Much has been written about goal setting and success. From all that I have read I’ve come up with a simple form to help each of us achieve the success we desire. There are 3 elements critical to goal setting and success:
Clarity. Being able to set you aim and focus on something specific helps you to achieve your result. The more specific, the more likely you are to be successful with achieving your result. First, What do you want? Get yourself really clear on what this is. A deeper question that might be helpful to explore is Why do I want it?
Chunk it down. Now, I don’t need any study to show me that being able to take bite sized bites of something is easier to swallow than taking one large bite. When a project is too big, too hairy, to scary – I don’t do anything. Chunk your goal down into bite sized pieces. What are you doing every day that gets you closer to your goal?
Action. To achieve your results, there needs to be action not just thoughts, not just “try’s” (i.e. I’m going to try to do it) – but deliberate actions. What are you doing?
Use the 2Day 2Achieve Worksheet to move you closer to your goal. Action by action, day by day you will start to see what you are doing to create your own success. You can use this form at the beginning of each day to plan out what actions you will take. Or, you can use the form at the end of the day and reflect on what two actions did you take today? Either way you can’t go wrong when you are using this tool.
Just 2 a day. What do you choose?
More importantly, what are you getting from the actions you’ve taken?
Do you ever find yourself needing that break in the day? Or wanting to take that long weekend away and for a number of reasons don’t find a chance to do that. Here’s a 5 minute getaway that will give you the peace of mind of being on vacation – even if it’s just for five minutes.
The benefits of regular mediation are endless. It can come in these short burst, too. You don’t need to set aside 30-minutes everyday to practice – but, what if you could? Here are three other ways to get that relaxation and benefit from meditation in your day:
Close your eyes for 30 seconds. This allows you brain to release the stimulus overload we take in visually. Better yet, close your eyes and cup your hands over them. Then release after a short break.
Use a Mindfulness Bell. It can be a Tibetan Singing bowl, meditation chimes, or a website. The Washington Mindfulness Community has this page where you can activate a bell when you need the pull to presence.
Office Yoga. Get a brief stretch with these simple Yoga techniques you can do at your desk. Opening up your chest and shoulders at work will take away some of the stress you carry at work.
Do what you can to bring a little vacation to each day.
During a board of directors retreat I was facilitating on using Social Media technology we got into some great conversation. You and your organization might be debating this same question,
“What if something better than (insert whatever tool you might be thinking of using) comes along?”
The question needs to be more about strategy than tools.
Decide whether or not to play in the Social Media sandbox.
Determine your purpose for answering Yes or No.
Then let’s look at tools to use.
Too often times the conversation shifts to using Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn without any clear purpose. And then it’s tainted by our personal filters for how we engage – or not – using these tools.
The exercise I did with the board two-fold. The first part was to have them take a flip chart paper and divide it into 2 columns. On the left hand side: How are we communicating to our clients today? The second column: How do they want to be hearing from us? These simple questions led to a productive conversational shift in how to best get the message to your audience.
The second part of the exercise is here. Download the
to use with your group.
Do you ever pay attention to how you are listening? More importantly, what are you listening for?
I typically start my workshops off with some sort of goal setting by the participants. I’ll ask individuals to set a goal they have for themselves as a result of attending the session. My intention is to have them answer the dreaded what’s in it for me question.
I have the participants write this down on a 3×5 card or a giant post-it. Something they can keep in front of them during our time together. After they have completed this, I then follow it up with these simple instructions:
“Now, listen for this as the content of the workshop starts to unfold.”
This simple instruction can create a filter, a perspective, a point of view in which to hear everything from. It’s the easiest – and quickest – way for me to get learning to stick for individuals and tie back into the goal they have created for themselves.
When we start to LISTEN FOR something, we start to make connections. We also start to be engaged as learners. As learners we start creating meaning for the content that is being shared. It’s when learners can create context and relationship where real change in performance can occur.
Much has been written about goal setting and success. From all that I have read I’ve come up with a simple form to help each of us achieve the success we desire. There are 3 elements critical to goal setting and success:
Do you ever pay attention to how you are listening? More importantly, what are you listening for?