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Feb 29
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Seize the opportunity and achieve that goal…

By Blogpost, opportunities
Opportunity

 



Some goals are straightforward. You make a plan and smoothly sail from A to Z. Others require vigilance to spot opportunities and boldness to take action on them before they vaporize. Usually, people miss opportunities because they are unaware of them or they’re not trained to spot them. Sometimes opportunities are cleverly disguised as problems so start by changing your attitude about problems. Are they really problems, or lessons? Challenges are designed to make you grow and learn! That shift in mindset transforms problems from something that frustrating and paralyzing to something energizing and motivating.

People often wait for “the right time” to take advantage of opportunities. By then, it’s too late. The truth is, there’s never a perfect time. The best time to take advantage of opportunities is immediately. Don’t be scared away when you have no earthly clue what to do next! Take the step, keep your eye on the goal – the ways to achieve what you want will present themselves.
Here’s how to spot opportunities and make the most of them:

1. No matter what your goal is, you need people to provide the solutions, skills, information, knowledge and answers you need. Work on your relationships; expand your circle; become a people person even if you’re shy. Support others and they will support you, or point you in the direction of people who will support you. Seek out the out-of-the-box thinkers, the creative types who don’t take no for an answer. Avoid the naysayers.

2. Have the right mindset. Be open, curious, playful, confident, optimistic, and never give up. Be grateful for every challenge and lesson. Own your success AND your setbacks. Successful people don’t blame anyone for their success or their “failures” and they do not make excuses.

3. You must be crystal clear on what you want to accomplish in the first place. This is the only way you’re going to prime your brain to start looking for the opportunities to make it happen!

4. When you think about your goal, do you listen to the voices that say “you can’t”? What do YOU believe? Do you believe you can or can’t achieve this? Do you believe you are or aren’t good enough? Do you believe you can or can’t be in the right place at the right time for the right opportunity? If you believe you can, you will. If you believe you can’t, you won’t. Identify limiting beliefs by listening to yourself as you rationalize why you can’t do something. Ask yourself, “WHY do I believe this? Is this true? What facts support this belief?” Dig down to the bottom of that belief and expose it for the delusion it is! Many limiting beliefs are learned from parents, teachers, etc. and we believe them only because we didn’t know we had a choice in the matter. Well, now you know. You can choose to believe something – or not.

5. Always be aware and vigilant. Be open to new ideas. Don’t make judgments about ideas you come across just because they’re different than anything you’ve done before. Keep an open mind – be curious about new perspectives and alternative ways of doing things.

6. Question everything. “What is interesting about this new development? What can I learn? Whom could I help? What benefit will I get from this?” These questions imprint the importance of your goal on your mind. The more important it is to you, the more your mind will seek it.

7. Embrace the “problems” – find the value, the lesson and the benefit in every single problem you have, and <poof> like magic, your problems will transform into wonderful opportunities!

8. If you notice anything out of the ordinary in your life, pounce on it like a tiger. Seize it. It came into your awareness for a reason, even if you don’t know why. Write down what you noticed and your thoughts and emotions. If you go back later and read what you wrote, you will be astounded at the wealth of guidance or insight you received. Carry a notebook with you everywhere, or use a note-taking app on your phone or iPad. DO NOT LOSE those clues.

9. Keep learning. Keep expanding your knowledge and skills. Embrace the new and unexpected. Get OUT of your comfort zone. Take calculated risks – and sometimes the “foolish” ones. Avoid comfort; seek the unknown. Don’t follow the herd, make your own path.

10. Are all opportunities the goose that laid the golden egg? No. Some just don’t work out – but even there, the lessons you learned are more valuable than the perceived setback.

11. Don’t discount the little opportunities while you sit back and wait for the big one.

12. Don’t let fear of rejection, failure or uncertainty stop you. Most of us face some level of rejection, failure and uncertainty on a daily basis. It’s no different “out there.” Except that this time, you’re going for what YOU want.

13. Think big.

14. Every opportunity is time-sensitive to some degree. Even the ones that “can wait” won’t wait for long. Make a plan and take action right away.

15. Listen to your intuition.

Take advantage of opportunities; they are the wonderful “unexpected” ways that your grandest goals will be achieved!

Inspired by a blog by Adam Sicinski at iqmatrix.com

Feb 21
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How to become your own project (goal) manager…

By Blogpost, management

Project_manager


As any manager knows, project audits are necessary to keep any project on track and within budget. But you don’t have to be a businessperson to implement these techniques in your own goal-setting.

Project audits in a business setting give you an overview of the state of the project and should be done frequently: as in, every day. Letting things slide can be disastrous, so stay on top of your project with a quick daily review. In your personal goals, you can use the same or similar measurements to make sure you are moving…

  • effectively (moving in the right direction)
  • efficiently (working smarter, not harder)
… toward your goal.
A project manager evaluates the health of a project based on cost, time, scope and risks.
In your personal goals, you can use the same template. A daily or at the least, weekly review can spot potential problems before they arise… and let you take care of problems while they’re still small, before they escalate into crises.
You want to achieve goals in a healthy way: that is, without upsetting the balance of your life, ruining relationships, and achieving for the wrong reasons (not being true to your Why). So play the part of a project manager even in your personal goals and analyze the following:
Cost: not just the money involved, but personal sacrifice. Personal goals necessarily take you away from your loved ones for a period of time (unless they are heavily involved in your project). You may be too busy to take care of yourself and neglect daily exercise. You may be too busy to notice that your home is in dire need of maintenance or repairs. Weigh the personal cost of your project – and enlist help whenever you can.

