How are you feeling about your goals for the year? Are you on track? In reviewing my goals for 2015, I have gotten completely off track on a few of them. My guess is, I’m not alone. Why do we get off track with our goals? Join me as I attempt to evaluate my goals and get back on track.
Focus is essential for peak performance. Athletes who focus on the right things at the right times will outperform those who get distracted. However, this begs the question, “What is the right thing to focus on?”
You know what it feels like to be overwhelmed. If not, check your pulse. Sometimes we take on too much. We get behind. Other times we get overloaded by other’s agendas. We can easily find ourselves in over our heads, drowning in our task lists, and feeling completely overwhelmed.
We all make mistakes. When we do, it is easy for those mistakes to steal attention and focus. We become fixated on them. We get stuck. We want to evaluate, analyze, and fix our mistakes right away. However, I argue that it is best to save analysis until later.
It is time to let your voice be heard. I want to make sure my content does the best possible job of answering your needs and interests. And that means I need to know a little more about you. To do that, I’ve created my 2015 Reader Survey.
Would you please take a few minutes to fill out the survey? Ultimately, you’ll be helping yourself. Why? Because you will be helping me create content that is more relevant and meaningful for you.
Your input is very important to me. I’ve made this survey easy to fill out. It is only 10 questions. The results are completely anonymous. I would be so grateful for your input.
Thanks in advance for your help!
More than half of Americans are dissatisfied in their work, according to a recent survey by the Conference Board, a New York based nonprofit. Work can be stressful, frustrating and exhausting. If we are going to spend the majority of our waking hours working, wouldn’t it be nice to make them as purposeful, satisfying and productive as possible? How on earth are we supposed to do that?
When our minds become focused on worries, doubts and fears, we become anxious. Anxiety (or nervousness) sets our bodies’ stress responses in motion. This natural reaction, designed to facilitate an optimal response to life’s demands, can carry with it adverse effects. Specifically, an increase in muscle tension can interfere with an athlete’s performance.
Recently, I was asked to hand off a training event that I usually lead to a few of my colleagues. After they took the reins, we sat down to discuss how they did with the first event. During the discussion, I found myself getting slightly frustrated that important details were overlooked and the message wasn’t as crisp as we wanted it to be.
It was then that I realized I had withheld information that would have been helpful to my colleagues. This wasn’t intentional. Perhaps I’d mentioned a few ideas and suggestions. However, I’d assumed that my colleagues had paid attention to the strategies I used to connect to the audience, the illustrations I gave that resonated with the group and the questions I asked to bring people into the conversation. I made an assumption, a dangerous one.
Staying organized and managing your to-do list is a challenge. There are a ton of systems and tools that claim to help you get more done. You can spend so much time shopping for a tool you don’t get anything done. What really matters is finding a strategy that works for you.
I’ve tried a lot of different methods to keep track of all that I have to get done: sticky notes, to-do lists, outlook tasks, white boards, note pads, and apps (lots of apps). Many of these were suitable options. All had their limitations.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit.”
This quote from Aristotle is one of my favorites. Habits form the foundations for how we live, work and play. Whether or not we’re intentional about them, our habits shape who we are becoming. Where are your habits leading you?
