By Guest Blogger Monica Carter Tagore

Seeing yourself already successful is a powerful way to move you to your success. One way to do that is through visualization. That’s because visualization is a way to program the subconscious mind into doing what we want.

      When you already see yourself having met your goal: having lost the 10 pounds or running the successful company or lounging around on the vacation, then you are telling your subconscious mind that this thing is reality.

      Scientists tell us we think tens of thousands of thoughts a day, yet most of them are negative. We fill our minds with thoughts of what we can’t do, haven’t done, won’t do. It’s no wonder most people end up not doing anything! If that’s what you’ve told yourself will happen, how can you be surprised when that’s exactly what takes place?

      Instead, replace those negative thoughts with positive ones, starting with visualizing your success.

      I remember my first marathon. As the miles got harder and harder, one of the things that kept me going was being able to visualize myself crossing that finish line. Enthusiasm got me started, but sheer mental toughness kept me going.

      What about you? What goal are you running to reach? Could a bit of visualization help you along the way?

      Many people may be skeptical about the effectiveness of visualization. If so, that’s understandable. But just try it anyway. Think about a goal you want to reach. Now close your eyes. Envision yourself already having reached the goal. Take in the full scene. What does your success feel like? Who is with you? What are you doing? How do you look?

      Revel in that visual picture.

      Hold onto that picture as you go about your day.

      What happens with visualization is that your subconscious mind will start to move you toward that goal. You will begin to see new opportunities in the day to move you closer to your goal. You will find new information to further your goal. You become aware of things related to your goal that you were not aware of before.

      Visualization also helps to build your confidence because you have completed the action in your mind before go to complete it in reality. And so by the time you do it in reality, you have the confidence of having already been to that place of successful completion. This is a technique many athletes use. They visualize themselves making the game-saving play, the perfect pass, the perfect free throw, etc. And they find it works.

      Another way to program your mind is to repeat affirmations. Affirmations are positive notions you state as fact. For instance, your affirmation may be, “I am successful and smart.” Your affirmation is a statement that helps you see yourself as already having attained that which you desire.

      In my book, Zoom Power: Your Key to Hitting Your Personal, Business and Financial Targets, I talk about the importance of guarding your mind against negative influences. While you may not be able to control the random thoughts that enter your mind, you can control the ones you choose to embrace. And the thoughts you choose to embrace will determine your outcome.

      What thoughts will you embrace?

      Affirmations and visualization are two powerful tools you can use to program you for success. 

Monica Carter Tagore speaks and writes on success, goal achievement and entrepreneurship. She is the author of Zoom Power: Your Key to Hitting Your Personal, Business and Financial Targets. Learn more at www.knowledgewealthseries.com.

Thank you Monica for guest blogging this week. Readers be sure to check out more information on Monica Carter Tagore and the Knowledge Wealth series by visiting her site: www.knowledgewealthseries.com.

By Guest Blogger Monica Carter Tagore

Attaining success does not happen by accident. It takes thought, planning and action. Often, when we miss out on success, it’s because something is off with our approach. For many, the gap falls in one of three areas: how they think about success, how they plan for it, and how they act to make it happen.

      You can change your results when you change what you are doing. First, your thoughts: Get your thoughts together. That means get clear about what you want. Take a bit of time to write down what you want to achieve and why. This will help you get clear on what you want so you know where you are going.

      Next, organize that thought into a definable goal. That means adding substance to the desire. Instead of just saying, “I want to shed a few pounds,” for example, define how much weight you will lose and in what kind of time frame. Instead of simply saying, “I want to bring in more money,” define how much more money you will make and in what kind of time frame.

      Now, plan for your goal. Write it down. If you don’t write it down, it doesn’t exist. It’s not enough to “wing it” or to just have it in your head. Take your plan out of your head and put it on paper. This helps turn fuzzy notions into a definitive strategy.

      Writing down your plans also will help you see if you are missing steps to achieving it. A written plan gives you something to examine and tweak, if necessary. If you skip the step of writing down your plan, you have nothing to examine.

