A lesson about Areas of Focus.  Keep them visible and make sure your goals are aligned with them.
They’re pretty broad so you need to tie them down through your goals.
Because there is a danger for the Juggling Julie and Last Minute Lucy Time Management Styles
amongst us.

Yesterday I got excited about a new project opportunity.  Does it fit with my goals? No.
Does it fit with my Areas of Focus – sort of.  And that’s where the danger lies.

We can make those BSOs – Bright Shiny Objects fit the box if we really want to – but are
they going to be helpful in the long term?  Or are they going to steal my time?
Hmmm – sometimes we just don’t want to answer that question.

It’s certainly great to have lots of different projects on the go – and even ones that right now don’t
have a real link with your goals.  They always give me a burst of energy – because I love creating new things.
But we need to be mindful of how much time they can take up.  The lovely BSO I came up with would take months
to bring to life – and would take me away from my core business. Sure it could be a raging success -
but there’s a lot at stake if it isn’t.

A great time management strategy I’ve learnt for these situations is to put that BSO into a
Someday/Maybe file. When you review your list each month you can decide if it’s something you really want
to do or needs to stay where it is.  You can always do some research into it in the meantime to get a better
sense of whether it will be a success or not.

Do you struggle with keeping BSO’s under control?  Love to hear your comments

In our last article we talked about the importance of limiting your Daily Action List (or To Do list) if you want to be as productive with your time as possible. We admit this can be a real challenge.

But never before has it been so important to say no. It’s hard to do because maybe that next piece of information could be the key to your success. But success hinges on the opposite – your willingness to risk missing some information.

Trying to focus on it all is a risk in itself. Exhaust yourself and you get
confused, nervous and miss things.

Think about when you’re driving a car. The world around you keeps changing. Unless you stay focused and resist the distractions out the window and in your car, you’ll crash, according to Time Management expert Peter Bregman.

So how do you do it?

The key is you don’t need to make sure everything gets done – but the right things.

Here’s a time management strategy of Peter’s we highly recommend for all Time Management
Styles to help you find out what the right things for you to be spending your time on.

Choose 5 ‘Areas of Focus’ for you this year – ie where you want to put your attention.
Here’s Jayne’s Areas of Focus as an example. She has split them into two areas –
business and personal. In Business she wants to focus this year on:

Business:
• Doing great work with current clients
• Attracting future clients to our business
• Writing and speaking about the Time Management Styles

In her Personal life she wants to focus on:
• Being present with family and friends
• Having fun and taking care of myself

Now the areas of focus are not goals. We suggest you create specific goals in each category.
Or if you have goals already, then draw from those your areas of focus you want to work on this year
to help you achieve your goals.

Then write your To Do list in categories of the 5 areas and assign a % of time you want to give each
area of focus this year. Then add a 6th – the Other 5% – pay bills, miscellaneous tasks.

This technique allows you to see how you’re treating each area of focus. Does your
reality show you are spending enough time in each of these so they are moving forward?

You need to be mindful you’re not spending too much in the Other 5% . If you are then this
highlights to you that you might need to delegate or defer some things until more time
in your schedule.

If you find you’re spending time on things that don’t fit into your areas of focus you
need to decide if you need to change your areas of focus or stop doing them or delegate
those activities. You need to be brave and cull those things that aren’t going to help
you get where you want to go.

A word of caution though. This strategy will only help identify the right things to
focus on when you are mindful of the key drivers of your Style, the strengths of your Style
and challenges.

For example, if you find you get caught up perfecting your tasks and projects or believe
you’re the only one who can do a good job, then this will be influence what realistically
you can get done each day. But many people are unaware of their behaviours and their impacts.
Unless you take these into account or action to change them, you will continue to be overwhelmed.

When you have the self-awareness Time Management Styles offers you, you know what’s going to
help and hinder you and how best to work with them so they don’t undermine your efforts.

*******************

You can purchase Pink Shoe Power. What your Time Management Style means for
your success in business and life on the Pink Shoe Power website.
Here’s the link to get your copy. Or click on the book graphic on the right.

Have you ever watched people stagger away from a buffet with plates piled high?
They end up either leaving lots or lurch out of the restaurant feeling horrible because they’ve eaten too much.

