Quit Talking the Talk – and Start Walking the Walk – New Video
Enjoy the new video I just posted called Quit Talking the Talk – and Start Walking the Walk. Click here or cut and paste into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNdSA7XIjs0
Or go t http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uirUuI2ViuI
Review the other videos on this youtube.com channel. Subscribe and get notifications when a new video is posted. Enjoy!
Go to http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/landing/ and get 3 FREE gifts including a special report on 10 Power Tips for Getting Focused, Organized, and Achieving Your Goals Now.
Aim for what you want each and every day!
Anne
The Accountability Coach™
Author of Excuses Don’t Count; Results Rule and Live Life with No Regrets. Get your copies today.
7 Proven Ideas to Help Business Owners Achieve Better Results Webinar – April 13
I am hosting a FREE Webinar on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 called 7 Proven Ideas to Help Business Owners Achieve Better Results. You will learn 7 immediately action-able, results-producing strategies that will help you to:
- Get more clients
- Increase your income
- Get more done in a lot less time (be more productive)
- Achieve more of your goals
- Be even more focused on the activities that produce results
- Organize your time and your life
- Eliminate the feeling of being overwhelmed
Register here: http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/achieve-better-results-webinar/
Sign up today and mark your calendar for April 13 at 11:00am PT, 1:00pm CT, or 2:00pm ET.
New Video posted on Do You Truly Want to Achieve Your Goals Badly Enough?
The topic for this particular video is about the Do You Truly Want to Achieve Your Goals Badly Enough?
What’s the difference between someone who achieves their goals and someone who just dreams about them? The starting point is always their level of desire, and how bad they want it. Achieving your goals doesn’t have anything to do with where you’ve been; you can always get to where you want to be – if you want it bad enough.
Click here or cut and paste into your browser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKJzFgGlRuE
Review the other videos on this channel. Subscribe and get notifications when a new video is posted.
Aim for what you want each and every day!
Anne
The Accountability Coach™
Author of Excuses Don’t Count; Results Rule and Live Life with No Regrets. Get your copies today.
Already fallen off the fitness wagon from your new year’s goals?
Obtain a Complimentary Fitness Tracking Spreadsheet to help you stay on the fitness and health path.
So many people start off the year with a renewed commitment to fitness and health. As you might guess, many of these people fall off the wagon only a few weeks or months into the new year.
Most of the people I coach have health and fitness goals in addition to other personal and professional goals. If you have health and fitness goals and don’t have a way to track your goals and your progress, you might want to use this Complimentary Fitness Tracking Spreadsheet. Once downloaded, this spreadsheet that will allow you to edit any of the fields so you can customize it to your personal health and fitness goals.
To obtain your Complimentary Fitness Tracking Spreadsheet click the link below or cut and paste it into your browser. Here’s to making good choices and working on what we can control as it relates to our health and fitness. Enjoy!
http://www.accountabilitycoach.com/fitness-health-training-activity-tracking/
How to Use a Prioritized Action List (PAL) to Increase Focus and Success
Understanding how to use a master task list / prioritized action list can only be done by truly understanding why you need to create one. A master task list has one purpose: to help you complete the key tasks vital to running your business at its optimal efficiency and effectiveness.
To get started, list all the activities that must be completed and by what time they need to be done. Prioritize the tasks, putting the most important at the top of your list. Focus on the high-payoff tasks that would be best served by you.
If you can minimize the list by delegating – then do so. In addition, if certain tasks will be better served by someone else, you must delegate. All tasks on your master task list can be categorized into the 4 D’s: Do It – Delegate It – Delay It – Drop It. This system makes prioritizing much easier. Use the 4 D’s everyday in your master task list by choosing one category for each task.
Remember, it is always about taking action that puts you on the straightest path to achieving your goals, and every step you take (or do not take) directly affects how quickly you get there.
Examples of tasks that would fit a master task list
- Resolve a conflict with a client
- Review independent contractors or virtual assistants before hiring
- Train new assistant on proper procedure and job duties
- Prepare for a seminar/workshop/tele-seminar
- Client acquisition activities
- Client service activities
Once you’re clear on the types of tasks to include, create subsections for each of your tasks. Generally, you should list two to seven subsections under each master task. In the subsections, list smaller tasks that must be accomplished in order to carry out the master task. This is a way of breaking down larger tasks, one step at a time.
