Day #007: Ambition Is Key

Success begins in the mind. Your mind. In order to get anywhere or achieve anything, you need to set your mind towards that something. Like any result or output, you need to put in some action or an input before you can reap the rewards. 
You need to set a fish trap to catch fish.
Are you ambitious? Are you passionate for something? Setting ambitious long-term goals, does not set you up for failure, it sets you up to grow and set’s you up to challenge your ability to step up and out of your comfort zone. We should be setting both ambitious long-term goals, and clear short-term targets. Just as the greyhound runs faster when chasing the mechanical rabbit, people are more motivated when pursuing identifiable targets. Do you have your targets in sight? Can you see what you are chasing for?
When we achieve these goals we feel good about ourselves, regardless if they are the short or long-term goals. There is little to compare to the feeling we get and the happiness we feel after performing and achieving a difficult task or a goal for that matter. 

It’s time to relentlessly pursue your dream. – Chris Furlong

When you’re relentless about something, you mean business. Are you serious about your goals and dreams for 2016?

How serious?

Don’t let anything stop you. Do not resist, do not fall to the obstacles, your self-doubt, your circumstances, the length of the journey, your failures, or your past. 

You’ve got this. 

I would love to hear what your relentless dream is. Share it with me and #relentlessdream

Day #006: Be A Champion – Don’t Give Up

Every battle and every circumstance that you face in the end will make you stronger. We go through life learning, while at the same time living and fighting for the people that you love and care about.

But what about you?

Are you fighting for yourself? Are you fighting for your goals? Are you learning about goals and are you working on them to continue to grow yourself and to make you stronger?

Let’s be frank. Not everyone is going to understand your journey and that is fine. It is not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours and purely yours. So focus on your journey, don’t worry about the haters, as the haters are always going to hate. But get out there, hustle strong and make your journey to a greater you become a reality for 2016. 

However, you should ask yourself.

Are you staying true to yourself? Are you on track and remaining consistent with your newly set goals and resolutions? Are you even working on them?

When you originally started how serious were you? If you’re not going to up your game, if you’re not going to be willing to push a little further, then maybe the people who don’t understand your journey are right. Maybe this goal isn’t right for you.** 

But that’s not true. You set your goals for a reason right? So pull yourself together, grab a grip and come to your senses. Get out there and make some magic.

**If this goal really and honestly is not for you – change it and START on your new goal today. 

Don’t say maybe if you want to say no. – Unknown

Need some tips? Here are Five Minimalist Ways To Follow Through On Your Goals This Year.
  1. Pick a goal and write it down – big and clear
  2. Get to know your goal – really understand what it will take
  3. Break down the goal – break it down into milestones
  4. Write down how you feel – reflect regularly
  5. Tell someone about your new plan – have an accountability partner

Just remember… 

On our quest for happiness, there are many things we must give up. But there are many things that you should never give up if you want to be happy. – Leslie Frey

If you have some of your own tips or some of your own tricks which have been working for your, I would love to hear what you have to say. Or maybe you are struggling still with setting your goals or keeping on point. Drop a comment and ask for some help. 

Day #005: Progress Not Perfection

Hopefully you have started your Goal(s) to conquer for 2016. Your plan should be to achieve these and to be bigger and better than your were before. BUT, you’re not going to be perfect. You never will be!  But the more you progress, the more you keep to your goal(s), the further you will advance! It’s about the PROGRESS not perfection.

Believe in yourself, take action and just see what you are capable of!

Things won’t always go as planned and that’s OK. You see it is better to progress than to not at all. You will never be perfect, but you can work towards it. Even if you progress a little, this is a single step closer to getting to your goal. Things will happen that are out of your control, and they will muck up my idea of the perfect day or progress towards your goal. But the real focus should be on the fact that, even if you are not making perfect progress, you are still out there, you are still taking action towards your end game. Whether it be that you are taking baby steps or large leaps. Each day is progress, so do not stop. 

Wise Words of Neila Rey:

If you have control over your body you have control over your life, the kind of control no one can take away from you. Every time you complete a training session, you add to your mental toughness, your ability to face hardship and power through; and that eventually becomes your identity. The attitude and the resilience you’ve put into training, becomes the driving force that pushes you upstream and through – towards the things you want and not the ones that just float by. 

