Write Down Your Goals
“Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal.”-Elbert Hubbard (writer and artist)
Sometimes as a business owner, you become so overwhelmed, the only thing you can do is take it one step at a time. And, although th
is may get you through the week, it’s not going to help grow your business. Real growth comes from writing out the goals you plan to achieve–and then putting those goals into action.
Here are some “rules” to follow when creating metrics and other goals:
Specific- Know exactly what your goal is.
Measurable- Know whether you achieved the goal.
Achievable- Speaks for itself.
Relevant- Relates to the big picture.
Time Bound- When will you reach the goal?
Did you know…only 3% of the population has written goals? And, they earn ten times more than the rest.
If you truly want to see improvement and growth in your company, take the time to create SMART goals. Then, be sure to make yourself and your employees accountable for those goals. Otherwise, you will always be taking it a day at a time.
Sincerely,
Clate Mask
CEO, Infusionsoft
I have been stressing to many of my associates that you should write down your goals. I thought this would make an excellent reference, from the eyes others that have found how effective the process really is.
I have very scattered thinking patters, my mind tends to wander. I tend to open a new window to work on something and then forget about it halfway through to work on what I was working on previously. At any given time I am generally working on about 3-5 specific issues.
I have alleviated the worst parts of my habit by keeping a series of notebooks sorted by topic at my desk. Then if I have an idea that pertains to the section of my life I write it down. This enables me to remain focused even when being bombarded by new ideas.
This creates a sort of simple ticket system that allows me to verify the work I have completed. Each page that is completed means I’m a page closer to being where I want to be.
Currently I am setting a milestones page for RocketScience Network that will outline the goals of each site and the versions of the course of it’s evolution. This will enable others to get more involved with the day to day operations of the network. That way I can focus my activities on more difficult operations of the business.
I have Google Docs spreadsheets as well that I have the ability to share with my associates that outline many of the steps that I use to get a specific site up and running. There are no explanations to the steps currently but eventually it will be formulated into a complete process that can be replicated by others.
Organization is the key to being effective. Organized thought patterns will have a strategic advantage over those that are using less organized thought processes. If what Clate says is true, then simply by writing down your goals you are already categorizing yourself in the top 3%.
I tell my associates you should always strive to be in the top 10%. So it seems logical to me that writing down your goals is a necessary step to take to meet that goal. Ideas are not what brings success, action brings success. The more you can do to create productive action, the more success you will bring into your life.
I have been stressing to my associates that they should write down there goals. I have found that although my thinking is very scattered, so is everyone elses. I have personally overcome this obstacle by writing down every idea that comes to my brain when I’m working.
I have set aside a notebook of
Remember to Remind me to Remember
Life is undeniably chaotic. It doesn’t seem to matter how many gadgets we get, what new devices there are on the market to save time, we are always short of the stuff. Time and tide certainly wait for no man and the more we have, the more we try to cram in. Scientists are constantly working to find the elixir of life so that me can continue on this mortal coil even longer, cramming our lives with more and more.
There’s nothing we cannot do now apart from stop and enjoy time. It has got to a point where people even pre-arrange their holidays in order to cram in as much as possible, filling their days with activities in order to feel like they have had their monies worth and done as much as possible.
All these new inventions that we get to make our time more ‘our own’ just don’t seem to help. We have machines to cook, clean clothes, dry clothes, wash dishes in fact, pretty much everything yet there is still not enough hours in a day. On top of this, we are trying to do so much that we constantly need to buy gadgets that serve as reminder services to tell us of other things we have to cram in.
Reminder services come in the shape of notes and alarms on mobile phones, again with emails – they come with their own calendar that will alert you and provide a reminder service so that you don’t forget important dates. People are carrying more and more gadgets such as electronic diaries to provide a tailored reminder service for that all important meeting, that all important date or simply reminding us where we live!
Are we any better off for all this gadgetry? Well, in one sense we are but we need to keep it in perspective. It’s great to have a washing machine, I mean, can you imagine trying to fit in carting your load down to the nearest river and scrubbing it clean amid your busy schedule? Working mothers would be non-existent!
Computers and mobile phones have been an absolute god send when it comes to instant communication. The exchange of information that used to take weeks now takes minutes, even if it’s coming from the other side of the world.
