The children are going back to school and we are now approaching the end of the 3rd quarter for 2007. This is a perfect time to stop, take assessment of your year-to-date accomplishments, and revisit your goals. For most of us, in the next 60-90 days we will be asked to write up an assessment of our performance to be used as the basis for judging our 2007 accomplishments. There is still time to make a material impact toward your goals. Here is how:
Step 1: Review your stated goals and validate that they are the proper goals given your current reality. If not, quickly re-negotiate them with your boss. Make sure you are focused on the goals that will give you the most return for your invested time.
Step 2: Create specific projects, (if they don’t already exist), to go about accomplishing these goals.
Step 3: For each project, list the very next action step you must take to move toward your goal. When you complete that task, create the next action step. Keep a steady pace forward.
Step 4: Daily scan your list of goals – keep them on top of your mind and grounded into your intuition. This will help you make optimal choices regarding how you spend your time moment by moment.
Step 5: Weekly spend 30 minutes reviewing your goals, projects, and your prior week’s performance. Then take a look at the upcoming week’s requirements and make sure you are in alignment with your meetings, tasks, and travel to support your goals.
Goal Stoppers - Watch out for activities that will stop you from reaching your goals:
1. Poorly run meetings – or meetings in which you do not need to participate
2. Highly urgent and unimportant activities – essentially others stealing your time
3. Excessive amounts of time spent processing information:
a. Spending too much time in front of the screen (TV, Blackberry, PC) and not enough time focuse on the content of
your goals
b. Poorly handing your email volume – OHIO (Only Handle It Once)
c. Neglecting to capture your items into your system as they appear
d. Re-listening to voice mail messages without taking action
e. Dream killers: people who love to spend their time complaining, whining or telling you why you cannot achieve
your goals. Avoid these people as if they have the plague...toxic thinking can have a very big negative impact upon you
Goal Enablers - Make sure you do these activities:
1. Spend time with the people you most care about – cultivate relationships
2. Engage in physical activity – stay fit, eat well, and get proper rest
3. Take care of your spirit
4. Take time to pursue non-work related activities that bring you joy
5. Unplug at least one 24-hour period each week (i.e. no work, email, Blackberry etc.)
6. Spend time with your mentors to help keep your goals on track
The Speed with Purpose solution is not to work more, or to work harder. It is to become equipped with fundamental thought processes and applicable action tools that will allow you to work and manage your responsibilities with much more efficiency so that you can achieve your dreams. Speed with Purpose formula is simple: aligned values + best practice tools = an integrated life.
Follow the formula and you will perform at your personal best.