In the process of updating my 36 things list and making a new 37 things list, and talking about these a bit too much with friends and colleagues, I realised a few things:

1. some things are always going to be easier to accomplish if you tell people

e.g. last year I had an item on my list “learn to cook a roast”

When I shared this with some friends, two of them sent me their tried and tested roast recipes and I’ve since made a roast 2 – 3 times. Shall I count the first, very bland attempt?

Also, lesson for me – learn to accept help from people

2. you need to have a mix of easy and stretch goals

Both years I aimed to have a mix of big goals like “write a book” (by the way, it’s done – I’m in the midst of the boring bits now, like getting quotes to get the cover designed, put on Kindle, etc.) and small goals like “go for a massage once a month”.

It’s important for me (and I’m guessing for you) to FEEL victorious, and the smaller goals get the momentum moving very nicely. It’s as easy as booking the first one and then at each massage, booking the next.

3. focus is vital for success

When I teach my goal-setting (or goal-getting ) courses, I often talk about how writing things down solidifies things in your mind and gets you focussed.

This is so true.

Sometimes you’re not aware of how important something is to you til you write/ type it.

One item on both years’ lists is to do a certain number of random acts of kindness.

It’s very important to me to leave the world a better place and make a difference.

And so by writing it down, I’m consciously seeking out ways to bring a smile, a laugh, a word of encouragement to others.

If someone says x, I’m listening with normal ears, but also with my “random acts of kindness” ears and maybe they’ll get a little note from me, or a little gift, or a link to an inspiring article.

Coaching challenge

1. Do you have a list? It may not be anywhere near your birthday but that’s no reason to not have a list of 5 – 10 big and small things you want to do over the next 6 months, or year.

2. Do you need to ask for help?

3. Get an accountability partner or hire me as your coach

Do you live in Gauteng?

Do you need some time out?

Bookings are now open for the live workshop I’ll be holding on Saturday morning, 13 August.

Click here to find out the full scoop and see how you can join me.

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I had so very many questions in the recent survey from readers wanting to know how I manage to do it all.

I’m not sure if I should be flattered that you think I do it all because I really don’t.

Yes, I probably do a lot because I’ve always had quite a bit of energy but there’s much more I don’t do.

Let me explain:

1. I’m very clear on my life purpose

I have a life mission typed out (not pretty or cute, just typed out) and I know my definition of success in life.

I also know my values. A quick secret – one of those values is not to have the laundry perfectly done (far from it), but it is to take consistent action.

Are you clear on your life purpose?

2. I’m best friends with “good enough”

For me, it’s better to have something done than have it perfect.

If you’re cringing at that sentence, let me tell you that I used to be you. Until I got coached on the fact that trying to get the last 20% of any project perfect usually takes more time than it took to do the previous 80%.

E.g. if I think of something that’s completely out of my comfort zone, making a picture collage in Picasa, it literally takes a few minutes to select some pics and group them in a collage. The playing with it to get the best configuration with the best background and font, etc, etc takes about 3 – 5 times longer than just the collage.

Of course, there is a time and place for prettying something up – maybe for your children’s birthday party *ahem* but for general sending out of occasional pics to family, it’s not necessary to be perfect. Good enough is more than fine.

Do you know when 80% is enough, or are you still stuck on perfect?

3. I have a To Not Do list

We all know there are 24 hours in a day and there is not enough time to do everything.

So it is key to know which things to leave on the To Not Do list.

In my business, I do only things that need my “essence” (for lack of a better word) and delegate the rest.

My virtual assistant, Patricia, uploads my articles to the directories and does everything on my to Not do list.

In my personal life, it’s important for me to cook from scratch (I like knowing what the “babies” eat) but I don’t peel and chop the veggies myself, the nanny and Pick & Pay help with that.

Can you see the difference?

4. I decide where I want to use my time and I don’t feel guilty about the other areas

Be intentional about your time usage. I watch (it’s on in the background) about 20 minutes of TV Mon – Fri as I change from work clothes, pack gym clothes and work bag, etc.

That’s it.

If you spend more time watching TV because it’s your relaxation, have at it. Don’t feel guilty.

I’ve chosen to do otherwise. Neither is right or wrong.

I do spend about 3 – 3.5 hours on the computer in the evenings, working on the business and connecting with friends through email/ Facebook.

I don’t feel guilty about that time because I know why I’m doing it.

Of course I procrastinate sometimes by surfing blogs too much but since I generally get things done, occasionally if I slip up, I don’t beat myself up about it.

How about you?

Where do you want to be spending your time and why? Are you intentional about it?

5. I take consistent action

Unfortunately getting things done is not going to just happen so you’ve got to take action all the time.

Whether it’s doing just one big forward leap or lots of little leaps, I try to take some action every day.

I’m fairly good at constantly reviewing where I am in relation to my goals – I don’t know if it’s because that’s just who I am or because I coach.

Confession – when I feel like I’m getting stuck (which happens about two – three times a year), I get specific coaching to help get me unstuck. There is nothing worse for me than that feeling of not moving forward.

I’ve been working with a new coach and one of my key goals for the next 3 months is to start and finish my book. So far so good.

