Why You Should Dream Big, Even When You Think You Have No Business Doing So

"Do not allow a thought to enter your mind about where you are at today when you are deciding where you are headed."

I jotted down the quote above more than a decade ago at a business conference. I do not know to whom it is originally attributed, but I have thought about it often over the past several years. At some point in time, we have all asked ourselves, "Where am I headed?"

At moments, I've found myself in wonderful career situations and was obviously very bullish on my future. After all, it's easy to view the years ahead through an optimistic lens when you're riding high. However, other times I've found myself at a crossroads -- faced with a decision to change roles, companies or even industries. In fact, I've even had to start over completely more than once. At those critical junctures, it's easier to be conservative or cautious or even jaded about one's future. The trick is not to be.

Here are five reasons why you shouldn't let your current situation and surroundings impact your vision for the future.

1. Limiting yourself is a sure-fire way to not reach your potential.

If you aren't where you want to be professionally or personally, the temptation to dampen your life's ambition is strong. In fact, others may advise you to go conservative with your dreams to soften the blow should you fall short. While setting big goals doesn't ensure you'll reach them, not setting them will almost guarantee you don't. Historically, those who have achieved the most are the ones who set out to do huge things against all odds, logic and probability.

2. Everyone needs something that stirs his or her soul -- especially top performers.

When was the last time something you sought to accomplish gave you chills or goose bumps? When you've found your true compelling stretch vision, there's magic behind it. It will help you navigate the route to get there and power through the toughest obstacles. Still, this vision has to be so exciting to you personally that nothing short will be acceptable. A sensible or practical goal will not get you there. As Victor Hugo said: :Each man should frame life so that at some future hour, fact and his dreaming meet."

3. It's not relevant.

Where you are at today has little to do with what happens moving forward. Some people allow their current positions to dominate their thoughts about future advancement. Sadly, they are unlikely to accomplish all that you will.

Those who make big things happen do so by accepting where they are today but simultaneously refuse to let this limit them. They realize they have far more control over their destinies than that. They stop focusing on what they don't have and pour their energy into what they want.

4. Understand the power of momentum and how it can work for you.
The key to conquering the biggest obstacles is to dissect them into smaller challenges. The fastest sports car in the world doesn't go instantaneously from 0 to 100 miles per hour. First, it goes from a complete stop to 1 mph. As it picks up speed, accelerating becomes easier -- the engine is warm, the gas pedal pressed, and forward momentum is on your side.

Some people are daunted by a stretch goal, because it seems so distant. Keep your eyes on the prize, but focus your daily attention on closing the gap just a little. The power of momentum engages -- first steps become hops, jumps and then leaps.

5. Thinking and aiming big forces you to be more creative, work harder and develop a bias towards action.
The people who achieve the biggest goals are often the people you'd least suspect. Superficially, on paper, they don't have the perfect resume, but the pursuer knows they deliver their absolute best every day. This positive self-pressure generates growth. Mediocre goals never bring out greatness.

No goal is too large or challenging if you have the resolve to put in the work. Your next move or ambition can seem crazy to everyone else -- but it doesn't matter. Never let where you are at today limit you. Believe in yourself, and you can make anything happen.

Stop Your Lazy Thinking With These 5 Tips and Start Making Great Decisions

The number of decisions we make and the complexity of the problems we solve sometimes exceeds the brain’s capacity. To respond faster and more efficiently to the multiple demands of daily life without having to reinvent the wheel, our brains streamline the decision-making process. How? By creating shortcuts. Called heuristics, these shortcuts actually are overlearned ways of choosing and using information. Heuristics help you make snap judgments. But what you save in time, you lose in accuracy. If your heuristics are flawed, your snap judgments will be, too.

Scientists have identified approximately 100 of these flawed heuristics and refer to them as cognitive biases. Unfortunately, these biases lead to haphazard fact-finding, shallow processing and hasty conclusions. They make you believe things that aren’t true and ignore things that are. Essentially, they're turning you into a lazy thinker.






Your biases and lazy thinking can have profound effects on the decisions you make, the actions you take and the results you obtain. You can train train yourself to avoid five of the most common cognitive biases. Here's how.

