Worried about all you need to get done? Don’t know where to start?
Begin with posts on how to choose goals, and make goals SMART. Learn more with the Daily PlanIt eBook, “Get Goaling!”
Choosing Goals
It is clear that having goals is important to our happiness. But how do you choose the right goals? There are so many options for goals! The method I use to choose personal goals during an annual review is an effective way to see which life areas need to be improved. It’s simple to: 1. Describe what you want to create (outcome) 2. Mark the current status as negative, positive, or neutral, and 3. Choose actions to do to improve the life areas with a negative status.
I then choose one personal goal from each life area of I. Mind II. Body III. Heart, and IV. Soul to focus on. For each of these I choose next actions to do that are tied to measurable key results. I include core values, a personal quality to develop, and strengths. There are habits that I want to maintain, and a place for things I want to stop or do less of. I also select and plan purpose goals that AIM for a vision that is active, inspiring, and meaningful. To plan personal goals, download the latest version of the Goal Shift Chart pdf with possible measures and examples of objectives and key results.
A previous version of The Goal Shift Chart pdf includes the Rules of Goals to help you create a game plan to reach your goals.
Here’s how to use the Goal Shift Chart:
Begin by asking “What will make my life awesome in this area?
What experiences and contributions would make your life awesome? Choose your most important and meaningful goals to focus on the shift you want to create. For each area on this chart, fill in the blank of this sentence: “In this area, I want to create _____.”
1. Think of one word that describes what would make your life awesome. Write it in the CREATE column. This is simply an exercise to generate ideas, so don’t worry too much about where something fits or if you can think of a word for every area.
2. Circle (or highlight) the current status. If the area needs improvement, circle the left arrow. If you are doing well in the area, circle the right arrow. If you are neutral or satisfied, circle the pause symbol. If you feel you are doing fine in an area, consider if there is something you might do to take it to the next level and make it great.
3. For each area put a specific action to do that will create what you want in the DO column. There can be many different ways to achieve your goals, here are some ideas for goals. If your goal is to create strength in the Physical area, your DO might be weight lifting. Notice that these goals are not yet SMART.
4. Review the actions to do and highlight your top two or three priorities to focus on.
5. Take the actions that will create what you want to change the negative left arrows to positive right arrows.
Here is an example:
There are several areas to maintain, and a few could be shifted from fine to great. But it’s pretty clear where to get started. The next step is to make your goals SMART. The video below describes this exercise, learn more at Map Your Values.
Download the Goal Shift Chart (pdf) and make positive shift happen!
For a more in-depth status report, check out the energy level gauge. To learn more about goals: review How to Set Goals, find ideas for goals at the Goal Plans tab, or consider getting my ebook, “Get Goaling: the simple guide to set and achieve your goals.”
Eight Reasons Why I Love Planet Fitness
Reasons why I love Planet Fitness
:
1. Convenience – It’s handy.
2. Price – pretty much flat-out unbeatable. They even gave me a t-shirt when I joined.
3. They made it easy to commit.
These first three are pretty basic things consumers always consider whenever they make a choice.
But they’ve gone beyond this to enhance the user experience.
4. There are rows and rows of great equipment. I’ve never had to wait for a machine yet. And I’m not too worried even with a likely influx of customers in January.
5. They have a cool water fountain that makes it easy to refill a water bottle.
6. With many of the machines, you can plug in earphones to listen to a channel of your choice on the rows of televisions. This has been a major motivator for me to keep pedaling, as I get involved in a show and want to see what happens. I love the HGTV channel which we don’t get at home, so it’s built in motivation. Today, for the first time, they were having technical difficulties and the televisions were down. Oh, no! Well, I was going to listen to my mp3 player until I discovered the battery had died. OH, NO!! I was looking at an interminable 30 minutes of torture. (My goal is 30 minutes on the elliptical a day.) Never fear, all was not lost.
7. Planet Fitness has their own channel going, on a centrally located television. They play little tidbits about movies, reminders and ads for their upgraded service (which includes access to massage chairs among other things), but mostly they play music videos with a good beat to exercise to. In this way, I have learned about artists I might never had heard otherwise. Even while watching other channels, you can hear the Planet Fitness channel in the background and notice some really good music. I learned about the wonderful song “Brave” by Sara Bareilles this way. Today, my workout was saved by this channel which was still available, and I had to smile at the dancing chicken in “Dance Our Tears Away” by John DeSohn. (warning: there is a very brief view of what I think would be called twerking, hopefully not too offensive!)
