Is It Time to Re-Start Your New Year's Resolutions?

Every January, we flip the page to a new calendar year, and many of us attempt to write a new story on the blank pages of a new year. We set goals and make resolutions, like "spend less, save more", "quit smoking", "get fit and stay healthy", "lose weight", "enjoy life to the fullest", "workout more", "work less" and "get organized". As National Get Organized Month, each January is the perfect time to GO and get started on these endeavors; however, if you get sidetracked or fall short of sticking with your resolutions, it's okay.

Have you had a bit of backsliding as related to your 2015 resolutions? Did you miss a scheduled workout as you are working to get in better shape? Did you forget to sort last week's stack of mail as you are working to get more organized? Don't fret! Instead, just start your efforts back up again.

If you were driving from Florida to Maine and got lost in North Carolina, would you simply turn around and return to Florida? Not likely. Instead, you'd probably just find your way and continue traveling to your destination. Achieving goals, meeting objectives and keeping resolutions can be exactly the same.

Be easy on yourself, don't feel guilty if you have setbacks, and, above all, do not give up. Your best bet for success is to break your goal into small, realistic steps and grow into your transformation. If you slide a bit, keep trying. I know you will eventually get there.

Get Clear For The New Year Week #1: Priorities, Goals, Objectives and Saying No To What Doesn't Fit

Today, successful small businesses must make changes quickly when needed. Technology is evolving rapidly, dramatically altering the way in which businesses find, interact with and meet the needs of clients. The number of employees continues to be cut while resources become more limited, continually asking small businesses to do more with less. We're often reminded how important collaboration, communication and scheduling are when looking at our own successes as well as our teams' successes.

Chances are good that your expectations for the new year are even higher than what you had in mind and have accomplished in the year that’s ending. If so, take action now to make changes for improving your business moving forward. In my “Get Clear For The New Year” series, I’ll post each week of this month about steps you can take now to make the new year your best thus far, empowering you with the optimal tools to drive your desired workflow results.

Let's start by discussing the foundation for your upcoming success: your priorities, goals and objectives. Each of us has 1,440 minutes in each day or 10,080 minutes in each week, which means we have only 525,600 minutes in all of 2015 to achieve everything we desire. Time is a limited resource, and we cannot add to that allocation. Instead, we can only manage our actions within that allocated time to do all we possibly can. With such a limited allocation of time, it is extremely important to be focused on how we want to use it.

As Stephen Covey encourages, think of each week in your year as if it were a jar. In front of you, you’ve been given a pile of rocks, a pile of pebbles and a pile of sand. Those rocks represent actions to support the most important commitments in your life, whether your career, your health, your loved ones, your education, volunteering for a cause that’s important to you or something of equal priority to you; there are serious consequences if these tasks are left undone. The sand represents actions that are neither important nor urgent but can be good releases throughout your day, week or month, like watching funny videos on YouTube, playing video games and catching up on personal social media. Then, the pebbles represent what actions fall in between the importance levels of your rocks and sand; often, what are currently considered pebbles would become rocks if they are postponed for too long, but you currently have a little wiggle room on them. The pebbles represent tasks with slight but manageable consequences if left undone. Each week in your year can hold only so many of your rocks, pebbles and sand; be strategic and proactive about which items you choose to give your limited time. As indicated in the video at http://youtu.be/6_N_uvq41Pg, if we each allocate time for what’s most important first, we’re more likely to have more time to accomplish much more of the rock, pebble and sand items that we desire.

In these last few weeks of 2014, it’s important to clarify your rocks, pebbles and sand, creating the habit of scheduling each week with time allocated for rocks before pebbles before sand. To determine your business’ rocks, it is imperative to be clear about what are your company’s priorities and goals. Jumpstart this analysis and move towards clarity on your priorities with these strategic-planning questions:

1. What is the one thing your organization did best this year, and what is needed to repeat that success?

2. What is the one thing your organization most needs to improve, and what must happen to fix it?

3. Which groups or individuals have prevented your organization from reaching its greatest possible success, and what can be done to remove that hurdle?

4. Which groups or individuals were most responsible for your organization’s successes this year, and how can those folks be shown appreciation while encouraging that success to be repeated in the new year?