1. Question your beliefs.
When you accept ideas as logical and true because they sound believable, you commit belief bias. The more consistent with your beliefs an idea sounds, the less likely you are to look for proof. Strong, unchallenged beliefs determine which actions you will or won’t take to achieve your goals. For example, if you believe that most small businesses fail, you're unlikely to start one of your own. If you believe your product isn't worth paying for, you'll never make it available for sale. And if you believe your message isn't powerful or important enough, you'll never share it.
Ask: Which facts support your own beliefs?

2. Look for facts that disprove your point.
We like to be right. And to protect our desire to be right, we search for evidence that supports our ideas and ignore evidence that contradicts them. This is confirmation bias, and while it's a more scientific way of thinking than belief bias, it's still cheating. Your biased sampling makes you think you are right even when you are wrong. If you think your new assistant is incompetent, you'll keep looking for mistakes and problems. When performance-evaluation time rolls around, your data is a laundry list of shortcomings. So of course you believe you were right all along. Being willing to collect evidence that disproves your point not only helps you anticipate problems but also makes your point stronger.

Ask: What evidence are you collecting to disprove your point?

3. Estimate the odds of success.
Everyone can rattle off a factoid or two, but few people fully comprehend statistics -- and even fewer use them to make decisions. When you choose your course based on a specific event without considering that event's true probability, you're showing another bias: base rate neglect. Base rate is how often something occurs in a population, such as divorce rates, crime rates and college graduation rates.

Base rate neglect sidetracks you with glowing testimonials and makes you forget about what is statistically possible. If you're thinking about starting your own business but want to get an MBA first, it would help you to know the percentage of successful small-business owners who have an MBA. In a similar vein, if you were tempted to register for a program that promises to make you a millionaire, you'd want to research further than the quotes on the group's website.

Ask: What else do I need to know?

4. Consider you might be wrong.
Did you know ahead of time which team would win the World Series last year? How about which movie would get the Oscar? Which stocks would plummet in January? If you said yes to any of these questions, you're demonstrating hindsight bias. You claim you knew what was going to happen, but you make that claim after the event already has occurred. What's more, you believe it.

Hindsight bias gets even more twisted. Research shows people misremember their own predictions.

Let’s play for a moment: Without consulting Google or Siri or Cortana, do you know how old Mother Teresa was when she died? Take a guess and say the answer to yourself. If I called you a month from now to follow up, many of you would say you chose a number much closer to the correct answer than the true age you whispered just now. The most serious problem with hindsight bias is you fail to learn from your mistakes. And it's understandable, since this bias makes you forget you made any.


Ask: What have you been wrong about in the past?

5. Learn when to follow emotion and when to ignore it.
Could you make good decisions without your emotions? Probably, but in some cases it would require more work and take a lot longer. Emotions send quick, straightforward messages to the decision-making part of the brain, which in turn determines what to do with all that information. When emotion-laden messages are too loud, they influence your decisions. That's visceral bias.

Your feelings in the moment can distort your objectivity and influence how you judge a person or a situation. Positive emotions could make you overestimate your abilities, underestimate the risks, exaggerate potential gains and shift your priorities. Things that make us feel good seem more important, necessary or valuable. People who make us feel good seem more helpful and genuine. On the flip side, negative emotions could make you underestimate your abilities, overestimate the risks, exaggerate the consequences and ignore your priorities. We judge things that make us feel bad as unimportant, unnecessary or worthless.

Shocking Reason Why Highly Educated Employees Should Be Hired By Your Company

When you’re looking to hire, you’re thinking about cultural fit and whether a candidate has not only the qualifications to fulfill your company’s needs now, but also the potential to take on more responsibility in the future.

Despite the debate around whether leaders need college degrees, a recent study out of the University of Georgia found that the educational background of non-executive hires can make a big difference in the long term success of your business -- and keep you out of trouble with the law.

Researchers found that when it comes to handling sensitive financial data, employees who have the most extensive educational backgrounds are best at forecasting trends and dealing with legal matters.






"We find that when companies are located in a place where the workforce is highly educated, they produce better accounting information," said study co-author John Campbell, an associate professor of accounting in UGA's Terry College of Business, in a summary of the findings. "The employees don't have to be experts in accounting, but if they see something that doesn't look right, they're more likely to say something about it and tell their superiors about it."

As your business expands, you need to be on top of your books, and non-executive employees often are the first line of defense for finding errors in your accounting. Building off that observation, the researchers also identified a correlation between educated populations and fewer instances of misconduct in both business and politics.


