The importance of setting realistic goals...
I recently embarked on an ambitious personal project. However only a couple of weeks into the 2 month project, I realized that the plan I'd laid out just wasn't realistic. So where did I go wrong and how will I be more realistic about setting goals next time?
To start off with, I'd broken the project down into manageable pieces - tasks if you like. Each of the tasks was less than half of one day in duration. I then set out the tasks in logical order and estimated the total time it would take based on the time I had available to me. And based on these estimates, it was a 2 month project.
As I said before, after 2 weeks, I'd fallen well behind the schedule. I decided to take the time to work out what had gone wrong with my planning. When I went back through my completed tasks I confirmed that I was completing them in approximately the time I'd estimated. So why was I falling behind?
The answer turned out to be simple enough. I'd overestimated the amount of time I had available to work on my project each week. I'd been way too optimistic. This is natural enough. Some might say it's human nature. But the reality is that we all have family and friends that need our attention. And the best laid plans are easily derailed by unexpected events. There wasn't one single thing that ate into my available time but rather a whole raft of smaller things which collectively were enough to derail my project.
The danger now is that I could become discouraged and give up. This is what could happen if you set unrealistic goals for yourself. So what steps have I taken in my efforts in re-planning? Well there are 2 main things.
First of all, I have been a lot more realistic about how much time I have available. By being conservative, I'm hoping that I can remain on schedule and therefore stay motivated through to completion. Regardless of the strength of my time management skills, I just can't manufacture the extra hours I need out of thin air. And there is only so much sleep deprivation one can manage.
The other thing I've done is to schedule "catch up days". In fact one day each week has become a catch up day. The idea of this day is to tidy up any loose ends - any tasks which aren't quite complete or which didn't have a level of quality which I was happy with. This will help me to deal with anything unexpected which crops up during the week and should ensure a higher overall quality at the end.
Hopefully these steps will do the trick. With my new plan, built around some more realistic goal setting, I should be able to stay on track this time.
Realistic Goal Setting
Motivation To Exercise
Are you looking for help with motivation to do exercise?
Being physically fit is great. You feel better, both physically and mentally, your self esteem is sky high and life is much more enjoyable. But if you're like most people , you need a little push to get you started on the path towards physical fitness. In this article I'll share some strategies to help you not only get motivated but also to maintain your motivation.
Exercise With A Partner:
This is a great motivation strategy for two reasons. Firstly, by training with a partner, you'll feel an obligation to attend each training session. On the days when you can't be bothered going out, knowing that your training partner is waiting for you and that you'll be letting them down if you don't show up can be a powerful motivating force. Secondly, while you're actually training, the session is more beneficial when you have someone else to push you. You're less likely to take a short cut or stop and walk if there is someone else there to keep you honest. Most days I run with a friend and there have been numerous occasions when I've been feeling lack-luster, yet he's twisted my arm just enough to get me out on the track. Also he's a little fitter and faster than I am so it's always a tough session.
Enter A Race:
If you need motivation to exercise and lose weight, entering a race or some other sort of organized sporting event can be a great way to get started. I've done this a number of times with fun runs, triathlons and cycling events and in my experience, setting a goal like that has been greatly beneficial. It has given me a something objective which I can measure myself against and it gives ma a fixed date to work with. And if you can convince friends and family to participate as well, so much the better - there's nothing like a little friendly rivalry to spur you on. And once you complete the event you'll feel great - another goal accomplished and a couple of steps closer to personal discovery.
Motivational Podcasts:
If you can't find anyone to train with, the next best thing may be a motivational podcast. There are heaps to choose from - just have a quick look at Google. Some provide general motivation and advice for getting and keeping physically fit while others provide specific exercise programs for you to follow. Just imagine having Anthony Robbins spurring you on to greater personal achievement while you get your exercise.
Join A Gym:
Another great way to motivate yourself to exercise regularly is to join a gymnasium. There's nothing like having spent a heap of money on a gym membership to keep you going. Because there are minimum commitments to a membership period which apply at most gyms, you'll feel obligated to get fit just because of the financial commitment you've made.
Fitness Gadgets:
And speaking of financial commitments, what about snapping up the latest hi-tech gadget to help you achieve your physical fitness goals? One useful device is a heart rate monitor. This handy gadget monitors your heart rate in real time to ensure you're exercising at the correct intensity. And for the scientifically minded, the more advanced heart rate monitors will let you download enough stats to baffle even the most hard-core statistician. You can graph heart rate against distance against time against ... well I think you get the idea. You can even track your progress against long term goals in a training diary.
