April Fools Planning

I'm not talking about planning your next April Fools prank.

Did you realize that one quarter of the year has just slipped past? 3 full months! How are you going on your goals for this year? Is it "Oh yeah!" or "Oh shoot!"

If it was the latter, then don't abandon all hope, the second best time to get going is now.

Let's start with your major goal for the year. What year is this?

Is it the year of getting fit, losing weight, finding that perfect partner, improving your relationship, getting to a new level in your business or career, or perhaps it's a house renovation, or an investment or educational goal. Whatever it is, just decide. Now I know you have lots of goals. Do this with your major 'theme for the year' goal first, then you can do it for all your other goals too.

The key to getting started is to take the first step.

Now where do you want to be in relation to this goal at the end of the year? Specifically. e.g. I want to weigh 75Kg. Let's say you weigh 90Kg now. You now have a start point and an end point.

Split that into 3, for each of the remaining quarters, and by the end of next quarter, the end of June, you'd need to be at 85Kg to be on track right? You see, this planning stuff is easy, just takes a little time in the beginning, its all fine tuning after that.

Now list 10 things, in general that you need to do to achieve that, eg. cut down on carbs & sugar, drink more water, take the stairs, etc.

How will you measure your progress? List the ways.

Who and what do you have access to, to assist you in achieving your goal?

How will you celebrate hitting this milestone?

Now rewrite your goal for 30th June. e.g. It is now on or before 30th June, and I weigh 85Kg. I know this is the case because I can see it on the scales, my partner tells me I'm looking good, and I feel great!

Now break the target down to one month, then one week, then list your daily actions that you are going to take to achieve your goals. Schedule in your workouts, plan your meals, etc.

At the end of each day review how you went. If you fell off the wagon, get back on again tomorrow.

Plan out each week in advance. At the end of the month, review where you are at, and plan out the next month.

If its working, keep doing it. If it's not working, do something different.

You don't become a success overnight, its small daily rituals that add up to success.

To your success,
Trevor Long

10 Steps to Successful Goal Setting - Part 5 - How Will You Know?

10 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL GOAL SETTING - PART 5

How will you know when you've achieved your goal?

Do you have a day to day method for measuring if you are on course?

Financial Goals - This is one of the easiest to track, an amount of money in an account, a certain income, a certain passive income, gross income, net worth, number or value of shares or properties, etc.

Health Goals - Weight, dress size, body fat, heart rate, distance walked, ran, cycled or swam, number of reps, weight lifted, food and alcohol intake, medicines reduced or eliminated, etc.

Relationship Goals - This one is a little more tricky. Once you define your ideal partner, their attributes, characteristics, values, then you can say whether this one is on target or not. If its family and friends, then how will you related to them, how often, etc.

Lifestyle Goals - This is things like houses, cars, holidays, hobbies. Are you living in your ideal house, driving your dream car, taking as many holidays, pursuing your hobbies as often as you like, etc.

Define a way to measure if you are on course to achieve your goal.

Determine your signposts to success on the way, smaller goals or steps.

What will you see, hear, feel, smell and taste, when you have reached each of your intermediate goals and targets?

Celebrate when you do! How are you going to celebrate?

Phew! We are now half way through the 10 step process. More involved in goal setting than you thought?

How long to do you spend planning a 2 week holiday?

How long do you think the pilot and airline have spent planning for your international flight, or do you reckon they just 'wing it'? (Pun intended!) By the way, did you know a plane is off course 99% of the time? The autopilot makes continuous measurements and adjustments to the course to get the plane to its destination.

How long does the architect spend planning a multi-story building?

If you are hoping its a considerable amount of time, then you'd be correct.

This is your life we are talking about here, spend a bit of time sorting out a direction to head in, a plan to get there, reasons why you are going, and a way of knowing you are on track.

To your success,
Trevor Long

I Don't Know What I Want

I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT

I DON'T HAVE GOALS

WHAT GOALS SHOULD I HAVE?

I read recently that all clients come to coaching with a Present State (where they are now), and a Desired State (where they want to be), and that it's the coaches job to help them bridge that gap.

In my experience as a coach, and in my personal experience, many people simply don't know where they want to be.




Some are dissatisfied with their financial status, their relationships, their career or business, or their health.

Others on the surface seem to have everything under control and are simply bored and frustrated with the same old same old.





My advice is usually the same for all clients - just PICK SOMETHING! Turn it into a goal, and start heading towards it by taking action steps.

Make sure that the something you pick is fun and/or useful.

But what if I don't know what I ultimately want?

That's fine, because the thing is, if it was right where you are now, you would have found it already!

You've got to get moving towards SOMETHING.

On the way there, you will see signposts along the way that will lead you towards other goals.

Quote - Success is a series of attainment of worthy goals.