"There's a study in political science showing that states that have more educated voter bases have less corruption in their political systems, and we wanted to see if that analogy held in business," Campbell said. "One of the reasons for that might be whistleblowers. In both instances, the better-educated the population is, the more likely there will be a whistleblower if something bad is going on."

Neuroscience Explains How to Hack Our Brains For Great Success

What’s the secret to success? Some would argue that insanely successful people possess traits like having a vision, showing gratitude, being honest, learning from failure and having a high emotional intelligence.

While these traits definitely play a role, the real secret to success comes down to science, particularly advancements in neuroscience, and how you can condition your brain to achieve your dreams and goals.

The neuroscience of success can get complicated, but it’s really about how your brain functions in three different areas: reticular activating system (RAS), the release of dopamine and your memory. If you’re not a science person, I’ll try and make this all as painless as possible.

The Reticular Activating System

Located at the base of the brain where it connects with the spinal cord, there’s one of most important parts of the brain: the reticular activating system.

RAS influences cognition and is basically a filter for the roughly eight million bits of information (subconsciously) flowing through our brain. In other words, it eliminates the white noise. When a message gets past the RAS filter it enters the cerebrum and is then converted into conscious thoughts, emotions or even both.

As Ruben Gonzalez, author of The Courage to Succeed, explains, “Even though the cerebrum is the center of thought, it will not respond to a message unless the RAS allows it. The RAS is like Google. There are millions of websites out there, but you filter out the ones you are not interested in simply by typing a keyword.”

So, what messages get through? Pretty much just the ones that are currently important to you. For example, if you’re focused on preparing for a speaking engagement then your RAS is going to filter in the thoughts that are going to make your presentation a success, such as the tools and resources you’ll need to deliver a memorable speech.

As Gonzalez adds, “This means the more you keep your goals ‘top of mind,’ the more your subconscious mind will work to reach them. That’s why writing your goals down every day, visualizing your intended outcome and regularly saying affirmations is so important! Doing those things truly does help you to focus your subconscious mind on what’s important to you.”

Dopamine feedback loops

While RAS can help you focus on the desired outcome you’d like to receive, the release of dopamine is what makes success feel oh-so-good.

As Mark Lukens, founding partner of Method3, wrote recently, “When we succeed at something, our brains release chemical rewards, the most important of which is the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical best known for the role it plays in addiction and drug use.” Dopamine, despite this negative association, “is a natural part of how our brains function, producing the sensation of pleasure whenever you taste coffee or chocolate, or when you achieve a big win.”

Because of this, it makes sense that “dopamine is strongly connected to motivation, driving us to repeat the behaviors that create that rush, even when we aren’t experiencing it.” However, the dopamine response is short-term, but since our brains remember how awesome it was before, we strive to seek it out over and over again.

That’s when dopamine loops enter the picture. After you’ve experienced repeated success the pleasure you initially had gets smaller and smaller. Think of it this way: After you’ve already beaten a video game, it just doesn’t feel as good the second or third time, right? That’s when you seek bigger rewards, like unlocking trophies, new characters or swag when completing a level.

“Under the right circumstances, this can drive us to seek out ever-greater thrills,” adds Lukens. It’s why video game players are constantly engaged, it’s the reason why you check your phone every minute after updating your Facebook status, and it’s what motivates us in accomplishing bigger and better things.

For instance, if your goal was to acquire three new clients within two weeks, then your next goal would be to acquire six new clients in one week. Everything else is the same, except the more challenging, and rewarding, task of doubling your stable of clients. As an added perk, this also helps you weed out the work and goals that aren’t motivating you or your team.

Memories

Neuroscientists who have studied the way that the brain retrieves memories can also determine success.

Think about that for a second. That time you went mountain biking and had a nasty spill? That was a bad experience that might discourage you from mountain biking again, at least for the foreseeable future. The same is true with starting a business. It failed and now you are more hesitant about taking that risk again.

Scientists, however, found that we can edit those bad memories to remove the negative associations. In fact, this memory therapy is used to treat PTSD sufferers. You can also edit good memories to further propel you towards success.

To weaken bad memories, bring that memory back and then let it get smaller and dimmer, like you’re watching a small black-and-white TV fade out. Once there, insert new details that scramble the memory. For instance, think about the time you bombed while giving a speech or investor pitch. Now just imagine that your audience was dressed in something that made you laugh. Do that five or 10 times and that memory will make you chuckle.

