Have you ever thought to yourself – hm…. “I would love to do ……… with my life”… maybe it was climb Kilimanjaro in Africa, or run a marathon, or even become somebody – like an Astronaut or a Nuclear Physicist or may be even the President or Prime Minister of a country.   Or maybe it was to sail around the world solo.  Well, whatever your dream, 16 year old Jessica Watson from Australia will prove “That anything really is possible.”

This story has really inspired a lot of people, myself included.  Jessica, a young girl with a dream, has just completed your solo sail around the world adventure.  I am still not sure just yet, whether has been made official yet, but this would make her the youngest person ever to sale solo around the world.  An amazing achievement for someone so young.  But here is credit to someone that had a dream and followed it to the end.

Sailing solo around the world is certainly no easy feat, certainly even for the most experienced sailor.  But a massive goal and a dream, together with a carefully thought out plan and taking massive action, Jessica was able to go about achieving her goal.  The journey that she has been on mentally and physically shows how good her attitude and approach to life is something we should all learn from.

You can read more about Jessica’s story and her complete journey on her website.  But what I wanted to share today, was some lessons I took from learning more about Jessica and what she has achieved.  Hopefully you can take something from this and apply it positively to your own life, no matter your age, background and life so far has been.

3 Lessons from Jessica’s story:

Lesson #1: Having a dream and sticking to it, no matter what the obstacles are can be a very powerful force.  Jessica obviously had planned our her journey and the trip around the world very carefully.  Her dream was afterall, to sail around the world.  However, as you will learn from reading her story, when she first left Sydney harbour on her first attempt, Jessica actually collided with a cargo carrier not that long into her journey.  This broke her mast and put her trip off for a brief period of time.  But it certainly did not break her spirits.  Even despite the additional fuel this gave to her sceptics and those that were critical of her doing such a dangerous voyage at such a young age, Jessica persisted.  Despite the failings, Jessica continued to follow her dream.  And over the weekend, this dream was realised, the broken mast a lesson and distant memory in comparison to the joy she most likely felt in stepping off her boat in Sydney.

Lesson #2: Very often, with great achievement, comes great risk, but with carefully thought out and actionable plans, that you then follow through on, you can start to move your goals forward.  I am just guessing that it was more than just the part of sailing a boat around the world that Jessica had to focus on to achieve her goal.  Coordinating the correct safety for her trip, the right equipment in case she ran into trouble and planning out her exact voyage would have all been part of the lead up to her eventually arriving in Sydney safely.  Although, obviously not every situation could be assessed, and there is obviously great risk in what she did, but doing it anyway is where the inspiration from this story comes into light.  With a careful plan and taking action on that plan, Jessica was able to sail around the world.  What dreams, plans and actions are you going to take in your life?

Lesson #3: I was amazed at literally the hundreds of boats on Sydney harbour and the number of people that came down to the Sydney harbour foreshore near the Opera House to watch Jessica’s arrival back into Sydney after her adventure.  Even the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was there to welcome Jessica.  The  major lesson here, is that there will be very few people to cheer you on when you decide to change your life and become successful at what you have chosen to become successful at.  You will have to endure a lot, in Jess’s case many lonely nights, sometimes in the midst of massive ocean storms where you won’t have the cheering crowds to push you along and may start to question whether you can make it or whether it is all worth it.  It is not until you reach your goals that you will have the cheering crowds or even that complete sense of achievement.  But it will be in the moments of doubt, that you will need to remember the end goal and almost create your own cheer squad to keep you going.  Because it will be worth it in the end!

Remember – shoot for the stars, and you never know might hit the moon : ).

Get Jessica’s full story and watch out for the book on Jessica’s website : http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Check out more of the interview that Charles Wooley from 60 Minutes did with Jessica.  Jessica Watson – Going Solo (Before Jessica headed off) and then the celebration of her home coming and her amazing achievement Jessica Watson – Jessica’s Excellent Adventure.

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and got to spend some time relaxing with family and friends.  I also hope that you took some time to review the year just gone and reflect on the successes, learnings and happy memories of 2009.  And then taken those and turned them into some dreams, goals and actions for 2010.  This could very well be the year that you actually turn some things around in your life – start a business, lose weight, join a gym (and actually turn up), or even just reconnect with a loved ones.  Whatever your goals and dreams, know that someone else out there has achieved what you are looking to achieve, and you can train yourself to achieve the same results.

I have spent some time with my personal success coach to help my identify goals and action plans for 2010.  It is exciting to work with someone that can help you remain accountable to what you want to achieve.  And also help to make sure my goals are not just focused on business and finance, but in other areas of my life – Family, health, travel, fitness etc.