As noted by Neila, every time you complete a training session, or in this case complete another action towards your goal, you are developing and growing your mental toughness and your ability to face hardship and power through the next obstacle. 

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. – Vince Lombardi

It is crucial you stay consistent, persistent and focus on making a form of progress. Too often people become so overwhelmed with not being perfect, that they give up altogether. So no matter what – make sure you are striving for progress each day, whether or not it feels to be perfect progress or not. To make this year the best it can be, to make you the greatest you can be, you will need to be as noted – consistent and persistent for progress. 

Day #004: Conquer Your Mind

When it comes to Goals or New Year Resolutions we love them and we hate them, but we should never live without them. The problem is we become so hyped up on achieving not one, but so many NEW CRAZY GOALS that we end up achieving none at all, or we become so worn out and overwhelmed within months, if not weeks… that we just give up. 

While there isn’t any set guarantee to actually achieve these goals, there are some steps you can take to obviously ensure you give it your best shot!

  • Believing that you are capable of achieving the goals you set for yourself may be the single most important thing you can do when setting out to achieve your goals.
  • You may second guess yourself more than a dozen times, but even if you are “against all odds” when pursuing your goal, do it anyway. Seriously DO IT! 
  • Ok, so you believe you can do it, you are doing it against all odds, now, you must strive to be fearless.
  • In order to achieve success when setting out to reach your goals, it is imperative that you be persistent.
  • Nothing that is worth pursuing is done in the blink of an eye; it takes times, hard work, and you must definitely be patient.

Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson’s Words Of Motivation

“Success isn’t always about ‘Greatness’. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work gains success. Greatness will come.”

Look at it this way. If you’re a runner like myself… we can be held back by the weather (extreme heats, thunderstorms and other conditions). Timing is everything and your SAFETY is always your number one priority. But if there is a break, if there is a chance of getting your run in. Do it. The run is more important than the race. Slow and steady if that’s case. This is consistency and consistency is the key. 

“Progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw

Get out there today and be persistent and be consistent. Whether you fail or succeed. Getting out there will help change your mind-set bringing you closer to a greater success in the end.

Day #003: This Year You Have 8,784 Hours…

Well I hate to break it to you but by the time you have read this you will have less than this…

2016 will actually have one extra day being a leap year. Meaning you will have 8,784 hours compared to 2015 which had 8,760 hours to be utilized and mastered.

For those already thinking… how can this be a Project 365 if there will be 366 days. Well if you come along for the journey, you will see how the extra day this year will be incorporated. 

You have a journey, a job, a duty to yourself to get out there and spend these hours, work these hours and convert these hours in the results.

Take them, use them and see what you can become! 

There are only two options: Make progress or make excuses. – Tony Robbins

Each year we all start at the same position. New opportunities, new goals, new habits and new scores to set. Even if this is your first time setting a goal and staying committed. So it is also for the experienced. They need to step it up to something new, something more. Which means they will need to have just as much willpower that you require to achieve their own goals. So don’t make the excuse of thinking  “you’re not strong enough”, “good enough”, or “don’t know how to start”.

Just get out there and go, go, go and do, do, do. Just start and just do!

Little by little. Day by day. This is all it takes to be the best you. – Chris Furlong

My question to you today is, now that we have reached Day #003, how are you tracking towards your destination? Is the journey a breeze so far? Is it already tough? Any obstacles in your way?
Don’t give up now! This is just the beginning of something better! You’ve got this.

Day #002: Stop Wishing & Start Doing

Day 2 is here and you’re either smashing your goals or struggling. Which one is it?
Already I am seeing all the overwhelming and negative social media posts including the repetitive statements such as “2016… I hope it is a good year”.
Let me be honest with you, as if I cannot be blunt with you now, how will you survive it throughout the year? You can hope all you want… Who knows? Maybe 2016 will be a good year. But did you know YOU can make it a good year. Yes you! Actually the year will be exactly what you make it. So stop the hoping and put in some action. 

You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action. – Anthony Robbins

You need to make 2016 the year it is to be.

  • If you want to conquer, achieve, change the world or make history. You need to get out there and make it happen. Get out there and take action.

Each day, one step at a time.

  • If you want to get fit. Get out there and run, get up early and exercise, stay up later and exercise. Any exercise is more than those sitting on the couch.

Don’t get hung up on the details but just start. Do something! 

There are so many resources out there (this being one of them) which can assist you in making 2016 the BEST year you will ever have. 

