We close out each week with our Who Said That?, where we give some link love to other blogs and regular websites that we feel you may find interesting.
Let’s get started!

6 Lessons From a 6 Month Old

Peter of I Will Change Your Life.com makes some wonderful observations about how much kids can teach us about living life and being successful in his post 6 Lessons From My 6 Month Old.

The Top 10 Mistakes that Rob You of Your Goals

I found a neat site this week called Goal Guru.com by Self-Made Millionaire Jill Koenig. Koenig is an expert in the areas of goal setting and success, writes a syndicated newspaper column, and has appeared on The Fox News Channel, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News and The Jenny Jones Show. When someone like this shares the 10 Mistakes that Rob You of Your Goals, I listen!

How to Shortcut Your Progress by as Much as 1700 %

Here’s another great post by Jill Koenig on the subject of modeling the behavior of the successful. Koenig practices what she preaches. She has studied under some of the most famous personal success icons including Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Mark Victor Hansen and Rober Allen. Her post How to Shortcut Your Progress by as Much as 1700 % shares how she has created success by modeling the success of others.

How She Became a Millionaire

Learn how one millionaire mommy became a millionaire by managing small businesses out of her home and never working more than 40 hours a week in this post from Millionaire Mommy titled How I Became a Millionaire While Working In My Pajamas.

Vacation Does a Body Good

I needed this post. If you are an entrepreneur and have your own business, you probably need to hear this too. Erin’s post Vacation Does a Body Good is a wonderful and very honest story about what we tend to do to ourselves as entrepreneurs and how healthy a bit of time off can be.

**who**

I have had the pleasure of being in many different financial places in life. I have been FLAT broke, I have been “comfortable,” and I have been at many places in between. In my opinion, the most deadly place of all to be is “comfortable.”

Let me explain what I mean by FLAT broke

At some point between living in Beverly Hills and where I am at today running a successful freelancing company, I was FLAT broke. And when I say broke, I don’t mean that I had $50 in the bank account and had to live on Ramen Noodles. I mean that I had no bank account, no place to live, and $0.

This story illustrates my lowest FINANCIAL point.

At my lowest financial point I had 2 kids ages 8 months and 2 years and really felt like a loser. The reason I ended up there was because I took a risk (a risk that I’m still glad that I took and that ended up turning out very well.)

I had been living in a crummy hotel for a week paid for by a welfare program called “emergency assistance,” but the stay in the hotel room had ended. I had a college degree. I knew I that I had been and could be successful in just about any situation; it was just that at that moment, I had nothing.

With no money and a very urgent need to pay for the hotel room within the next few hours or be living in the car, I made a decision to hold up a sign for money at a stop light at a busy intersection. I hated it, but I bit my lip, stared up into the clouds to avoid looking anyone in the eye, and reminded myself over and over and over again to stay strong. That this was not who I was, this was temporary. I got enough to pay for the hotel, and each day found a new way to pull myself out of that situation.

Bouncing Back

It didn’t take long at all to bounce back to the level of financial stability I had enjoyed before. My previous boss who was a millionaire and entrepreneur told me that he had managed to earn a million dollars, lose it, and get it back again 3 times. That’s because being a millionaire was what was comfortable to him.

I too have been broke several times and bounced back at rapid speed each time. In fact, it’s quite astounding how fast I bounced back. But I always ended up at the SAME level of financial stability, “comfortable.”

Why Comfort Can Kill Your Dreams

Unless your comfort zone is in align with your dreams, reaching your perceived point of comfort can stop your progress dead in its tracks. “Comfortable” allows us to make excuses about why we should not take risks. Comfortable allows us to watch that hour of TV instead of busting butt toward our dreams. Comfortable kills that wonderful fight or flight emotion that can rocket launch you into a place of safety when you’re in danger.

If you’re like me and you always seem to be comfortable you might need to do something to shake up your world and make you uncomfortable.

This might mean going to test drive a new Mercedes, touring a house that is well above your current means, or planning an amazing trip that you can’t afford. Most importantly, you will have to rewrite your idea of success, placing the marker well beyond where you are at now.

If you can begin thinking of yourself as unsuccessful instead of comfortable, you can start making some progress.

When I look back on my life, I realize that most of the goals I set were for the direct benefit of me and my immediate family (a bigger house, no debts, a vacation, etc.).

And though there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, I recently had a change in thinking that has gotten me more excited about goal setting than I have been in a long, long time.

Now, instead of setting goals that directly benefit only ME, I have decided to fully trust in and embrace the Zig Ziglar quote you see at the top of this page which reads, you can have everything in life that you want if you will only just help enough other people get what they want.

Setting Bigger Picture Goals

If we truly believe that the more people you help, the more you will naturally help yourself, then shouldn’t our goal be to help more people? That’s the change I’ve recently made.

Now, instead of a goal to make $ my goal is to help x number of other people become successful. More precisely, my goal is to help 12 people earn $10,000, 3 people earn $31,000, and 1 person earn $1 million dollars by owning their own business. (You can read more about that goal here).

Setting a goal that is bigger than myself feels fantastic. It has allowed me to dream again. It keeps me up at night and wakes me up early each morning anxious to start the day.

I have no doubt that I can achieve this goal and I envision the day when I can look myself in the mirror and know that I have really made a difference in the lives of other people, not just myself.

Examples of Big Picture Goals

• The authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were passionate about fueling the book’s success because their goal was to sell 1 billion books to raise $500 million for charity by the year 2020.

• If you sell a success product, set a goal to help #x of people go from mediocre to wealthy.

• If you sell financial services or consulting, set a goal to help #x of people get out of debt.

• Set a goal to donate $x to your favorite charity or cause OR to start a charity or cause.

Share Your Opinion

Do you work for a larger cause than just yourself? Can you think of more ideas the list above? Do you think this way of thinking could be more effective and more fulfilling than setting goals solely based on your personal gain?

Great Blog Posts About Goal Setting

From teh Good Improvements Blog: Goal Setting Is As Simple As Reading A Map

From the Goal Setting for Kids blog – Getting Your Kids Organized for Goal Setting

From Personal Strategic Plan – The 10 Commandments for Goal Setting