In a matter of days we’ll be entering the fourth quarter of the year and many of us have lost focus on the goals we set during January.

In some cases we were making great progress and then something (call it LIFE) happened. All of the air went out of our balloon and we haven’t been able to regain the momentum we had earlier in the year.

In other cases, we never really got started on a goal plan and we’ve spent most of the year rudderless, bouncing from crisis to crisis with no real progress in our life since January.

Well there’s still hope. In fact, the 90 days we have in the fourth quarter (beginning October 1) is more than enough time to achieve some pretty incredible results. Stop and think about it: 90 days is usually plenty of time to see a significant result from a weight loss plan. Most businesses are launched during a 90-day period and many, many books are written in 90 days. In fact, Napoleon Hill wrote the classic Think and Grow Rich in under 90 days.

The U.S. Marine Corps can take an out-of-shape recruit who’s never held a weapon before and in just under 90 days turn him or her into the finest fighting “machine” in the world.

Our four seasons are 90 days apart. You can go from the harshest of Winter to the overflowing, abundant life of Spring in just 90 days. Most of our agricultural crops have a 90-day growing period. From seed to harvest in 90 days. It works with plants…and it works with dreams and goals.

Does that give you some hope that you might have a shot at hitting your goal this year after all?

Want some help? For free?

The Success Training Network, or TSTN, prides itself in presenting original programming designed with your success and achievement in mind. One of those programs is my show — Goals2Go. You may have seen the show where I’ve interviewed Bob Proctor, Mark Victor Hansen, Jim Rohn, and others.

The folks at TSTN are very serious in their mission to give you and millions of others the resources you need to take your life to the next level. When I mentioned to them the idea of having a special series of our Goals2Go programs devoted to achieving in the fourth quarter they responded enthusiastically….and quickly.

They immediately booked five LIVE shows that you can watch from anywhere in the world AND, even more importantly, you can call in to me during the program for answers to your questions about how to maximize the fourth quarter.

This special series is appropriately called “Fourth and Goal,” an analogy to the situation found in American football games when Champions manage to overcome the obstacles in the last quarter of the game to win.

During five live shows this Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I’ll be sharing strategies you can use to “win” your big goal this year.

This is a live, call-in internet television program. Talk with me live, or email me your questions before or during the show.

Goals2Go will be live on the following times and dates:

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006
8:00 p.m. ET – topic: Always know “Down” and “Distance”
9:00 p.m. ET – topic: Put Your Best “Players” on the Field

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2006
7:00 p.m. ET – topic: Winners Manage the Clock
8:00 p.m. ET – topic: Is it Time for a “Trick Play”?
9:00 p.m. ET – topic: The First Three Quarters Don’t Matter

All times are ET (New York time). For a time zone converter, go here: http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

The number to talk to me during the show is 1-800-983-1870. You can email your questions to G2GLive@TSTN.com.

If you are not yet a subscriber to TSTN, you can still watch for FREE. Please Read: To watch or to participate in any of the five upcoming episodes of Goals2Go live, please click on this link live.TSTN.com to register for the live event. Bookmark the link and tune in. Be ready with your questions!

NOTE TO TSTN SUBSCRIBERS: All five topics will be broadcast live on the ”Events” tab in SplashStream. The fifth show, at 9:00 p.m. ET on September 13, will be LIVE as part of our regularly scheduled programming on TSTN. If you’re not watching TSTN on SplashStream, you’re missing out! Get it free today at http://www.downloads.tstn.com/splashstream or call customer support at 800-980-TSTN (8786). We’ll get you up and running in just a few minutes.

If you need that extra motivation to finish the year strong, make it your goal to watch Goals2Go this week!

I just got back from the gym about 30 minutes ago and wanted to share an important success ‘reminder’ with you.

I’m not sure about you guys, but getting to the gym is sometimes a pain in the butt, but we all have to do some things we don’t want to do, right… : }

At the gym I was doing bicep exercises and my goal was 12 reps each set.

Each set I did, I tried to increase the weight and make it a bit tougher.

It got much tougher.

So much, that by the 8th rep, I wanted to ‘throw in the towel’…but I didn’t!!!

I wanted to stop so badly, but I didn’t.

What I did instead was give just 5% more effort and I didn’t stop at 12 reps, I went to 15.

You see, we need to be reminded that the MAGIC doesn’t happen on the 1st mile, it happens when you go the EXTRA mile for yourself and for others.

Anybody who knows anything about weight training or dieting will tell you that you get most of your results from those last 2-3 reps you don’t want to do, or from those last few weeks that you really don’t want to diet.