What’s that got to do with productivity and saving time?

Well the secret to surviving a buffet is to not to over fill your plate.
The same can be said about your day.  The secret to thriving in life is to be strategic about what you choose to do and make hard decisions about what not to choose.

Here’s some reasons why…

When you have too much to do, a typical reaction is to freeze because you don’t know where to start. Or you move frantically, always busy, reacting to things as they come at you in an attempt to make headway.   Either way, you make little progress on what counts..

A Columbia University Business School Study reveals another reason why.  A group of people were offered samples of six different jams to buy. Another group were presented with 24 different jams.

The Study revealed that the six-jam group was 10 times more likely to purchase a jam, ANY jam, than the 24 jam group.  Why? Because the greater the number of options to choose from, the more difficult it was to choose a single one, so they ended up choosing none.

Makes sense, doesn’t it?  When we’re got too many things to choose from it takes longer to make a decision, or you make a quick random decision you later regret, or give up and don’t make one at all.

The same thing applies when you’ve got too many things to do.  You can struggle to make good decisions about what to focus your time on.

So how can you choose to do less?

One option is challenging the perception you need to do everything you think you have to.

Ask yourself the question: What do I not want to see by maintaining the perception of being in a time-starved predicament where I am always busy?

Why this is so powerful is that it really helps you examine your own motivations and drivers that either propel you—or stall you—on your road to a fulfilled life.

It’s like knowing your Time Management Styles, which give you greater insight into your strengths and challenges yet in a fun, easy way.

People in all Time Styles may overload themselves, some more consistently. It helps them when they ask themselves, why?

For instance, see Juggling Julies load their plates because they enjoy the creativity of new tasks—but then they have to look at what the fear of completing the task might be to them.

Driven Dianas, on the other hand, tend to define themselves through their work/professions and have no space for other parts of their self so overload their day on work.

‘Who are you if you take away your work?’ is their scary question for themselves in this instance.

Another way is to sift through all of your tasks and identify those things that will give you the greatest chance of achieving your goals. We’ll share with you next time a great technique on how you can do this.

Right now here are three great lessons from The Biggest Loser to remember:

Lesson 1: It won’t always be easy. There are no silver bullets. Lots of people want to lose weight. Lots of people want to be more productive, but most aren’t willing to pay the price or make sacrifices to get there. You will not be successful with a half-hearted effort or by looking for r the easy way out.

Lesson 2: It’s about self-management. Whether you want to lose weight, be more productive, or achieve your dream, it’s really about managing yourself better.

Lesson 3: Consistency is key. No matter how close (or far) you are from your goal — or even if you’re there already — you need to create good habits and keep using them if you’re to be successful in the long term.

***********************

You can purchase Pink Shoe Power. What your Time Management Style means for 
your success in business and life on the Pink Shoe Power website.
Here’s the link to get your copy.

Early this year, I merged a couple of time management systems that help keep me on track with physical ‘stuff’ waiting to be done. So as well as sharing that idea here, including how to set it up for yourself, we thought it was timely to talk about the importance of refreshing your systems from time to time.

It’s a given in our world that systems make life work better. As with anything, it’s good to take stock of whether how you’re doing things is still working as well as when you set it up—or whether it could do with tweaking to increase your productivity.

This simple example today relates to sending out birthday, anniversary and other greeting cards. Do you find yourself dashing out to buy them at the last minute? Perhaps then not finding the perfect one because you’re out of time? Or buying a second because you forgot where you put that ‘perfect’ one that you bought months ahead of time?

If like me, you have a touch of Pink Shoe Power Time Management Style Juggling Julie in you, you might relate to that!

Thanks Focused Fiona!

Years ago, a Focused Fiona friend taught me the value of buying cards ahead of time. She actually buys all her cards at the start of the year (and she has a large circle who receive these!), sorts them into months, puts the person’s name on the envelope and pencils in the date to send.

I loved the idea. But not being a Fiona meant I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. But I did adapt the idea and bought a concertina file where I’d keep odd cards sorted by month for when I saw special cards for specific people—or just lovely handmade cards that I knew friends would enjoy.

