Image courtesy of Exfordy

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. We all know the saying, but we often fail to apply this lesson in our lives. If you view the elephant as one giant goal that your whole life depends on, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Why not enjoy the bites along the way?

If you ask somebody what goal they’re working on, what kind of answer do you think you’ll get? Assuming they even have goals, they’ll probably say they’re working on something really big, maybe even something that will make them feel like they’ve achieved their life purpose.

It’s not just about big goals

Many people make a major mistake in being entirely focused on big goals. If your goal is to become a best-selling novelist, great. But that’s a really big goal. If you base too much of your life satisfaction on achieving it, you’ll be unhappy for a very long time (possibly your whole life).
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While blogs about blogging is a crowded niche, there is always room for a new entrant with a fresh approach.

Eric Hamm (Motivate Thyself) and Sean Platt (Writer Dad) have teamed up to launch Blogopolis Blueprint, a blog dedicated to helping bloggers find their online voice and remain one step ahead of the curve.

Eric and Sean have been busy in recent months with guest posts on Zen Habits, ProBlogger and Pick The Brain (here and here). If you have come across these posts, or are familiar with their own personal blogs, you will know both men are great writers and have a lot of insightful knowledge to share.

Eric and Sean tell me Blogopolic Blueprint will highlight a specific blogging theme each week, and in addition to their own articles the blog will feature a rotating cast of guest authors and interviews.

But that’s enough out of me…. go check out Blogopolis Blueprint (or subscribe via RSS and email).

Peter Clemens is Editor of Pick The Brain (follow him on Twitter).

Image courtesy of Eschipul

Around this time of the year, it is commonplace to discuss resolutions, goals and objectives for the next year; but I want to do something slightly different. I want to discuss two topics that test our character and allow us to live the life we dream about: forgiveness and vision. I want to discuss how to truly forgive and have a clear vision of what we want to do, where we want to go and most importantly, how we want to feel during our time on this beautiful planet.

True Forgiveness

I understand that forgiveness is no easy task. This is especially true of the most important aspect of true forgiveness; self-forgiveness.

The ego screams loudly and clearly that we should focus on all the wrongdoers in our lives. I can assure you from personal experience that if you are able to hold up a mirror and be kind and forgiving to yourself, you are on the path to true freedom. You will be unable to move forward on your path to true personal growth if you are full of blame, condemnation and engaged in default escape behaviors rather than dealing with the issues you need to address.
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Image courtesy of Arwen Abendstern

Do you find yourself consistently miserable and stressed? I used to but now even my infamous ‘grumpy-old-man’ moods are underpinned by a strong undercurrent of contentment and joy. Why? Because along the way I have learned some awesome ideas that helped me to discover deep and lasting happiness. Here’s 7 of them…

1. Stop Looking for Happiness

When I was growing up my mother was often depressed. At the time I had never experienced this (it came later) and I didn’t understand it. By the time I was about twenty I figured out one reason why she was so regularly unhappy: because she was focusing on wanting to be happy too much.

I gave her a cheesy embroidery piece in a frame (warning: cheesy, but actually works) which said:

“Happiness is like a butterfly: If you chase it, it flies away, but when you turn your attention to other things, it comes and quietly lands on your shoulder.”

I have no idea if she ever really got anything out of that, but soon after she started to study accounting, and went on to become a practicing accountant. She had always enjoyed numbers and so she was quite happy with this career path, which was her first ever full-time job outside of the home.
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