5. What performance metric has been falling below expectations, and what can be done to correct that?

6. What performance metric most closely reflects whether your organization is operating successfully?

7. Which products or services offered by your organization are most profitable? Least profitable? How can business operations be more aware of the profitability aspect for what products and services are offered?

8. What resources can help team members better achieve the organization’s goals, like networking, administrative support, technological tools or more streamlined processes?

9. About what results are you most passionate, excited and motivated? How can you focus more intently on that specific facet of your organization?

10. What areas of your business can be outsourced or automated to achieve better results in other areas?

From your answers to these questions, you can deduce which areas of your business rank as your highest priorities headed into the new year. Create a goal for each of the determined priorities; then, make sure that each goal is supported by SMART objectives, meaning they are Specific (targeting an exact area that is to be improved), Measurable (able to quantify progress), Assignable (have specified who will complete), Realistic (associated with results that can realistically be achieved with available resources) and Time-related (to be achieved by a specified deadline). 

Heading into a new year means a blank slate, and focusing your actions on your personal and professional priorities can lead to outstanding outcomes; however, it can also mean changes to your existing behaviors or habits, which is challenging. As opportunities come your way that are not aligned with your priorities, it will be important that you are armed with ways to say “no”… Here are a few examples:

- Let go of the kind of work you do not want to be spending your time on by saying “Unfortunately, I simply don’t have time for that right now”, which opens space for doing the work that really deserves your time.

- If someone approaches you with an idea, venture or suggestion in which you are interested but you just don’t have the bandwidth to consider it at this particularly busy time, say that this is a busy time for you, and ask that they contact you again after whatever date you specify as being a less busy time; this approach avoids your overwhelm by putting the ask back on the asker’s to-do list.

- Although you never owe the other person more explanation than you feel comfortable giving, if you choose to elaborate a bit more, you can always say “I’d love to, but I’ve got other commitments right now”, and feel free to explain to whatever degree you prefer what those other commitments might be.

- You can always choose the more direct approach, saying “It’s a no, I’m afraid, but thanks for asking me."

- Whenever you are overwhelmed by your current commitments and turning down a new alternative, I find it very successful to be upfront and clear about your state of overwhelm; examples of this approach include “I’ve got too much on my plate right now” or “Bandwidth is low so I won’t be able to make it work."

Whenever you are offering a “no" response, it should always be truthful, firm and not overly apologetic or explanatory; once you’ve made the decision to say “no”, try to not overthink it and always take action.

ASSIGNMENT: Visit http://youtu.be/tls8uNfeBao to see a video related to this blog post; then, this week, take time to answer the aforementioned strategic-planning questions, deducing what your priorities might be. Practice scheduling your week to focus more intently on your priorities, and brainstorm goals as well as SMART objectives associated with those priorities. Make time in your schedule for what matters most.

What are your priorities, goals and objectives? How do you make time for what’s most important? How do you move away from opportunities that do not fit your priorities?

Is It Time To Re-Start Your New Year's Resolutions?

 This year was going to be different, right? Yet, now that we are a few weeks into the new year, are you struggling with your new year’s goals? Might you be backsliding a bit? Have no fear… You can restart at any time! Take a moment to check out my “Apps, Websites and Tech Tools To Move You Towards Your Goals” post at http://wp.me/p3M0SC-2h8 for tech tools that can help you veer back onto the right path for your resolutions. Meanwhile, there are additional steps you can start this week to be more efficient, waste less time and open space in your life for achieving the goals and resolutions you set for this new year. Here are a few ideas:

•          Streamline your calendar system with (a) one place for all your time commitments, (b) all activities documented and (c) starting the habit of regularly reviewing that planner to start as well as end each day.

•          Schedule your weekly strategy session as a repeating event on your calendar, giving you the opportunity to outline your game plan for attacking each week’s to-do items, appointments and opportunities for personal / professional growth.

•          Organize your paper and electronic filing solutions with (a) a purge of outdated contents or overstuffed files and (b) a verification that everything in your workspace has a home as well as that each item is in its assigned location.

•          Systematize your “drop zone” upon entry and exit of your home and office so you aren’t scrambling to find your car keys as you’re running out the door.

•          Consolidate your contact system into (a) one address book, (b) updated information included for each person’s record and (c) starting to build a foundation for your system of continually inputting updated / additional contact information as it is brought to you by your contacts.