Start both your master tasks and subtasks with an actionable verb. This will ensure that you’re clear on the fact that they’re important tasks that must be competed, not just flamboyant aspirations. For example, let’s say your main tasks are to market your business and interact with clients.
The goal is to accomplish the tasks on your list as soon as you can, so you can clear your head of the distractions. To aid in that, place the tasks from your master task list into a calendar where you can map out time limits for each task. As you accomplish your tasks, check them off or cross them out so you get a visual affirmation of your goal achievement. If you don’t complete all of your tasks in any given day, just carry them over to the next day – or the next available day.
Remember to delegate the unimportant or low-priority tasks to an assistant or employee. You, as the business owner, should only be focusing on the most vital tasks that are best suited to be handled by you. Everything else is trivial, temporary, or low-priority, and can likely be delegated to an assistant.
The composition of everyone’s master task list / prioritized action list will differ greatly, but the most important thing to keep in mind when learning how to use a master task list is remembering to not make it overly complicated. Identify the tasks you must accomplish, break them down into smaller tasks, apply the 4 D’s, and slap them onto your list. That’s really all it takes.
Stop letting procrastination be your excuse
Let’s establish that no one is perfect and no one is completely procrastination-free, every moment of every day. However, you can spot a habitual procrastinator anywhere. Here are some common signs[1]:
- Procrastinators are often overly optimistic about completing complex tasks in little time
- Thinks and says they work best under pressure
- Easily distracted and loses focus when there is no urgency
- Delayed start (because they have a false sense that everything is under control, so there’s no need to jump into it immediately)
- When no progress has been made, they offer reassurance that everything is under control
- Action driven by panic (the realization that everything is not under control)
- Scrambles last minute, working hours on end to complete a project minutes before the deadline.
The key is to discover the root cause of your procrastination, so you can correct it. Most procrastination is commonly rooted in the following issues[2]:
Low self-confidence: When you’re feeling insecure about your ability to complete a task, (forget about completing it well), you probably delay it to avoid feeling “stupid.” Truth be told, you have more than enough smarts to figure it out. The good news is that the more times you tackle a task head on – and are successful – the easier it is to stop procrastinating.
Perfectionist: You’re a perfectionist and nothing less than stellar is acceptable. Give yourself a break and let go of trying to be perfect. Given your high standards your best is probably far above par. Somewhere along the line, you tied perfectionism to acceptance (or love) and love should never be dependent upon performance…explore that issue.
Rebellion: Procrastination may be your way of expressing your rebellion. A sort of “You can’t tell me what to do, I’ll do it when I’m good and ready.” This probably didn’t work when you tried to use it with your parents (or it did work and that’s why you use it as an adult), but it definitely will NOT work with your boss. If you’re an entrepreneur – well, you’re just shooting your own foot.
Manipulation: This is a common characteristic of an insecure coworker or manager. “They can’t start without me. This project is nothing without my talent.” This takes some personal growth to overcome and the realization that discounting the ability of others does not increase your own. If you’re feeling insecure, go back to school or take additional training. When you expand your skill set, you can stop feeling insecure about your value.
Coping with Pressure: Procrastination may be a coping skill to dealing with feeling overwhelmed. They delay until they have the mental stability to perform the task or wait until the very last minute to start. While this may certainly be the case some days, the important thing to remember is not to make a habit of it. Delegate tasks temporarily or permanently to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Will you choose to begin reducing procrastinating in your life so you can enjoy even greater successes or will you continue to let procrastination hold you back from reaching your true potential? What has to happen next for you to stop letting procrastination be your excuse? It’s easy to make excuses and it’s even easier to use those excuses to procrastinate. With a little insight into why procrastination occurs, you may be able to reduce or completely eliminate it from your personal and professional life.
[1] California Polytechnic University. “Procrastination.” CalPoly Student Academic Services. http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/procrastination.html (accessed October 1, 2009).
[2] California Polytechnic University. “Procrastination.” CalPoly Student Academic Services. http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/procrastination.html (accessed October 1, 2009).
How to Produce Big Results
If you’ve failed at producing big results in your business, it’s time to let the failures go and move on. As an entrepreneur, you do not have time to sit around with regret; you’ve got to get moving!
If you want to produce big results, you first need to understand how to get big results. Big results are brought upon by the confidence to take action – again and again. When it comes down to it, who’s going to believe in your business when you don’t seem to believe in it yourself? If you have at any time questioned your ability to create the kind of life you have always wanted, a change in mindset would work wonders for your personal and professional life.
