We often like to define first what we are aiming for at the onset of any activity – the so-called anticipated result of our actions – so the purpose is clear in our minds. Once a goal is set, we can devise action plans, determine the time required to achieve the objective, and decide what resources are needed to bring about the desired end. With the basics in place, we then go about doing the actual work while we monitor our progress against the plan we put into place.

“Easy! Nothing complicated about it!” you might say.

The problem is, if goal setting were as easy as following the prescribed outline found in many personality development books, why do you often find yourself abandoning your goals midstream?

Let me tell you.

The problem lies in the way we define and subsequently treat our goals!

Let me explain.

All too often, we fail to break down our lofty personal goals into more manageable tasks or, conversely, account for what our action plan can actually deliver.

For instance, if your goal were to lose 30 pounds in 5 months – a classic example to illustrate this point – how would you go about achieving this?

If we were to break down this goal into its component parts, this would mean a weight loss of 1.5 lbs during your very first week, right?

Big mistake!

During your first week, in all likelihood, you will be preoccupied with the basics, like:

• purchasing an accurate weighing scale, if you don’t have one yet, so you can regularly monitor your weight
• consulting a doctor or personal trainer to help you assess which exercise regimen is best for you
• acquiring the exercise gear you need
• mapping out your jogging/walking route or enrolling in a gym
• researching which diet plan to follow
• ridding your household of those tempting treats still found in your pantry or refrigerator

Before you know it, the first week is over and you are NOT 1.5 lbs lighter!

Worse yet, after realizing you have failed at the outset and discouragement sets in, you begin to wallow in misery. You look at your plan in disdain and begin to seriously have doubts. You know very well how this story will end, don’t you?

Goal setting done the right way CAN help you achieve what you set out to do. Just be mindful of the following goal setting tips when formulating your own goals:

1. Be Honest

Using the SMART principle (specific, attainable, realistic, time-bound), define your goals truthfully. If you are not the type who responds well to stretched goals, then be more conservative in your approach!

2. Think Things Through

Define your goals clearly. What do you need by way of resources? What steps do you need to take to achieve your objectives? How long should each task take? How would you be able to tell if adjustments are needed?

3. See in Your Mind’s Eye How Your Plan will Progress

Carefully scrutinize you action plan and see  how this will affect your quantifiable targets. Be mindful of what your action plan can actually deliver and set your goals accordingly. Conversely, make sure your action plan can deliver the desired result.

4. Do the Work

Goals are met only when you do the work required work to achieve them. Wishful thinking or divine intervention won’t help you here, so don’t expect something to happen when you haven’t done anything!

5. Be Flexible

Account for the unexpected. Circumstances change. Be ready to tweak your goals if the situation calls for it but never lose sight of your goals’ underlying essence.

6. Reward Yourself

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done! As you come closer to achieving your goal, celebrate each milestone achieved!

Do you know of other goal setting tips? I would love to hear from you! Just leave me a note and let me know.

If you like to keep up with all the tips I offer on personality development, managing time, and increasing productivity, sign up for my RSS feed or follow me on Twitter! I also offer a free time management course on www.managemytimenow.com!

I have always been troubled by the idea that in our society, which is all about achieving success, there are only 3% of the people who are actually living the lives of their dreams. It seems so mindboggling isn’t it?

There are so many tools out there and so many opportunities, yet somehow, the majority of us cannot seem to put this success puzzle into place.

And that is exactly why I have studied successful people, their autobiographies and biographies over the past 5-6 years to figure out how they really think.

And here’s what I have found. There are key differences in how some of the world’s most successful people like Sir Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Warren Buffet think and how the rest of the world thinks.

Here are the top ten views and values I have found that seem to be common to the world’s most successful people while these same views seem to be missing from most people.

1. Successful people do not care what others think of them.
2. Successful people view failure as a stepping stone.
3. Successful people are motivated by their dreams.
4. Successful people think mostly about growth and opportunity.
5. Successful people are action oriented.
6. Successful people are masters of making the most of their time.
7. Successful people create success habits.
8. Successful people have a vision and a plan.
9. Successful people are always looking to learn and ask questions.
10. Successful people commit to their goals.