So as you can see, there are many options available to you. If you're social, train with a group. If you're the solitary type go with the motivational podcasts. If you're willing to invest some money, look at the gym membership or the heart rate monitor. Take massive action! Just do whatever works for you find that motivation to exercise.
Effective Time Management Strategies
3 Ways To Find More Time In Your Day.
We'd all like to get more done each day but there never seems to be enough time. Let's face it - we could all use an extra hour or two each day. Think how much more productive you could be with that extra time available to you. You could start that exercise program you've been promising yourself, use the extra time to chill out and meditate, or you could spend it on some other task which will advance your personal development. In this post I'm going to give you 3 simple tips to help you find that extra time you need in your day.
Get Out Of Bed Earlier:
This may sound obvious, but you'll be surprised at the power that becoming an early riser can add to your life. I find that waking up early has multiple benefits. It gives me a continuous chunk of time first thing in the morning before everyone else wakes up. My mind is clear and my brain is functioning well at that time of the morning. And it gives me the time to plan out the rest of my day and even knock off a couple of tasks early. Set yourself the goal of getting up one hour earlier every day starting tomorrow.
Switch Off The Television:
I have found that one of the most effective ways of wasting time is by watching television. I'm not saying you need to go cold turkey. But think about how much TV you watch during an average week. We all have our favorite television programs and there's nothing wrong with sitting down to watch those. A little rest and relaxation can do wonders but there are limits. Over the next week, try to do the following. Pick out the TV programs you really want to watch. Make a list if that helps. Now apply a little self discipline and only turn on the television when one of those programs starts. Then make sure you turn it off again when the program finishes. Don't sit there channel surfing and wondering if there's anything else on. Think of it this way - if you didn't know it was on, how could you miss it?
Do You Waste Time Online?
This is a bad habit I'm especially guilty of at times. How often have you sat down with your computer with the intention of doing some "work" only to find an endless array or distractions to occupy your mind and your time? Do you check your mail and catch up on all of your favorite blogs and forums before you get down to real work? And again while you're "working", do you do the same thing? And again when you're finished? If this sounds familiar, you might need to be a little more disciplined and organize your time more effectively. Try changing the order around. Complete the important tasks first. Then with any time you have left at the end, catch up on the more menial tasks.
That's it - nothing earth shattering, yet these ideas can definitely help you achieve your personal growth and development goals more quickly. Get up earlier, watch less television and use your time online more efficiently. Sounds simple doesn't. But I challenge you to put these principles to use over the next month - or even the next week. You wont know yourself once you've employed these simple yet effective time management strategies.
Personal Development Goals
What are your personal development goals?
In my last post, titled "What Is A Personal Development Plan?", I discussed the importance of goal setting as part of the personal development planning process. These goals form the foundation or nucleus of such a plan and as such are worth exploring in more detail. So today I'd like to discuss setting self improvement goals in more depth.
Setting goals for yourself can a more difficult task than you might initially expect. Sit down with a blank piece of paper and try to distill all of your life's dreams and ambitions into a handful of written statements. Where do you start? Where do you stop? How much detail should you go into? What follows is a series of tips to help you set personal development or self improvement goals for yourself.
Setting Specific Goals:
In order to succeed, you will need to make sure you have specific goals. Having vague or abstract goals makes achieving them that much more difficult. How will you know when you've met your target?
Numbers can be a great way of expressing goals. A number has a certain quality about it which gives you a fixed point of reference. As everything in life ebbs and flows, a goal expressed as a number stands out like a beacon, guiding you towards your destination. Instead of saying "I want to lose weight", you could re-state your goal as "I want to lose 7 pounds" or maybe "I want to reach my ideal weight of 160 pounds". Now as the days and weeks go by, each time you jump on the scales you'll watch yourself closing in on your target weight.
What Is Your Expected Date Of Achievement?
Deadline can be an ugly word. It has connotations of externally imposed time lines. So instead of deadline, let's use the phrase - "expected date of achievement". This gives a much more positive interpretation of the time by which you'd like to attain your goal.
But regardless of when we call it, it's important for us to consider not only the what but the when. Without a concrete time line in place it's easy to slip back into what used to be one of my favorite activities - procrastination. It's easy to find something else to fill your time. Then days slip into weeks and even months with no progress. The next thing you know, another year has passed and you still haven't done anything about starting that further education you'd been promising yourself.
Break Down Your Goals:
Make sure your goals are realistic. Rather than having one enormous goal, try breaking it down into two or more smaller ones. For example, if you wanted to run 8 miles in under 1 hour by the end of the year, you might set an intermediate goal of 4 miles in under 30 minutes by the end of September.
