I have had a goal for a while now and that was to lose weight and become fit and healthy again, but until recently I just couldn't stick at a healthy eating plan (I'm not a fan of diets) and although I'd go running I just couldn't seem to stick it for more than about 2 weeks!
I used to be really fit and eat healthy all the time, I used to exercise about 6 or 7 times a week, run marathons and I loved it, So I couldn't understand why I couldn't get back to even a half decent health and fitness routine! even though I wanted to, it was one of my 'goals'. Then one day a few weeks ago I did a values session to see where my values were, what was important to me.
Now in case you don't know, our values are what drive us and give reason to what we do, to give you an idea here is a very short list of some values;
- Integrity
- Creativity
- Independence
- Financial freedom
- Family
- Security
- Friendship
- Personal development
- Respect
If you have a value of having fun and that's important to you, you will find ways to have fun and depending where it is in your hierarchy of values you will look to have fun before a value that is lower on the list is catered for. If this value of having fun or any value is not catered for you'll find that your life may become 'out of balance' and you may start to feel demotivated about things, until it is then met. also this is how some issues can happen between partners and other people, if a partner stops you from meeting a value or having fun, you may start to feel resentment to them and this is where some relationships break down.
We tend to have between 10 and 15 values and the top 5 are the really important ones, you can do this now, get 15 cards or bits of paper and spend 5 minutes writing down one thing that important to you in life on each card, you can then sort through each card by taking 2 and asking 'if I could only have one of these, which would it be?' the one you choose goes up the list, until you have a hierarchy of values. You may at this point have an ah ha moment and understand why something is happening in your life or happened in the past! You can do a values session for your whole life, your work or business or relationships and so on.
So back to my goal of health and fitness, when I did a values session I found that health and fitness were unconsciously not even in my list of values! All of a sudden I understood why I wasn't reaching or starting my goal it just wasn't important to me unconsciously, therefore I kept sabotaging the goal, consciously I really want to get fit again so now I have changed my values and health and fitness is in the top 5. Now I've managed to keep at it for the past several weeks and still going strong, I've cracked it and health and fitness is again becoming a habit and I'm enjoying it.
When you are goal setting you should check that the goal is congruent with your values or you may find you'll sabotage it, if you have the goal of getting money, wealth, financial freedom or security and they are not in your values or very low down chances are you will not reach that goal. If you're serious about it, it may be time to move it up the list.
Financial freedom is one of my goals and until I did the values session it was in the top 5 and another value of mine is helping others however this wasn't in the top 5 so I decided to switch them round as I know that helping others will lead me to my goal of financial freedom. I now work to find ways to help other people where I can and also it's very satisfying too! On that basis as this blog is about wealth and I'd like to leave you with 2 of my favourite quotes and they are:
Try not to become a man of success, rather try to become a man of value - Albert Einstien and
Service to many leads to greatness...Find a way to serve the many - Jim Rohn (Re-worded from the bible)
To your success
Paul
This may seem to some a bit weird, especially when goal setting is heavily promoted in the personal development world, I believe there is a flaw in goal setting and the law of attraction, In this blog post I'm going to give you the basis of that flaw and why some people don't achieve their goals.
At first this flaw sounds like a contradiction to goal setting, and when I first heard it I thought that too! however when you really think of it, it makes perfect sense! I believe in this so much because it's worked for me when I realised that I needed to let go of my goals.
So here's the thing, when you let go of your goals and make it alright that you may not get them it just seems that it flows! I realised this when I was doing my NLP master practitioner course, that I wanted a specific goal too much and was basing my future happiness on getting the goal and to me it was like if I didn't get the goal then life would be well...crap. This is what a lot of people do when goal setting, they become desperate for the goal as if their happiness or other feeling/emotion depends on achieving the goal. This is the key ingredient that was left out in the secret...and goal setting systems. When you say to yourself well I really want this and I'm going to work towards achieving it, but you know if I don't get it then that's okay too, this is when goal setting and getting your goals works!
If you've not got this yet, let me give you this analogy, imagine a guy who is desperate to get a girlfriend and he is basing his happiness on this end result, If over time he doesn't get that result or 'goal' he'll become even more desperate and maybe sad or depressed, now they say women can smell desperation and so he doesn't get his goal as he pushes girls away because he's trying to hard. However if he makes it okay not have this goal and is happy anyway he becomes more attractive and therefore gets the girl!
I don't know specifically why it's like this (well in my world it seems to be) maybe it's the universe smelling that desperation is just telling us that we don't need it to get that feeling or emotion, or maybe it's just our unconscious mind.
So if you've not been achieving your goals or achieving them as easily as you'd like, maybe it's time to let go of them and be okay if you don't get them?
To your success
Paul
McDonalds, TheBestOf, Molly Maid, Chips Away, Tax Assist are just a few of the hundreds of franchises that are available for people to get involved in, Some are really famous and some you'd never of heard of! Franchising isn't for everyone. If you're an entrepreneur wanting to start your own business it may not be for you as you are restricted somewhat by the franchisors system of how to do things and you may not be able to just go out and do your own thing for marketing and sales!
The system is what makes a franchise opportunity look great, especially if the system is tried and tested and there are lots around the country, a franchise is essentially a business in a box with an operations manual that tells you exactly how to get your business started and then grow it, it is a proven system and pretty much so long as follow it you should be successful, however it still takes work to build a franchise business! you get the franchise's branding, logos and other marketing done for you so that's not something you need to think about when starting a business (Although for me coming up with logos, branding and what to do in the marketing is half the fun of building a business).
You'll have to buy the franchise and this could be a few hundred pounds to over a hundred thousand and then pay a monthly or yearly renewal fee, which covers the franchisor's cost of running the operation and for some they may do national advertising or sponsoring on behalf of the franchisees, which is something a new business or SME could never do. You'll also get full training on how to run your franchise business and support too.
On top of the start up cost for a franchise you'll have to ensure that you have enough money set aside to cover the time it will take to get you franchise business up and running and the time that you'll not be working while on training. The McDonalds training lasts for 10 months and that's time you'll not be earning an income.
If franchising is a route you think you'd like to go down ensure that you do your research and read the contract terms and conditions there may be clauses such as if you don't make enough sales they could claim the franchise back for resale, make sure you also speak to as many current franchisees as possible, sometimes the franchise may not meet it's obligations to you, and I've heard of stories where the franchisor didn't respond to constant calls or emails asking for support.
A franchise is a good way to get into the business world if you've never started a business and it certainly give you a higher start on the ladder than starting from scratch, also there are figures that say more franchise businesses succeed than a non franchised business. Buying a franchise is not a guaranteed route to wealth success and will take work and if you're willing to put the work in then you deserve the success.
To your success
Paul
