Sharon’s Daily Updates
Sharon sends out daily updates via email so you can stay on top of her latest news, blog posts and more. What follows is one of her daily updates.
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Friday, June 29, 2012
This week ended up being pretty much a write-off for me on the business front. I really needed to take some downtime to cope with personal life issues. Sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to know when we need to step back and let ourselves get some physical, emotional and mental regrouping time.
This weekend will be about reorganizing things since my schedule went out the window, packing for my return to Canada and getting in some more R&R time. I should be back to normal daily updates starting on Monday.
Creating Awesome in 2012 – Mid-Year Checkpoint
I don’t know about you, but I can’t believe that 2012 is just about halfway over! I know that this has been a difficult year for a lot of you so if you’ve been struggling, know you aren’t alone. But also understand that there is still plenty of time left to create awesome in 2012!
I typically spend several days around the Christmas holidays mapping out my plans for the coming year. From there, I’ll adjust and add/subtract to plans on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. At the mid-year point, I do a major run through of everything on my plate and future plans. This is where I tend to make major changes.
I firmly believe that one of the reasons I do well in business is because of being able to sit down and plan.
Here’s the simple planning process I go through:
- I set target dates for goals/projects – what date something will be “done” by
- I break down the major milestones for each goal and project and determine when each milestone needs to be started and completed by
- When I’m ready to start working on a milestone, I break down everything that needs to get done in as much detail as possible – including dates, who needs to get what done etc
A good part of the reason I’m able to be productive as I am is because of the amount of detailing I do before I actually get to work on something. I find that the more detailed a plan is, the less I need to think while doing, the faster I can get things done, the less likely it is that mistakes will happen.
If you’ve had experience with planning (and actual implementation), project management and process mapping, following a system like mine makes sense. The problem is that most people really suck at planning. They spend so much time on planning and working out the details, they either are slow to get started or never get started at all.
It becomes a catch-22 situation almost: if you never get started and start racking up “wins”, you won’t get the experience to make planning easier, improve your productivity and hit your goals faster.
If your year so far has left you feeling like you are spinning your wheels or even going backwards, I’ll share with you the simplest technique I know to regroup and turn things around. I call it my “What’s Next Comes First” strategy.
What’s Next Comes First Strategy
1. Get a notebook of some kind. I mean the paper kind. I don’t know why, but doing this type of work with pen and paper seems to make it more real and more of a commitment for most people.
2. Starting on the last page of the notebook and working forward, start to do a mental dump of all the things you want to accomplish. Include anything from filing taxes to spending more time with the kids to bigger goals like eliminating debt. Things listed could take anywhere from one minute to several years.
3. Starting on the first page of the notebook, you’ll be creating daily checklists. Do this for the next day before you wrap up the current day. Each daily checklist will contain only the following items:
- The date
- The next step required to do something that is the most time-sensitive (ex: if you want to take a family vacation, booking time off from work might be this)
- The next step required to reach your most important long-term goal (ex: if you want to lose 50 pounds, joining a gym might be this)
- Something that can be done in 5 minutes or less (ex: if you want to find a new job, locating your last resume might be this)
4. Each day, before you get into your day, do the 3 items from your what’s next list.
Preferably you’ll be able to do more work on reaching your goals than this each day, but the key here is to focus on bite-sized tasks that can help get you moving in the right direction and to do this before the rest of your day derails plans you may have.
Even with the amount of structure I try to keep in my life, I follow a similar system to this each day. My own daily list has 5 things on it. Even if I get nothing else done in a day, these 5 things are always done.
I do want to stress a couple of points: First, try not to get overly ambitious and put more than a few items on your daily list, especially if you’ve had issues with reaching goals in the past. Second, if you have something to add that is about adopting a new habit – for example, working out 5 times a week – keep it on your daily checklist for at least a month until it becomes a routine for you.
Try this – commit to this system for 30 days and let me know how it works for you!
Why ICANN Needs an Overhaul
We have a new op ed piece at Domainate about the current situation at ICANN and why we believe it needs an overhaul. Check it out.
Have a fabulous weekend friends!
xoxo