Setting these mini-goals can work wonders for your motivation. If you can tick off each of these smaller achievements on the way to your major milestone you'll feel like you're making more progress faster.
But What Are Your Goals?
How do you work out what your personal development or self improvement goals are? While some people have no trouble in clearly articulating what they want out of life, others may be less sure of themselves. If you fall into the latter category, how can you determine what you really want?
A technique I've found useful is to remove any constraints, obstacles or roadblocks, both perceived and real. What if money was no object? What if you had unlimited time? What would you do? Imagine you are independently wealthy - you have no need to work and have time on your hands. What would you do with yourself? What do you feel passionate about?
Or what if the opposite were true? You had limited time left (a comet is on a collision course with our planet - okay, maybe a little melodramatic, but you get the idea). What would you do with the time you had left?
Sometimes doing these mental exercises can be a good way to gain some perspective on things. Your mind has incredible power within it. Sometimes you just need some help to unleash that power. But that is a topic for another day...
There's no time like the present. Take some time out of your day and consider the question at hand. What are your personal development goals?
What Is Personal Development?
What is personal development and what does it mean to you?
It an attempt to put a framework in place for this website, I went looking for a definition of personal development. I was looking for a generally accepted understanding of what it means - a standard, one-size-fits-all description which I could just reference and use as a starting point for discussion.
But I was surprised at how difficult it was to find such a thing. While there are plenty of websites which have taken a stab at it, I couldn't find an authoritative source which I felt captured the essence of what personal growth and development is about. Even the ever-reliable Wikipedia didn't offer much help.
So then I thought - I'll just write my own definition. I figured I could do as good a job as anyone else. I've given the matter a great deal of thought over the years and indeed taken a number of steps to improve myself. I should be able to distill my thoughts and experiences in this area into a succinct and useful definition. But when I sat down to pen my definition, it hit me. Personal development is different for everybody.
Is this a cop-out? I'd like to think not. I know what personal development means to me, but I couldn't presume to put a label on it for everybody else. Broadly speaking, personal development is an activity undertaken by an individual in an attempt to improve one or more aspects of themselves or their lives. It might relate to such areas as health and fitness, personal productivity, relationships, personal finances, spirituality or just a general sense of self.
For me, this is the key. Everyone has different priorities - and people's priorities change over time as their circumstances change and as life experiences shape each individual's outlook. While career advancement or pursuit of their first million dollars may drive some people, for others losing weight or gaining self confidence might be more worthy goals.
What follows are some areas of personal development which I'd like to explore in more depth. I intend to do this in upcoming articles on this blog.
Health and Fitness:
Most of us would like to be healthier and fitter than we are currently. Your goal might be weight loss for the sake of your general health and wellbeing. You might want to give up smoking. Or maybe you aspire to running a marathon or achieving some other feat of physical and mental endurance. As with most areas of self improvement, priorities will vary greatly for each individual.
Personal Productivity and Organization:
Do you get as much done each day as you'd like to? Have you ever thought there must be a way to organize your time in such a way as to maximize the tasks you can complete each day. Many people (myself included) want to improve their time management and organization skills so they (and I) can get more done. I'm aware of a number of systems which can be adopted in an effort to maximize your personal productivity. I'll explore these in detail in the near future.
Wealth, Money and Personal Finances:
There's a lot more to life than money. I can't emphasize this point too much. However, the reality for most of us is that we will need to manage our limited financial resources (both money and our ability to earn money) to provide an adequate, if not comfortable, lifestyle for ourselves and our families. This is a very broad topic and covers everything from basic budgeting and day to day money management to wealth generation with a view to achieving financial freedom.
Motivation and Goal Setting for Success:
Getting started can be one of the hardest things about personal development. How do you motivate yourself to do more? What drives you to achieve your goals? Just as importantly, how do you set your goals? Do you have a structured approach? Are your goals (and the time-lines you've set yourself to achieve them) realistic? Do you have a plan - a clear idea of what you want to do and how you're going to do it? For me, motivation and goal setting are inter-related. I find the act of setting goals helps motivate me and achieving these goals spurs me on to do more.
Happiness and Self Esteem:
For me, this is ultimately what personal growth and development is all about. And that's why it's such a personal and individual thing. What makes you happy may not - in fact probably wont - make the next person happy. But there's more to it than that. Do you really know what will make you happy? What is happiness anyway? Is it something you can strive for and once achieved will be permanent? Or is it a temporary or even fleeting state?
These are some of the topics I'd like to explore - and anything else that takes my fancy. I think I've rambled more than I'd have liked. But to be honest, I don't think there is a simple answer to the question - What is personal development?
