• How Setting Goals Can Change Your Life!
• Setting Goals - Prt 2
• Setting Goals - Prt 3
• Setting Goals - Prt 3
• Setting Goals - Prt 4
• Setting Goals - Prt 5
• With Heartfelt Thanks For your Referrals!
• A Wedding Tale
• A Wedding Tale - Continued
• A Wedding Tale - Conclusion
• Monthly Quiz
• Do You Suffer From Recurring Headaches?
• Bits Of Wit And Wisdom
• Do You Book Your Own Travel Online?

“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will”
---George Bernard Shaw

“How Setting Goals Can Change Your Life!”

Dear Friends,

I hope that this month’s newsletter finds you well!

Last month I talked about the secrets of lucky people, and of course, they don’t really have any secrets - they just have a game plan and a point of view that’s different than “unlucky” people. This month I wanted to share with you what I’ve learned about goal setting and how it’s one key to being more “lucky” (or in other words more successful).

In the well known Lewis Carroll story “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” there comes a part in the story where Alice is standing at a “Y” in the road, so she asks the newly appeared Cheshire cat “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
The Cat replies “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
“I don’t much care where” says Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go” answers the Cat.

Goals Are Your Roadmap

The obvious moral of that tale is that you have to know where you trying to go if you ever want to get there, and that is really the purpose of having goals in your life. All of us have at least some vague idea of how we’d like our life to be different but without a clear picture you have no map and no checkpoints along the way to let you know you’re going in the right direction.

As Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich said, “Without a major definite purpose, you are as helpless as a ship without a compass.” Every truly successful person will tell you the importance of setting goals but only about 3% of the population will actually take the time to use goals to make them a roadmap to a successful life.

Goals acts like powerful magnets in your life -once you set them and put them down in writing your mind will open up to your goals. You’ll find that you begin attracting people and circumstances that can help you accomplish them.

Setting Proper Goals for Yourself

Most people aren’t sure how to set goals or what type of goals to set and that’s totally understandable, since most of us have never been exposed to the art of goal setting.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the proper way to set goals:

#1: You must put your goals into writing!

#2: A goal will only be effective if it clearly identifies where you want to be in the future. The clearer that you make your goal the more effective it will be. For instance, many people make goals about losing weight. If you write down your goal as, “I want to lose weight”, I can pretty much guarantee if won’t work. If you write down your goal as, “I want to lose 15 pounds by July 1st by going to the gym four times a week and working out for one hour each time, and doing both aerobic and weight lifting workouts that I will track in my workout notebook.” you’ll have a much better chance for success!

#3: Any goal that you set has to be congru ent with your values as a person.

#4: Always state your goals in a positive way.

#5: Make sure that the only person that your goal depends upon is you.

#6: Visualize in your mind how you will feel when you accomplish your goal. Visualize it in great detail - the more detail you use the better it will work!

# 7: Set your goal in context; if possible, be specific about the date, the time, the place, and so on.

#8: Once you’ve set your goal and have written it down just take a few minutes to relax and reflect on it and make sure it feels “right” to you.

#9: Now write down what the price of accomplishing your goal is going to be - financially as well as in terms of time and effort needed.

Once you’ve done all of that you should feel focused and motivated to achieve whatever goal you set for yourself!

Here’s another key secret to goal setting - only share your goal with people who will support you and help you achieve it! Many times people will try and hold other people back from going after their goals because your goals make them feel uncomfortable. Or they’ll make it a point to tell you about all of the obstacles and problems you will face in trying to achieve your goal. Negativity is the enemy, so don’t bother telling your goal to people who have negative attitudes!

It’s been said that “a goal set properly is a goal half-way reached”. When you have clarity about where it is you want to go, how it is you are going to get there, and what you are willing to sacrifice to make the journey you are clearly on the path to success.

Plan Your Action Steps

Once you’ve set your goal(s) it’s now time to start taking action to make them a reality. If you have a single major goal you should break it down into a series of short term goals that will help you get to your long term goal in a controlled stepwise fashion. Just make sure to be as specific about your short term goals as you are about your long term ones.

If your goals have to do with changing a habit just keep in mind that most research has shown that it takes a minimum of 21 days to change an ingrained habit. So don’t expect to make massive progress overnight!

Keep Yourself on Track!

Remember that a goal that’s properly set is only HALFWAY to being accomplished! Once you have your goals you need to keep yourself motivated by reviewing them everyday. Set aside a few minutes a day at a given time (either first thing in the morning or last thing before you go to bed). Just make sure you do it at the same time everyday so it becomes part of your daily routine, just like brushing and flossing your teeth is, right? ;)

This daily evaluation serves a few purposes - one is that you will stay more focused on your goals and you’ll constantly know how close you are to achieving them. The other is that it will also show you if an approach is or isn’t working. If you are using an approach that isn’t working make sure you change your approach!

Okay, you’ve set your goals, you have a plan of action and you’re committed to evaluating them on a daily basis - yet the major obstacle you have to overcome is…yourself!

Procrastina tion is your enemy. Just know that you are probably going to lose a few battles but you can win the war!

Keep this saying in mind: “The road to Someday only only leads to the town of Nowhere!

There’s no question that I have the BEST patients on the entire planet!

My business is built on word of mouth advertising and I would like to thank all of you who were kind enough to recommend our services to your friends.

Thank you soooo much!

(Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent!)

After a long day of wedding planning, Maggie and her mother decided to have a nice dinner at a local restaurant. As her Maggie told me later, the atmosphere was relaxing and the food was great, and the two of them were totally enjoying themselves until disaster struck! Maggie took a bite and bit into something hard and felt one of her front teeth crack. She gasped as she put her hand in front of her face and ran to the bathroom to see how bad it was, leaving her mother wondering what had happened.

“I Thought I Had Ruined My Wedding!”

Maggie looked in the mirror and slowly pulled her hand away from her mouth. She was horrified to see that her front tooth had broken in half! Her once beautiful smile was ruined and, in her mind, so was her wedding. When her mother finally followed her into the bathroom she found Maggie crying over the sink. “My wedding is ruined” she sobbed. Her mother tried to console her but she really didn’t know what to say.

Maggie went home that night and cried herself to sleep. When she woke up in the morning and walked to the bathroom she prayed that it had all been a bad dream. Unfortunately the bathroom mirror reflected the ugly truth.

“The Stress Melted Off My Shoulders”

Maggie’s mother called her early that morning to tell her that she had called some friends from work who all were patients in our office. Her mom had called our office and we assured her that we could not only repair the damage done but we could make Maggie look better than ever! We brought Maggie in immediately and told her we would have her smile back in time for her wedding. I could tell that she was still a bit skeptical but she was no longer panicked.

“Saving The Day”

I never considered myself a super hero, but Maggie and her mom sure made me feel like one that day!

Maggie’s front tooth was severely damaged, and needed an all-porcelain crown to repair her smile. Maggie had been thinking about whitening her teeth for the wedding, and did have some minor gaps she wished closed. So we laser whitened her teeth, and used Da Vinci porcelain veneers to close the gaps – two weeks later she had her permanent “ideal smile”! This time when she started crying it was from joy! She told me that she never dreamed that her smile could look so beautiful, especially after what had happened just a few short days ago. Her fiancé even sent me a thank you card! Last I heard they were living happily ever after.
Sometimes a person needs a nudge to motivate them to do something they had wished to do for some time. So with that in mind, we’ve decided to offer an incentive to brides. If you call us before May 31st we’ll take 10% off your laser tooth whitening plus put $300 in your personal account for any other cosmetic procedures. This offer is good for anyone in the wedding party and even anyone attending a wedding! Even if you’re wedding isn’t until fall just call before the deadline and we’ll extend the offer! Call Merritt today at (214) 556-5251 to schedule.

Patient Quiz!

Here's the question and the answer to last month's quiz:

There’s a number missing from this list, which one is it?
8, 5, 4, _, 1, 7, 6.

Answer: 9. The numbers are arranged in alphabetical order when they are spelled out as words.

This Month’s Quiz Question!

A dozen Royals gathered round,
Entertained by two who clowned.
Each King there had servants ten,
Though none of them were also men.
The lowest servant sometimes might,
Defeat the King in a fair fight.
A weapon stout, a priceless jewel,
The beat of life, a farmer's tool.

What are we talking about here folks?

There’s now a great way to relieve headache pain from TMJ, tension and migraines!

Neurologists have found that migraine and tension headaches, as well as those from TMJ (which also causes you to grind your teeth), can be effectively treated with BOTOX® in 2 out of 3 cases! Now BOTOX® injections from Dr. Swift can be used therapeutically to relieve recurring headache pain!

In 2004 Dr. Swift underwent training in both the therapeutic and cosmetic use of BOTOX® with Dr. Andy Blumenfeld. Dr. Blumenfeld is an internationally recognized authority on the utilization of Botulinum Toxin Type A for the treatment of headache and has significant experience as a researcher, speaker and national injector trainer. He was Chief of Service for the Department of Neurology at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, and is currently Director of The Headache Center of Southern California. Dr. Blumenfeld is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

To learn if y ou're a candidate and get more information, please follow the link....

- The two best times to fish are “right before you got there” and “right after you left.”
- Always behave like a duck. Keep calm and unruffled on the surface but keep paddling like crazy underneath.
- The time to make friends is before you need them.
- Most of us are too fond of people who agree with us and of food which does not.
- A cannibal is a man who is fed up with people….
- The difference between gossip and news is whether you hear it or tell it.
- Human nature’s funny – if you aren’t a tightwad somebody is pretty sure to label you a spendthrift.
- The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm.
- Intuition is what enables a woman to contradict her husband before he says anything.
- In youth we learn. In age we understand.
- Our next NASA mission will put 300 cattle into orbit – it’ll be the first herd shot around the world….
- The trouble with most of us is that we’d rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.
- Golf is what men do to relax when they’re too tired to mow the lawn.
- Most successful people are just common people who applied themselves in an uncommon way.

Want To Save A Ton of Time Planning a Trip And Find The Lowest Price Available?

As a service to our many patients who travel and use the internet to research the best value and to book their business trips and vacations, we have added to our website technology that can save you time and money. Our website has “PowerSearch™”, a proprietary comparative search engine. Simply enter your travel info once, hit search, and it hunts automatically on up to 200 travel related websites and brings back the results in order of price – plus shows you which site has the best deal. Then click on the deal you want and save money! If it’s a travel, airline, hotel, cruise, or car rental site – you no longer have to go to each and enter your dates to search and compare – one click does it all!