one by one. Once you complete your last step, you’ve achieved your big goal!
    • Plan to give yourself a small reward when you’ve successfully conquered each phase of the master plan.

 

  1. Reaffirm your commitment. As the old year is winding down, make some time to read through your list and reaffirm your commitment to achieving these goals in the coming year.
    • With each goal, start by saying, “I reaffirm my commitment to …” and read the details of the goal from beginning to end.
    • By reaffirming your commitment, you officially vow to do what is necessary to achieve the goals, which is a much better place than you were at the start of this year.
    • Commit, also, to actively finding solutions to overcome any challenges that may crop up. When you mentally prepare yourself ahead of time for challenges, they’re not such a shock, and you can focus on solving any constraints and continue moving forward.

 

Now that you’ve changed your approach, you can expect to see a much-improved outcome with each goal you’ve set for yourself. Go get ‘em!

You can book your 15-minute “Get to know you” call by clicking on the blue button belowbook nowand we can talk about how we can work together to help you set your goals for the coming year and plan how you will achieve them

To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

 

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

Confidence and Life Coaching

 

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9 Signs That You’ve Found Your Purpose

your purpose

Do you know your purpose? Most people don’t, and a few think they do, but are incorrect. However, there are several signs that you have probably found your purpose. It might be something that’s right under your nose that you’ve never considered.

Once you’ve determined the purpose for your life and begin living it, it feels like everything falls into place.

Have you found your purpose? These signs may enlighten you:

  1. The time flies by. When you’re spending time pursuing your purpose, it’s hard to figure out where the time went. There are only a few activities that allow you to seemingly escape the passage of time. It’s an amazing feeling to find something that’s so easy to work on when other things can be so painful.
  2. You feel calm. There’s a sense of relaxation and focus when you’re living your purpose. You can just feel that you’re doing the right thing and living your life the way it was meant to be lived. There’s a peace that comes from living your purpose that’s hard to describe until you experience it yourself.
    • How do you feel when you wake up in the morning and know you have to face another day at work? Do you feel good about it? Or do you feel annoyed and stressed?

  3. Money isn’t the driving force. You’re not drawn to your purpose by the financial rewards. However, there are often great financial rewards for living your purpose. You’re interested, motivated, and enjoy that subject. That’s a great recipe for providing a lot of value.
  4. It feels natural. Living your purpose feels right. It’s a similar feeling to finding your perfect partner. It’s a very comfortable feeling.
  5. You gain energy by doing that thing. Your purpose creates energy within you. It doesn’t drain you. When you spend your day doing something you don’t like, you feel exhausted by the end of the day.
  6. You’re more willing to take risks than usual. When you feel less stress in your life, you’re willing to take on more risk. When you’re doing something that’s important to you, you’re willing to be braver.
  7. Luck is on your side. There’s no scientific explanation for it, but you seem to be a lot luckier when you’re living your purpose. When you spend your time doing things you don’t like to do, your luck seems to go in the toilet. Think about your life, and you’ll find this to be true.
  8. You spend less money. There are just a couple of reasons to spend money:
    • You can purchase something you need, like food or water.
    • You can purchase something you really want, like a TV set.
    • You can purchase things to make yourself feel better. The more miserable you are, the more likely you are to overspend as a way of boosting your mood. When you’ve found your purpose, you’ll find that you spend a lot less, because you’re more content.
  9. You care less about what others think. We’re all sensitive to varying degrees about the opinions of others. But, when you’re engaged in your purpose, you are free of this concern. What you’re doing feels so right that you’re not interested in what others think about what you’re doing. You feel free.

You feel lost and discontent when you’re not living your purpose. It’s hard to describe, but something just feels off. Finding your purpose and building your life around it is the most satisfying and enjoyable way to live.

If you haven’t found your purpose yet, don’t give up. There’s still time to discover it and live the life you were meant to live!

You can book your 15-minute “Get to know you” call by clicking on the blue button belowbook nowand we can talk about how we can work together

To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

 

P.S. What is holding you back from achieving the success in your life and career? For many people it is their Limiting Beliefs. Once you understand and remove your old limiting beliefs and replace them with new empowering beliefs, success becomes that much easier.

Check out my basic Limiting Belief, self-paced program at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below. This program will get you started on identifying 14 of the most common limiting beliefs, you will probably be familiar with some of them, and will give empowering beliefs to replace them in your life if you have them.

After completing the course, you will be at the starting point of your success journey.

Limiting belief

 

 

 

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