Benefits = achievements

Have you set some time aside in your diaries over the next couple of days to work out your plan(s) for the last few weeks of this year? If you haven't - now is the time to schedule it in. And the reason is simple, if you don't schedule it into your diary / time planner / organiser you will conveniently forget to do the work.

Don't believe me? Well how many of you rely on your memory to do things, then get to the end of the week and wonder what you spent your time on, AND didn't spend your time on? If it's not written down somewhere you can conveniently forget to do the work. So schedule the time....please, it's important.

For the new readers of the DDOMM I asked you to have a good look at what you need to do between now and christmas so that you can clear the decks for 2008....yes it is that close, and then to get on and do them. And if you don't want to do them and can't delegate or pay someone else to do the tasks, then they're obviously not that important to you, so cross them off your list and stop hiding behind clutter.

The reason why we need to clear the decks now is because of those pesky New Years Revolutions. January 1st comes round and we have a list of things we would like to accomplish throughout the forthcoming year. Have you ever noticed how similar this list was to last years? Hmm, time to stop going round in circles me thinks.

You see if you don't clear the decks now, the first things on the new list will contain all the old items too, and as we mentioned, if they're hardly inspiring, well you're not going to be enthused to complete any of the new items either are you?

So, clear the decks, clear the mind. Then decide what you really want to do during the next 12 months. One lady wrote to me today how she would like to lose some weight so she had more energy to play with the kids. Well it might be a catch 22 situation, but sometimes you need to move it to lose it. I have to say, having been there, it can be difficult to raise the energy and enthusiasm to build sandcastles and play ball, but the benefits are huge, and not just for you. You see, when you write your lists out, I don't just want a "list" of 32 items that you say you want to do, see and achieve. I want detail. I want to see the benefits achieving these things will bring to you. WHY do you want to achieve them? But remember other people may benefit also, so when you get specific, you need to factor in their benefits too.

With the case of our reader, the benefits are numerous. New games means new learning and deevlopment opportunities for the children. Busy kids (and parents) tend to eat less...a lot less. Planning activities with the children means they get to make decisions, and responsibilities. And please don't tell me that "little" people can't plan, of course they can - my two did, and they took responsibility for the choices they made. Of course if the suggestion was totally impracticle, I did suggest some alternatives, but that is important too.

And the most important one, when you decide to do more, you will do more. You will want to build on the successes and accomplishments. Some of the early activities we undertook when the kids were littlies are still spoken about....because they remembered the detail, the planning, the decision making and the fun that went along with it. And so it is with your plan, you will get more out of it, if you put a LOT more into the thought preparation. So get specific. Work out the real benefits and you will begin to see what you need to do in order to reach your goals.

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The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in the thing makes it happen" Frank Lloyd Wright
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