•          Make certain you have a tax folder easily accessible to hold incoming documentation for the year that recently ended; then, create another file for tax-related items coming in for this new year, too. 

While all of these action items in one list might seem a bit overwhelming, think of how you can break them into bite-sized portions to do each one throughout the remainder of the month. Alternatively, is there someone to whom you can delegate any of these items? Or is it time to pick which one is most relevant to your needs and bring me back in for a “check-up from the neck up” on that particular area of focus? No matter which path to productivity you choose, take time to act now because you can make a difference.

What did YOU resolve for 2014? Have you had success? If not, which of these techniques can you implement this week to open up time for moving you towards your goals? I look forward to our dialogue with your comments below.

Ready, Set, GO!

As outlined on http://www.2011resolutions.org/top-10-new-years-resolutions-for-2011/, the new year brings a variety of focuses for folks worldwide. Maybe your 2011 resolutions include "spend less, save more" or "quit smoking, get fit and stay healthy" or "enjoy life to the fullest", but many people have "get organized" atop their resolutions' list... and now is the time to GO towards Getting Organized!

The average worker admits to wasting 2 hours per 8-hour work day. However, getting and staying organized helps everyone maintain productivity, which has become more and more important as businesses streamline and employees must continually do more with less. With that in mind, it really is no surprise to me that "be organized" tops the list of new year's resolutions for many folks. To help, January is National Get Organized Month, otherwise known as GO Month, and there are many ways you can start being organized right now.
As you tackle the various tips that best meet your unique organizing challenges, there are a few things to keep in mind:

- Every person is different so it can take different amounts of time for different individuals to turn actions into habits, but simple, repetitive tasks require a timeframe of approximately 21 days to condition. Furthermore, most people require 30 to 40 repetitions to firmly adopt a habit. Stay focused... Success will come with time.

- Since people are different, there is no right or wrong way to get organized. Organizing is not "black and white" with one system that meets everyone's needs. Instead, what works best for you will depend on your unique needs and your own personality traits. For example, when things are filed away in a drawer, do they fail to get accomplished because it's "out of sight, out of mind" or does leaving things out in the open lead to inactivity because the visible things feel like clutter? Do you remember things better when you write them down or is an auditory reminder from an electronic device more helpful? Are you more energized early in the morning, mid-day or later in your workday? Would you prefer more to get organized with regards to to-do lists, space management, best utilization of your available time, communicating with others, optimizing the skills available on your team or something else? Success will come best when you know yourself well.

- Seeking help from others can be a very good thing. If you delegate a task to someone else, you are freed up to do something else while the original task is being completed. If you hire a professional whose services are in an area outside your expertise, the task will be completed much more quickly, maybe even more thoroughly. If you utilize a team in the completion of a task, the end result will benefit from different skill sets, different thought processes and different knowledge bases. Success is richer when you delegate, outsource, partner with others and simply seek assistance.

Whatever might be your resolution, today is the first day of the rest of your life and a great time to get ready, get set and GO towards Getting Organized... I wish you ultimate success in a joyful, prosperous and organized 2011.

Don't Give Up... Get Better Odds in the Change Game

A fresh calendar each January inspires us to do what can become impossible by July... "Get organized" often ranks high on folks' lists of new year's resolutions, but things don't always pan out the way we envision. Each new year's resolutions come at the wrong time of the year, surrounded by excessive calendar clutter amidst great fun and frivolous celebration, making change a very difficult thing to accomplish. Therefore, the inevitable bit of backsliding we experience can make us feel like we've blown it or the game's over. Hold on! Rather than waiting until next January, let's take a moment to really think this through... If you were driving from Florida to Maine and got lost in North Carolina, would you simply turn around and return to Florida? Not likely. Instead, you'd probably find your way and continue traveling to your destination. Getting organized is the exact same thing: it's a process, not just an event. A little bit of backsliding doesn't mean we give up on the goal of making our desired changes; instead, take today as your New Year's Day and start over with your resolution to "get organized", understanding that "good enough" is so much better than "perfect" in the process of organizing. Your best bet for long-term success is small, slow, realistic steps with transformation coming from incremental change. Take it easy on yourself. Don't feel guilty if you backslide, and do not give up. Try a moderate approach that will produce better results in the long-term, and stay tuned to this blog for tips and ideas about how to make that happen. Here's to a great, more organized remainder of 2010!