YOU CAN make it through this moment.

This is not a real post I just wanted to share this video with all the readers. Enjoy!

                       

The Importance of Setting Goals

"Not all who wander are lost," they say, but for the great majority of us, having a road map for the future is a key element to well-being and success, however we choose to define it. This means setting goals for ourselves, and finding ways to achieve them. If you're a wanderer, it might be time to realize the boundless utility of setting goals.While it's not a good idea to try to change everything at once, you can set goals in virtually any domain of your life, from your wardrobe to your church to your workplace.

Of course, a thousand mile journey starts with the first small step. And whether we're embarking on the long trek of a mid-life career switch or the walk to the bedroom to finally organize that closet, it can be hard to gather up the motivation to make that initial step. While setting goals is in itself motivating, sometimes it's just not enough. Here are some tried-and-true ways you can begin to move toward achieving your goals, and maintain resolve when the going gets rough.

1. Put your goals in writing.
The act of writing down what you are going to do is a strong motivator. Writing down goals prevents you from leaving your goals vague. Be specific. Use action verbs. Let your goals have measurable outcomes. Specify completion dates. Also record what your reward will be for achieving the goal. Make a contract with yourself, then read it each morning and night. This will help you to be more committed your goal as each day passes. And while you've got the pen in your hand...

2. Make a list of obstacles.
Think of everything that might stand in your way. Then decide what you can do about each obstacle. Design a plan to reduce the influence of each obstacle and increase the chances that you will be successful in reaching your goal.

3. List the benefits of achieving your goal.
Knowing exactly what you will gain from reaching your goal is a strong motivator. Keeping my checkbook balanced will give me more spending money on the weekends. Walking a mile every morning will help me stay focused at work.

4. Identify subgoals.
Break down complicated plans into manageable chunks. Be specific about what has to be accomplished. Decide what you are going to do, and when. Make sure each step is challenging but achievable, and that you have a complete plan of action. Then write it on your calendar and review it regularly.

5. Learn what you need to learn.
If information or skill is keeping you from achieving your goals, determine ways to fill in the gaps, and build this into your action plan. Be willing to study and work hard to reach your goals. Think about how much time and effort will be required, and ask yourself whether you are really willing and able to do what is necessary. It is better to adjust your goals or your timetable than to proceed with a plan that is unrealistic.

6. Enlist the help of others.
Find someone, a coworker or friend, with whom you share a common goal. Get someone to go to the gym with you, or to quit smoking with you, or to share healthy meals with you. A partner can help you stay committed and motivated. Look for role models, people who have already achieved the goals you seek to reach. Ask them for advice and suggestions. Find how they got where they are, and incorporate what you learn into your plan.

7. Visualize yourself having achieved each of your goals.
The more real you can make your visualization, the better. Find a quiet place, visualize, write down your experiences afterward. Go through magazines and cut out pictures that represent your goal, then put them around the house. Provide constant reminders to yourself about what you're working towards. Describe your ideal life in the future. Write a few paragraphs describing what you have accomplished, and how your life is better as a result. Use the present tense as if it is happening right here, right now. This is another way of making your vision real.

8. Get organized.
When you are prepared and organized, you will feel better about your ability to reach your goals. Having information scattered in too many places makes you feel out of control and undermines motivation. Set up a filing system, set aside your workout clothes.

9. Reward yourself each step of the way.
Let yourself feel good about progress you've made. Treat yourself to rewards that will give you a lift as you accomplish each subgoal on your road to success.

It's simply a fact: when people have goals to guide them, they are happier and achieve more than they would without having them. It's a brain thing. Achieving a goal you've set produces dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of pleasure. Reciprocally, dopamine activates neural circuitry that makes you eager to pursue new challenges.Goals provide focus. With no guiding vision or plan, people tend to drift. Goals provide a measuring stick for progress. Goals enhance productivity. They bolster self-esteem. And most of all, goals increase commitment, so you're more likely to achieve whatever you set out to conquer.

-Roger

How to never miss a deadline!

          I haven't updated this blog as often as I used to this week because I have been pretty busy with work. As a croupier you don't work every night and you don't even have a stable job, everything depends on whether the casino need employees. I've worked five days in the past week, and I've dealt great hands too! I'm just really glad that this week was so great because I had weeks where I worked only 1 day a week. To say it all actually, even though I don't work much, the times I do, I get paid pretty well and the winning players at the tables always leave good tips. Anyway, enough of that. As you might have understood from the title of this post, today's post is going to be about missing deadlines and how we can avoid missing them.

        

          Most of people miss deadlines because of procrastinating too much. In high-school I was a hardcore procrastinator, I was missing every deadline because of my procrastination, It had gotten to the point where I did not have anymore excuses to tell to the teachers in order to buy me some more time. Then I started realizing that something had to be done, and I started thinking about thing that I could do in order for me to never miss a deadline again.