      Finally, you must put some action behind your plan. That means putting deadlines to your plans and actually doing what you’ve written down! Many people fail right here because they keep revising the plans or they let life sidetrack them so they don’t take action. What’s the point of getting clear about what you want, then planning for it, if you’re not going to do it?

      Here is what your three point approach to success looks like.

      Your three-point approach to success:

1. Think about what you want to achieve. Get clear about it. Quantity the goal using specific details such as numbers, time frame, etc.
2. Plan for the goal. Write down the steps you will take to reach this goal.
3. Act on your plan. Attach real deadlines to each step of your plan and stick to them.

Follow this simple three-step approach to success, and you will get results.

Monica Carter Tagore speaks and writes on success, goal achievement and entrepreneurship. She is the author of Zoom Power: Your Key to Hitting Your Personal, Business and Financial Targets. Learn more at www.knowledgewealthseries.com.

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow as Monica Carter Tagore discusses – Program Your Mind To Achieve Your Goal.

 By Guest Blogger Monica Carter Tagore

No matter how busy you are, you likely have some dead time on your hands.      That dead time could be the thing standing between you and your success.

      If you’re like most people today, you seem to have more on your to-do list than you can possibly achieve on any given day.

      Well, you need to tweak your to-do list.

      Here is the deal: You can’t do everything you’d like. And only a few things you need to do will really have the biggest impact. So focus on the few to get the biggest bang out of your day.

      Go over your to-do list. Consider each item that’s on it. Now determine which one or two items have the potential to make the most impact today. Which items are important enough to you that, if you did nothing but those two things, you could produce amazing results? Now, focus on those two things.

      Designing your day for success means making tough choices. Perhaps you would like to do all the things on your to-do list, but if you want to get results, you have to choose which of those things you will focus on, and which you will either move to another time, let someone else handle, or drop altogether.

      Popular culture has brainwashed us into believing that we can have it all, and all at the same time. That is a fallacy that is setting a lot of people up for failure. The concept of having it all, all at the same time means ignoring the power of focus. It also forces us to pursue unrealistic goals. So instead of trying to do every single thing, choose the one or two that will have the biggest impact for you.

      It may take a bit of getting used to at first, when you’re used to trying to fit so much in, but once you start approaching each day with focus, you will meet with success. You will zoom in on the high-impact tasks and move to complete them. Suddenly the number of completed tasks will increase because you are giving appropriate time to what’s important, instead of rushing through a bunch of unimportant tasks as well.

      Here are four questions to ask about each task on your to-do list. Asking these questions will help you figure out which are the most important tasks to tackle on any given day:

1. What will be the impact of this task if I complete it?
2. What will be the impact if I do not complete this task?
3. Will completing this task move me closer to my ultimate goal?
4. Is there anyone else within my organization that I can allow to complete this task instead of me?

      What you may discover is that you’ve been spending too much time on tasks that may need to be done, but do not need to be done by you. If that is the case, are these tasks you can completely eliminate or are they tasks which need to be handled by someone else? For instance, if your strength is writing books and speaking on your book’s topic, should you outsource your accounting or bookkeeping responsibilities? If you need to focus on bringing in new sales, should you really be the one dusting the office and dumping the trash? Which of your tasks need to be done by someone else, allowing you time to focus on what you do best?

      This same concept can be applied at home. Perhaps it’s now time for you to hire someone to help with housework, or for the rest of the people in the household to take on some chores so all of the work does not fall to you. This could give you more time to do the most meaningful tasks, and still make sure other tasks – such as mopping – still get done.

      Design your day for success by focusing on what is most important.

Monica Carter Tagore speaks and writes on success, goal achievement and entrepreneurship. She is the author of Zoom Power: Your Key to Hitting Your Personal, Business and Financial Targets. Learn more at www.knowledgewealthseries.com.

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow as Monica Carter Tagore discusses – Your three-point approach to success.