The point is, this year is up to you and you only. So make 2016 the best year ever!

Think of Rocky Balboa and his classic quote:

The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place… and I don´t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently, if you let it. You, me or nobody, is gonna hit as hard as life. But ain’t about how hard you hit… It’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward… how much you can take, and keep moving forward. That´s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you worth, go out and get what you worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying: You ain´t what you wanna be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain´t you! You´re better than that

– Rocky Balboa

So will you make 2016 your year?

Day #001: Welcome to 2016 – The Journey Begins

Welcome to 2016. 

This year will literally be the year you make it and today is the first chance and the only chance you have at setting the year in motion with a positive tone, with the right attitude and with motivation like none before – from the very start. Any day after today in which you don’t decide to make this year your best year, the harder it will become.

2016 should be and can be your best year yet. It can be the year of a GREATER and BETTER you. 

It all starts with a Journey. 

So if you are willing, if you are ready – I would love to start this Journey with you and take 2016 and maximize its potential each day, ensuring 2016 has been utilized at its fullest. 

Are you with me?

Each day, I will continue to encourage and motivate you and all you need to do is be true to yourself and take action!

By now I am hoping you have set some goals, dreams for 2016 and hopefully a plan too. If you don’t have a plan.

Well here is a simple one: Stay committed, take action and be disciplined.

So will you take the challenge? Will you make 2016 the year that was better than all other years?

But seriously if you don’t have a goal, if you don’t have a plan or a simple resolution for this year, see below for a list of some of the most common resolutions:

  • Hit the gym
  • Actually get fit
  • Lose weight
  • Eat healthy
  • Drink more water
  • Learn a new skill (language, instrument, talent…)
  • Budget / Spend Less / Pay Off Debt / Invest
  • Spend more time with Family
  • Do something kind each day or week
  • Explore
  • Take a holiday
  • Learn to say No and Yes
  • Stop Limiting Yourself
  • Daily Random Compliments
  • Try something new monthly
  • Write your goals out (keep them to yourself)
  • Socialize more
  • Less PHONE time
  • Read More
  • Volunteer

These are just some… but there are many, many more. So find a number of these for yourself or make your own up. This is your GOAL today. Then you are ready.

Lets do this!

Welcome to Project 365

Welcome to the new and improved Project 365 for 2016 – commencing 1-Jan-2016. To ensure the context is set right, please find below a little bit of information of what Project 365 is and what to expect. 

Project 365 is a small side project set out to encourage and motivate people through the use of small mantras and quotes. The idea is structured daily with the intention to inspire others to aspire further in their own lives and journeys. The initial idea was derived from my own personal motto:

I want to innovate, be innovative and promote success through all that I do and to the people around me. I wish to spread happiness and express life through my actions. I plan to create opportunity through my visions, dreams and inspire those around me to aspire further in their own lives. – Chris Furlong

When this initiative originally started back in 2014 – this was primarily set on Facebook. Having successfully completed a year posting a positive message each day in 2014 with some lessons learned along the way, there was a new plan to redo Project 365 but on a more detailed and comprehensive level in 2015. This mean’t Project 365 was relocated to my personal blog (clfurlong.com), using the same concepts and the blog produced daily content which was shared via social media as well as via a daily mailing list. With 2016 just around the corner Project 365 is taking another step up, but this time as its own separate blog keeping it separate from my personal one. The intention here is to ensure this blog is dedicated purely for this content and my personal blog for other topics. 

So what is in store for you? 

As you can probably tell already, there has been a re-brand of the Project 365 with the motto of “A Year’s Journey”.  Our key themes or categories will be INSPIRE, MOTIVATE & ENCOURAGE. Aside from this, nothing much is changing apart from a new blog time which will be set across the broader time period of 7:30am to 11:30am, but still daily. If there is one thing my stats has shown me in 2015, it has been when readers (yourself) have actually been reading the content. So I have updated my blog schedule to work around these times more. 

What do I need from you?

Simply put – all I need from you is your ongoing support to read & share the content. Plus if you have a comment or some feedback, I would love to have this come my way too. 

I look forward to sharing with you all (new or original’s) and I hope that this side project of mine can give you the boost, the inspiration and that little extra push to follow your dreams and be the best version of you possible!

Warm Regards,

Chris Furlong | Personal Motivator