As for strengthening your memories, recall the good memories as bright and loud as possible, like watching a movie in an IMAX theater. Keep adding how that experience made you feel for five or 10 times. You should now feel on-top-of-the-world. Use that to motivate you going forward.

Hacks to rewire your brain for success.

The good news is that you can actually rewire your brain to become more successful. In fact, according to neuroscientist Michael Merzenich, it takes just 30 hours of training based on specific neuroscience techniques to improve your memory and cognition, speech patterns and reading comprehension.

I know. That may sound like a lot. But, that’s just an hour a day for a month to achieve life-long success. I think that’s totally worth it. And, most of this training involves simple daily tasks, like:

• Exercise and meditation. Exercising releases endorphins, which can help with problem solving and boost creativity. Meditation can help you achieve inner calm and break down any mental barriers or limitations.
• Consume a diet rich in omega-3s and healthy fats. These can help keep dopamine levels in your brain active, as well as increase cerebral circulation.
• Precision affirmations. “We’ve all heard of affirmations: repeating positive statements to ourselves in order to believe it,” writes John Assaraf, the CEO of NeuroGym. “While that may sound good in theory, there is often a severe lack of specificity that can hinder results.” Instead, “make a clear, definitive statement about yourself as if it is already true, your subconscious mind takes over and will act in accordance with that belief.” This “will imprint these beliefs into new neural pathways.”
• Say your “Chief Aim” every morning and evening. Based on Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, “A definite chief aim is a specific, clearly-defined statement of purpose,” writes Dr. Julie Connor. “It has the power to guide your subconscious mind. It transforms your attitude from pessimism into positive expectation.” Write down your own “chief aim” and say it out loud every morning and evening. When I started my invoice company, I started every day by saying that I would become the best at this. Not quite there but getting there.
• Get plenty of sleep. Make sure that you get between 6 1/2 and 8 hours of quality sleep every night so that you're more attentive and focused.
• 15 minutes a day. Carve out 15 minutes of your day to learn something new or master a skill you already have. It will have a positive impact on your brain.
• Remove yourself from negative and stressful environments. According to Robert Sapolsky, a neuroendocrinology professor at Stanford University, “stress can not only be stopped, but reversed once the source, psychological or physical, is removed or sufficiently reduced.” In other words, the physical environment around us plays a very important role in the health of our brains.
• Visualization. “Visualization is a powerful tool to retrain your subconscious mind, because it allows you to feel and experience a situation which hasn’t happened yet -- as if it were real,” writes Assaraf. In short, “if you are able to genuinely ‘see’ yourself as financially successful in your mind, your subconscious will process that as reality.”

5 Ways You Are Destroying Your Own Success

You work hard, meet your deadlines and make nice with the higher ups, but it hasn't been enough to secure that promotion. Are there some sneaky behaviors that have made themselves at home in your cubicle and are sabotaging your prospects? From oversharing last night’s drinks-capades to groaning about another meeting alert in your inbox, these are 10 times you may have gotten in the way of your own success.

1 BEING TOO NEGATIVE

Your boss drops another project in your lap and, rather than accept the challenge with at least a modicum of enthusiasm, you immediately start complaining. Sound familiar? If your first reaction when asked to take on new responsibilities is groaning about how this will mean extra work, longer hours, no extra compensation and no praise at the end, you need to rethink your approach. Perhaps you are genuinely overworked and this is the tipping point, or you may not be fostering a can-do attitude.

HOW TO DEAL

A sense of humor is key, according to Lauren Handel Zander, co-founder and chairwoman of the Handel Group, an international life-coaching company. “Realize that the thought is negative and give your trait a nickname,” she says. “For instance, if you’re constantly concerned about germs, you may refer to this trait as ‘Typhoid Mary.’ When a negative germ-thought appears, call it by name.” Try flipping it into something more powerful, telling “Typhoid Mary” to back off because you’re in great health. Channel that negative energy into turning those unexpected new projects into positive opportunities. Recommends Zander: “Take a leadership position on the project, document the project’s successes and highlight them at your next review."

2 BEING TOO RIGID

The idea of staying in your lane is now an outdated one — no one can approach a job as a single-task position anymore. Flexibility and resiliency are key skills that are becoming more and more sought after. According to a study by Right Management in the U.K. called The Flux Report, “In five years’ time, 91 percent of HR decision-makers think it is likely that people will be recruited on their ability to deal with change and uncertainty.” A new generation of multihyphenate, multitasking employees could leave your rigid self behind.

