A SUCCESSFUL DAY

Today I will keep it short and sweet.
Often I finished my articles or an email by wishing you guys, a successful week.

Have you ever stopped to think what do you need to accomplish in order to make your week a successful one?

This is a very simple question but with tremendous value. I’ve come to realized that each time I’ve stopped and asked myself this question and write a few things down… I’ve always end up with a good week.

When you think about it, it’s a very simple process:
1) You asked yourself what you would like to see happen this week.
2) You write it down.
3) You do your best to make it happen during the week.

Give it a try and see the difference.

Let me share something that I’ve read… don’t ask me where because I don’t remember. It’s a good thing I wrote it down in my journal. Just enjoy it and don’t be picky. lol

A SUCCESSFUL DAY
To learn something new;
To laugh at least ten times;
To lift someone up;
To make progress on a worthy goal;
To practice peace and patience;
To do something nice for yourself and another;
To appreciate and be grateful for all your blessings.

You can add whatever you think is missing from that list and customize it to your taste.

To a successful week,
Jephtée E.

Evaluation follows up

Hopefully you have taken the time to do the evaluation exercise I have suggested in my last post. I cannot emphasize enough how important this simple exercise is to your success. You need to take the time to evaluate your progress, rethink, strategize and move forward.

For those who have done it, I congratulate you. For those who have not, I hope you will change your mind and decide to give it a shot.

This week, I’d like to comment on a few outcomes of this evaluation process.

I’ve personally done my evaluation 2 weeks ago and man, I was surprised. I was shocked to realize:

• how much I’ve accomplished in 3 months period;
• how much my priorities have changed and as a result, how many goals I don’t want to pursue anymore;
• how many goals I have identified as VERY important in December and have managed to slipped my mind, therefore I am way behind;
• how many new goals I have.

It was a really stimulating exercise for me because it helps me re-focus and reminded me what is important for ME.

However, a few people emailed me or call me and say they did not like this exercise at all. The 3 most common reasons I was given:

1. Discourage them to see how little they have accomplished;
2. Frustrate them to see that things are not moving regardless of their hard work;
3. Anger them to realize some of the goals they have set are not achievable.

After hearing them talk, my questions were as follow:

1. Would you rather not knowing how little you have accomplished?
2. Now that you know you are so far behind on your goals, what are you going to do about it?
3. If you are sincerely working hard on your goals and things are not moving, is it maybe time to come up with a new action plan?
4. Why isn’t your goal achievable? If you were to give yourself an extra year to work on it, will it be feasible then?

So yes, this exercise can create a lot of frustration, discouragement and anger but I am happy to report in 100% of the cases, when these emotions are turned into positive and optimist thoughts, people come to appreciate the process.

Many blessings,
Jephtee E.

Evaluation time

Today is an exciting day for me. Wondering why?
Because the exercise you are about to do is very stimulating.

Remember back in December, I gave you guys some homework… well its time to hand them in. :-)

We just ended the first trimester of 2008, now it is time to go back and look at the goals you have set for this year and see how they are coming along. So here is a simple process:

1. Pull out your goal folder or sheet (yes I know you wrote them down).
2. Read thru all the goals you have set up. While reading them, if there is a goal that you have already achieved, do a check mark.
3. Go thru the list a 2nd time, each goal that is still left in the list need to be evaluated. For the evaluation, you need to ask yourself:

a) Is this goal still relevant to me?
i. If no, delete it. (The answer can be no because as human our priorities change.)
ii. If yes, how much progress you have made toward achieving it. Write down, a percentage (20%, 25%, 30%... 90% etc...)

b) Is my timeline realistic?
i. If yes, (meaning you still believe that this goal can be achieved by that time) just leave it as is.
ii. If not, set up a new deadline.

c) For the goals that are remaining, what concrete actions you will take to advance them?

What are the new goals you want to set for this year? If there is any, and there should be a few if your priorities have changed at all, follow the process you’ve learned to set SMART goals.

As you reading this post, you will fall into one of the following categories:
1) Thumbs up: if you are in this category, you will say that is great. Thanks for reminding me Jephtee to do that follow up.
2) Crazy: in this category, you are thinking Jephtee really lost it if she really thinks that I have a sheet somewhere with some goals OR if only I could find where I wrote them in December.
3) Clueless: in this category, you probably thinking I have no clue what she is talking about. Two things can explain being in this category: you either new to this blog OR you were “sleep reading” my posts last December.

No matter which category you find yourself in (especially if its 2 or 3), I strongly encourage that you go back and read the archived posts. To make your life easier:
http://readysetgoal.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html See how nice I am. :-)

In my next post, I will explain the importance and the impact of such exercise. Till then, I WANT to hear your comments on this exercise. If not, I AM GOING ON WRITER STRIKE. lol

To more accomplishments,
Jephtée E.

Dream makers vs. Dreams breakers: Adversity

Let’s go back to what can make or break your dreams. This week I want to talk about your attitude in adversity.

It is really easy to follow your dreams and remain committed to your goals when all is well and going your way. The real test comes in time of adversity… when things are not going so well and you are hurt, very hurt. This is where your mind is testing you to see how bad you want that dream to come true.

When times are hard and you don’t feel like anything matters anymore, it’s when you need to press forward and make it happen. You need to reach a point in your determination that, even when you don’t feel like you want to put the energy, your mind and body feel like it is not a choice; they must get up, keep on going and make it happen.

What happened is, if you do not keep on going, when that moment of adversity end (yes I am implying that it will end) you will find yourself so far behind that discouragement will kick in and rub you of your goal; however if you keep working on your goals despite how you feel, you’ll be glad when its all over.

Winston Churchill said it best “if you're going through hell, keep going.”

Be blessed,
Jephtee

Time-stealers

As promised, here are a few tips on how to free up more time in your day:

1)Emails: emails are one of the best communication tools ever and the worst time-stealer. People spend too much time checking “unnecessary” emails. Stop reading those forwards (poems, jokes, stories, scams). The average person (not too popular) received 5 forwards a day. They all take on average 5 minutes to read and forward, which represent 25 minutes of your day. Do yourself a favor, start hitting the delete button as soon as you spot them. Ok ok! If you really like to read them, create a folder for them. When you receive them, put them in there and one of these days you happen to be totally bored out of your mind because you are rich and been sipping Pina colada all day on the beach, you can go back and read them.

2)Telemarketing calls: Simple, stop answering them and if you do, kindly ask them to remove you from list. Good news! The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced on December 21, 2007 that it has awarded a five-year contract to Bell Canada to operate the National Do Not Call List (DNCL). The list should be launched by September 30, 2008. Soon you will be free of telemarketers, if you wish. For our Americans friends, this service already exist, www.donotcall.gov

3)Instant messengers (Msn, Yahoo, Aol etc.) & Social networks (Facebook, Hi5, My Space etc.) are a great way to network and stay in touch but the average person can spend easily an hour a day just chatting and checking other people profiles. Great tools but need to manage them wisely.

4)Say no: learn to say NO to everyone little request. You cannot be everything to everybody and its okay. Your time is precious, if you had something planned and somebody comes up to you and ask you to do something that will stop you from working on what you had planned. Simply say no and Don't feel guilty.

5)Plan your week: Have a to do list. When something comes up, simply add it to that “to do” list. The list should be arrange in priority order. Priority is from most important to least important. NOT from most urgent to least. Why: Things that are urgent are not always important.

As you can see, it really come down to prioritize! Try these 5 tips and if you don't manage to save an extra hour a day, send me a comment and I will give you some more tips.

So once you have that extra hour a day (7 hours a week), what are you going to do with it?
You guess right! Put it toward the achievement of one of your goals.

“Treat your time like gold - invest carefully. It's your most valuable asset and once it's gone you can't have it back. If you use it wisely it reaps dividends like well invested money.” Author unknown

Jephtée Elysée