The daily dose ezine

Think and take action

2010-03-11T10:06:37Z

First of all can I say thank you for the wonderful response to the Get S.M.A.R.T with goal setting e-report we sent out yesterday. Thank you for the thank you's they are very much appreciated.

But that is not the only tool on the site available for you to use. One of the most best ways to get more out of every day is with the use of a Time Log. It is both simple and effective. To gain the benefit from it all you need to do is download it, save it to your desktop and keep it open during your online day. When you start and finish anything you type in what you were doing. When you see how much time you spend on certain tasks and activities, you automatically want to do better tomorrow.

Long-time readers will have a copy of course, but for those of you who don't have a copy and would like one - Download time log

It's like using a timesheet. If you had to charge back your work time to a client - how much would you have earned today?

With many thoughts
Elle

P.S.: If you've enjoyed this newsletter and have found it to be valuable, would do me the favour and forward it to your friends, family and associates, it would be very much appreciated. And if they would like to subscribe, they just need to visit http://www.motivateme.info for easy and convenient sign-up.

Take action now: Goal achievement - because we can

2010-03-10T10:22:37Z

For those of you who are reading this, as opposed to having just clicked the delete button, or read later button will see the benefit of taking action now.

As you know we have been looking at the importance of goals, how to set them and more importantly - how to achieve them. Well we've pulled all the posts together and added a few extra sections and created an e-report. It is 16 pages of specifics covering:

    * S is for Specific: Know what you want
    * M is for Measurable: How do you know you are on the right track?
    * A is for Accountable: Keeping yourself on track
    * R is for Realistic: Don’t set your sights too far / too high
    * T is for Time-bound: Deadlines are essential
    * Goal Achievement: Action Speaks Louder Than Words

Why give something like this away?

Easy -

Because we can

Because we also know how hard it is to set goals, and how hard it can be to achieve them. This blueprint will show you how to do both, so if you would like a copy - Get SMART with Goal Setting

With many thoughts
Elle

P.S.: If you've enjoyed this newsletter and have found it to be valuable, would do me the favour and forward it to your friends, family and associates, it would be very much appreciated. And if they would like to subscribe, they just need to visit http://www.motivateme.info for easy and convenient sign-up.

Planned Spontaneity

2010-03-09T06:23:20Z

To achieve "work / life balance"

1. Always do a job you love, that way it will never be "work"
2. Ensure your house / living arrangement is a place where you feel comfortable
3. Exercise daily - even if it's a 10 minute walk at lunchtime, you need to get out and feel the elements
4. Eat well, but never to extreme
5. Find time each day to reflect on what worked well, what didn't work as well and plan for tomorrow - today - then you can forget about "forgetting" things
6. Spend quality time with your family, friends and your significant other
7. Find time each day to do something just for you
8. Don't forget the spiritual side of who you are - if you believe, then it's important to connect

On your day's off "work" there are a couple of additional things which need to be added to those 8 key points listed above

1. Have a special date night / day with those people you care most about. We all have busy lives, so these will need to be planned in advance - but what happens after that is entirely up to you. And that is the key to planned spontaneity. Plan the time, but not necessarily every detail - doing so will only make you worry that it's not going to "plan".

2. Have a special date night / day with yourself and do something YOU enjoy, and without worrying about whether your partner is also enjoying the experience. When we give so much of ourselves to our customers, our families, our partners, our work, charities, churches and schools - we forget that we also need to be able to receive. And one of the best ways to do this is - having time to yourself to do what you want - WITHOUT feeling guilty.

Indulge your senses:

Walk round a fabric store,
Go to the movies on your own,
Try a new restaurant and try one of the dishes you have never tried before
Go to the library and curl up with a good book
Get a massage or soak in a bubble bath

And the beauty of these planned spontaneous days, they don't have to cost very much.

When my kids were little there wasn't much money for treats and going out let alone on holiday, but that didn't stop us. We would pack the picnic bag - regardless of the weather - and we would go somewhere. The beauty of the parks around Perth, WA are the covered shelters - they stop rain as well as providing shade from the summer sun. My kids still to this day talk about going on picnic's in the rain - and usually with a wry smile.

