In 2004 my wife and I were introduced to an exercise called "Looking Back from Perfect". It changed our lives and helped us to reach our goal of freeing up time whilst increasing our income. I was recently invited to share it at the annual GA Member's Day.
A lot of delegates who attended have since asked me to share the presentation slides. You can find them on slideshare and view them at the bottom of this post. You can also watch a video of the twenty minute talk below. This talk is a shortened version of the exercise I have taken several hundred new greeting card publishers through at The Ladder Club seminars over the years.
Before you watch the video it's worth taking a moment to think about a major goal in your life that you have yet to achieve. It may be financial, it may be time related, it may be something more personal like a relationship in your life that you'd like to improve or perhaps you'd like to lose weight or get fit. Write this goal down before you start. As I discuss our example in the video, consider how the exercise would work for your own goal. It's really important that your goal is personal to you and something you really want to achieve rather than just copying what we have done.
There are a couple of things I'd like to add to the talk that I realised after discussions with delegates on the day. Some who heard it managed to quickly persuade themselves of reasons why the exercise wouldn't work for them. "My situation is different to yours" one might say or "you were already doing well, I'm starting from a worse off position", "I can't find good staff", and so on. Try to avoid falling into this trap of stopping before you even begin. I have used the exercise repeatedly with great success. If you use it wisely it can work wonders for you too.
Following on from this, the other thing to add is that the major stumbling block for most of us, in progressing towards our goals, is very often ourselves. The ideas that we have in our head about the world, about other people and about ourselves are just that: ideas. They are all made up from our own perspective. Learning to adjust your perspective is incredibly useful. I'm not saying that you should see the world with rose tinted glasses and deny the problems that may exist. Just see them as they are, no more or less. See yourself in relation to these obstacles in a new light. Seeing obstacles as challenges is essential to overcoming them. Stop looking for problems and excuses to add to your list. If you want to conquer mountains, become a mountaineer not a mountain spotter.
Lastly I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful friend Andrew Dymond who brought this into our own lives and changed them forever. Good luck with using the "Looking Back from Perfect" exercise and do let me know how you get on.
To learn more about The GA click here
Read Tips from other speakers at the GA Members' Days by clicking here
See Blue Eyed Sun at Harrogate Home & Gift next month - Stand H90. Click here for details.
Book a place at this year's Ladder Club for new greeting card publishers by clicking here.
Click on play button on the image below to watch the video:
