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

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.

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)

One of my goals this year was to hire a personal trainer to get me to my goal weight.

I’ll be honest – I was really loathe to do it at first but I’ve now accepted that I’m the type of person who has to pay for accountability otherwise it just won’t get done.

Two months in and I’m not there yet but am making good, steady progress.

When I mentioned my intention to people, they’d say things like, “oh, but isn’t a personal trainer expensive?”

My answer is, “depends how you look at it.”

I like to think of this as an investment in my health and fitness.

But that got me thinking about the main 3 reasons why I need to have a personal trainer:

1. He challenges me to go further and do more

My natural style is competitive which is why I’ve always loved group classes. There’s just something about the energy of healthy competition that makes me push myself more and stretch my limits.

If I didn’t work out with a personal trainer, I’d never do the exercises I should, simply because I’m weak and feel pain at the slightest thing.

He tells me I can do it and is my cheerleader through the pain.

2. I pay a month in advance

This helps me to not be a slacker when I feel tired or not in the mood for exercise. Or if it’s raining. (Traffic in Jhb is terrible when it rains and any sane person would stay indoors)

I know that because I’ve already paid, I need to get myself to the gym and use up that money.

3. He teaches me to do the exercises correctly

This is a big one. There are many exercises I’ve seen and done versions of in my 8 years of going to gym.

Apparently for a lot of them, I’ve been doing them wrong all these years. Who knew?!

Working out with him means he is checking my posture and making sure I do exactly what I’m supposed to, and that all my muscle groups and joints are correctly supported.

In the two months, I’ve worked with Frisco, Sara and Kyle and they have all kicked my butt. I don’t like it at the time but I do LOVE the results of a flatter, trimmer, toned tummy and centimetres off all over my body.

Have you ever worked with a personal trainer?

How are you working towards your health and fitness goals?

Coaching challenge:

Do you recognise your stumbling blocks with your goals as I had to with mine? It doesn’t have to be health and fitness goals; any goals will do.

How are you going to overcome them?

Do you need accountability and support? If you have organising goals, Spring into Organising is just for you.

 

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.

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?

Spring in Johannesburg is absolutely beautiful.

The jacarandas bloom, the rains clear the smog and all is well with the world.

There’s a park I drive by on my way home from work.

At one point I turn left and then right into my street.

As I take that left turn I check the traffic coming from the other side and, when I turn my head, I gaze straight down a row of jacaranda trees in the park.

Picture it – a  row of beautiful purple trees.

There’s something about the orderliness of nature that appeals to me. That, and the purple.

I kept telling myself, “I should pull over and take some pics”.

But I didn’t.

Always in a hurry to get home to see the babies.

But one day I wasn’t in too much of a hurry.

I’d finally determined in my heart that “today was the day”, turned the corner, looked and the jacarandas were gone.

Normal, green trees where the purple flowers had been just a few weeks earlier.

I was dismayed!

I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed before that the jacarandas only have the purple flowers for a short time.

Next year I’ll be ready and I will stop and take TONS of pics.

Good thing though I took these ones in other locations.

And when we had our photoshoot, the jacarandas were in full bloom. Just look at the purple carpet – heaven!

Anyway, this is my challenge to you

Don’t wait and wait and wait to do something important to you – it may be too late.

This was a relatively small thing in the grand scheme of things but oh so often, we procrastinate and wait with the Big Things in life.

Don’t wait – life is too short.

• If you’ve always wanted to go to Italy, set a goal and start working towards it.
• If you’ve always wanted to write a book, set a goal and do it.
• If you want to get organised, set a goal and do it.

And if you don’t know how to make your Big Things happen, I’ll be happy to coach you.

Happy 2011, everybody.

My prayer is that you will do Big, Juicy things in 2011 and start crossing things off your Life List.

You do have a Life List, don’t you?

P.S. The two good pics of my family are by Jeanette Verster

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – 2006

The week between Christmas and New Year is, hands down, my favourite time of the year.