Make sure you add some time every week to your calendar and start planning your first spontaneous day(s), believe me when I say - you will enjoy and be able to cope with every thing else if you have spent some time having deliberate fun.

when you can't think straight

2010-03-07T08:30:43Z

Sometimes it can be more fun when you can't think straight.

If you know where you are going and you know the exact steps you need to take to get you to your goal, then going from A - B is easy.

"A" being where you are now and "B" your goal / target or end point

Are your goals well defined you know what you need to do, when and how long everything is going to take?

No, didn't think so.

So, piece of paper and pen time

Write your "B" at the top of the paper - this is what you say you want

First of all I would like you to write down every reason for NOT achieving this - what is stopping you?

And believe me there will be lots of reasosn why you have not yet reached your goal. Some will be real "stops" for example -
* my 16 year old wants a car...his stops are real - not old enough to drive, hasn't saved up enough money for a car / pay for driving lessons.
* I want to pay off my mortgage - but that's going to take a few years and lots of savings

And some will be pure excuses
* I haven't got time to
* I need to know more about
* My family wouldn't understand

Look at your list - are they genuine stops, or are they pure excuses?

Now, take the list, screw it up and throw it away. That signifies what will happen if you let those excuses "win".

How do you feel about never being able to achieve that goal?

Again, a piece of paper and write down every feeling about what would it be like if you got to the end of your life having never achieved that particular goal. If it's a "well it doesn't matter" then it wasn't a proper goal in the first place and it's no wonder you had trouble working on it.

If however you would be devastated by not achieving that goal - then we are getting somewhere.

Starting again

Write your target at the top of the page, now work backwards - what is the immediate step which precedes you reaching your goal? What is the step before that? Work backwards to the point where you are now. In some cases you may have multiple steps which need to be taken, write them all down - yes it will take a while, but this will become your blueprint for this goal. Once you have reached what is POINT A - then you can see exactly what steps you need to take to get to POINT B. All you have to do now is take each step in order and you WILL succeed.

See what happens when you can't think straight - you get to have much more fun.

Start the deluge: Un-flood your mind

2010-03-05T13:30:54Z

To become "bigger" than you are, you need to grow and to change wht you are currently doing.

In exercise terms, if you exercise at the same level with the same intensity and don't vary your routine you will reach a certain point in your physical development and you will stay there. Which is why we should up the weights, do more reps, move from the treadmill to the bike, throw in a personal training session, a swim, a walk on the beach or take a dance lesson...or all of the above and then some more.

Why?

Because the variety removes the complacency from your body and your mind as you master the new things.

And so it is with our minds.

Do you read?
Do you read the same stuff?

You may say yes, and some of you will say "yes, I read all the motivational books and goal setting books I can lay my hands on. I just read and re-read it so I've absorbed all the information."

Well, reading is a good start, but if you don't begin the process of putting the good ideas you've gained from your reading, you are NOT learning. You might be growing your mind, but what good is that if you don't use it?

If you consider your mind as a sponge which absorbs all the facts, truth is, sooner or later it is going to reach super-saturation point. There is no more capacity for anything else - it's full to over-flowing, and the only way out is through the ears. You've head the saying "in one ear and out the other" well that's what we mean - there's no room for it to stop and take shape in your mind - consciously or unconsciously.

So, if you think about your mind as a super-saturated sponge, then in order to take in some more "information" what is in needs to be squeezed out.

So - put down the book, turn off your CD, switch off the telly and take one idea you have had swooshing around your mind forever and do something with it. Flood your life with new ideas and make a splash in the world (sorry Mike - couldn't resist the cliche).

Defeating writers block

2010-03-03T13:37:54Z

I'm sure most of you reading this are all "writers" in some way.

If you have an assignment to complete, an email to send, a letter to write, a book to edit, a website to fill with content, a news piece that needs completing then you are a writer.

How many times have you stared at the screen / blank piece of paper, decided it was too hard and decided to leave whatever it was to another day?

In a traditional sense, you can call this "writer's block" . In reality it may just be, we're really not sure what we want to say "so we'll just think about it for a minute or two", in other terms we could call it procrastination.

