Forward Steps Self Improvement Blog

The most likely reason people aren’t able to follow a to-do list during
a normal work day is because of unexpected fires and emergencies. You
have a great plan, but the whole world seems like it is conspiring to
prevent you from touching even one item on your list. It isn’t that
you aren’t accomplishing anything, it is just not the stuff you had on
your to-do list.

This is where the idea of a have-done list comes in. Instead of
feeling guilty because you spent a day following no prescribed path,
simply take not of what you did. At the end of the day make a short
list of what you accomplished. This gives you a chance to reflect on
how well this approach to work fits with your personality. It will
also help you better understand the types of things that you do
naturally and the types of things you avoid. This understanding can
benefit you when trying to use a to-do list in the future.

Source: www.productivity501.com

As a coach, I’m always on the look-out for resources to help my clients reach their goals faster. I’m a big believer in finding ways to work smarter, rather than harder.

Recently, I discovered a new “jewel” in Joy Duling at A 25 Hour Day. Joy has created a program that fits perfectly with my philosophy. It’s clearly written, action-oriented, and hype-free.

Check it out here.

We tolerate mediocre results from ourselves and others for far too long. Every day, I see people whose personal and professional growth is being stunted because they’ve stopped working toward change.

How about you?

Do you find yourself sticking with systems and processes that may have worked at one time, but no longer serve you well?

Do you spend your days feeling like your life runs you, instead of the other way around?

As you think about those questions, I suspect that there are probably some key areas where you’d love to see change happen.

In fact, most of us carry around lists of projects and problems we’ll tackle “someday”… we store those lists in our heads, in piles on our desk, in business plans that we never implemented.

Is your “someday” pile getting bigger every year?

What’s holding you back?

Is there not enough time to figure out a solution? Are you lacking the specific knowledge that you need to change the situation? Do you feel that someone else is actually in control of what’s happening?

Perhaps it doesn’t feel like it right now, but the good news is that when it comes to achieving our goals, outrageous success or flat-out failure is largely determined by our own behavior.

Here at A 25 Hour Day, LLC they’ve been teaching planning and goal-setting to clients for a while now, making sure that they are able to clearly identify 1) what they want; 2) the plan that’s going to get them there; and 3) the conditions that need to be in place to support their goal.

http://www.viralshock.com/members/Forwardsteps

Catch yourself complaining.

Do you habitually complain and are at a point that you don’t even consciously distinguish that something you’ve said, is a complaint? Be more aware of your speech patterns and change the ones that you notice, are destructive. Use empowering phrases as your replacements.

my friend Ruth watched the movie The Secret last week and decided with a friend that they would put the principles into action and visualize something they wanted. I asked if she was going to visualize getting along with her mother, and she said she couldn’t begin to picture that.

In Chapter 7 of How to Use PowerPhrases, I talk about how PowerPhrases are targeted, meaning you set a goal for the conversation and choose your words accordingly. If you can’t picture a successful outcome, you can’t pick word to make it happen.

It’s important to see things as they are and then to picture them as you want them to be. If you can’t picture a perfect outcome, at least picture an improved one. Change comes in steps.

Source: http://www.speakstrong.com/newsletter/