\"Advantage comes not from the spectacular or the technical. Benefit comes from the persistent looking for of the mundane edge.\" Passion for Excellence

Forget New Year\'s resolutions. Design a lifestyle you can sustain beyond March, the time over 95% of all New Year\'s resolutions have long been abandoned. A way of life you can sustain for the rest of your life, with the same enthusiasm, if not extra passion, that you had at the beginning of the New Year.

Even though driving house from a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, with my friend Dwayne Speegle, Vice President of the Leavitt Group (Insurance Enterprise), we discussed the significance of becoming involved in physical activities that 1 can participate in way beyond retirement age. Dwayne is an avid outdoor enthusiast. Be it biking, backpacking, hiking or permitting himself to be punished by the grueling Robie Creek Race, the toughest ½ marathon in the Northwest, Dwayne is there.

That thought of lifetime activities was the seed of what I have encouraged thousands of individuals in my seminars to do-in no way to limit their thoughts, plans and actions to what they feel like doing in the beginning of the year, but to extend the thoughts, plans and actions into lifetime involvement.

A couple of questions can get you started in creating the future you hope, strategy and pray to have. Do you like what you are doing currently? Are you satisfied with your individual and/or expert relationships? Are you in involved in activities that bring you intangible rewards? What are you doing for your physical fitness, spiritual growth and financial independence? What have you accomplished to adjust your attitude to that of knowing and seeing your self as the CEO of all you do? What are your plans for creating your mental fitness by reading, attending workshops and having quiet time to think/reflection on a consistent basis?

Aristotle\'s wisdom teaches us that to be superb in what we do, we should make our actions a habit but not a onetime act.

After working with men and women who are both fulfilled (generating a difference in this world) and successful (have material rewards), I realized that resolutions were not component of their individual or professional plans. They have a way of generating decisions, believing in those decisions and acting on them for the rest of their lives in 1 way or the other. Decisions, belief systems and actions become habitual for those who want to excel in their life endeavors.

So where can you commence?

1. You have to empower your self to be the CEO of all your decisions, plans and actions. You do not blame others for anything you can control, beginning with your attitude, being accountable for your actions and doing your finest in anything you commit to do.
2. You need to think in achieving what you never accomplished and do what you have in no way completed in the past to have what you have in no way had.
3. To reach new heights of individual and professional growth, you have to set the bar greater than your prior mark, prepare your mind for the new life you envision, and act either in new methods or by pushing your efforts harder than prior to, or in a combination of both.
four. Develop new relationships and downsize those that impede your individual and professional growth. The relationships you develop will largely influence the way of life you style for your self.
five. You ought to resolve to make past disappointments and failures as points of references but not stumbling blocks that are between you and the most effective future you can possibly have. The past is un-adjustable, but the future is adjustable-adjust it to fit the lifestyle of your selection.
6. Re-define what success means to you but have a firm understanding that fulfillment is achievable on a consistent basis, demands minimum efforts and doesn\'t have the subjective measurements we have for success. Plan to volunteer in community programs that matter to you.
7. Strive to reach new heights of mental power, the launching platform for wonderful notion and actions. A single book or a statement made at a workshop or class can change the course of your life forever. Invest in your mental growth.
8. Learn to use your non-talent attributes all the time. You do not require talent to appreciate life, do your ideal and contribute to other people\'s successes.
9. In no way underestimate what hope and faith can do in whatever paths of life you pick to follow.