The Power of Planning - Last in a Series of Five

Boundaries

As you gain muscle with planning you will find that the need to establish and respect healthy, flexible boundaries will be important to your overall success. 

It may be challenging to set boundaries with yourself and others.  Take responsibility for learning all you can about boundaries.  Research what they are and evaluate if they are missing in your life.  The less you know about them the less equipped you are to have them and to honor others' boundaries.  Learn what to do about establishing them, how to go about honoring them in yourself and others.  It will aid your professional maturity and protect your plans, relationships, self-esteem and goals from sabotage. 

There are fixed boundaries and there are times they are valid and imperative.  There are loose boundaries and sometimes they are the right fit.  The best personal boundaries are flexible.

Examples:

Fixed boundary - you never misuse your PC as spelled out by IT.

Loose boundary - within reason you can choose what is on your work station – photos of family, etc.

Flexible boundary - you choose who you eat lunch (you can say no) with but you cooperate and eat with a team when asked or required.

Three Tips for Setting Boundaries at Work

1.      Focus on how to fix what is broken versus how it got broken and who is to blame.  

2.   Swallow your pride, ask for help or delegate when managing overload.   As soon as you know you have over-committed go tell the truth, express regret and work on a realistic agreement.

3.      Handle your emotions with professional maturity - becoming known as a drama queens or hot tempered will harm your reputation.

Put planning to work for you and you will find it works! 

 

Still learning,

Honey

The Power of Planning Series - Fourth of Five

YOUR TO DO LIST

Make your initial draft of your to do list before you leave work each day so you can work on scheduling and juggling what you need to do.  The next morning you will finalize the list, look forward in your calendar and add what needs to be squeezed in.

Mastering this discipline will help you become a master of spending your time where it counts most.

Try this for 30 days.

List everything you have to do today.  In the beginning I want you to list everything, including your morning and evening routines, that includes meals, showering, praying/quiet time, getting dressed, driving to the day care, driving to work, going to the store or the cleaners plus work-related tasks…in other words if it takes time it belongs on the list.

Next examine everything on your list to see what you left out, and then look at your calendar for appointments or meetings for the next two weeks that you need to include or prepare for and add those.

Now, you determine when each item needs to be done.   Each item on your list will have an A, B, C, or D to the right of it 

A          before noon

B          afternoon

C          evening

D          delegate

Place a time estimate to the side of the alpha character you gave the task.  Now, calculate how realistic your plan (to do list) is for the day.  This discipline helps to eliminate over committing and underestimating your available time.

Now that you have the real picture on what you need/want to do and have set deadlines for each and calculated how much time it all will take you are ready to prioritize.  Your next step is to number in sequence what you will do first, second and so on.  And next, drumroll please, check off the item as you complete them.

Get real, stay real, reduce stress and accomplish what matters most.  Let me know how this works for you.  

Still learning,

Honey

The Power of Planning Series Third of Five

Spend time where it counts the most!   Priorities are what help you determine what to do first, second, etc.  Remember a calendar is for appointments, even if they are with you.  A “to do” list is an accounting of what you need and want to do.  You will need to use both every day. 

Find the best option for you to stay on top of both your calendar and your “to do” list.  Maybe your work/lifestyle is the perfect fit for all your contacts, to do list and appointments to be on your Smartphone.  Maybe the program on your computer that houses a calendar, to do list and contacts is your solution.  Find the right solution for you. 

Definitely these two power tools – calendar and to-do list - must be mobile.  You don’t have to shower with them or sleep with them, but any other time a best practice is that they are within an arms-reach.  I still use my paper Franklin Covey binder/planner.  I wouldn’t trade it.  I have tried to move away from it and my efficiency and organization has suffered for it so it is here to stay with me.   I pencil in appointments on the monthly tabbed page as well as the day sheet of the appointment.  Looking at what I am committed to by the month is imperative for me to stay on top of planning.


You might want to check out the planner options at www.franklincovey.com.  I prefer the 8 ½ x 11 Original-Monarch style and use the ring binder so I can hole punch timely, related documents like an airline reservation or a meeting agenda and have immediate needs all in one place.  Adding ruled paper for notes and a few of the forms Franklin Covey sells are favorites of mine.

I do have my Outlook calendar with business-related appointments so it is available to my work team, for scheduling meetings and it syncs to my Droid.   A key planning habit for me is to review my Binder calendar with the Outlook calendar every day. Building valuable habits like planning takes discipline and fierce determination.  Build it, it's worth it.

Plan for this to be your best year.  The year to have the time of your life!  


Still learning,


Honey

The Power of Planning Series Second of Five

Where Does All That Time Go?
You choose how much time to make available every day.  I would encourage you to commit to the number of minutes you are going to use each day.  Commit to an average you can realistically live with.  Consider starting with a minimum average of 950 minutes a day.  If your work commitment is 8 to 5 and you allow an hour drive time each way your work time deduction is 660 minutes.  So you would have 290 minutes to spend in other areas of your life.  Your lunch hour is sometimes an ideal way to spend time on tasks or chores related to non-work concerns.

                                               Out of bed                               Go to sleep                     Daily

Monday – Friday                     6 AM                                       11 PM                          1020 minutes

Saturday - Sunday                   8 AM                                       11 PM                            900 minutes

Customers come in to banks everyday dismayed they are overdrawn.  Frequently they say “I just made a deposit yesterday, how could I be overdrawn?”  Deposits are important to the balance but logging the withdrawals keep it “real” and help you know your position at ALL times.   The tools utilized by the brave souls that embrace taking charge of their time are the same ones an accountant uses – a ledger, accurate entries, respect for deadlines and a calculator.