My system was to check my system for who I needed cards for in the following month, then check what cards I already had bought and filed in the concertina file. But now I’ve merged it with my Fat Calendar (also known as a tickler file) and it’s been saving me time and effort.

No matter how ‘electronic’ our system to help us keep track of our obligations each month, there’s still an element of paper to deal with. That’s where Fat Calendars come in.

First off—do you use a Fat Calendar, or what productivity expert, David Allen, calls the ‘tickler file’?

Basically, it’s a series of folders that do what a calendar can do—only more so!

These allow you to store a range of physical reminders (rather than a note in a calendar, whether paper based or electronic). There are 31 file folders (manila folders work well) that represent days of the month, another 12 that represent the months, then another for the following year.  Each day you check that day’s folder (or the next depending on when you check) for physical reminders such as  information you want to follow up, tickets to an event you’re attending that evening, an agenda for a meeting that morning, or paper-based information on things you might want to buy or do. 

You then put everything you have for that day into your In-tray to deal with and then put the empty folder at the back of the other folders for the month.

On the ‘in’ side, when you get any of those bits of paper—reminders, cards, tickets, etc.—you simply slot all those into the file folder for the relevant day.

Things for other months get saved in the month file till that month comes up. (Ditto for things for the following year.)

Here’s a photo of my original, rather ‘organic’ Fat Calendar that I can’t do without.

What we love about the Fat Calendar is that everything is in one place—and you know where that is!

Nowadays I use my Fat Calendar to put the greeting cards into, too. At the start of any month, I check what special days are coming up that month, which cards I have then add the ones I need to buy or make to my Errands list. (Yes, birthdays and such that fall in the first week of a month, I put into the previous month’s folder.)

The Fat Calendar is also a great partner to Claire McFee’s Organize Your Life system, where you can store all the important information – from passwords, insurance policy numbers to birthdays, anniversary dates, people’s sizes, preferences, what you’ve given them before.. and so much more.

In our e-world, it’s still so special to receive a real, hand-written letter or card in the mail. So make sure your system for remembering other people’s events, whether electronic or paper-based, is simple and works.

The main message here is to review your systems regularly. But we’re loving our merged Fat Calendar so give it a go!

If you want to know more about the Fat Calendar, including how to set it up to keep track of all the information and events you need to take action on in the future, see our article: Fat Calendars: How to Deal with Paperwork for Future Events.

We’d love to hear your ways to keep on top of this.

Want Some Help Creating Your Own Fat Calendar?

If you would like some help setting up a Fat Calendar- let us know.  We can talk you through it or set one up for you and send it to you. We have a range of affordable options to choose from.  Send us a quick note:  contactus@pinkshoepower.com.

Fat Calendars: How to Deal with Paperwork for Future Events

We often feel that our electronic world has actually generated more paper rather than reduced the piles!

So it’s not surprising that no matter how electronic your life may be, you will still have to deal with paperwork. Here we outline a very nifty time management solution for dealing with any paperwork that relates to future events or possibilities.

For instance, where do you keep the tickets for the show you’re attending next month? The agenda for next week’s meeting? The information about an upcoming event you might attend? Information about an idea you want to consider? These, and so much more, can be ‘lost’ or forgotten in in-trays, on magnetic clips, or other places and can cause clutter. Worse, we can forget things because we didn’t have that reminder.

These physical reminders of things you want to do are all craving for a Fat Calendar.It’s what productivity expert, David Allen, calls the ‘tickler file’. ( Here’s a link for more information on David Allen’s productivity tools).

The system works in conjunction with your regular calendar, whether it’s electronic or paper, and takes only a few minutes to maintain. It houses the physical side of the calendar.

What is a Fat Calendar?

Basically, it’s a simple series of folders that do what a calendar can do—only more so! It enables you to store the physical reminders of events or possibilities occurring at a future date.

In the front there are 31 file folders (manila folders work well) each representing a day of the month. Label these 1 to 31. Behind these are another 12 that represent the months so label these with the name of each month; then another for ‘next year’. Once you invest in these 44 folders (and something to keep them in so they are handy), you have an eternal calendar for physical reminders in a way that really words.