HOW TO DEAL

“Be more OK with uncertainty” may seem like the obvious answer, says John Sandahl, nationally recognized personal and life coach expert and founder of Warrior Team Coaching. Yet we all know it’s not that easy. “To learn to be more fluid takes time, practice and experience, particularly with ‘being uncomfortable,’” he says. “Confidence comes through experience, which means creating opportunities for small sustainable change and, therefore, small wins.” Try practicing small risks with people who you trust. In the meantime, he says, “Many issues can be solved with open and honest communication about work style and needs.” And remember that there are rewards for those with great critical judgment skills — as long as they don’t fall prey to the blind spot of being inflexible and hard to work with.

3 BEING OVERCOMPETITIVE

Healthy competition can be great in the workforce: It energizes some, propels others to achieve and creates a dynamic, energetic environment. But a nasty competitive streak can also quickly turn things toxic.

HOW TO DEAL

If others’ successes are making you jealous to the point of distraction, try to refocus your goals and evaluate your own contributions objectively. How is your attitude contributing to the environment? Can you feel good about your goals despite what others are doing around you? Assess whether the current work environment is the right one for you.

4 AVOIDING WORK EVENTS

Unless you are in your early twenties, when heading out after work is a given, going to work events after hours is usually a drag. But this is typically where the boss lets her hair down. Do you really want to miss that? Casual conversations at these events are crucial because they could expose a mutual interest or passion. (Try doing that on a 30-second elevator ride, where everyone is looking at their cell phones).

HOW TO DEAL

You don’t need to stay all night and do shots with the IT department, but do make sure you get some face time with your higher-ups. Who knows, maybe they’ll let you in on a position opening or a new project coming down the pipeline that could potentially lead to a promotion.

5 CHRONIC LATENESS

Known for rushing to meetings or missing deadlines? It’s not a good look. Chronic tardiness sends a message that you just don’t respect other people and their time. John Sandahl recognizes that this behavior usually means something else is going on with the individual. “Health issues, trouble at home, lack of training or awareness or, more simply, the person just doesn’t care or feels unconnected to their work or purpose.”

HOW TO DEAL

Take a tip from a life coach like Sandahl and ask yourself some questions about the “purpose” and the “why” of your work. The questions are meant to help you “reassess and perhaps reframe or reconnect to your responsibilities.” If you are constantly missing deadlines, speak to your supervisor about managing expectations. Perhaps the timelines were overzealous when they were created, or maybe you need help prioritizing and managing your time. In general, being open and honest with your boss will lead to less surprises and better communication for everyone.

How You Can Be Successful At Any Age. Just Take A Look at These 6 Successful Entrepreneurs.

Based on the way startups are covered in the media today, it’s easy to feel like all founders are in their teens or 20s. Stories abound of young millionaires and entrepreneur teenagers, but that’s only part of the picture. There are plenty of entrepreneurs out there who found their “big ideas” later in life, founding companies that, in some instances, last well beyond their years.

Here are six entrepreneurs who got their start later in life and prove that success is a possibility at any age:

1. Leo Goodwin, GEICO

GEICO, or the Government Employee’s Insurance Company, is now a well-known car insurance brand with well-known advertising figures. But before the Gecko, the Caveman or Maxwell, GEICO was the idea of Leo Goodwin. Working as an accountant in San Antonio, Texas, in the 1930’s, Goodwin realized that insurance needed an overhaul. Why weren’t companies just dealing with customers directly, saving all the money that traditionally went to brokers?

In 1936, at the age of 50, Leo founded GEICO in Washington, D.C. In a departure from most businessmen of the day, he worked closely with his wife Lillian in running the company. By the end of the year, GEICO had 12 people on staff and 3,700 policies in force. Today, GEICO employs over 27,000 people and has over 14 million policyholders.

2. Harland David Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken

Col. Sanders did not start out as anyone’s idea of a successful businessman. He lost his father at an early age, quarreled extensively with his stepfather, and was fired from multiple jobs, even losing his job as a lawyer after a courtroom brawl with his own client. However, he was determined to never give up, and this trait led to his eventual success.

While working at a service station in Corbin, Ky., Sanders gained local popularity for his delicious chicken recipe. After the Corbin station was destroyed by a fire, Sanders had the location rebuilt as a motel and 140-seat restaurant. In 1952, at the age of 62, Sanders franchised his “Kentucky Fried Chicken” for the first time. Today, KFC has over 18,800 outlets in 118 different countries and territories.