But here’s the catch.

Read more…..

Christopher Guerriero is the highly acclaimed author of Maximize Your Metabolism as well as coaching and consulting numerous top models and celebrities.

 Most of us struggle with goals that underwhelm us, keep us constantly frustrated and frankly offer few psychic (or other) rewards if we were to achieve them.

And we can’t figure out why we can’t keep our enthusiasm at a sufficient level to achieve the success we crave.

The reason is almost always in the “WHY.”  Why do you want to achieve it?  Why is it important to you?  Why will you give up your time, your treasure, your fear and most things you hold dear?  When you can answer the WHY, you’ve got a strong goal. 

My friend Bill Cobb sent me this story of what you CAN do when you know WHY.  Turn your speakers on and watch the video with a box of tissue close by… 

Lisa Leguenec wrote this for our monthly eTips subscribers:

I recently read an article by Tim Wright about boomerangs.  He was recalling how fascinated we were with boomerangs as kids.  There was this flat, curved piece of wood and you would throw it and watch in amazement as it curves around and comes right back to you. 

His analogy was that as “miraculous” as that seemed when we were kids, he found that most of our life is like that.  Whatever we “throw” out there, comes back to us.

We live in a boomerang world.  Now that sounds a little strange to say, but he goes on to explain that if we smile at someone, in almost every case, they will smile back.  If you are kind to someone, they will usually be kind in return.

He also pointed out that it also works in the other direction.  If you complain, they will ‘share’ their complaints with you.  If you get angry at someone, they will usually get angry with you. 

Let’s think about that for a minute….whatever you decide to “throw” out into the world will usually circle around and land right back at your feet.  Like a boomerang.

I love it!  We have talked about everything we do in life is our choice.  Live your life by design.  There is responsibility for our actions.  So if we choose what to “throw’ out into our world…it stands to reason that we are choosing what is going to land at our feet! 

What do you want?  Think about it.  If you are living your life by design, what do you really want?

If you want a more loving relationship – be a more loving partner.  If you want more joy and happiness – throw it out there and watch it come back to you.  I agree with Tim.  He says, “It even works with money. Need money? Give some away. (Spiritual leaders from the beginning of time have been telling us this, but most of us are afraid to believe it.)  It works in just about every area of our life. When we give something away, when we “throw” it out there, it comes back to us.”

If you don’t like how life is responding to you….look in the mirror.  It’s not about the other person changing…it is about you changing.  Life responds to you.  You have to give in order to receive.  You will get back more than what you throw out.  Plant a seed…you get more than one seed back…you get hundreds!  It has also been said that you reap what you sow.  What are you sowing?

Wow!  How different will your life be by choosing what you are planting each and everyday?  Choose what you want to come back and land at your feet. 

Remember the boomerang!   It begins with you.

Napoleon Hill thought persistence was such an important trait for achieving your goals that he devoted an entire chapter to it in his classic Think and Grow Rich.  In fact, he said it was the only trait in common among the 500 most successful people in America that he interviewed for the book.

When we see persistence around us, it inspires us to “keep the faith.”  Here’s a great story of two young ladies who wouldn’t give up on their goal.  It took them 11 times but they finally passed the Massachusetts graduation exit exam.  Never mind it came three years after their class graduated.   Read more…

Steve Vaught started walking across America one year, 2465 miles and 130 pounds ago.  His original motivation was to lose weight and regain his life.  “I am not happy because I am fat and being fat makes every day unhappy,” Steve said when starting on his journey.

With his goals in sight and less than 400 miles to go, Steve gives us all cause to stop and celebrate a goal achiever extraordinaire.  Spend a moment getting inspired and read the rest of his story…

Like a lot of “jokes,” the little ditty below is not far from the truth.  It’s talking about a person’s romantic feelings but it can apply to anything.

I’d cross the hottest desert,
I’d swim the deepest sea,
I’d climb the highest mountain,
But I can’t come over tonight because it’s raining.

It made me think about how grandiose some of our goals are and yet how tiny and weak our commitments are to those goals.

Remember the old adage, “Plans are made in sand.  Commitments are made in concrete.”

Maybe circumstances have caused your plans to change, but if you feel your commitment wavering (or gone altogether) it’s time to get back to the real reason you want to accomplish the goal.  If it’s still important then re-inforce your commitment — write it in concrete!

We’ve blogged earlier about the amazing feats of the “real-life Indiana Jones,” so it was an extremely gratifying experience to actually get to spend some time with the “World’s #1 Goal Achiever.” Lisa and I had the great fortune to spend the morning of January 4th with John and his gracious wife Carol and we were not disappointed. He’s the real deal and getting ready to achieve another of the great goals he laid out almost 65 years ago.

