Category: Productivity

How to Increase Your Ability to Take the Best Actions

Over the last several weeks we explored a process for goal setting and goal achievement. One question remains.

How do you know if your actions are the best actions you could have taken?

You don’t. In fact, most actions are neither 100% correct or 100% incorrect. Our actions have differing levels of effectiveness. In most cases, there are better or worse actions that could have been taken.

This single reason makes a personal reflection process very important. The few minutes spent each day in reflection accumulate over a lifetime into a wealth of knowledge. We improve exponentially faster by evaluating our experiences, not just by having an experience.

There is no magic formula for reflection. Some people may need only five minutes in a quiet place to think about the events of the day. Other people may write their thoughts in a journal. It may be that using a calendar system to take notes throughout the day works best for some people.

Each of us must discover the best method, the best time, and the best place for reflection. But for all of us, it is most effective when we make it a daily habit. If you can build it into your normal routine, it will pay huge dividends. The benefit compounds over time.

If it is not one of your habits, there is no better time to start then today.

Goal Oriented or Growth Oriented? Which Are You?

Last week’s article was about a process to focus on only a few goals at one time. I received several emails from people asking how I could just ignore some of my goals. It is a good question.

I do have goals that have specific deadlines. These goals are usually shorter term goals, not big picture goals. Most of my big picture goals have less to do with when, and more to do with achievement.

I hope you have had the opportunity to experience big picture goals through thinking, reflection, and the exercise I wrote about a few weeks ago. If not, I encourage you to give it a try. Hopefully you will perceive some distinction between big goals, and other goals in our life.

John Maxwell captures this difference when he talks about goal setting. He says “when I stopped asking ‘when will I get it?’ and started asking ‘I wonder how far I can go ..?’, I changed my thinking from goal oriented to growth oriented”.

Growth is life long isn’t it… or at least I think it ought to be. Big goals also tend to be life long. They represent the journey we desire. I love to think big, set big goals, and then align my actions to continuously strive forward.

I hope this helps put frame of reference around my process, and boosts your enthusiasm for your own goals.

Establish the Habit of Achieving Goals

If you have followed my articles in the last few weeks, you may now have a big picture of your longer term goals. You might also be feeling a bit overwhelmed. The next step is developing focus.

If I split my attention between 30 goals, I end up with no progress. To be effective, I can only work on a few goals. Usually I target two to four goals at a time. For these selected goals, I add the following process to my day.

Daily reflection – Every day (Monday through Friday), for each goal, I write a sentence or two on activity and progress. This process only take a minute or two at the end of the day.

Weekly reflection – On Friday evening or Saturday morning, I spend a few minutes reflecting and writing notes on my progress over the last week. I answer the following questions:

– What worked?
– What didn’t work?
– What did I learn?
– What do I need to do next week?

Once completed, the goal is dropped from the daily and weekly review. I select another goal for concentration and continue.

This process is simple but effective. After using it for several weeks, it will become a habit. Once established it will help with focus, daily effort, and improved performance.

I hope this explanation answers your questions on selecting goals, and maintaining focus. Let’s keep striving for a great year!

4 Steps to Big Goals

After my article last week on my process for achieving goals, several people asked about my process for creating goals. So this week, I will outline my annual goal setting process.

I have written many times about how goals should be big. They should reflect a grand picture of the life you want to achieve. Yet, they must also be achievable. This requires perspective.

Every year I spend time looking at the bigger picture of my challenges. Most of the time I am working tactical issues to achieve my goals. But to set the right goals, I need to step back and evaluate my plans strategically.

I spend time thinking about the future using several different frameworks. These are the four specific steps I use.

1. Goals by category – In this first step, I capture my goals in different categories. I use the 12 areas outlined in John Maxwell’s book, Today Matters. They are attitude, priorities, health, family, thinking, commitment, finances, relationships, generosity, faith, values, and growth. These categories are effective for me because they are values I want to develop. These could seem too abstract. An alternative is to use these eight categories: career, money, health, friends and family, romance, personal growth, fun and recreation, physical environment.

2. Goals based on time – In the second step, I capture my goals based on a time frame. Usually I evaluate five years, ten years, and in my life time.

3. Goals based on my strengths – We are most successful when we able to put to use our personal strengths. In the third step, I capture my goals for developing and using my strengths. My top five strength areas (from Strengths Finder 2.0) are learner, strategic, intellection, analytical, and responsibility. So I think about how I can best utilize these skills.

4. Goals from the perspective of others – This final step recognizes how my goals affect other people. I try to capture the goals that would be most important to serve the people, teams, and organizations around me. I look for alignment in my plans with the needs of others.

This may seem overwhelming, but I usually only use this process once a year. It usually takes a few hours, and sometimes as much as an entire day. For me, it is an effective method to put the coming year into perspective.

If you are interested, here is a link to the form I use to guide me through this process. It is going to be a great year!