Using the Fat Calendar

Each day you must check that day’s folder (or the next depending on the time of day you check) and empty the contents into your in-tray to deal with in the course of the day.

Put the empty folder at the back of the other daily folders (now set up behind the next month’s folder) so it can then hold the data for that day in the following month.

If you are going away, don’t forget to check for all the days you’ll be away from this wonderful Fat Calendar.

On the ‘in’ side, when you get any of those bits of paper—reminders, cards, tickets, etc.—you simply slot all those into the file folder for the relevant day if it’s for the current month. If it’s for another month, obviously you slot it in that month’s file. At the end of the month, sort the data collected into the daily files.

It’s so much simpler to do than it might sound.

What we love about the Fat Calendar is that everything is in one place—and you know where that is!
This is a great tool to save time – and it’s so easy to use.

The #1 Rule for Success

To ensure you make this Fat Calendar system work, there’s really only one rule: maintain it daily. It’s only when you know you can rely on a system that you trust it and so can clear your mind and save you stress and time.

Often the simplest systems are the best. This is such a good case in point—and it’s quick!

Want Some Help Creating Your Own Fat Calendar?

If you would like some help setting up a Fat Calendar- let us know.  We can talk you through it or set one up for you and send it to you. We have a range of affordable options to choose from.  Send us a quick note:  contactus@pinkshoepower.com

One of the biggest time monsters we see is when people feel so overwhelmed with all
they ‘have’ to do, ‘should’ do or ‘must’ do that they don’t know where to start.

Often, something’s changed in their lives and the system they’ve used before just doesn’t work.
So they almost freeze—or rush reactively between tasks that ‘yell’ at them—and it just makes it worse.

A client who read our article on saving time with systems for recurrent tasks emailed us
with this request: ‘I’m floundering on something more basic. I’m wasting so much
time because I can’t keep track of everything and get my work and office flowing
simply. It feels out of control and some days I’m completely overwhelmed by it all.
Can you help?’

After we said ‘yes’, we assessed the state of her office, her systems and work needs. Her business
was going through a growth spurt and her family life involved more running around in her day.
She needed sustainable systems designed around what she wanted to achieve in a way that worked
for her and her Time Management Style.

Simple enough. We could explain and show her what to do or we could help her do it. But for this to
be sustainable for her, there was one vital first step to deal with.

Her main issue was her brain.

She was trying to keep so many issues in her brain and it
constantly undermined her by ‘reminding’ her of what
she hadn’t done—at the most inconvenient times. It’s happened
to most of us at some time. Brain overload is our shorthand term
for cluttering our brain with ‘stuff’ instead of using it for focusing
on the task at hand. It meant nothing was getting done properly.

But it isn’t until we believe we can do things a different way,
that it will work.

Sure, she was feeling the pain:she was missing sales, missing special events, and
feeling overwhelmed.

Until she understood what this total lack of control was doing to her brain she wouldn’t ‘get’ the value of maintaining the system.

Not only had she cluttered her brain with stuff because she didn’t have good systems, as a Juggling Julie Time Management Style, she loved new ideas or projects so kept adding to the problem.

The heart of her problem was: she never spent sufficient focused time on anything important.

How could she when every time she stopped long enough, lots of unresolved items in her head popped up screaming for attention. She felt she had the worries of the world on her shoulders.
Big issues and small issues were undifferentiated in their clamour—because the relevant part of
her brain was being used to store all this instead of what it was good at.

You can’t manage time—you can only manage the way you use it, the way you
act at any given time.
Until we start realising that so much of our stress is self-induced because it starts between our ears,
until we take the responsibility to change our actions, we’ll find it hard to change.

Once you start decluttering your brain and using your system so you know it works, you allow your
brain to be more creative and productive. All of us Juggling Julies/James and Last Minute
Larrys/Lucys might remember that those are big rewards for sticking to a system, and not just
tiresome routine.

The other issue is that we become so addicted to being ‘always on’ that we may find it hard to enjoy
the flow of using our systems and taking on only what we can do.

The other part of the equation is learning some ‘mindfulness’ exercises. These are ways to get into the moment and develop that single-focus needed to achieve what we want.  Our local Tai Chi/Martial Arts Master tells us it’s all about being relaxed. Choose your method—then use it consistently to overcome the overwhelm.(Check out the importance of ‘Pause’ to help you focus and save time- in our last blog post).