Learn more about John Goddard here and see his amazing Life List of Goals here…

“You can forget about making New Year’s Resolutions if you’re hoping for a successful outcome. Most aren’t worth the paper they’re written on,” says Vic Johnson, a leading goal setting and motivation expert.

Most New Year’s Resolutions have gone by the wayside before January is over and most won’t even be remembered six months later. And the reason is pretty simple. Most are made in response to something negative; a habit or situation that the person wants to change or end. And therein lies the problem – it’s hard to develop momentum from a negative response. It is always easier to move toward something than away from something.

Consider one of the most adopted goals — weight loss. No one can get excited about losing weight – it requires deprivation. It’s a negative response to concerns about appearance, health, etc. The results of weight loss New Year’s Resolutions demonstrate their weakness. A 1998 survey sponsored by Gardenburger found that more than three-fourths of all women between the ages of 25 and 54 make diet and weight-loss plans each year. Nearly nine of 10 respondents reported only occasional or no success, while almost half lost little or actually gained weight instead.

“The people who succeed at losing weight and maintaining the loss have usually been motivated by a dream much bigger and more positive than just losing weight,” explains Johnson. “They see themselves living a healthy lifestyle. They begin to act and think like people who are in good physical shape. There’s more of a radical change in a person’s thinking and actions than you see with most resolutions. It wouldn’t be possible to effect and sustain such a radical change unless the person is motivated by a big dream that is positive in nature.”

Another popular aim is to quit smoking. Johnson himself was a three-pack-a-day smoker until he celebrated a smoke-free New Year’s twelve years ago. “For over twenty years I had tried to quit many times using every tool and technique I’d hear about. But as long as I was trying to quit, I couldn’t break the grip. Instead, I developed a dream to become a non-smoker. I fell in love with the idea of breathing clean air instead of smoky air, of my body and clothes smelling nice instead of smoky. I thought about how wonderful it would be to taste food again. I decided to start acting and thinking like a non-smoker, and when the thinking took hold I simply quit smoking. In all the years since, I’ve never wanted another cigarette, never even thought about wanting one.”

According to Johnson, the best goal to set is one that calls for the individual to create a plan for their life based on a set of personal dreams. “Most people are in a free-fall through life, careening from one crisis to the next. If you were going to build a new house and you had this idea for a fabulous master bedroom suite, you wouldn’t rush out and start building the master bedroom. You’d have a complete plan before you started. When you approach resolutions and goals in the same manner, you end up with a much better chance of achieving success.”

For help in developing your life plan, see the new Goals 2006 offerings…

My son and I participate in the “MS150″, a charity event benefiting Multiple Sclerosis research, encompassing a 150 mile bicycle ride from Cherry Hill, NJ to Ocean City, NJ and back over 2 days. I’ve done it for several years every Sept. and find it challenging, enjoyable and satisfying. Two years ago, as I was at the very beginning of the ride, mile 1, I passed a fragile looking Oriental woman who appeared to be in her 70′s. She was riding an old fashioned girl’s bike and wearing a dress. Understand that over 6000 cyclists ride in this annual event, most of whom have expensive bikes and wear special clothing. It was apparent she gave no thought at all to the fact she looked somewhat out of place or that she was being passed by absolutely everyone in the field.

I didn’t give her much thought the remainder of the day and finished day one by about 1:30 in the afternoon. My wife picked us up at the finish line and we went to our hotel to get cleaned up. We showered and relaxed for a while and decided to head back to the boardwalk to get some dinner. Our driving route took us through the last two or three miles of the bicycling course and at about 5:30 in the evening we saw the out of place, little old lady, just coming in to the finish line. She had ridden a little over 75 miles in about 11 hours.

I thought to myself what a lesson in persistence. Her pace seemed terribly slow but she kept on keeping on and didn’t give up. Slowly, one mile, one turn of the pedals at a time she conquered the course. This frail little old woman refused to be beaten and accomplished a physical feat that physically tests me each time I do it.

I had forgotten this story for some time and was going through some pictures posted by the organization from this past September’s event, and I found her picture. It reminded me of the story and I thought to myself what an inspiration to all of us who are currently setting our goals. We need only to follow the example of this woman: keep our minds keenly tuned to our goal, and one step at a time, with persistent effort, we’re sure to get there.

- Contributed by Chris B., New Jersey

Thanks Chris. Outstanding example of persistence!