Are you on a direct path or are you a hopeless wanderer? Ready, aim (part 2)

I find that when I am not moving steadily toward a goal, but simply following the next new shiny thing, I just end up wandering in circles. Have you experienced this as well?

In part 1 of this 2-part series called “Ready, Aim,” we looked at some of the reasons you may be floundering, and in part 2 we’re going to explore ways to advance on your way to success.

Most of us have too much going on in our lives to be able to wholeheartedly pursue a big goal, but there are ways we can break that goal into smaller parts, and work toward it a little bit at a time. In fact, I have found it more useful to target smaller goals in various areas of my life so that I’m more rounded and stable.

In his book and training called EntreLeadership, author and radio personality Dave Ramsey details the idea of setting goals in different areas of your life or the “wheel of life” as outlined by Zig Ziglar. Ramsey says, “for our lives to be successful as a whole we must address each area. The spokes of goal setting are: career, financial, spiritual, physical, intellectual, family, social.”

He goes on to say that if you only focus on some of these areas, you will have, in essence, “a flat tire.”

One of the things I struggle with the most is balancing the areas of my life, so I end up spending more time on career, physical and intellectual pursuits and neglect other areas, especially family and social. Because my “big 3” areas come easier for me, that’s what I focus on and end up procrastinating on planning for the other areas. I’m learning to set more practical goals in each of the areas, with steps that are reasonable and measurable so I can see my progress.

Once you have SET your goals, the next step is to start making progress toward accomplishing them. I have found a secret though – break those goals down into manageable bites. The following steps can help make the process less overwhelming:

• Focus on one or two areas each week: don’t set yourself up for failure by trying to accomplish all of your goals at once. Take it slow and focus on one or two “spokes” at a time. Maybe this week you aim to work on physical (maybe walking for 30 minutes two days) and social (meet a friend for coffee). Ease into it.
• Determine specific next actions: if you are like me, seeing something like “Sally’s birthday” on my to-do list makes my eyes glaze over and I skip it altogether. But if I decide what the next action is to move it forward, I am more likely to make time to work on it. For instance, the first step might be to “talk to Sally to pick a date for the celebration.” That’s probably a phone call, so that’s something concrete I can work into my week. Be sure to determine next actions for each of your goals.
• Use your calendar: I don’t know about you, but I am much more likely to pay attention to items on my calendar than things on a lengthy to-do list. So make it simple and add the action step to your calendar. Sculpt time to accomplish that next step. One of my goals is to read and study one business book each month. I have limited time to read, often at night before bed, when I tend to fall asleep in the book and then have to reread the next night. Not very conducive to great study.  So I have started blocking out a couple of hours on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to read with a reminder on my computer, so that my time does not slip away. That chime of the reminder helps me stay on track.
• Start some good habits: Try setting your alarm 15 or 30 minutes earlier in the morning, and use that extra time to exercise, or pray and study the Bible, if those are some of your goals. If you are consistent, then before long, you won’t even be tempted to hit snooze because you will find yourself feeling better because you see progress.
• Celebrate progress: When you do make significant progress on your goals, take a few minutes to rejoice in that. Share your success with your accountability partner or family. Don’t get lazy though – be happy that you are moving in the right direction and get back to work on that next step!

By taking small steps in the right direction, you will start making visible progress on a particular goal, which will spur progress on other goals. Just think what you can accomplish as you stop wandering and head on a straight path!

What small steps can you take now to get you back on track for your larger goals?

 

Is it time for a checkup?

Photo courtesy of Jacob Metcalf (Creative Commons)

I had my yearly physical yesterday, and it made me think of other areas of my life that probably need to have a regular checkup. Yet I neglect those areas because I’m too busy right now, or not in the right frame of mind, or think I have it all figured out already. But do I really?

To be truly happy, you need to balance the different areas of your life. In rereading Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership book, I am reminded of the “wheel of life” that  he describes from Zig Ziglar. “The wheel has spokes that represent each area of our lives, and for our lives to be successful as a whole we must address each area. The spokes of goal setting are: career, financial, spiritual, physical, intellectual, family, social.”

My “wheel of life” tends to not be round, what about yours? I freely admit that I am a workaholic, so my career and intellectual spokes tend to get the bulk of my focus, while I neglect other areas.

I suggest a regular time to do a “checkup,” whether that is yearly, quarterly or even monthly, so you can get back on track before you’ve veered too far off the road. The following steps can help you balance your “wheel of life”:

• Review – schedule a block of uninterrupted time to take a hard look at the last few weeks or months of your tasks and your calendar to see where you have been spending your energy. Just be honest in looking at your appointments and commitments to see what you spend your time on. This is not time to kick yourself for spending your time on the wrong areas, just an assessment of what you have been doing.
• Refocus – consider your “wheel of life” goals (or jot some down if you haven’t done that before). What are your goals in the different areas of your life (career, financial, spiritual, physical, intellectual, family, social)? What do you hope to accomplish or emphasize in each of those areas over the next few weeks and months?
• Realign – is one area of the “wheel of life” getting more attention than the others? There may be seasons when you focus more on a particular area, such as work, but be sure to balance that with the other areas or you risk burnout and frustration. Write down a new goal in each of your life areas for the coming months (writing makes it harder to ignore – just be sure to keep those written goals visible!).
• Renew – make some pledges to yourself (and maybe to your family too) to be more accountable for your new goals. Place your written goals on your desk, in your calendar, or somewhere that you will see them frequently.

By doing a regular goal checkup, you can adjust your priorities and even out your “wheel of life,” which will lead to greater satisfaction in all the areas of your life. Even if there is an area that will continue to need more focus in the next few weeks, be intentional in your goals for the other areas and you won’t lose that balance.

How round is your “wheel of life” and what do you need to do to even it out?

 

When mind and heart are full

I am still feeling the effects of conference afterglow. You’ve felt it right? That kind of “let’s go out and conquer the world and slay all my dragons” gung ho attitude at the same time as the “my brain is going to explode with all the new information” limpness.

First let me say that attending the EntreLeadership 1-Day event on Friday was pretty awesome. I have attended EntreLeadership before, but listening to amazing leadership information from Dave Ramsey, Chris LoCurto and Jon Acuff with my team refreshed me and reinforced the keys to being a good leader.

Coupled with that, I attended the Quitter Conference with Jon Acuff. That’s right – I spent two full days learning and being inspired.

At Quitter, we learned how to identify our dream, battle the fears that hold us back, and move toward living our dreams. What an amazing experience it was to meet people and ask “what is your dream?” instead of asking “what do you do?” as the opening question. Pretty powerful.

We explored building platforms, creating tribes, and developing a community. We compared notes on the negative voices in our heads telling us why we won’t succeed and received validation that pursuing our dreams will be fulfilling.

I am both exhausted and exhilarated by the confirmations, overwhelmed and excited about the possibilities, humbled and psyched at the new connections.

Now the challenge is to act on the things that I’ve learned, and not let them just sit on my desk in the workbooks. Instead of diving back into my world as it was, I need to quit making up excuses and get over the fear of pursuing my dream of writing. I need to make sure to stick with some of the habits I’ve already begun in order to carve out time to practice.  And I need to “choose to delight” both myself and you, my readers.

As Jon says, “A Quitter for me is someone who quits average. People who refuse to accept common and instead dare to live out the talents and gifts they’ve been given.”

So my question to you is – are you a Quitter? Will you dare to live out your dream?