8. Because Planet Fitness keeps me on target, I reap the benefits of a good workout. There’s something about getting the blood pumping that gets ideas flowing and keeps you feeling great!
What businesses do you love for the way they add value?
P.S. I do have an idea for Planet Fitness to consider. How about pay-per-use for a massage chair? Or even better, one free massage chair use after so many visits?!
Posted in Ideas That Work
Are Your Resolutions SMART?
New Years Resolutions are usually not SMART. If you’ve read anything about goals at all, you probably have seen that they should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive.
Look at a list of common New Years Resolutions, and you’ll see something like this:
- Exercise more
- Eat a healthy diet
- Quit smoking
Nope, they just aren’t SMART. They are not worded in a way that is specific and measurable. They provide no guidance, no concrete plan of action. It’s no wonder we so frequently fail to keep them! So how do you turn a vague resolution into a SMART goal?
Here’s an example of a formula to set a SMART goal for losing weight from the Daily PlanIt eBook, “Get Goaling.”
I will [do what] lose weight [how much] ____ lbs by doing [what] aerobic exercise [when] every morning [for how long] 30 minutes [measured by] target heart rate [by when] by target date of two months from today.
You can use this formula to make any goal SMARTer. Some goals are more abstract and downright hard to measure. Usually a rating scale can help.
Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions from Nielson.com.
If your goal is to quit smoking, check out smokefree.gov, which is packed full of detailed helpfulness, including apps and a texting service. It helps you with specific steps you need to take to accomplish the goal, like:
- Choose a method to quit smoking
- Buy any tools (nicotine patches, electronic cigarettes) you choose
- Get rid of all cigarettes
- Make a list of reasons you want to quit smoking
- Avoid environments that will lead to cravings
- Distract yourself w/other activities
Look for more ideas for Goal Plans and use the formula for making goals SMART from the Daily PlanIt eBook, you can be on your way to “Get Goaling.”
Habits
Many resolutions involve changing or establishing habits. Get habit trackers and learn strategies for habits at Make Good Habits Easy, and Bad Habits Hard.
Setting Resolutions is often a part of an Annual Review.
Learn more:
- New Years Resolution Guidebook from alifeofproductivity.com
- Information and courses at Skills Employers Want #4 – Planning
Posted in goals
Get Goaling!
I’ve gathered all the information you need to set and achieve your goals into my eBook “Get Goaling: the simple guide to set and achieve your goals.” This clear, concise, step-by-step guide gives you the tools to learn the skills and get goaling quickly.
Here’s the Table of Contents & what you will learn:
- Why Goals – why it is important to set written, measurable goals.
- Map Your Values – a simple exercise to map your values makes it easy to see where to begin.
- Goal Ideas – ideas for commonly chosen goals.
- Generate Ideas – ways to generate (and capture) ideas.
- Evaluate Goals – how to choose goals that will add value in each life area.
- Make Your Goals SMART – how to develop a plan to make goals SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time sensitive) I’ll share a formula that makes creating SMART goals a snap. An example shows how to break big goals down into doable steps.
- Plan Goals and Projects – how to plan goals and projects, and make time to work on them.
- Rewards – how to choose a reward to match the size of your goal.
- Target Dates – The difference between long and short range goals, how to set target dates.
- Keep Goals Visual and Visible – ideas to keep goals visible and visual.
- Take Action and Maintain Motivation – tips to inspire you to get going on your goals. There’s even a goal music playlist.
- Monitor Progress – how to monitor progress with a weekly review, how to plan weekly and daily to make progress toward your goals.
- Setting Work Goals – how to set work goals.
- Develop Goal Skills – eleven Goal Skills to master.
- Conclusion – summary of the steps for setting goals.
- Appendix A – Goal Charts And Goal Master List-tools to track your progress and keep your goals visible.
As the new year approaches, it’s the perfect time to review and plan. Get Goaling now!
