Every year when it is time to put away the Christmas decorations and start the new year, I wonder what I will achieve in the new year. This year I want to evolve, transform my life. Do you feel the same way? My goal is Unstoppable me! And Unstoppable you!
Thinking about being unstoppable leads to the question, “Why do we stop our journey forward to goals we thought we wanted and the resolutions we were determined to keep?” This relates to our goal setting abilities and our time management discipline.
Through the years I have learned that just making a resolution or a goal and stating it with a positive mindset and lofty ambitions isn’t enough to make the goal happen or the resolution stick. Positive thinking and affirmations are hollow without the back-end work. The time management back-end work is making sure a PROCESS is in place to help you reach your goal or keep your resolution.
My experience with process has been to decide on an innovative new sales strategy, resolve to start a yoga regimen, or be determined to implement a new social media approach. As I start working on these resolutions, I get distracted by daily living and immediate demands on my time. After a couple of weeks, sometimes even hours, I can’t remember what the resolution was, let alone the process that I knew would work to bring me greater results. My productivity is slowed.
The Process
Laying out the process is similar to writing down a goal and breaking it into small bite size pieces. I resist this because it is time consuming and my natural mode of operation is warp speed. To reach goals, however, it is essential to document the process or the steps you will take toward success. This is a time management technique to help you spend more time doing.
For instance, if you your goal is to increase your social media efforts, instead of randomly posting when inspired, you can write down the process for increasing exposure to your target market by:
- Increasing the number of social media sites you post to (set time aside in your calendar to research which sites to add)
- Increasing the frequency of posting to 3 days a week (decide which days of the week and the time you will post)
- Writing several posts at one time
- Purchasing software that will assist in posting
There are other techniques such as writing these statements as affirmations. “I will post 3 times a week,” is an example. We will explore options in additional articles.
To increase the value of building a process and you use Microsoft products, consider making the process a recurring event on your Calendar or documenting it in Notes for quick reference.
You may consider OneNote or Evernote to store information for quick reference, both of which are available on your phone.
In summary, to reach your goals in 2020, decide a process and write it down. Keep it in a handy place for ready reference, even daily observation.
Smart Goals
Part of the process is writing your goals with the popular acronym “SMART” meaning they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time based. Making sure your goals or resolutions are SMART takes mental effort. Writing SMART goals forces you to think into the future and make a commitment to a completion date.
I found this graphic compliments of the Lion’s Share Federal Credit Union. I like it because it lists synonyms which expand your understanding of the words and increases your creativity.
Even writing the SMART goals is not enough to get past human inertia. The magic comes in the detail. Reaching your goal demands that you keep asking the question, “What do I need to reach this goal?” When you have answered that question enough times to get action items that can be done in 10-15 minutes and added to your to-do list on a daily basis, you will reach your goal.
Below are goal setting sheets you are welcome to download and use to organize your process, your steps, to make your new years goals and resolutions a reality in your life. There are two sheets. The first sheet permits you to write four measurable and specific goals. On the next four sheets you transfer one goal to each sheet. Once the goal is transferred to the second sheet, you break the goal down into strategic and tactical steps, each with a deadline.
This starts you on an amazing time management and goal getting experience for 2020.
[emaillocker id=”31014″]
[/emaillocker]
This process works in your personal life and in your professional life. Write goals, define the process to reach that goal, and amaze yourself, your manager at work and your colleagues with your productivity and achievement.
You’ll be UNSTOPPABLE.