Posts Tagged ‘goals’

Make the Difficult Easy

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

How can you make the difficult easy? How can you make your big tasks smaller and underwhelming?

Lao Tzu, the Chinese sage and author of the Tao The Ching answers the questions above by saying, “Difficult things of the world can only be tackled when they are easy. Big things of the world can only be achieved by attending to their small beginnings.”

So it is wise to make every task seem effortless, avoid unnecessary struggle, and then achieve your objective easily. Treat everything as potentially difficult, but accomplish it in the easier stages.

Let’s look at examples. Say you have a five page paper due in two weeks. If you start working on the paper early and do a little each day it will be completed ahead of time without stress and strain. On the other hand, if you wait until the night before the paper is due you will make the task difficult and most likely will be feeling a lot of stress.

When I first started thinking about writing my book, Achieve College Success…Learn How in 20 Hours or Less, I faced the resistance of my inner critic. The negative voice inside my head said, “This will take too much time. It will be difficult. I won’t have time to enjoy my summer off from teaching.” I countered this negative resistance by replying, “I will take one small step at a time and it will get done without strain. Then I asked myself, “What is one small step that I can use to get started?” I answered this question by deciding to brainstorm a two page Table of Contents which included the topics I wanted to cover in the book. Next I wrote a two page introduction and so on. You could write a 182 page book in one year by writing a half page a day. This is what Lao Tzu means when he says, “Sow the great in the small.”

So if you tackle your challenging tasks, goals, and activities before they become problematic, you will meet with few difficulties and can achieve more with less effort. Try this with one of your goals and let me know how it goes.

Copyright 2009. Raymond Gerson

Best regards,

Raymond Gerson

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Take the Game Winning Shot (Part 2)

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Take the Game Winning Shot (Part 2)

After writing the script for Rocky 1, Sylvester Stallone wanted to play the lead role in the movie. He was repeatedly turned down. Finally one producer was willing to buy the script, but only if they could hire another actor to play the part of Rocky Balboa. They did not want Stallone for the part and thought he would be a failure. Stallone refused even though he was practically broke and at times did not have enough to eat and pay his bills. The company kept raising the price and offered him $300,000 for the script if they could hire a known actor to play Rocky. Again Stallone said no, he had to be Rocky. Finally they reduced their offer to $30,000 for the script and to allow Stallone to play the lead role.

They thought the movie was likely to fail with Stallone in the role.
Stallone accepted the $30,000 offer because this was his dream and the outcome he was pursuing. He fulfilled his desired outcome and the rest is history. Rocky 1 earned $200 million dollars and Stallone went on to make six Rocky movies and millions of dollars while living out his dream. Sylvester Stallone refused to give up on his goal. Like Rocky, he kept getting back up every time he was knocked down.

Be willing to go the extra mile for what you want. Don’t give up easily without a fight. You will miss some shots, but like Jordon and Stallone you will also achieve some of your biggest dreams.

Copyright 2009. Raymond Gerson

All the best,

Raymond Gerson

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Giving Life Your Best

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

“Full effort is full victory.” These were the words of Mahatma Gandhi whose efforts freed India from British rule.

Achieving your worthy goals is good, but failure to reach a goal does not necessarily mean your effort was in vain. Gandhi is saying that you will be a winner in the game of life if you give your best effort regardless of the outcome.

Who you become due to your effort is more important than what you get from it. Did your effort towards a goal make you a better human being? Did giving the best of yourself build strong character? Did you learn anything worthwhile that will help you and others? If you answered “yes” to these questions then you are victorious.

Knowing in your heart that you gave full effort will bring you a certain peace of mind and satisfaction. This is not to say that you should not desire a successful outcome. However, if you concern yourself with the effort, the results are likely to occur. If your focus is on learning, growing and improving you will get better at anything you do. On the other hand, if you try to avoid failure and mistakes or strive for perfection, you will limit your own growth opportunities. People who fear failure often avoid the very challenges that could stretch them to new heights.

You can approach your education as a journey and opportunity to learn and improve yourself. Or you can only concern yourself with grades and then miss out on many learning opportunities. If you work hard and focus on learning, your grades are likely to get better as a result. Students who are overly concerned with grades and with avoiding mistakes or failure often bypass hard courses and challenging opportunities which could have provided great learning experiences. They hold back, play it safe and don’t give their best so they can say, “I didn’t really try.” Others look at so called failures and mistakes as feedback for their self-improvement and they make a full effort for the learning experience.

Give yourself credit for making an all out effort and value the learning, growth and improvement even its small. Give the best of yourself regardless of the outcome and you will be a winner in the game of life.

Copyright 2009. Raymond Gerson

All the best,

Raymond Gerson

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Making the Most of Your Precious Life

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” The poet Mary Oliver asks us to reflect on this question in one of her poems just after reminding us that we all have to die and soon.

Time is passing quickly and your life is precious. This is why I encourage my students to follow the advice of Joseph Campbell who said, “Follow your bliss.” Why not pursue career and other goals which will bring you the greatest joy?

What are you passionate about? Who is the person you wish to become? What do you want to accomplish with your life? Before the end of your life what must you achieve to feel that yours was a life well lived?

After you have set clear goals you can ask yourself, “Do my actions support my values and goals?” In other words, is the way you are living your life taking you where you want to go? If not, you can change your habits and actions in order to achieve your dreams.

If you are a student who desires to be successful in school it is important to engage in honest self-examination and ask yourself these kinds of questions. Let’s say you became aware that you were spending 15 hours a week socializing with friends, another 15 hours a week playing video and computer games and two hours a week studying. Would your actions be supporting your goal of becoming a successful student? Obviously the answer is no, but the good news is you could change your habits and get back on track to the success you want.

Keeping your dreams and goals before your mind’s eye is a great way to stay motivated. Then with hard work and determination you can achieve your dreams. The philosopher, Epictetus put it this way, “First say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do.” Clear and worthy goals that you feel passionate about, honest self-examination and determination to succeed are secrets to making the most of your precious life.

Copyright 2009. Raymond Gerson

Best regards,

Raymond Gerson

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