If you have not looked at your goals for 2010, then here are five reasons why I think you should consider setting some goals.

5 Reasons to set goals and take action:

• Goals can help you to focus your time and efforts on the things that are important to you in your life.  Focusing your time energy and resources into achieving a goal, will empower you to see that goal achieved in your life.  Without this focused energy, it becomes easier to get distracted and lose focus from what you are trying to achieve.  So having a goal allows you to focus and concentrate your energy to have a positive impact on your life.
• They give you a target or something to aim for – without a target, it becomes easier for other circumstances and events to control what we achieve in our lives.  With a target that we are aiming for and the focus from the point above, we are more likely to reach that target, than having no target at all.
• They provide you with a roadmap to take you from where you are today to where you want to be.  With a roadmap in front of us, we can navigate the various paths that it is going to take us to get where we want to go.  But remember, even with a roadmap, there may be many paths to reach the same outcome, so remain flexible in your approach to your goals.
• Goals provide you with the motivation, desire and persistence to keep going to achieve the results you want.  Remember, that just because you set a goal, does not mean that suddenly life is going to be easier on you.  Remember, there will be failings, obstacles and struggles along the way.  But with your goal firmly in place, you will continue to have the motivation and desire to keep picking yourself up and continuing on.
• They help you to see forward movement and momentum in your life.  The great thing about reaching goals, is that they give you the sense of accomplishment.  This feeling will allow you to see forward movement in your life – that things are happening and you are not just letting your life slip away.  Remember to celebrate your achievements, even if they are just small goals that you are achieving on your way to be bigger goal.

Now, once you have your goals, decide on the monthly targets you need to achieve to reach those goals.  Then break that down even further to the weekly and daily tasks that need to take place for you to be able to reach your goals.  Then, with your list of smaller daily goals (don’t make these so long and unrealistic that you literally freeze, not knowing where to start), start to take ACTION.

If your goal it to gain more fitness through running, it could be something simple, like buy a pair of running shoes.  If your goal is to be able to run the City to Surf in Sydney this year, then this would be a good first step right?  Then the next goal may be to walk for 30 minutes.  And so you progress.

The same with having a financial goal – look at where you are now, set some progressive goals from today and break them down to smaller daily goals.  Goals that you can take action on today.  So, if you are looking to start an online business, maybe find an event or coach that you could learn from and gain the knowledge to be able to create your online business.

And on a final note, I want to share a quote that I found on a fellow Internet Marketer / Underground Success Coach website.  His name is Niro Thambipillay, but here is the quote I wanted to share, because like Niro, I loved reading it and wanted to share it.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs

Is one of your goals to build your business using the internet?  Maybe you want to start an online business?  Learn some of the ways you could fast track your success by learning from a coach.  Check out our upcoming events to more details.

Go to www.timlivenow.com to register for an event closest to you.

PS. We are expecting our first baby in 2 months, so it is a very exciting time and particularly a very exciting year ahead for us.  And guess what, even having our first baby started with a goal and a vision.  My wife Emily set a goal to have our first baby before she turned 32.  And guess what, our first baby is due 6 days before her birthday – AMAZING hey!

PPS. Any words of wisdom from Dads checking out my site, would be much appreciated.  Afterall, isn’t that what Social Media and connecting over the internet is all about : ) Post your comments below and feel free to retweet.

Ok, so training is well and truly back on track for the Sydney Gong Ride.  After some really windy and rainy days recently, I eventually got my training back on track.  Trust me, doing 50 kms on a bike in the gym while it is pouring with rain outside, when all you have to stare at is a bunch of sweaty blokes… ah, and the occassional hot fitness instructor (but don’t tell my wife : ), you crave getting back on the road for training. 

Now, since launching this donation page, I have not done a lot of promoting of this page, so I thought, if I want to reach my goal for donatons to support multiple sclerosis and Sydney Gong ride, I better start promoting it.  And, well, let’s be honest, 90km is no easy feat on a bike – so just to show you that I am actually seriously going to do this, I decided to take a snap of the “The Beast”.  Yes, my trusty Cannondale that will be my steed for the fully 90km ride from Sydney down to the “Gong”.Check out the photo below.

So, help support MS and sponsor my “Sydney Gong” quest. 

If you are business, remember to read below what I am doing if you make a donation over $100.00.  I am going to be posting this page to Twitter and Facebook, plus trying to do some “Search Engine Optimisation” around “Sydney Gong” ride, so may even be able to get some free website traffic from people clicking on the below ads.

Businesses*:  If you are business making a donation over $100.00, then I can set the below type of advertising image up on each blog post that I make.  It will appear at the top and bottom of each blog post for my “Sydney Gong” quest.