Ok, I know I haven’t done justice to these points because I haven’t explained them with the examples and tips on how to start cultivating these habits but I just want you to start thinking about these for now.

And I’ll soon let you know where you can download a full blown account of these habits, how successful people use them and how you can start building them very soon.

You see, there’s one little thing you can do this year to make sure that you follow through with your new year’s resolutions even if you’ve never followed through with any of your resolutions before.

Ready?

Here’s what you need to do. You need to create a plan to stick to your new year’s resolutions. And here’s why:

Some of you know that Tony Robbins has had a great influence on me and one of the things he always says is Never leave the site of setting a goal without making a plan. Look, when you don’t make a plan for yourself you do not have any obligation to follow through on your goals or resolutions.

It’s the Plan that gives you the motivation (or at least tells you what to do) when all the motivation from reading a book or listening to a speaker is gone.

But the main reason I like to make a plan as soon as I have a new goal is this: I don’t have to think about it! I don’t have to worry about forgetting it or not working on it…it’s all in the plan and in my schedule so it starts to become something like second nature and that’s exactly where you want to be with your resolutions…don’t you?

And we’ll talk about going from a plan into step by step actions that you can take later..but for now let’s plan things out.

1. The first thing I want you to do is visualize (or think about) what your goal would look like or what you’d look like as a result of your new year’s resolutions in a year. Think about all the specifics.

If your goal is to lose weight, how much weight? If the goal is to setup a new business, what is that business going to look like in a year? If the goal is to get new clients, how many new clients?

2. Now you need to start thinking of where you are right now. Think about how you’re currently doing with your resolutions and write that down.

3. List all your assets that are going to help you get to where you want. Think about key contacts, money, past experiences, anything that could help you.

4. The next step is to figure out exactly what you need to do to get to where you have visualized yourself at on Dec 31, 2010.

Listen, we all have some sort of general ideas about what we need to do to achieve our goals and all I’m asking you to do is to jot them down on paper for now. And, if you feel like there’s a gap that you aren’t sure about just ask your contacts (who’ve had success doing what you want to do) or refer to a book/magazine/trusted article that can help you out a little.

Take a couple days to complete this exercise and I’ll show you how to take your rough plan and turn it into a step by step action plan for easy and stress free way to stick to your new year’s resolution.

photo credit: Lazurite

And it absolutely sucks when that happens!

So, here’s a great post I just found  by Alex Shalman on 30 Ways to Slow down and de-stress and I think you’ll love it! Alex’s tips are excellent and I personally use some of them..especially #3.

Every time I’m stressed out, I do run for my treadmill. It sure doesn’t sound relaxing but trust me, it helps (especially if you set it on high and run instead of just walking — it takes your mind off the ugly thing stressing you out). Plus, it’s good for your health..

No wonder I’ve lost some weight recently, somethings have me running for the treadmill every hour or so

Enjoy the article!

I was listening to 177 Mental Toughness Secrets by Steve Siebold this morning and one of the secrets he talks about is the whole waiting for the “right time” syndrome.

I must admit I was quite hesitant to embrace the idea of not waiting for the “right time” when I first heard about it. It sounded like the greatest betrayl of our intuitive feelings!

That was a couple years ago…my thoughts on this topic have changed a lot since applying some of his strategies into my life AND in working with a lot of people who’re struggling with procrastination…

And here’s the scoop…

Intuitive feeling is a good thing but when waiting for the “right time” stops you from achieving your goals…it’s probably not an intuitive feeling, it’s usually your fear of failure or perfectionism tendencies acting up!

And that’s exactly where most of us get stuck! We have a goal and then we end up listening to this feeling that says “Uh…not today”

Well here’s a quick way to get over the “not today” argument… Listen, the “right time’” is never going to come down and knock on your doors…it’s something YOU have to create..

Falling victim to the “right time will come and will eventually motivate me to get this thing done” will just put you into a panic mode when the deadline’s too close or worse yet, it will prevent you from achieving your major goals..

So the next time you’re waiting for the “right time” feeling…try this…Just get started on the work…

Counter-intuitive? You bet!