Posted in goals
Personal Branding for a Purpose
The process of discovering your personal brand clarifies what you are passionate about, how you want to add value, and how you will communicate that. Marketing U involves four steps:
- Discover a compelling purpose
- Define a clear promise
- Design a creative personality
- Deliver a consistent position
Download a pdf of the Personal Branding Process
Gain a clear understanding of the projects that are most important to you by investing the time and effort to reveal your personal brand. Read my article, “Personal Branding for a Purpose” at Productive Magazine to learn more about the process.
Learn more at the Brand and Purpose Toolkit and Personal Branding at Pinterest
Tagged with: personal branding, unique selling propostion, usp
Posted in goals, personal development, productivity
Posted in goals, personal development, productivity
Free Printable Year of Personal Growth 2014 Calendar
Download a free printable calendar to start the year with weekly activities for a year of personal growth!
Created with calendars from www.wincalendar.com/
Posted in personal development, productivity
On Batteries and Energy
My laptop computer battery was dead, and could not function without being plugged into current. I recently installed a new battery, for greater workflow functionality. If I forget I’m not plugged in and the battery wears out, my computer suddenly crashes without warning. How I wish it would give me even the smallest sign that it’s time to plug in and recharge, before the screen suddenly goes blank, leaving whatever I was working on somewhere out there! I know the importance of frequently saving work and ideas to avoid their permanent loss, but inevitably something vital falls into the void. A computer or cellphone with a dead battery just isn’t able to function when you may need it most.
It occurs to me that there are parallels in this story to the energy we all need to function well. How long does your battery last, and how do you re-charge? (the things we are thankful for often re-charge our energy) Do you have an early warning signal when your battery gets low?
Posted in personal development, productivity
Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar
It’s always a good time to be grateful, as gratitude is one of the practices that have been shown to increase happiness and well-being. As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, one way to practice gratitude is the Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar. This is easy to put together with a ferrero rocher chocolate box and printable numbers I found on the Internet. Each day, savor a chocolate while contemplating the gratitude for the date. When the ferrero chocolates are gone, simply replace them with Reeses miniature cups, Hershey Kisses, or Rolos. The container can also be used for a Holiday Blessings or Christmas countdown too!
I created this list of things that we can always be grateful for at the time my mother was struggling with changes in her circumstances as she aged. She was a fiercely independent woman, living about 600 miles too far away from help that she would never admit she needed. It gradually became painfully obvious she needed to be closer to relatives, but the move was difficult to accomplish. Her reaction to her changed circumstances was even more difficult. She felt like life was out of her control, and was saddened by not being able to do the things she used to enjoy. To put it mildly, she wasn’t feeling very thankful. It made me think about things everyone can be thankful for, pretty much regardless of their circumstances, and I put together a Thanksgiving countdown.
Today I am thankful for…
1. Family
2. Friends
3. Ideas to share
4. A kind word
5. Sunshine
6. Flowers
7. Art
8. Scented candles
9. Hot coffee or cocoa
10. A tasty meal
11. Ice cream
12. Beautiful music
13. Raindrops on the roof
14. Naps
15. Soft blankets
16. A good night’s sleep
17. A new day
18. A warm bubble bath
19. A good movie
20. A funny cartoon
21. Sharing a laugh
22. Learning
23. Creativity
24. Finding the perfect gift
25. Birds chirping
26. Sweet treats
27. A crackling fire on a cold day
28. Walks in the country
29. An entertaining book
30. Dancing for joy
Posted in personal development
A Networking Game Card
Yesterday I read “Hate Networking? Turn it into a Game” by Minda Zetlin on Inc., and I just couldn’t help myself: I made a game card based on the post.
Download the Networking Game Card (pdf)
Plan to attend four events and four or more conversations per event. Follow-up with four contacts that you make. Some good ways to follow-up are to offer some useful information, offer to introduce others you know with similar interests, or invite to meet for coffee.
Small Talk and Conversation Starters
Small talk about inconsequential matters has a place when getting to know people and cultivating relationships. Sometimes more meaningful discussions can deepen relationships as you learn more. Knowing some conversation starters can be helpful. Try the Conversation Bingo below, see Meaningful Conversations and find more ideas at the Conversation Starters Pinterest Board. The Journal Prompts are also good conversation starters.
How about playing a little Conversation Bingo? Check out the Networking Pinterest Board too.
Learn more
- How to get good at small talk from hbr (10.24)
- How to navigate networking events from the Science of People (5.06)
- How to network from Tim Ferris (7.25)
Posted in goals
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