The best and easiest way to get over this - well I'll give you 2 ways (well three) and they can be combined quite easily - these are:

Write as if you are "speaking" to another person and someone you know. Explain to them what the problem is and explain how you intend to answer the problem / question.
Don't start at the beginning. Many a writing project has been stalled because you can't write the introduction. Answer - don't write that part first.
Read it out loud. It is amazing how slack our writing can sound when we read it out loud.

I do a lot of my preparation work on paper. Yes with a pen so I can scribble, cross out, change. But that's up to you. Only when I think I know what the structure is going to be do I transfer that to the computer and write in the headings / points I want to cover.

Once that part has been completed, I choose one of the headings and I write the contents of that section. Where you choose to start writing is up to you, but I choose an area I feel I know the most about. Once I have written the first draft of that "bit" I move onto the next bit. Once I think I have covered most of the sections, I close down the document and do something else. Yes you heard me correctly.

I never write and edit a major piece on the same day if I can help it - and the why is interesting. What you think is a coherent sentence one day may sound like utter drivel the next. Every one of my articles and books have been written in that way - and believe me I am quite prolific in the writing department and not just on motivational topics.

When I next sit down at my computer (usually the following day), I open up the piece and I start reading and editing the main body of the work (those "bits" I'd written before).

When I read, I start at the first point of writing, and add "joining" words and sentences so the writing flows easily from section to section. You will understand what we mean by "joining sentences" when you read a sentence, read the next sentence and realise something is missing in between. Once I have read it and edited it back, I then add the conclusion. Only then do I write the introduction / abstract and / or executive summary if necessary. Then I create the table of contents page, add a front cover (if required) and save it.

Believe me when I say the day 2 editing and reading process takes a fraction of the time you think it will but it hones and tightens your writing like nothing else can.

If you have the time, and really want to tighten the piece, start from the last paragraph and the last sentence of the last paragraph. Read that. Does it stand alone? Move to the next sentence and read it on it's own - does it work as a sentence? Repeat the reading process backwards sentence by sentence. Once you have reached the start of the paragraph, then read the entire paragraph, does it stand alone as a good piece of writing on the particular point you are trying to make?

You can overcome writers block when you are not constrained by the normal process of writing and starting a piece at the beginning and writing until you think it has been completed - so if you do struggle to work in a traditional beginning, middle and end structure, don't do it.

As always - with many thoughts

Friends are good like that

2010-03-01T11:33:19Z

What kind of friends do you have? Are they the kind who watch your back and make sure you're ok when you're in a tight spot? Or are they the kind to say - see you around, I'm not bailing you out of jail if you get stuck. Do your friends offer you a shoulder to cry on, a glass of wine and a bar of chocolate (or whatever the boy equivalent is); and a safe environment to get to the heart of your troubles? Or do you fear telling them because you know it will end up on facebook and twitter?

But what does having friends you can talk to have anything to do with motivation and overcoming procrastination?

Well I think it has a lot to do with both motivation and how we overcome procrastination. You see, procrastination occurs when we know we have an issue and we don't want to deal with it.

We may pretend we don't have an issue, we pretend we don't have a problem and we go round in ever decreasing circles.

I know what the "guru's" say - "always look on the bright side of life" and yes you can. But if you continue to paper over the cracks of your problems, sooner or later great screaming chasms will appear. Assuming everyone reading this is "normal" you will have problems occur every now and then - yes even the best of us have problems now and then. It's not that you have them, it's how you deal with them.

If you feel you don't have any friends you can confide in, there are a myriad of organisations who can and will help you. But there are other ways you can deal with the issue.

It may take time and it will take a lot of soul searching, some of your problems and issues may be buried deeper than you think. What you may think is a minor issue today, you may find yourself dragging up stuff from your past you thought you were over.

So - pens and paper at the ready. Make sure you are not going to be disturbed for a couple of hours and make sure there are plenty of tissues around.

WHAT THIS IS NOT

This is not a time to blame other people for where you are - this is about taking responsibilty for your actions AND your inactions, or your part in the process.

So, what is troubling you you can't move on and create the life you say you want?