However, when we are needing electronic reminder services to tell us of events going on in our children’s worlds that we promised to attend then something is seriously wrong. If we need a reminder service to tell us we actually have children, then we need to re-evaluate our lives, and quickly!
It’s not just us either. Living life in the fast lane has become such an everyday occurrence that our children also need these reminders. They have their own gadgets to remind them of school commitments, after school activities, dates with friends and all sorts of deadlines that they are already expected to commit to at even a young age. This is the way of the world these days but is it right?
What happened to good old fashioned pen and paper, notes stuck to the fridge as reminders or one paper calendar on the wall? Our lives have become that complicated that we will be needing reminders to breathe next. It would seem we are all trying too hard to do too much in too short a space of time and it all comes at the expense of the things that really matter.
Social expert Catherine Harvey looks at the way even children need reminder services in order to keep up with everyday commitments.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Harvey
Get More Accomplished Do One Thing at a Time
I am the official Queen of Multitasking. Sure, it is a self appointed title, but that doesn’t mean it is not true. I don’t know if it is the world we live in today, if it is just something that is prevalent in my generation or just my personality but I feel like multitasking is in my blood.
If you peered into my window at home (please don’t) on some random weekday evening, you would find the TV (or my iPod) playing while I toggle back and forth between reading things online and checking emails. I will also be checking my voice mails and writing notes on who to call back. I will start some to-do list in between firing off several text messages and a couple of IMs.
I am usually pretty proud of myself for being able to pull this off.
I do believe that multitasking is a great skill to master. It is especially helpful if you are someone who runs a front office or if you act as a project manager, which is something I do. I have to jump back and forth between calling people back as soon as possible so I do not miss deals or clients, handling email, scheduling things that come up as a result of those emails and phone calls, plan, research, and execute. If you could not multitask, you would probably fall apart.
But in today’s fast paced society where we can tend to focus on instant gratification, a lot gets lost in all of our shuffling around. We work on a million different things at once and then at the end of the day wonder what we have done or where the time went. How many times at the end of the day have you thought, “did I accomplish anything today?”
When we multitask, we can tend to feel like we are really awesome for being able to handle so many things and so much information at once. In reality, when we engage in multitasking, we are diluting our attention — so rather than one task or project getting your full attention at the time, 10 or 15 little tasks get incredibly low amounts of attention. Sometimes we lose track of the details — and details put together make up the larger picture. I believe that focusing on one thing at a time, and seeing it through to completion is likely to get a project done faster. Often times, multitasking just delays the completion of multiple projects — because they are ALL in a constant state of being worked on. I think I would rather have one thing completed and scratched off my list than 10 things “in progress” carrying over from day to day.
When we are jerking our attention from one thing or another, we are also more likely to allow interruptions from other people, which can further delay getting things done. We lose our concentration and have to figure out where we left off, or we take on whatever project Jim just dropped on our desk and increase the amount of projects we are half working on.
Stop. Slow down. Deep breath. Focus. Reassess.
Make a list of things to be done, preferably in priority order if you have things that need to get done by a certain hour or a specific day. It is likely that some of the things on your list will have various steps to completion, so group those things together. If you are not a list maker (even I have my phases of interest in them), just be aware of your behavior. Are you jumping from task to task? When the phone rings while you’re washing the dishes, do you answer? Pretty much everyone has voice mail now. Call the person back later. You will be more relaxed for the call, knowing the chore is complete. Flip that around — has a friend called you for advice? Sit down, listen to what s/he has to say, provide your insights, be a good friend, and tackle the dishes when the call is over.
Try, at least for a while, to focus on one thing at a time. It can be tough, especially for us “multitask or die!” kind of people, but it sure does relieve some pressure, and at the end of the day, can probably help you feel a little more successful too.
Copyright 2008, Alaia Williams. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be reproduced without the express permission of the author.
Alaia Williams is a Professional Organizer, Project Manager, and Writer. She started organizing out of a passion for helping people bring more balance into their lives. You can find out more about her at http://www.alaiawilliams.com and http://www.oneorganizedlife.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alaia_Williams
Making a Productive Morning Routine
Mornings are a bummer to most people, since apparently sleeping in is a very trendy thing to do. However, with a few simple tricks, mornings don’t have to be so lame! If you could rearrange your first few waking hours to boost your motivation, your entire day can be incredibly productive and fruitful.
How you schedule your morning can be a tricky thing, though, since there’s no sure-fire way for everybody. Most people do something along the lines of waking up, then showering, and then eating breakfast. All in all, these three steps take about one to two hours. But what if there was some better way to schedule your mornings?
Luckily, there is! There are a variety of ways to reset your morning routine to make it more productive, and to set the tone for a fabulous day. However, to save you the time, I created this article, which will hopefully introduce you to several ways to make your mornings brighter. This article was influenced by Steve Pavlina’s “How to Create a Personal Productivity Scaffold” post, but I threw in some of my own viewpoints and things that have worked for me so you can get a deeper understanding into purely the morning routines.
Plan your day out the night before.
Yes, this advice has been given by countless other people. But tested time and time again, it always holds its water.
By planning the next day the night before, you get a clear look of what you have to do the next day. Instead of scrambling around the next morning attempting to make a to-do list, you already cleared the air so that you can get straight to working on your first major project when you wake up.
You can schedule anything the night before for the next day. Seeing as this article is for a more productive morning, however, I think it’d be apt to give a small list of how you can begin your morning:
• A quick breakfast
• Meditating, praying, or quiet reflecting
• Reading personal development literature
• Journaling (my personal favorite!)
• Reviewing minor and major goals
• Modifying minor and major goals
• Exercising at home, going for a walk or jog around the neighborhood
• A short practice time for a skill, such as cooking or piano practice
• Getting quick, easy tasks done, such as paying bills or checking email
Of course, that’s if you want a productive morning. There are also some things you don’t want to do, such as:
• Read gossip websites
• Read the newspaper or watch the TV news
• Get distracted by singing along to music (God knows how many times this one has got me!)
• Losing sight of the big picture of the day: to get things done
But I know you would never do any of those things in the latter list, right? (I’m not saying that watching the news or reading the paper or any of those things are bad ways to start your morning – but more often than not, people engage in those activities and lose track of time.)
Get up when your alarm goes off.
Don’t sleep in! Sleeping in is a bullet in the heart of morning productivity. If you sleep in, you tell your brain “ah, it’s okay, we don’t have to be productive today!”
Just get up! Don’t think about how much sleep you got the night before – human beings can run on less than 4 hours a sleep if needed. Don’t think about how nice your bed feels – there are better feelings out there (like eating! 
). If needed, set your alarm clock on the opposite side of the room to purposely make you get out of bed. That simple trick always works for me!
As a sidenote on the topic of getting up, I’ve never noticed there to be a specific”best” time to get up in the morning. Some people like to get up at 4:30am and get started on their projects by 5am, other people like to sleep in until 10am and not start their day until 11am. Personally, I’ve tried getting up at all times between 4:30am and 4:30pm, and getting up at about 5am is perfect for me. If I get up past 10am, I feel like the majority of the day was already wasted, and I’m not nearly as half as productive as I would be if I got up at 5am. Experiment, log your results, and see what works for you. There is no right or wrong answer as to what time you need to get up. (Unless you have a “real” job… then I guess that really does set up a right time…)
Eat breakfast.
Studies have shown again and again that (a healthy) breakfast is needed to fuel your brain and can alter how you think for the rest of the day. Some people, like me, prefer smaller breakfasts such as a bowl of oatmeal, while other people like large breakfasts, such as the whole bacon, eggs, and toast meal. Find out what works for you, and eat up! It’ll make you feel good, and keep you energized for the entire morning.
Schedule productive things you enjoy doing.
It doesn’t matter if you have the most glistening, brilliant, productive day scheduled out – if it’s full of tasks you loathe even laying a finger on, that schedule would have more use lining a bird cage. You need to put activities in your morning routine that you enjoy doing. Hate to exercise and would rather have scalding water thrown on your body instead? Don’t schedule to exercise right when you wake up! Morning routines should be motivational; they should inspire you to step forward into your day with your head held high, with the feeling that you can accomplish anything!