Part of the next step in organising her system was to get her to ‘unload’ her brain of all the things that she ‘should’ have done, ‘needed’ to do, ‘had’ to check on—including things that weren’t even in her calendar. After that, people start feeling more creative and once they see their system works, they can really believe that they don’t need the overwhelm.

But more of the whole physical side of the organising process next time!

*** Finding out her Time Management Style was also a critical step for our client.
Why? Because she needed to know what challenges might stop her from making her new system stick.
Her love of distractions was a big one for her – that doesn’t help at all when you want to keep focused.
We developed strategies with her to keep distractions to a minimum for her.

She’s loving the difference this is making in her life.

So make sure you know your Time Management Style, your strengths and challenges.
Here’s the link to the Profiler.

**********************

You can purchase Pink Shoe Power. What your Time Management Style means for
your success in business and life on the Pink Shoe Power website.
Here’s the link to get your copy.

Too often it takes a crisis to jolt us into re-evaluating what we really want to be doing with our time.

A successful businesswoman we admire talks about how a health scare led her to give up her successful career and start leading the life she really wanted. She’s now living her dream of running her own thriving business while still having time for her family.

A friend moved her family to a country town because she knew the stress of the city job was killing her husband. It meant less income and starting over for the whole family. The kids complained in the beginning. Now, years later, they’re a happy, healthy family. They love their visits to the city—and really appreciate what they now have each time they return home.

If there’s a passion inside you wanting to get out—or if you want more time for a special part of your life—here’s a simple sign to help you break the cycle you’re in.

Yes, it’s using the Pause Button!

Taking just a few minutes for reflection, to refocus on what you want to achieve or planning at strategic times each day can really make you so much more productive, save time and keep you on track. If your current routine tends to be on the ‘overwhelm’ side of life, you will see the benefits in the first day!

Why does it work so well? It comes back to what we want to focus our life on, our day on—our time on. We work with many people who are so flat out with their daily life that they don’t take time to take stock and assess if their current way is the only way to do things, and whether what they’re focusing on is actually helping them achieve their goals.

Enter that Pause Button.

Here are some suggestions on how to use it.

1. Before going to bed (or at the end of your working day—or before you start in the morning) pause and look at your calendar and your action lists and decide what you must do for the day. Slot these into your calendar—and leave some wriggle space.
2. Before starting any project, pause to plan AND list the steps involved. This makes thinking it through a one-time event rather than having to re-think each time you stop what you have to do next.
3. Before you start a task, pause, take a minute to think about the outcome you want and how much you’ll accomplish in the given time. Then totally focus on the task at hand.
4. When you finish a task, pause and acknowledge what you’ve accomplished. Take a few seconds to remember this is your life and you have the choice to enjoy that moment or not—so smile and make the most of it.
5. Remember, our brain does best in batches of 45-60 minutes. So taking a regular pause is a great practice to get the best out of your grey matter! A wonderful tip from Peter Bregman* is to set an alarm to beep every hour and pause for 1 minute to take stock, take a breath and refocus. Ask yourself if you spent the last hour productively. Feel good about what you’ve accomplished. Then look at your calendar and deliberately recommit to how you are going to use the next hour.
6. Schedule time for you to have a bigger pause each week—time to reflect about something specific, or for pampering, or for sharing a meal and a laugh with friends.
7. Pause at the end of each week to acknowledge what you’ve achieved and plan for the next week.

Put a picture of a Pause Button somewhere in your office or where you’ll see it. Smile each time you see it—and use that button to enjoy your day—and get the most out of your time!

Knowing your Time Management Style helps you recognise your own Strengths and Challenges around how you manage time—and when to use a Pause and other time saving strategies to gain the greatest impact on your productivity.

We may use the same strategies, but how you use a particularly tool or technique can be different from your friends and colleagues, depending on your Time Style.  It’s the how that determines whether you’re struggling or enjoying time for what’s important.  If you haven’t found out what your individual Style is, here’s the link: www.PinkShoePower.com/profiler

*Peter Bregman. 18 Minute. Find Your Focus, Master Distraction & Get The Right Things Done, 2011

Our McGift to Save You Time

‘Productivity’ seems such a corporate word. But when you look at it—and apply its benefits—you realise it means ‘a gift of resources, whether time or money’.

