Well, the year has come to an end and I am looking forward to 2010. Not only is this a time for planning the upcoming year, but it's also a time of reflection when we look back at our accomplishments as well as our failures. I mention failures because they are just as important as our accomplishments.

Failures are the way we learn. My mentor, Alex Jeffreys, likes to call it failing forward. The important thing here is that you made the effort and took action. Thomas Edison literally had thousands of failures before he found the correct filament to create a working light bulb.

Determination and tenacity prevailed and the rest is history. But I have found that it's not just enough to to take action. You need to take "intelligent action". This has nothing to do with how smart you are, it's about being focused and sticking to a game plan.

Concentrate on the things that are working for you. Shut out the distractions as much as possible. More than likely you are like me and still work a full time job. Your time is very valuable so must make sure that you are productive with the little time you have.

This was something that I learned this year and it has helped me immensely. I easily tripled my productivity compared to what I was doing before. Have a "to do list" of your most critical action items. Turn off your email, Skype, Messenger, or anything else that might tempt you to deviate from the task at hand.

Then "Get Er Done!"

Of course, this is not easily done if you don't have a clear cut plan of attack. That is why goal setting and planning should be your number one priorities. Not only do you want to plan on a daily level, but you want to plan on a weekly, monthly, and a yearly level.

I am getting ready to drive to the airport and catch a plane for Alex Jeffreys workshop in Las Vegas. The event is for the students from his first coaching program that started in November of last year. Once I found out he was having the event, I started saving money and added it to my list of goals for 2009.

I created my list of goals as a direct result of Alex Jeffreys coaching. The first module of the course was all about planning and goal setting which in turn makes you more productive. I set goals in 4 different areas: personal, entrepreneurial, business, and income.

The first goal was to take the wife and kids on a vacation to Venezuela. My wife is from there and has not been home to see her family in 5 years. I am proud to say that the tickets are purchased and we will be departing on June 22nd for 6 weeks of South American fun. This was made possible becuase of the things that I learned from Alex Jeffreys.

One of my business goals is to build an email list of 7500 people. I am now at about 2700 but have not even hosted my JV Giveaway yet. I am hosting one with my fellow students Garry Parkes, Gary Simpson, and Carl Barton that will be taking place within the next week or two. I intend to follow with one of my own and probably several others after that. Once again, Alex Jeffreys is responsible for prompting me to use JV giveaways to build my list.

Hi everybody,

I have a VERY SPECIAL TREAT for you today.

Linda has a message for anybody who is despondent and/or frustrated with their own “results” or more importantly, perceived lack thereof at this point in time.

Linda’s message was inspired by what she read at Nigel Yip’s blog. As some of you will know, Nigel has decided to quit.

Anyway, have a listen and please post a comment about her message. What are YOUR thoughts on this? Do YOU want to make an affirmation to YOUR success here? Are you gonna quit or has this just re-doubled your resolve to succeed?

Click to listen [time: 5 min 29 sec]

PS: When you read this Nigel - as I know you will, eventually - I want to thank you for all the help that you have given the F500 students with their video production. Your knowledge and assistance in that is first class and it is a pity that you didn’t push past your doubts that you could succeed in this area. There are a lot of people who have benefitted from what you have done to help them. They will go on, of course and you will forever be a part of their success. I sure hope you will one day find what you are looking for. And I say that sincerely to you.

---

P.S. I’d added this in a comment, way down there, but thought I’d put it here, too. After you hear the audio, scroll down to the reply I posted to Christine. This is the image that goes with it. : )

A very good friend of mine just emailed me something that DEMANDED my attention. He is a guy who places no limits on himself or his ability. He is a pretty incredible fellow whose talent in karate has to be seen to be believed. In fact, the word “devastating” comes to mind. Anyway…

… he knows I am “into” this motivational stuff as well and we regularly email back and forth and talk even though he lives some 2,000 miles away on the other side of this vast continent of Australia. But what he sent me today SHOCKED me and I just had to stop what I was doing - on the spot - IMMEDIATELY - and share it with you.

It’s all about having NO limits.

You see, I hear people say things like “I could NEVER do that” or “I’m just not lucky” or “I’m not smart enough” or blah… blah… blah… Excuses, excuses, excuses!

Some of you will know that I wrote a pretty hard-hitting article on EXCUSIOLOGY in Garry Parkes‘ second newsletter for the Profit Pulling Project.

So, you know I don’t like excuses - even when they are dressed up as “reasons.” It’s the SAME dog, just a different leg action.

Excuses limit people.

Hi,

Well, after the last week of frenetic activity on my part to draw all the elements together for the budding tigresses here on this blog, I am gonna change tack. I want to do something light and frivolous for once. I just wanna have some fun!

But, even having said that, there is a strong undercurrent in my message here to you today. And if you “get it” you will be able to motivate and inspire yourself to levels that you never thought possible. I do this regularly. So, what do I do?

Quite simply, I use music to inspire me.

“Oh yeah Gary, I do that too! You ain’t telling me nothing new here buddy!”

Really?

Well, let me ask you this. Have you ever been through your entire CD or record (sorry kids) collection and catalogued the VERY songs that “do it” to you? Have you? I will bet not. I have.

In my exasperatingly large collection - I have some 500-600 albums - some are total lemons but I have them because there is ONE track on some albums that gets me rockin’ and rollin’ like you wouldn’t believe. I’m talking about putting it on and then “watch out!” type stuff. The “zone” as I sometimes talk about.