Are You Living Purposefully?

purposeI recently read an article that made me reflect on how I set and track my goals. The challenge is to live life purposefully. To be effective life goals need to be brought to mind frequently.

I have a system that I use for keeping track of my tasks, my priorities, and my calendar. It drives what I do on a daily basis. However, this article forced me to think about how I track my purpose. I have business goals that I track. I have life goals that I could verbalize. But I don’t have my big goals captured in a way that they would be in front of me at all times.

I knew I could do better. I decided to take some actions.

1. Write down my big goals. This is needed to bring clarity to what I want to achieve. I had written yearly and monthly goals, but they seemed too tactical didn’t capture the true essence of what I wanted to achieve. I wanted my goals to include not just “what” but also “why”.

2. Visualize my goals over time. I want to be able to sense how my goals will feel in one month, three months, one year, five years, and even ten years. Goals are easier to connect with if they are less abstract and more real. Not just in the sense of a number or a target, but how achieving them will affect your life.

3. Reaffirm these goals on a daily basis. Every day I create my daily task list, I have added reading my goals every day. I want to answer the questions: Am I aligned? Am I working towards my purpose? Is the “why” still important?

4. Reflect daily. This may be the most important part of a daily routine. You need to know if you stayed on track. I want to ask myself everyday these two questions: Were my actions today effective in moving me closer to my goals? What do I need to adjust for tomorrow?

Every day counts. It is too easy to be distracted and become disconnected from your “why”. Living purposefully requires daily attention, but it is a discipline that pays big rewards. How are you staying connected to your goals and dreams?

 

What Questions Should You Be Asking Yourself Today?

questions

It was Socrates that said, “An unexamined life is not worth living”.  I am reading John Maxwell’s newest book, Good Leaders Ask Great Questions, and in the second chapter, John reveals the questions he asks himself every day. He then challenges the reader to make their own list. I recently took that challenge.

Questions are an important tool in examining yourself. I did not think it would be very difficult, but quickly realized how empowering this exercise was.

Here are the six questions I decided I should be asking myself every day:

1. Am I helping others? This is a question of purpose. As a coach, my aspiration is to help others become successful in their lives. Every day I need to evaluate what I have done to achieve this objective. I should define the value I have contributed. This question keeps me aligned with my purpose.

2. Am I guided by my heart? This is a question of motive. Motives matter. I find it interesting that John Maxwell points out that motives are different than values. You can have good values and still be affected by the wrong motive. This question helps me be guided by positive motives.

3. Am I being authentic? This is a question of character. I need to be who I am. My actions need to reflect who I am and who I want to be. If you want to do more, you have to be more. This question aligns my actions with my values.

4. Am I working in my strength zone? This is a question of effectiveness. If I spend too much time out of my strength zone, then the best I can be is average. Doing what I am best at, allows me to excel. Spending time in my strength zone is what can differentiate me. This question allows me to be strategic.

5. Am I taking care of today? This is a question of priorities. I follow a process to make sure my actions are important. I invest time in my faith, my family, my health, my work, and doing what is required of me. It is a matter of organizing my day with the right priorities. This question helps me keep perspective.

6. Am I growing as a person? This is a question of success. Investing in myself is an investment that has everlasting value. I can only succeed to the level of my awareness, my belief in myself, and my competency. I invest in myself daily, to grow as a person, and to grow my success daily. This question challenges me.

These are the six questions I defined when I took the challenge. I found this to be a very enlightening exercise. It gets to the very core of who you are, and who you want to become.

Are you ready for the challenge? What questions would you define for yourself? What questions will help you examine your life, and live to your fullest?

Are We More Productive in a Yellow Office?

yellow-officeWouldn’t it be great if you would become more productive by painting the walls yellow? I recently read an article on 6 Totally Strange But Effective Productivity Hacks. One of the six encouraged us to surround ourselves with yellow.

According to the article, filling your office with the color yellow can help you concentrate. This sunny color decreases the production of melatonin, the hormone which makes you sleepy. Supposedly putting yellow objects and furnishings around your office can keep you more alert and awake, leading to better productivity and renewed focus.

My curiosity led me to investigate how yellow was being used in workplace design. Another article I found claimed yellow is associated with intellect and the expression of thoughts.

Further searches led me to this site that showcases rooms decorated in yellow, and a site that sells yellow office chairs.

Do you think it really makes a difference? If it did, I would imagine all offices becoming yellow. We all want more productivity, right?

Maybe the reason we don’t see all the offices in the world decorated in yellow is because different colors impact the environment in different ways. For example, orange is a color of adventure which inspires and creates enthusiasm. It is optimistic and sociable and suggests affordability. Who would have known?

If yellow does not seem to be working for you, I would suggest getting back to basics by defining smart goals that are linked to your passion and have your full attention. If you need some help with making the basics effective, lets talk about it. If you decide you want to try yellow walls, call a painter!

A Great Tip for Getting Unstuck

visualizeWe all get stuck. You know the feeling. The one where that voice in your head is telling you all the reasons why you cannot do something. We all face these struggles at times. How do you get past your internal barrier?

One method is visualization. Visualize yourself going through the steps of getting past your barrier. Not just the results, or the success, but actually doing the work required.

As a simple example, think about getting an apple from one of the higher branches of a tree. Obviously this is a very simplified example. But to get that apple, don’t think about what it will feel like to hold and taste the apple, instead visualize the steps required to get the apple.

Will you bring a ladder? Will you climb the tree? Will you use something to knock the apple from the limb, or will you grab it and pull it from the limb? Visualizing the steps is different than visualizing the results. Once you can see yourself doing the steps it is a matter of following through. The action required becomes clearer.

Ok. That was a really simple, basic example, and your challenges are much tougher. But sometimes, we just need to break our challenges into small steps. Steps that we can see ourselves taking.

I want you to think of your biggest current challenge. Then think of the very first step required to achieve that challenge. Visualize yourself doing it. Then go out and do it. Take the first step. Each successive step will be easier.

Achieving a dream requires taking the journey. Need a push? Send me an email!