OK, you won’t find that definition in any dictionary. The real issue is, what is the simplest and cheapest way you can make more time and money in your life? It’s by Saving Time.

Now while lots of examples do exist, a shining worldwide example is the ‘secret’ of McDonald’s worldwide success. Many businesspeople quote their great upselling line: ‘Do you want fries with that?’ But that’s only one by-product of their real core formula.

This McDonald’s, planned for the 2012 Olympics in London, will be the world’s biggest. It expects to serve 50,000 Big Macs, 100,000 portions of fries and 30,000 milkshakes during the Games.

Bear with us for this snapshot to illustrate the point. Nearly 60 years ago, Ray Kroc went into the hamburger store in California run by the McDonald brothers. Dick and Mac (as the brothers were known) had taken a family BBQ business and realised their most profitable lines were hamburgers. They streamlined their business from more than 40 items to a profitable few mainly hamburgers, fries and drinks. Then—and this is where it really gets interesting—they standardised their process into a virtual ‘assembly line’ to be very efficient.

Today, wherever you go in the world, for better or worse, you’ll usually find a McDonalds. It’s usually staffed by young people who are taught an exact way to do every part of the process from cooking, to cleaning up to dealing with their customers. Customers know what they get. Long before Ronald McDonald was the company’s ‘front man’, there was Speedee. It was their animated sign symbolising quick and efficient service.

Taming Recurring Tasks

So look at what tasks in your life or your business recur. And after all, isn’t that most of them?  They could include actions like how you speak with customers, how and when you order goods, or how you deal with returns.

Just last week a housekeeper told us she had to clean the house from the opposite end than usual and it took far longer because it threw her system out and she forgot things.

Create a Check List or Job Card for each aspect of the job. It helps you be more efficient and it helps when any staff member is away—their roles are clearly set out. Work with your staff to create them and don’t see them as something that can’t change. Review these lists to ensure they stay effective.

Here’s a real definition from the Concise Oxford Dictionary. It says ‘efficient’ means: the ratio of useful work performed to the total energy expended.

When you review the job cards, also make sure that you have expected times beside those that warrant it and the order of priority is known by the staff. Understanding what’s important to do is vital—but that’s another story.

Your Time Management Style & Creating Check Lists

Focused Fionas in particular will love this exercise. You’ll enjoy organising the systems which will save you and your team so much time and money. Beware of getting caught up in the minutiae here!

Driven Dianas will see the value—get involvement from others to ensure the card works.

Now Juggling Julies and Last Minute Lucys really benefit from these—so make time to do it. Just jot notes on a card as you do any job and aim at a couple a day—tidy up later but at least you’ll have it being created.

Helpful Helens are used to being busy and organised. Just remember to follow what you’ve set out. That’s a warning for Julies and Lucys, too.

Your mind is a powerful tool. Give it a clear vision of what you want to achieve, and you will be well on the way to reaching it and the goals you want to achieve. Here is a powerful exercise to help you determine what that vision is for your life if this is something you’ve been struggling with.

If you’re setting goals for yourself, then this exercise is a prerequisite.

Give yourself 15 minutes and go sit somewhere comfortable where you will be undisturbed.

Imagine you’re at the movies – and you’re there with everyone in your life who is important to you. The curtain opens. Welcome to the premiere of “The Movie of Your Life”.

You’re the star of the movie and the movie is about how you made your dreams come true. You’re also the director, which means you could cut out any things that could stop you from achieving your goals and dreams.

Answer the following questions, picturing them in your mind, or writing them down:

1. Give your movie a name
2. Who is in your movie? Decide who they are and what role they play
3. What are you doing in the movie?
4. What does living your dream and goals look like for you?
5. How does it feel to have achieved your goals and dreams (personally and at work)?
6. What about you do you like best?
7. What impact are your achievements having on others?
8. How does the movie end?