Do you take enough regular action? Do you have a plan when you get stuck?

To end off, let me leave you with one of my favourite quotes:

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.

-Lin Yutang

I am passionate about life lists in a big way.

This was way before bucket lists became popular a few years ago.

I just love the idea of living life FULL and enriching your experience by tapping into all the little and not-so-little things you’ve always wanted to do.

Recently I spoke about life lists and dreaming big and some people said that they didn’t do life lists for a couple of reasons which I’ll talk about here.

Maybe you can relate to some of them and this article is meant just for you?

1. The idea of writing a list makes me freeze up

No problem. You’re not a linear thinker. Use a mind map format or just start doodling and see what emerges.

Or you could start with a vision board.

2. Writing a list stops me from thinking big because I get stuck in the mundane

That’s okay. Go with the flow. At some point while you’re writing a laundry list of littles, you’ll cross over into the dreaming zone. It’s around 10 – 15 minutes for me.

Try it and see where you go.

3. What if I’m setting myself up for failure?

This is a big one. Have you ever heard the saying, “reach for the moon and you’ll touch the stars”?

That’s my philosophy.

It’s in the reaching that the magic happens.

4. I struggle to set realistic goals

Add things to your list that are really teeny-tiny and super achievable and once you’ve built up a track record of reaching them, start stretching.

5. What if I get disappointed?

I can’t promise you that won’t happen but I can promise you that you’ll be much more disappointed if you never try anything and live with regrets.

Have I convinced you yet?

Do you have new questions for me? Post in the comments.

P.S. The things on my life list include places to see, things to do, things to accomplish, fun things to try, etc.

It’s the end of June and we’re half way through the year.

• How are you doing on your goals?
• Are you on track?
• Where do you need help?
• Which ones do you need to let go of?
• Which ones do you want to add?

I’m feeling frustrated with my business (I want to be speaking more so watch this space), good about my health & fitness, self-care and boundaries, and fantastic about the babies (they are the cutest they’ve ever been although they’re very sassy).

How are you feeling – frustrated, triumphant, indifferent?

Share in the comments.

Let’s do a quick review seeing as one-third of the year is gone.

Pull out your 2011 goals list.

• Are you on track and have you made about 1/3 of the progress?
• Which goals do you need to let go of?
• Which do you need to up the ante?
• Where do you need help?

If you didn’t do goals at the beginning of the year, no worries. You can start right now.

Also, God is into goals. But best of all, He’s into new beginnings.

Doesn’t the Bible say “His mercies are new every morning?”

I love that.

No matter how much I’ve messed up, not done something, etc, every day is a CLEAN slate.

So, if you haven’t done so yet this year, pull out a fresh piece of paper.

1. What do you want to achieve this year?
2. Why do you want to achieve it? If you’re mainly looking to achieve something for other people, it’s going to be an uphill climb. Search deep for YOUR own motivation.
3. Do you have the skills and know-how to do this? If not, find out. Buy books, take courses, go on workshops, hire a coach/ professional organiser, etc.
4. Do you need support and accountability? I’ve shared before how I need a personal trainer to work out as I’m supposed to, and apparently I also need Weigh-Less to get me eating properly So I’m happily paying so that I keep at it and reach my goals.

If you need help, contact me for a kick-start goals session and let’s get you moving, or moving again

How are you doing on your goals?

(As always, I’m doing very well in some areas, okay in others and haven’t started some others. It’s all still looking good overall though)

So, it’s 1 April but this is not an April Fool’s joke
I want to know what your organising and time goals are for the month.

I’ll go first. Mine are

1) enjoy a lovely holiday – we’re going away for 4 days this month – so quite a bit of packing to do

2) get this blog redesigned – it’s about time, isn’t it?
3) declutter and organise the kids’ clothes as we go into the colder weather
4) get chest of drawers and other dresser painted (I’m going olive green for the one and turquoise for the other)

Last month I didn’t get the filing done but I did declutter their toys.

Sometimes you just have to ask youself, “what’s driving me more crazy right this minute?”

So, what are your organising goals this month?

PS I’m also going to blog every day this month. So I need some ideas – what questions would you like me to answer? Ask in the comments and I’ll pepper my answers throughout the month. And don’t forget to send me your inspiring space, or the link if you see some gorgeous spaces while you’re blog-hopping.

Let’s talk about the difference between URGENT and IMPORTANT.

Urgent refers to a time deadline.

Important means it is high value.

Every day things come across our path that are of low or high importance, and low and high urgency.

Grab a piece of paper and draw a big square. Now draw a line down and another across. You should now have 4 smaller squares.

Along the top, write High Value and Low Value. And along the left-hand side, write Deadline and No Deadline.

Basically, you want to always focus your time in the blocks on the left.

The top block is high value AND high urgency, which means it must get done NOW and it is VERY important. I like to think of client work in this block. Clients are why most of us are in business and there are usually deadlines attached. If you’ve ever bought a product of mine, you’ll know that you’re redirected to a page telling you I have a 24-hour turnaround time. Private 1:1 clients know that I’ve committed to ALWAYS respond within 24 – 48 hours.