How to Get Things Done with a Master Task List / Prioritized Action List
Focusing on many responsibilities is a vital part of successfully running your business successfully. But how do you know which tasks need to be completed immediately and which tasks can wait? You have so many things you need to do that it can be very overwhelming. If you focus on the less important tasks, while the most important go unnoticed or forgotten about, you could be sabotaging your overall success. Fortunately, you can get a grip on your essential tasks by learning how to get things done with a master task list. Use prioritized action list to increase your success.
What is a Master Task List / Prioritized Action List?
A master task is a strategically composed list that will help you meet the needs of your business. When you understand how to use a master task list, you’ll be able to produce results far superior than those resulting from trying to remember everything and posting sticky notes everywhere, with efficiency being the key benefit of getting things done.
While there are many benefits to using a master task list, they serve as great distraction busters and procrastination killers. By simply streamlining the way you get things done, you can get the important things done first, making the biggest impact.
Trust your own intuition and persist
When your passion for your goals doesn’t seem to be enough, here are some things to consider:
Old goals don’t match new priorities and/or values
We all know that people change. Where you are in life determines what’s important to you. It’s okay that you refocus your persistence on a new goal that is alignment with your new priorities or values. Don’t be afraid to let go of old goals that don’t resonate with your new evolution, just be sure you’re letting go of them for the right reason. In other words, be sure you’re not letting go of something you really love just because you’re fearful it will never happen.
When your persistence is really stubbornness
Be clear, persistence is not the same thing as stubbornness. Are you being persistent because you really want it or are you refusing to let it go because you are somehow mistaking it for failure? If you don’t want it, let it go – that’s not failure.
Making room for new goals
You may have several goals in life, and that’s the way it should be, but which ones are the most important to you? It’s a good idea to first focus your persistence on the goals that carry the highest level of desire. As you achieve your most desired goals, you can reprioritize the remaining goals, delete them, or add new goals as it suits you. Scattering your focus among several goals will not allow you to apply persistence effectively. Periodically evaluate your goals list and reprioritize or delete old goals to make way for the new ones.
The most important thing to remember about persistence is to trust your own intuition. Don’t listen to the critics and silence the self-doubt. If you have a feeling that something is going to work, even if everyone says it won’t, persist in your goal until you achieve it. There is core genius in you – and that is the stuff that champions are born from.
“So if you’re tired of the same old story… oh, turn some pages.”
– Roll with the Changes, REO Speedwagon (1978)
Great Story about the Power of FOCUS
Les Lyons shares a great story about FOCUS and the impact it had for him.
“Before I won the World Skeet Shooting Championships in my Class in 2004, I was struggling to break all 100 out of 100 clay targets. I could easily get in the 90s, and usually around 97 or 98, but those last one or two just eluded me.
I worked with an instructor who told me I had to have the proper focus in several areas, starting with my stance. Were my feet correctly positioned? Was my body correctly positioned and weighted properly between my two feet? Was my upper body turned properly? Was I holding the gun properly?
Next, he had me focus on my breathing. Could I feel my breath going in and out? Was it steady? Was it natural? Was it deep, or shallow? Was I holding my breath unconsciously?
Then, he had me focus on my vision. Was I looking at the background, to distinguish my proper hold point? Did I know the background well, so I wouldn’t be distracted by anything when I called for the target?
Then he told me to focus my mind. Only focus on the present and what is happening right now. Not what just happened a few minutes ago on the last target, or the results from the day before, or what MIGHT happen in a minute when I called for the target, or what might happen in the future, if I succeeded or failed. ONLY focus on RIGHT NOW! Be “in the moment,” he said.
Finally, he told me to focus on the target, or “bird” as we call it. And he said, “I mean REALLY focus! See the target clearly.” I told him I did. He then asked, “Can you see the rings on the different levels of the round target spinning as the bird comes out of the house?” I looked at him like he was crazy! I said, “HUH?” He said, “Yep. THAT’s the kind of focus you have to have. When you can clearly distinguish the rings on the spinning target, THEN you know you are focused!”
Guess what? I put into practice everything he said, and then broke 249 out of the 250 target competition and won the World Championship. (Yes, I let my guard down for a brief instant and it cost me a target. But my competitors did it more than that one time!)
So what I learned is there is focus, and then there’s FOCUS!!! And focus has to be – in most cases – in more than one area at a time, to ensure that everything is “in sync.””
