At the risk of stating the obvious, we’re already one-eleventh of the way through the year. And if you take into account holidays, December etc, then we’re actually closer to one-tenth – or 10% of the way through 2010. How are you going? You see, it is around this time that New Year’s momentum and excitement starts to wane for many people – school’s back, the ‘planning’ phase of the year is well and truly over and the ‘day-to-day-ness’ of our lives is in full swing. So I repeat …. how are you going? Specifically, how are you going on those plans you made a couple of weeks ago about what you wanted for yourself for 2010? If you’re losing momentum now, then what are you going to be like in another couple of months? The trick is to get back on track NOW and put in place systems for yourself to regain and then maintain momentum. Here are some ideas;
- Connect with other people to hold you accountable and problem-solve barriers – a MasterMind group, the ABN MentorNet program, supportive friends or bring in the professionals in the way of a coach.
- Schedule times to work on key projects into your diary today – I used to plan my week at the start of every week … and endeavour to fit key activities in at that point. However, by the time I got to the beginning of each week, my diary was already so full of appointments and tasks that it was hard to find the ‘chunks’ of time I needed to make progress on my strategic goals. Now, when I do my weekly planning, key activities are already scheduled in. Stephen Covey’s ‘Big Rocks‘ metaphor is a great reminder of this.
- Get clear on how your business objectives inter-relate with each other and your personal goals … life is an integrated work in progress – not a series of ‘goals’ to be achieved … if you can see how everything links up it’s easier to create the time and give importance to your priorities.
- Take a reality check – if you have already lost momentum, maybe it’s because your goals didn’t take into account the reality of your life. Now’s a good time to revisit and adjust your goals if necessary and re-establish your intentions.
- Determine what resources you really need to achieve your objectives. Professional assistance, help handling your admin, new equipment; or domestic help – a cleaner perhaps, or maybe do your grocery shopping online to give you back some time. Identifying the resources you need to be effective is a crucial key to maintaining momentum.
- Just do it – all reasons and excuses aside, the difference between people who do things and those who don’t is just that – doing, or not doing. There is a time for planning … and a time for ‘doing’ … so get to it :-)