Time: everyone who has ever remodeled a home knows that the project is going to run up to 20% over budget, and take at least 2 months longer than you think. Hopefully you’ve factored in a little padding on the budget (if there is one) and allow yourself flexibility in case unexpected roadblocks pop up. It’s important to not freak out if you run over budget or if your time frame goes all Star Trek on you and the days seem to be about ⅓ as long as they should. Stuff happens. Roll with it, get creative and be patient. And be accountable. ARE you taking action? Or just thinking about it?

Scope: did you bite off more than you can chew? GREAT!!! Seriously, there’s no reason to hold yourself back, and if you’re totally overwhelmed by the scope of your project, then break it down into manageable chunks. Eventually it will all come together. BUT – in terms of your daily or weekly audit, are you on track with your mini-goals? Are you moving in the right direction, or are you paralyzed with indecision and fear? If you haven’t broken your goal down into manageable tasks, do it right away.

Risk: this may or may not apply to your personal goals. Obviously if you’re investing money into something, you are taking a risk. Same with athletic goals or any goal where you compete against others. You might lose. So the key here is to LEARN from the project or goal, whether you “win” or “lose.” There are valuable lessons in every single experience.

Keep on track with frequent audits and you won’t have that “oh, crap” moment when you realize that you should have laid the foundation for something weeks ago… that life is still fun and enjoyable and you’re not a slave to your goal… that you are keeping yourself accountable… and that you are maintaining balance in your life and achieving your goals in a healthy way.

Inspired by Carter McNamara’s managementhelp.org; and Patrick d’Astous’ blog, “Project Audits – A Necessary Evil or a Tool for Achieving Success?”

 

Feb 14
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Making YOUR goals unique

By Attitude, Blogpost, Goals

Unique




Unique You, Unique Goals

Have you ever compared your goals to the goals of other people? Have you judged yours based on theirs? Well, don’t. Sure, use people’s goals to inspire you, but don’t compare your goals, or your results. Everyone has a unique path in life. Don’t beat yourself up if your goals aren’t as grand as your sister’s; or as cool as your brother’s. I know it might seem obvious to not compare yourself to others, but people often have a slightly over-developed competitive streak that comes from their own insecurity, so they have to prove themselves against others. If their best friend achieves X, they have to achieve Y – or be resentful forever if they can’t. Even a more subtle variant of this kind of competition – comparing yourself to others – can be detrimental to your goals.
 

First, you are not them. They are not you. Focus on your goals and don’t worry about theirs. You have talents and abilities that your friends and family, your colleagues and heroes, do not have. If you take two people and they are going for the exact same goal, even if they reach the same result, their stamp on it will be different. The end result is the icing on the cake. The real magic happens along the way, when you make your goals YOURS. You give your efforts a certain “you-ness” that no one else possesses.
 

Second, maybe your ultimate benefits will be far higher than theirs, even if their result is “better.” You could be going for the same goal as someone more “able” than you – but says who? Maybe you are more determined. Maybe you are more creative. Maybe you will find a better solution… maybe this goal will stretch you much further than it stretches the other person, and as a result, you get more personal satisfaction and growth out of it. Goals are there to get you to grow and to satisfy some inner need. Don’t base your goal on being better than someone else – because there will always be someone who is better than YOU. Maybe not today, maybe not for years – but ultimately, someone will best your achievements, and you will be crushed.
 

Two people with the same goal will end up with different ripple effects. Maybe you both have the same goal, but its achievement will impact a different group of people – which is great! Always remember, for every talent, there is an audience. So be brave. Forge your own way. Get to your goal the best way you can – not by following in someone’s footsteps, but by taking inspiration from others’ achievements and making your own path. You may improve on what they’ve done, and set the stage for even greater accomplishments for people who follow YOU.
 

If you compare yourself against other people’s achievements, you’re bound to get discouraged. So use their accomplishments to fuel your fire. Don’t compete against others (the great skier Hermann Maier admitted that his biggest mistake whenever he skied badly was that he was trying to win against his competitors instead trying to achieve a personal best). So don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. They may be having a “Superman” kind of day, and you may be dragging… Compete against yourself, using others’ accomplishments as “carrots.” This kind of competition is healthy. The kind where “you must lose so that I can win” is unhealthy.
 

Always push yourself, against yourself. Compete against the part of you that wants to quit; that wants to settle for the easy way; against the part of you that is afraid and lacks confidence. You already have the tools within you to make it happen – you just have to have the confidence to take those tools out of the toolbox and use them.
 

Inspired by Anilia’s blogs on www.motivatedsista.com