Want more time this year?  Email me for your free copy of  the Real Time Ledger.  You will use it for a week just like a check register to stay in the real world about how you spend your time.  It is the perfect tool for making the most of your time.  


Still learning,


Honey
honey@interaction-training.com
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The Power of Planning Series - First of Five

There are several key pieces to becoming accomplished at planning.  Managing your time is the place to start.  Taking charge of your time is easier said than done.  Progress in this arena is what you’re after, not perfection.  It is vital for you to become well-acquainted with yourself and the real world you operate in so you can be realistic and objective when it comes to taking charge of your time. 

Some people, like an employer, pay for your time.   With others you may have responsibilities and commitments whether that is family or volunteerism.   Collectively these are called obligations. 

Where are you now?  Never having enough time?   Are you carrying guilt for what you’re not getting done?    Your conscience will trouble you if you have obligations, commitments or responsibilities that you can’t meet.  So clear up your conscience and take a hard look at your time and how you want to commit to spending it!

The best place to start is to treat time like a checking account.  Each day the hours you make available are deposited into your account and every minute is a withdrawal.  Unlike money you can’t get overdrawn but you can get over obligated.  Time like money can be invested, neglected or wasted.  

How would your life be better if you could improve your skills as a planner and manager of time?

Where are you now?  Never having enough time?   Are you carrying guilt for what you’re not getting done?   

Still learning,

Honey

Coaching Yourself & Others Series - Take Five

Roll your sleeves up and go to work on moving down the path of getting what you want.  Now that you have reviewed critical information about goal setting, you can dial back to your wants and select your top five.  Spend time asking yourself a few hard questions about the top five wants you are prepared to shape into goals. 

Do you truly desire this goal?  Are you on fire about this goal?

Can you visualize yourself accomplishing this goal?  Once you can see it, can you feel it? 

How will your life be better when you make this goal a reality?

What obstacles do you foresee?

What will you need to learn, need to do in order to reach this goal?

Who will you look to for support?

“Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives.”

Viktor Frankl

Next, determine where the goal fits.  What section of your notebook should the goal come to life? You might see it impacting more than one section or even all of them but still place your goal in the one section you think is the best fit.  Remember, these are just the first of many more to come so expect some sections might be empty on your first five. 

Write out one goal to a page, leaving 10 blank pages behind the goal page for you to work out your strategies for accomplishing the goal.  Include your answers to the above questions for each goal in your notebook.

Coaching yourself is the pathway to happiness and personal satisfaction.  Coaching revolves around a combination of self-evaluation, personal responsibility, accountability and self-correction.  It is a vital tool in that it will help your success ratio on the job and in your cherished or necessary relationships.  As you learn to coach yourself you will have the opportunity to coach others.  As the teacher you will be the student.

“…obviously you can’t transmit something you haven’t got.”

                                                                              Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, page 164

 

Still learning,

Honey

Coaching Yourself & Others Series – Goal Setting

Goals are dreams in writing with a deadline!

If you don’t know what you want, what direction to take, when you plan to get started and when you plan to get there you could end up with regrets and disappointment about not getting anywhere.

Get busy in your spiral notebook looking over your wants and making your list of goals.  Don’t leave any wants out, don’t discount one thing you want to make better or go for or wish you could achieve.  You can weed out and prioritize later.

The intention of goal setting is to place the focus on results. 

A key success tip in goal setting is the powerful SMART tool.  There are many variations of this dynamic mnemonic:

S             Specific (Spelled out or Significant)

M            Measurable (Meaningful)

A             Attainable (Action-Oriented or Achievable)

R             Relevant (Realistic or Rewarding)

T             Time-bound (Trackable)

You get more than one shot at writing out a goal, so plan on several drafts as you work toward learning how to coach yourself and others.    Keep this tip sheet handy as you craft your goals.

Pick up your pen – Writing out your goals will help to crystallize your thinking and move you from wishing and hoping to truly shaping up a formidable goal.

Go for precision – Spell out precise, short, to the point goals.  Putting dates, times, and amounts so you can measure results. 

Set realistic goals – Remember, these are your goals.  Others in your life will hand you goals (your employer, society, etc.).  Your own goals need to be achievable.  Be cautious to not set goals that are too difficult.  As you investigate what obstacles might need to be considered and what skill sets are required you may need to tweak your goals.

Set goals that are dependent on you and your performance – Examine your goals to be certain you have as much control as possible on reaching the goal. 

Express the goal in a positive framework – State the goal positively.  “Write in my journal 15 minutes five days a week” is precise, action-oriented, meets the criteria that you are in charge and is worded in a positive manner.  “Stop procrastinating about writing in my journal” is the polar opposite and ineffective.

Sift out the goal – This is challenging.  Ask yourself is this goal a true reflection of my values?  Who besides myself will benefit from me accomplishing this?  These are hard questions for goals to get past.  You will find the greatest satisfaction from working on and accomplishing goals that sync well with what matters most to you.  You will find a groundswell of support when what you focus your time, energy and resources on is beneficial to others.

More to come on Coaching Yourself & Others so stay in the loop!  Sign up for the blog so you don’t miss any segment of the series!  Sign up for our newsletter, too.  It’s free and full of tidbits that will help your personal and professional development.

Still learning,

Honey