Setting realistic timelines

Welcome to today's issue of The Daily Dose of Motivational Medicine. The e-zine of Motivateme: Breaking the Procrastination Habit. http://www.motivateme.info. We would like to thank you in advance for forwarding this issue onto family, friends and any other interested readers.  Please note all back issues of this newsletter are available from - http://www.motivateme.info/ezine-archive/

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What is a realistic timeline?

Well that depends on your goal(s), what do you want to achieve? When do you want to have the item achieved by?

If you have worked through the previous messages of the Daily Dose, (back issues are available from - http://www.motivateme.info/ezine-archive/ you should have established a list of priorities or things you would like to do, see or achieve. But if you haven't yet written one of these, please do this first.

The next thing you need to do is to assign a timeline to the items. Don't panic if you have no idea of how long something is going to take, you can adjust these as you start to gain momentum.

If you don't assign some sort of timeline, all you are doing is dreaming. Planning without action is nothing; in fact it is worse than nothing as you are living an imaginary world filled with imaginary achievements. Whilst it is important to be able to visualise your goal, it is essential that you do something to realise them. Yes, the old affirmation without action is still prevalent in today's motivational speaker world....sorry - I actually expect you to do something.
 
But getting back to timelines, when you are assigning, a realistic timeline you need to determine how much time and energy you are willing and able to devote to the activity.

For example, if you want to run a marathon you cannot hope to turn up to the starting line without any kind of preparation. Well you could, but you know you won't be able to last the distance. If you're overweight and unfit, chances are better than good that you will have a heart attack before you've gone very far! So what should you do? Well depending on how unfit you are, you will have to schedule time on a daily basis several months (yes I did say months) prior to the event in order to train safely and effectively. And if you are extremely overweight, the time you are giving yourself to train for the marathon will mean that you are able to drop a few of the excess kilos which will make running a whole lot easier on the heart, lungs and knees. By the way there are several good web sites that have already set out a training schedule - if you're interested. Just go to your favourite website and type in marathon training schedule, and voila....
 
Once you have that information you can then determine if you have time in your current schedule to devote to the new task. And then you need to block it in. And that goes for anything you say you want to do, see or achieve.
 
Now and here's the thing, if you don't block it into your calendar, schedule or bank account then the first sign of bad weather or a new pair of shoes will see you forgo the new plan for instant gratification. Blocking the new tasks into the calendar is also good if you struggle to maintain new disciplines for any length of time. And as you probably know, if it isn't written down, you can conveniently forget you were supposed to do it.
 
Time, money and project management. It all sounds extremely boring doesn't it? But I’m afraid that unless you win the lottery or get left money by Great Aunt Doris, then you are going to need to plan, and you are going to have to break down those plans into manageable steps and then actually complete them.

The next question is - how long did it take you to reach the stage you are in now? Are you unfit and overweight? How about your credit limit on every credit card and store card that you possess? Chances are that you said it had taken you a while.

If that is the case, then please do not expect the solution to be presented to you overnight. Unless Aunt Doris does pop her clogs, but let’s face it, not even Aunt Doris can help you lose weight and get fit now can she...unless Aunt Doris is a fitness instructor that is.
 
Seriously there is no silver bullet. But there is the tried and tested, steady and daily progress that you can make. Whilst this may sound boring, let me put it this way, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I never promised that goal setting was a quick process, but then again neither is breaking the procrastination habit. Habits take time to create, and like most things, they take forever to get rid of. In fact the tighter the reigns that you place around yourself, the more likely you are to throw in the towel. So get used to the idea that time and project management is going to be an important and integral part of your life from here on in.
 
Kind Regards
 
Elle

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