Only by asking those questions of yourself will (I believe) allow you to forgive, forget and finally move on. Oh and while we are in the process of forgiveness, don't forget the most important person in this process - YOU.

Apologies for the deep and meaningful post today - sometimes I feel like I have to ask the hard questions to make you think.

With many thoughts
Elle

p.s. anyone else worried that we are already into March already? 100 day challengers - how are your journey's to better things progressing? Be good to hear from you.

Don't do second things first

2010-02-26T04:53:53Z

Set priorities for your goals. A major part of successful living lies in the ability to put first things first. Indeed, the reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.
Robert J. McKain

Always ask yourself:

What would be the best use of my time - right now?
Which item on my to-do list would give me the biggest payoff?
What am I doing that I should NOT be doing (and stop doing it)

The reason most goals fail is because we insist on doing things that

Do not matter
Are not important
Do not take us anywhere near what we say we want

Setting goals can be classed as the easy part - taking the steps we need to achieve those goals.... Well if it involves any kind of personal discipline and the day-to-day steady progress through the use of correct action, it's no wonder most people stay stuck.

M is for Measurable

2010-02-25T04:17:10Z

M is for Measurable: How do you know you are on the right track?

When you set goals it is vital you know where you are in terms of achieving them. But have you ever tried to "measure" your progress?

If you are planning a holiday of a lifetime, there are some easy measures.

We've decided on the where, when and who with
We know how much the airfares, accommodation and trips are going to cost
We know how long it will take us to save for the holiday based on our current expenditure
We know roughly how much we're going to need for spending money AND
We've cleared it with the bosses.

By the time we get to the airport to check in, we should be safe in the knowledge the airfares and accommodation are paid for. We’ve organised the time off, the house sitters, the dog walkers and clothes, passports and inoculations.

When it comes to holidays and goal setting, the measures are easy.

But let’s assume for just a minute you don’t plan to go on holiday. What kind of measures do you have for your goals?

For weight loss – you have the traditional scale measurement. You also have the number of holes on your belt, the sizing of your clothes, how many heads of lettuce you have consumed (OK I’m joking about the last measure) and other physical measures. Does your skin look healthier? How about your nails and your hair?
If you have decided to stop smoking – do your clothes smell better? Do you wash them less often? Can you smell and taste things again?How much money are you saving?
With sales calls, the number of people you have spoken to that day / week / month; the number of people who have bought from you.
Websites: The number of people who have visited your site, the number of pages they have visited (on average), the number of people who have signed up to receive your newsletter, the number of phone calls generated as a result and how many people have bought whatever it is you are selling.

The measures you can use to track your progress are endless, so don’t just rely on a single one, because if you do, you may feel you are not getting anywhere.

With weight loss for instance, you may not have lost weight on the scale, but your clothes may feel better on you.
You may not have sold anything, but you have created some new and valuable leads.

So when you are working out what is on your goal list, spend a little more time and work out how you are going to measure your progress. Because once you can see how well you are progressing, you are almost guaranteed to succeed.

Be SMART: Be Accountable

2010-02-23T06:20:31Z

Do you hold yourself accountable for what you do or don't do? If you set SMART goals you do.

I feel "Accountability" is one of the keys to success. Holding yourself accountable for both your successes and failures means you are more likely to:

a) know what worked
b) repeat the successes
c) work hard on the "failures" so they don't happen again

How do you remember what worked and what didn't?

Write it down so you don't forget - and keep these notes to yourself, that way you can be honest.

What were you going to do today? Did you complete the task today or not? If not, why not, and be honest - if you couldn't be bothered - say so and say why. Over time you will note patterns of behaviour. These patterns can provide us with additional information we can use.

What accountability isn't - It is not a beat yourself up opportunity, it should never be - you're a failure, you're hopeless, you never finish things (we can be our own worst critic), but more of - OK so it didn't work - why didn't it work, what can you do to make it work?

You can of course give someone else permission to hold you accountable for your actions. While I am not talking about confessing our sins to a priest, I am talking about groups of people to whom you have pledged to do something - be it a weight loss group, a team fitness program you are taking part in, your training partner, the person you walk with every morning or your work colleagues.

Do you hold yourself accountable?