Here are three simple things that would help me don't miss my deadlines:

1. I wrote down everything I had to get done. Just the fact of having them written down helped me me take seriously everything the things I had to do.

2. I would tell everyone I know that I had already started doing it or sometimes that I already finished it. I find pressure to be a great motivator, and if you choose to tell these "lies" to people that you don't want to disappoint the pressure will be even greater that way you will be sure to not miss that deadline.

3. If you know you got time before getting your job done, then start doing it little by little. Don't procrastinate into thinking that "you got time". Trust me, having your work half done will motivate you to finish it and a slowly planned and well thought work is much better than one done in a hurry.

          As you can see not meeting deadlines has a lot to do with procrastination, and as an ex student I can say that the habit of procrastination is the worst habit one can take. I hope this tips helped you and always remember that self discipline is the key to everything.

-Roger

          

Workout Motivation for Beginners

As I discovered, about 4 moths ago, that in order to feel good and proud about myself I had to do something social, intellectual, physical and work involving everyday I started doing so bit by bit and day by day. Only 3 weeks after I found the "requirements for happiness" (that's how I will reefer to them) I started the last bit that I was missing and that was the physical part. I actually said to myself to that I was going to start "the next Monday" but the lazy guy inside of me kept telling me to not not do it. I kept finding stupid excuses like, "I should probably wait until I buy those dumbbells" or "I'm tired today, I don't think I'm going to be able to finish the workout". For a person that doesn't workout these excuses might seem legitimate but once you start looking at things from a different prospective then you realize that that you actually lying to yourself which is the most humiliating thing that you can do to yourself.

          The biggest obstacle that I would find was tiredness. So I got a sheet of paper and I started writing down why I deserved that big meal or why I deserved watching TV or browsing the internet after work. On the back of that sheet I wrote what were all of the benefits that were going to come if I started working out. When I finished I realized that the reasons to not workout were a fewer than the benefits that would come if I started working out. This was one of my biggest motivation and I will keep being until I get the body that I want. Another big motivation for me was my grandfather who passed away because of his obesity problems, he was only 50 years old when he passed. Just thinking about the fact that I was making the same mistakes that my grandfather did, and I wasn't going to be able to see my grandchildren like he did, made me realize that I really needed to change and I needed to do it as soon as possible.

          Anyway, now all that all the initial struggle is gone I can't wait to workout and the more I workout the more I feel better about myself. As you might have already understood the change is not only physical but it's psychological too. Your start feeling better about yourself, your self esteem goes up, you will start having more social skills and you insecurities will go away. There is no reason why you shouldn't do it, you've got nothing to lose after all. I can spend here hours and hours trying to motivate you but remember in this life you've got one thing and one thing only and that is self discipline. You are your biggest motivation, make yourself and your life the best show that people have ever seen. Find you motivation, set a goal and achieve it. That is all folks if you wanna start working out today here is a link that will teach you the basics. I will leave you with a video that I watch every day before hitting the gym.

                  

Thoughts on life...

I've never been the kind of kid that studied. I've never felt the need to study maybe because all I was learning was a bunch of crap that I did not care about, maybe because I considered myself too smart for what I was studying; either way I never fit in with all the "good" kids of my town. When I was in High School every single time I woke up to go to school I felt like my day was going to be so unproductive and I have this thing that if I don't do something productive by the end of the day I start feeling "guilty" and I'll keep that depression-type felling for the whole night. Just lately I've discovered that if I do something physical, intellectual, social and work involving I feel balanced by the end of the day. Getting back to the topic, I kept living my life like a parasite, just because my parents were telling me to and because they approved of it. If it was up to me I would have never gone to college, even though I was studying stuff that I cared. I felt like my time was being wasted because those were facts that I could have learned just with a Google search. When I dropped out of college and got a job at a clothing shop in Washington I realized that I had been going through so much pain for nothing. School wasn't for me and it will never be. All the schools go around saying that they "prepare us for our future" when in reality they are just turning us into buckets filled with not useful knowledge. All they ever teach us about is humanistic concepts that wont turn into nothing. They are making us cultured people but they are not teaching me how to use it in order to "survive". What I mean by survive is make money, because at the end of the day what matters is money and everything we learn or know must turn into money, it's sad but it's true. So getting back to the original point (I know I ramble a lot) all I ever learned in school was notions that I've never used in my life. As I am laying here on my chaise long with a beautiful view of the Colosseum I am proud of myself for not being the typical American guy who goes on a hike on the weekend with his family. I broke the schemes, I was able to forget everything that was ever taught to me and I educated myself according to my schemes. I left everything I had in the US to start a new life and I have to say that I was worth it. I hope this inspires someone as just thinking about how much I have accomplished in the past year keeps motivating me.

If nothing motivates you, try this.

-Roger