With this vision for your life in mind, review the goals you’ve set for yourself to see if they align with your vision. If you haven’t written your goals yet, with your vision in mind, draw out the goals for you in the 5 areas of your life (personal, finance, health, relationships, work/business).

Now if you’re Time Management Style is Last Minute Lucy, don’t put it off! It’s action now that will help you achieve your goals sooner.

Goal setting is a waste of time if you don’t include a critical step.  When you follow this step you’ll know which are the right goals for you. In this article we share with you what that is, along with 3 other key steps for success in achieving your goals.

Whatever your Time Management Style, if you want to live this year on purpose and with less stress, starting with clear goals is paramount.

When you know your Time Style, sticking to those goals can be so much easier – and you’ll save time. Part of your plan for 2012 should incorporate how you use your Time Style strengths to keep you on track:

• Diana, make sure you keep up with goals in all areas of your life not just the one you are most passionate about!
• Julie and Lucy, discipline your use of your calendar so you use those wonderful talents of yours.
• Helen, don’t forget to put your needs in first when you draw up your plan.
• Fiona, don’t get caught up honing one aspect so much that you run out of time for other things!

When goal setting, here are the basic steps to follow:

1. On a blank page (either electronic or paper) write the goals you’d like to achieve in all areas of your life (health, career, financial, relationships, community) at the top of page. Don’t qualify them at this stage. Simply write them down as quickly as possible without editing.

When you’ve completed your list, read them to make sure you haven’t missed anything. If you have, add those extra goals.

2. It’s all about the words you use when it comes to writing goals. Make sure the goal results are what you want to have, not things you want to get rid of. Otherwise your sub-conscious will be focused on the negatives, such as the debt or weight, regardless of whether you want to get rid of it or not.

3. What is the key ingredient to your success with reaching your goals??

Run a Heart-set review. Look at your goals not just from a rational point of view, but also from your heart. Are they really what you want to achieve, or what you think you ought to achieve?

Also think about the pain for you of not achieving each of the goals. What will it mean for you, your family or business? You need to have an emotional investment in wanting to reach them.

Those goals you don’t have an emotional attachment to will demand a lot more time and motivation to keep you focused when you hit some obstacles.

Make sure the goals you’ve listed are those that you feel in your gut or heart are what you want for yourself and you’re committed to taking action on. If you’ve discarded some look at them to see if they can be reworked. Otherwise save yourself time and energy and cross them out.

To help you with this Heart-set review we recommend getting clear about what your vision is for your life. When you know this with absolute clarity, it will be that much easier to see which goals are the right ones for you. We have an exercise for this that we’ll share with you in our next ezine.

4. Review your goals to ensure they are SMART goals:

a)    Identify a Specific outcome, e.g. to improve fitness and go down a clothing size in two months by exercising three times a week for at least 30minutes at a challenging pace each time. Your goal needs to include why, what, how and when.  A goal of losing weight, getting fit or going to the gym is not enough.

b)    Your goal needs to be Measureable, because otherwise you have no way of knowing when you reach it.  To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as: How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

c)    Goals need to be Attainable or Achievable. It is important to aim high and stretch yourself so you’re motivated to put the effort in. But it is a waste of time to write a goal that you have no way of reaching because you’ll struggle to have any real commitment to trying.  Using the example above, your fitness and clothing size goal may be attainable in two months, whereas a shorter time frame of two weeks is likely to be unattainable.

d)    Your goal also needs to be Realistic. If you’re currently doing little or no exercise, three times a week will take effort but is realistic, whereas exercising six days a week may be too difficult.

e)    Set a Time for when you want to achieve your goal – whether it is next week, two months or next year. When you have an end point you have a clear target to work towards and create a sense of urgency to keep you motivated.

*****************

When you write your goals down you increase the potential to achieve them many times over.  When you share them with others, you further increase your likelihood of reaching your goals.

So we encourage you to share some of your goals with us… put them in the comments below or email us directly.

Here are a couple of our goals for 2012:

To present internationally on Pink Shoe Power internationally in 2012

To return to the US in 2012 and spend time with family and friends there  (Val)

To take my Mum on a cruise of Alaska in 2012 and a side-trip to Disneyland with my daughter on the way home (Jayne)

To release our second book on Time Management Styles in April 2012