Also, your morning routine should consist of productive tasks. Why? Because by doing productive, small things, you accomplish a lot of very mini-goals and objectives, which makes your subconscious think you can accomplish much greater things later in the day. (For some reason, I find this to be incredibly true.) So, don’t take a nap 20 minutes after you awake! Read a personal development blog instead. Don’t take an hour long shower – take a quick 10 minute one so you can get right to work. Relaxing can come later – productivity comes first.
Don’t slack off!
How you decide to spend your first few hours of the day alters your entire day. If you get up, loaf around, take an hour and a half for breakfast followed by a 45 minute shower, you effectively wasted over two and a half hours of your day… and most likely won’t have the motivation to continue onward to accomplish real things. However, if you immediately get up at 5:30am, eat a quick 15 minute breakfast, exercise for half an hour, then take a 15 minute shower, by 6:30 you’re dressed, ready to go, and are energized and alert to tackle your first assignment of the day. Of course, this can work for any time of the day – you might have had the laziest morning of all, and at 1pm decide to kick it into high gear and get more done in 2 hours than you did for the last 8 hours you were awake. But wouldn’t it be nicer to get everything done in the morning, and then take a well deserved break in the afternoon?
An Example of My Mornings
Here’s an example of how I lead most of my mornings, from when I get up to when I start my day:
• Wake up!
• 15 minutes: Eat a quick breakfast (oatmeal, a bowl of cereal and two pieces of toast, etc.)
• 30 minutes: Some form of exercise (not necessarily my main exercise for the day, but maybe a light exercise such as walking around the neighborhood or very light jogging)
• 15 minutes: Shower
• 10 minutes: Review short and long-term goals I’d like to accomplish
• 15 minutes: Journal about my goals, what I’d like to accomplish during the day, and anything else that comes to mind
As you can see, it’s not a very intensive routine. It’s fairly straight forward, and can be modified with other activities easily.
How will your mornings look now?
Mornings don’t have to be lame, stupid, and irritating! Try different schedules, and see which works for you. Try to make the first few hours of your day full of small accomplishments and motivational, and see how the rest of the day falls into place. I guarantee it’ll work out better than sleeping in!
Read more of my articles How People Influence Each Other | Trust And Persuasion | Building Trust For Persuasion
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_David_Peters
How to Stop Procrastinating – Why?
Procrastinate – To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.
Wow, that’s a really negative definition. I am a procrastinator and proud of it. My wife bought me a shirt that I proudly wear. It reads “Procrastinators Unite… Tomorrow.”
You see I think procrastinators are getting a bad rap. But to really understand where I am coming from we need to break procrastination down into a new workable definition.
1. Bad Procrastination
There are some things you shouldn’t procrastinate about like; renewing your driver’s license, or going to the doctor, because you broke your arm. Now those things are a given and if you procrastinate too long, you might want to get professional help.
2. Good Procrastination
The second form of procrastination and the one I suffer from is not doing things until the last minute. But I don’t think there is anything wrong with this, because I actually work more efficiently when I put things off to the last moment.
For example; the house is mess. I’ve been wearing the same clothes for days and haven’t showered, and my wife just told me her mother is coming over for dinner.
I’m immediately motivated by fear to clean the entire house, bathe all the children and pets and become transformed into the male version of Martha Stewart. I work faster, more efficiently and I just spent the last few weeks relaxing around a pile of clothes and dishes. And when she leaves I can relax again.
Procrastinators are a special breed. We work best under pressure. And we have more time to relax, watch our favorite programs, surf the net, and play with our children more than those who worry endlessly about getting things done in a timely manner.
In summary, learn to embrace and love the good procrastinator within. And if you fall into the bad procrastinator definition, seek professional help, because if you wait too long your arm may fall off.
Lonnie Young is a entrepreneur, artist, father, and husband who draws on his passion for helping others improve their lives and exposing the BS that keeps us from living truthfully.
You can read more at his blog http://www.downtoearthtips.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lonnie_Young
-
Yeah, you don't gotta tell me about all the improvements that need to be made. Working on them now. Damn the lost data to hell working on restoring the network to better than it was previously. Please excuse the mess. What Happened?! -