But here’s the deal with this…

The hardest part of feeling good about what you’re going to do is to overcome the inertia of doing it…it’s the inertia that creates the “maybe this isn’t the right time” feeling to try to keep you from not doing it. (Remember Newton? A body at rest remains in rest..)

Just try it!

(and let me know how it goes)

Check out the latest issue of your time management and personal
growth newsletter to find out!

Here’s where you can get the newsletter..

If you are a subscriber, it should already be in your inboxes, if not, just let me know!

If you aren’t a subscriber yet, simply head over to http://www.managemytimenow.com and sign up for my FREE Time Management course and the newsletter.

I’ll see you on the inside

P.S. please remember to forward this to your friends!

Rigdha

On the first of June, we talked about setting up goals to create an amazing month so it only makes sense to spend sometime towards the end of the month to see how our plans have worked out.

Regardless of how your plans have worked out and whether or not you’ve achieved your monthly goals, here’s another measurement to take.

Did you put up a good fight?

Now, I’m not talking about fighting with your boss, parents, spouse or anything at all. I’m talking about your fight with the following 7 habits that keep most of us from getting what we want.

1. Did you fight against “I think I know it”?

I think I know it is the biggest killer of knowledge. When we think we know something – we usually block out the information, after all it’s the same old same old.. So, it’s important to go in with a New attitude. The information may not be new but the presentation may just click with you giving you concrete strategies to use. Did you try your very best to just let others get their word in, to listen rather than speak? Did you invest some time in developing your own skills? Did you spend time on your personal and professional development?

2. Did You fight against “Oh, I can’t do this”?

This one, I think is the biggest struggle for most of us. You set your plans, get up in the morning, something goes wrong and you’re completely off track.

“How could that happen to me”, ” I can’t believe it”, “I can’t believe he/she did that to me”, “What’s wrong with me”, “Why does everybody hate me?”

And, you get nothing done.

The poor me or victim mentality keeps a lot of us from getting where we want to go. You’ve got to get stronger and say “Well, this didn’t work – so what? I can deal with it” “I’ll make it work”.

Easier said than done, I know but it’s worth it.

3.  How about “Oh My Gosh, the world is falling apart”?

Have you ever felt like the world was really going to fall apart? I have. You’re late to a meeting and you can’t help but think of all the things that could go wrong. Your colleagues must’ve used the opportunity to fill up everyone against you, Oh No, the world is falling apart!

Tell me if I’m alone but I think I have personally calculated at least a 100 different situations where apocalypse was probably around half a second away.

I think they also call it panic.

Anyhow, the truth is..The earth is still pretty much in tact and I’m still alive. And I somehow think I’m not the only person who has experienced this. So, now that you know a little secret about me..Here’s something to ask yourself.

Did you fight hard to keep your focus on where it should be?

Keep your eyes on the prize not the price.

It’s not just a feel good thing – it also saves you from insanity.

4. How about “Maybe in 5 minutes”?

Also known as procrastination – another great killer of dreams. And, it’s pretty bloody too.

“I just don’t feel like it right now”, “I’ve got too much to deal with”, “I’ve tried hard enough maybe I can sleep now…oooh or play Super Smash Bros” (Video games are evil, I tell ya), “Maybe I’ll be more awake after my nap”.

And, what are the chances of that happening? Listen, the next time you want to procrastinate ask yourself why. If you are really really tired – you deserve a nap and even Super Smash Bros or Super Mario..But, you’ve got to be realistic..

Don’t waste your time, ever!

5. Did You fight against “I/he/she is an idiot”

This goes with “I can’t do it” but also deserve a section of it’s own. You’ve got to believe in yourself and your dream to get it. And, there’s not much to be accomplished by carrying grudges either. If you just let others and yourself make some mistakes along the way and accept it, you’re going to get there a lot happier.

Did you try your best this month to forgive others, their mistakes, yourself and your mistakes?

6. How about “But..maybe I can’t”

Also known as fear. There’s tons of types of fear out there. There’s the fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of heights and so on. Fear can be a real pain in the neck even if you have everything else correct. It will play up your emotions and get you in the “I’m helpless” hole faster than anything else.

The important thing is…did you face your fear (or atleast try your best?). If you did…you are a winner no matter whether or not the goals you set actually worked out.