3. Robert Noyce, Intel

After earning his doctorate in physics from MIT, Robert Noyce found work as a research engineer, eventually ending up at Beckman Instruments. In 1957, he and seven others left Beckman and founded the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. While he enjoyed some success there, he eventually left with Gordon Moore. Together, they founded Intel when Noyce was 41.

Noyce was considered the visionary of the company and treated staff like family. He declined the lavish benefits that most CEOs received, and kept the company less structured and more relaxed. While at Intel, he oversaw the invention of the microprocessor, an innovation that revolutionized computer technology and forms the foundation of the machines we still use today.

4. Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

Surely a company like LinkedIn, a major social network, was founded by a youngster, right? Not at all! Reid Hoffman struggled with what to do after he graduated from Stanford. He decided to work, but to do so strategically, mapping out a plan of what he would need to learn before he started his own company.

When he first started on his own, he founded a networking site called Socialnet, believing that having a great matching algorithm would guarantee success. He tried advertising his new site through magazines and newspapers, but never found traction with the idea. In the end, he left and joined PayPal before leaving his position with the company in 2002 to co-found LinkedIn. Hoffman was 35 when he founded the company and 43 when it went public.

5. Wally Blume, Denali Flavors

If the thought of tomato-flavored ice cream turns your stomach, you’re not alone. Wally Blume had a successful 20-year career, but knew he had to move on when his boss decided to move forward with that crazy idea. In 1995, in his mid-50s, he started his own ice cream company, Denali Flavors, where he created the famous Moose Tracks flavor.

Today, this dairy treat brings in $80 million a year alone through licensing agreements. Denali now has over 40 flavors, and Blume is still going strong at the age of 70.

6. Carol Gardner, Zelda Wisdom

When you’re 52, newly divorced, broke and depressed, you’d think that the last thing on your mind would be starting a company. Then again, it might be just what the doctor ordered.

After getting a dog at her therapist’s recommendation, Carol Gardner won a local Christmas card contest with a picture of the dog and a funny quip. The win inspired Gardner to start a greeting card company, which she named after her dog, Zelda. In 2010, Zelda Wisdom was valued at roughly $50 million, showing that you truly never know where your next great idea might come from.

Running a business isn’t easy -- it takes hard work and discipline to reach success. As a result, it should be unsurprising that, many times, it’s the older and wiser among us who are better at navigating that road. So don’t count yourself out, no matter what your age. Success can come to anyone at any time.

How Writing Down Your Goals Can Power-Up Your Life

Everyone wants to be great and reach achievement milestones, but not everyone is willing to commit to the grueling process that being great requires. Many people give up after one try, one failure. They settle for being average instead of striving and working to be great.

With the New Year right around the corner, and most people starting to think about their resolutions and the goals they want to accomplish in 2017 -- and that includes me -- I want to share a process I go through at the end of each year, in late December. Some people don’t know how to set goals, and they certainly don’t know how to go about achieving them.

But, for me, nothing has changed my life more than learning how to set goals and then working hard to attain them.

What's important here is the difference between goal-setting and goal achievement. Both are important, but setting goals alone isn’t enough. If you write them down on a piece of paper, then put that paper away and never do anything more, you’ve wasted your time. Instead, you have to take massive action to achieve your goals.

Everywhere I go to speak in the world, I share the following exact same goal-setting process that has shaped my life year after year. This process has helped me achieve almost every major goal that I ever set.

The process

Start by setting a stopwatch or the timer on your phone, for three minutes. This will force you to write your goals down quickly and not dawdle. The point is to eliminate the tendency to start worrying. When we consider the goals we want to achieve, we immediately start thinking about reasons we can’t reach those goals.

There will be roadblocks to consider, a lack of money and a million-and-one other obstacles. But don't worry about those things; if you set a stopwatch for three minutes, that short time span will force you to focus and write down what’s really in your heart instead of to waste time on the challenges down the road.

The next part of the process is to write down eight to ten goals you want to achieve this time next year. It’s good to include some balance on that list with health, fitness, family, leisure and financial and business goals, to name some important considerations. Then circle the one goal that has the potential to completely change the course of your life and serve as a domino effect for every other goal on the list.

