Thanks to all of you who have written encouraging thoughts about starting up the newsletter again!  Here are a few examples:

Tamica said, “I am a big fan and I look forward to reading [the newsletters].  You have given me the tools to change my life.  I am very grateful for that.  Thank you!”

Cheree said, “I sincerely appreciate the encouragement!”

Denise said, “We need people like you to help keep us on track.”

Well - I am happy to do my part!  I am glad to know that these newsletters are helping you out!

Because of the encouragement sent by so many I plan to expand the website over the summer into a very powerful “goal-setting and achieving” center.  I have some ideas now, but if you have thoughts about what you would like to see on the site (to help you achieve your goals) please let me know.  I also plan to continue sending out the newsletter about twice a month.

The most recent idea we have been discussing is the finding the discipline to do the things we need to do.  A few examples of things we need to do but often don’t were given:

* Writing out goals
* Exercising
* Losing weight
* Eating healthier
* Flossing
* Reading inspiration books, such as the Scriptures
* Meditating or praying

So – why DON’T we do the things that we know are good for us?  Everyone knows they need to exercise, but how many of us actually do it?

I posted an article at http://articles.how-to-reach-your-goals.com called The Common Denominator of Success (see below).  There is a lot in that article about developing the discipline to reach your goals.

I plan to discuss that article more in about two weeks.   For today, I just want to give you one small idea.

Start small.  That’s it!  People think to themselves, “I need to exercise every day for 30 minutes.”  Then they don’t do it!  Instead of trying to commit yourself to 30 minutes, can you commit to five minutes?  Can you commit to doing just five sit-ups and five push-ups?

Instead of trying to read inspirational books such as the scriptures for 30 minutes, could you read for five minutes?

Ideally we would each take one-hour each morning to exercise, read, write out our goals, etc.  Brian Tracy calls this “The Golden Hour.”  Trying to commit to an hour each morning may be very difficult if you aren’t used to it!  Can you commit to 15 minutes (we’ll call it the “Bronze 15 minutes”)?  Here’s what that time might look like:

• Five minutes of stretching/exercise
• Five minutes for reading/praying or meditating
• Five minutes to review/re-write your top goals (or choosing some goals if you haven’t done that)

How about it - can you do that?

I’ll work on that for the time being, too.