7. And how about “But, I don’t know if this will work” or “But, we’ve been doing this for so long I’m afraid to change”

Taking risks is a pretty risky thing But, I know there are some people who won’t even take an angstrom of a risk. For those of you who don’t know what an angstrom is – it’s 0.1 nanometers. Taking a good amount of risk is healthy, don’t let it scare you

The point of this post

This is probably the longest post I’ve written but the point is this..

Most people set goals, don’t get there, cry and give up.

And, I don’t want you to do that.

Celebrate every victory you get. If you fought real hard against some of your fears – don’t let that go uncounted even if the goal on paper didn’t get achieved. Recognize every bit of effort you put in and celebrate every single victory.

You’re one (or million) steps closer to your goals now depending on the nature of fears/habits you fought to break or acquire.

Well done
photo credit: Pingu1963

We talked about 3 ways of saving time with email  Saturday so let’s start off with tip number 4

 4. Block time off for email

I like to turn off email and even my phone when I’m working. It breaks my focus to get up and answer the phone or send a reply to someone. Email is an excellent tool and I find it highly effective to set time for it. Now, the frequency will depend on the nature of your job. You might be OK with checking emails twice a day or every 2 hours, try out different combinations and don’t let your inbox control your schedule.

5. Don’t let someone else’s agenda get on you

Email is an excellent way for people to keep updated and update others which makes it incredibly easy for us to get distracted by others’ agenda. I never check my email in the morning (unless I’m incredibly bored), I like to work on my agenda, get to my goals and then help others get what they want. Email is tempting..stay focused!

 6. Start off with the most important emails

I Know it’s logical to go in order and open emails one at a time but I find it more effective to again Group them by project (we talked about using folders for our emails on Saturday) and then reading the most important ones based on the project. It helps you stay on agenda AND get all the updates about a particular project before you hit the reply button.

Oh No! We’re at the end of our 6 tips, I still have a bonus tip for you though. So, stay tuned We’ll talk about that Wednesday.

And here we go..

1. Get a good Spam Filter

If You don’t have a good spam filter, you have no idea how badly you’re punishing yourself. Get a good spam filter that allows you to setup your own rules, spend a couple days training the software and enjoy the rest of your life. Whatever you do..go get a good spam filter right away if you don’t have one.

 Here’s a couple tips from PCWorld on Spam Filters

 2. Get to the Bottom of it

An empty inbox gives an amazing feeling so make it a point to get to the bottom of your in box everyday. And, don’t use your inbox as a storage, if an email is important enough, print it off and file it or save it to your computer. Get to the bottom of it! And start afresh the next day

3. Folderize baby..

Setup some folders to deal with emails. Here’s some of mine..

Family, Work, Waiting On, and project wise folders.  Get organized, it will save your day..trust me!

Let’s leave things off here for today..we’ll come back and talk about 3 more tips on Monday (I think that’s a pretty good way to start off the week)

Have a good weekend!

photo credit: twenty_questions

Before I start, I’m not talking about the crappy notepad that comes with Windows. Or any online notepad for that matter, even though there are some really good digital notepads out there (I’ll blog about them tomorrow), I’m talking about the physical one.

Have you ever sat there knowing you had to do something? Ever tried to remember what you’d decided you absolutely needed to do today? Tried racking your brain wondering what your boss’ specifications were?

If you have, you need a notepad and you need to start using it right away! Your notepad is your best friend when you’re getting information about a new project, something you need to do, project plans or new ideas. I strongly recommend you to start noting all your ideas down. It will be useful later on!

Let’s face it, an idea is always so full of energy, fresh and tempting when you first think of it. It almost convinces you that you will never forget this brilliant idea of yours..5 days later…You may have a hard time remember any details about the idea (or the idea itself) and that’s why you need a notepad..

When You talk to your boss about a new idea, it’s probably fresh in your minds, you can clearly understand his requirements and specifications..Now, just start working on that for a couple weeks and you may have a hard time trying to figure out what he really wanted..That’s exactly why you need a notepad.

So, get a notepad and start writing down your ideas. Your ideas are too precious to be lost..

Write them down..you don’t want to ignore a million dollar idea..ever!

P.S. Did I say notepads are amazing to deal with information overload?