The "game-changer" goal

Next, identify what I call the game-changer goal. When I first adopted this same process into my life, I was 16 years old and a recovering drug addict. My major goal at the time was to get a Division I college scholarship for football. I knew that achieving that major goal would help me reach every other goal on my list and drastically change my entire life.

After you circle your own game-changer goal, you'll find that the next part of the process is what separates the best of the best from everyone else. Write down 20 to 50 things you need to do to achieve that major goal of yours.

Most people never even think about what they need to do in order to achieve their goals. So, if you are thinking about this, you'll be putting yourself in the small percentage of high achievers and be significantly increasing your odds of success.  

After you have completed your action plan of all the things that must happen in order to achieve your game-changer, you should start transfering one to two tasks a day onto your daily task list. Once you have your game plan ready to go, your overall task is all about taking massive action and being relentless each and every day until you get to where you want to go.

7 Habits That Improve The Memory and Boost The Brain Health of Successful People

From thought patterns to emotions, every facet of human expression dwells within the extraordinary capacity of our gray-and-white matter. How does this mysterious three-pound organ called the brain hold such sway over the matters of life, death, consciousness, perception, sleep and so much more?

And, does this brain we were born with achieve its optimal state, then fail, little by little, and inevitably, as each year passes?

Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D., founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas and author of Make Your Brain Smarter, addressed these questions in an interview I held with her for my book Kensho: A Modern Awakening a few years back. I recently caught up with her again and learned even more about one of my passions: preserving and improving the brain’s capacity.

Chapman is quick to point out that our life expectancy is longer than ever before. Yet, while we take steps to look after our physical health, we rarely pay enough attention to maintaining brain health. The good news, she believes, is that there is hope for us all: When you develop new interests, pursue hobbies or perform specific brain exercises, you enhance your brain’s ability to become more proficient, and at the same time, expand memory.

The science of neuroplasticity confirms this rule. Simply put, you have considerable control over your own brain function, since much depends on what you experience, and how you use your brain.

“Maintaining productivity as an effective decision-maker, innovator, strategist and planner necessitates continued development and sharpening to take advantage of the brain's vast capacities,” Chapman said. However: “Neglecting your cognitive health and allowing your brain to lose its mental edge with routine [life activities] rather than innovative thinking has unnecessary and deleterious economic, social and personal ramifications.

"The longer we are living," Chapman continued, "the more competitive the marketplace becomes, the more complex our social fabric grows, the more imperative it becomes that we leverage our most precious resource, our brain.”

In our always-on connected society, more and more people express concerns about feeling mentally exhausted, and experience memory lag and information overload. Many of us may therefore conclude that we need a vacation or some downtime, when the actual remedy needed may be a boost in brain health.

Signs that you need to take a closer look at your brain health, according to Chapman's research, include a recurring feeling of mental fatigue or low mental energy, increased instances of forgetfulness, difficulty making decisions, the feeling that you're overwhelmed by information and the inability to plan or create innovative solutions.

Often, these symptoms are reversible. What can help here, Chapman says, is to reduce toxic "brain habits" and make the conscious decision to adopt a more brain-fit lifestyle. (However, she adds, if you or a loved one exhibits changes in memory noticeable to others, or periodic bouts of a lack of insight or failure to pay bills on time, seek the advice of a healthcare professional.) Here are the six brain-boosting habits Chapman recommends:

1. Limit multitasking.

Multitasking diminishes mental productivity, elevates brain fatigue and increases stress.

2. Get an adequate amount of sleep.

Make sure you regularly get seven-to-eight hours of sleep. Information is consolidated in the brain at a deeper level of understanding during sleep.

3. Commit to an exercise routine.

Get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three to four times a week, to improve memory and increase attention and concentration and brain blood flow in the brain-memory area.

4. Construct bottom-line messages.

Summarize your task-assignment reading, training seminars, articles, movies you see or books read. Abstracting novel ideas, versus remembering a litany of facts, builds a brain with an enhanced long-term memory for global ideas and the ability to retrieve fundamental facts.

5. Laser-focus on important tasks.

Block out information that is relatively unimportant. Limiting the intake of information is a key brain function associated with brain health.

6. Stay motivated.

A motivated brain builds faster and more robust neural connections. Identify your passions and learn more about them.

7. Think Positive.

Positive thinking is a good food for the brain. Negative thinking clog your brain. so always make it a choice to think positively.