I absolutely love it!

That’s because it’s the time I prepare my diary (calendar) but, most of all, it’s because I do my year-end review and goal-setting for the next year.

A colleague of mine paid me the biggest compliment recently (she doesn’t even know it!) when she told me that of everyone she knows, I’m the only one she’s ever met who is this intentional about my goals.

It’s because I firmly believe that if you drift through life, there will be tons of things left undone simply because of lack of intention.

I don’t want that to be me.

Anyway, back to the process…

Some of the year-end thinking can be done as you go about your life (in the shower, while driving, etc.) but there comes a point when you actually need to sit down with a gorgeous pen and notebook, or with your laptop, and make the time to write things down.

There’s tremendous power in creating a sacred space for your thoughts, dreams, intentions and goals.

Phuket, Thailand – 2006

It’s also the perfect time to start the new year with a clean slate – isn’t that so appealing?

I’ve booked out a half day tomorrow for exactly this purpose. If that’s not enough time (these things sometimes take a lot longer than you plan), I’ll take another two hours on Thursday, and if I need more, again on Friday.

Some of the things I’ll be thinking and writing about are:

• my biggest accomplishments this year
• things I definitely don’t want to repeat
• the things I need to let go of – commitments, relationships, emotions
• my word/ theme for next year
• what my definition of success for 2011 will look like
• and finally, the actual goal-setting

and so on

What about you? Have you created your sacred space yet for your 2011 goal-setting?Loch Lomond, Scotland – 2008

Would it surprise you that I’ve already started working on my goals for 2011?

I’m not ashamed to say I’m a passionate goal-getter.

I’m the type of person who’s happier taking charge of my life than letting life happen to me.

So I set and achieve goals. I would never have managed to travel as much as I have if I hadn’t consciously set those things as goals.

This is me at Victoria Station in London – I love this pic Dion took of me. What does it say to you?

Here’s how I do my goal-setting, very, very briefly:

1.       I think back over the year that’s been and write down what went well and what didn’t. This could take up to an hour or longer, depending on how the year went.

2.      I then look forward and think about what I want for the year ahead. I really spend time getting clear on my vision, fleshing it out fully. This is also when I think about my ONE word for the year.

3.      Then I take my goals form (in the Time Management Purpose Pack) and in each of the areas of my life, like Family, Health, Spiritual, Business, I write down 1 – 3 broad goals.

4.      I then check each of those goals and make sure they align with my One Word or theme and more importantly, that I’m excited by them and that they feel authentic with who I am. E.g. One of my values is Balance so if I have too many goals, I start to feel out of control and therefore, inauthentic with who I am. So if this happens, I go back to the drawing board to simplify some more.

5.      I also make sure that they are within my control. E.g. with my business, I can only control my actions. Yes, I do set the intention to have x clients bringing in y mo.ney but the things I can control is how much marketing to do, in which ways, how often, etc. I can’t actually control the clients’ behaviour and whether they choose to coach with me or not. Does this make sense?

6.      I then choose 3 – 5 goalsvto work on for the first 90 days, schedule the work and get to it.

7.      I like to add one or two quick wins to get started so that when I achieve those goals, I’m motivated to persevere with the harder ones.

I’ve had the privilege (because I do count it a privilege to work with the wonderful people who coach with me) to work with some women recently and we’ve already been touching on their goals for next year.

I wanted to do something spec.ial for all of you so I’m giving you a 33% disc.ount cou.pon off a 30-minute goal-setting session for the next 72 hours only. Use the disc.ount code GOALS in the shopping cart.

All that means is this – you have to book and pay for your Success Strategy Session by Sat 11^th 12pm EST/ 7pm South African time but the session can be scheduled all the way up to 31 January 2011.

That said, if there’s areally good reason why you can’t have your session by 31 Jan, tell me – we’ll work something out

Are you a goal setter? Have you started for next year? Tell me I’m not the only one!