The block below that is HIGH value but LOW urgency and it is here that you need to focus if you’re ever going to move towards your goals. Why?

Nobody is standing over my head saying “you need to work on an email teleseminar” but I know that if I want to reach my goal of running x number of live teleseminars this year, I need to MAKE TIME to do that.

And it’s the same for you.

Whether your goal is to improve your fitness levels, get your home organised or have 3 hours of free time every week, you’re going to have to put some work into that quadrant.

That’s if you want to reach your goals.

I don’t even like to bother with the other two quadrants but I know that’s going to drive some of you crazy so let me just give you some email examples –

Low value tasks with a deadline are things like “send this email to 10 people within the next hour”. They have absolutely no value and the deadline is usually imposed by other people. Most interruptions also fall into this block.

Low value tasks with no deadline are emails with jokes, funny pictures and the like. My suggestion is to get these out of your inbox permanently as they disrupt your focus and waste your time!

For the next two weeks, your challenge is to focus on the top two quadrants and only do tasks that fit there.

• Bonus – really step it up by making sure that you definitely get AT LEAST one task in the “goals” quadrant done every day.

People often ask, “how do you do it all?”

They mean working full-time, cooking, cleaning (all but 1 glorious day every week when Nester comes to attack the mountain of ironing. Remember I hate laundry), blogging, running the business, being a wife and mother and going to gym.

Aside from being mostly organised and being extremely intentional about my time, I watch almost no TV (I’ve stopped watching Survivor this year!) and read almost nothing.

Okay, I’m being a bit melodramatic about the reading but compared to how much I used to read, I read practically nothing last year. LOL

When I was going through my reading book (yes, of course I have a reading book – don’t you?), for the early part of 2010 everything was about babies and sleep – I read 6 books on the same topic – how to get your babies to sleep through the night.

The answer?

It depends on the baby, how many you have and how much you like to hear crying.

he still sleeps like that

Turns out we had one who freaked out if left to cry, one who freaked out more and we didn’t like to hear them cry since they woke their twin and parents who had to function at work the next day, so we did things the old-fashioned way and waited for them to outgrow their night wakings at 10 months.

My goal was 7 books a month, 2 non-fiction, same as it’s been the last couple of years BUT when I had my birthday in August I realised I was being unrealistic so changed the goal to 5 books a month, 1 non-fiction.

I ended up reading 46 books in total for the year, 28 fiction and 18 non-fiction. If not for all those baby sleep books, I think I would have read more on the whole, as I take longer to get through non-fiction than I do fiction.

Are you the same?

Look – I tabulated all the reading for the last 5 years.

This year my goal is again 60 for the year – 5 books a month, of those 5, 1 non-fiction.

What are your reading goals for the year?

I am passionate about goals and goal-setting for the simple reason that if I didn’t set goals, I would have achieved little to nothing over the last 13 years.

Seriously.

People often wonder how I manage to get so much done from my life list.

The simple answer which is very short and sweet is that I set annual, monthly and weekly goals, and I work towards them.

That’s it – it’s not magic.

Do you know what is the number 1 reason most people don’t achieve their goals?

It’s not lack of motivation.

It’s not lack of willpower.

It’s not lack of planning ability.

It’s the inability to manage their time.

I get it.

How can you even think about writing your book/ going on a mission trip into Africa/ starting a home for pregnant teenaged girls  when you’re rushing around the whole day just putting out fires?

Almost impossible.

If you don’t set out to manage your time and life with purpose and intention, chances are you’re going to stumble through life and keep wondering, “where did that year go?”

At this time of year I love blog browsing and reading all the wonderful dreams people have about being more present, living more fully and impacting others around them.

Can you tell I read lots of inspirational blogs?!

The sad thing is that after a few months these same people think these Big Dreams are merely flights of fancy or that they were silly to think that they could actually do it.

It’s not silly.

It just takes some work.

My challenge to you

1.      Grab a piece of paper and jot down just 3 things you want to accomplish this year. Let’s keep our expectations low and take the pressure off.

2.      Choose the ONE most important thing to you right now.

3.      Create some time to work on just that one thing. I like to work with time blocks per week so that I don’t feel pressure on a daily basis. For example, you may say, “this week I’m going to spend two hours (which you can break down into 4 X 30-minute sessions) deciding on my next holiday and figuring out how long I want to stay there and how much it’s all going to cost”

4.      This is the most important step – schedule the time in your planner and mark it as sacred, in other words, keep the appointment!

If you have no idea where you’re going to find time to do the thinking let alone the doing, have a look at the organize your time system.

And if you want a customized plan just for you, book a Success Strategy Session with me. These sessions pay for themselves around the 20-minute mark with all the ideas you get and then it’s free sailing after that

Have you set the time aside to work on your goals?

Well, the new year is just over a week old.

By now you’ve probably set some goals, made some resolutions or decided on your theme or word for the year.

This year I’ve chosen the word COURAGE as my word for 2011.

It means I’m stepping out even when I’m terrified, taking action even when I don’t feel like I know how and connecting even if I may be hurt.

Have you chosen a word for the year? Share in the comments.

P.S. You can read about my words for 2009 and 2010 here