Anybody with the passion, the heart and the desire to help people can become a life coach. The problem though is that those qualities alone are not enough to qualify you as an effective life coach. You will also need training and mentoring. But life coach training resulting in a certification costs $3000 to $6000 on the average.
Let's assume you simply don't have that kind of money lying around. Does this mean your dream of becoming a life coach is over? Well, not quite. There are several ways you can make life coach training more affordable.
Scholarships
As in traditional colleges and universities, there are scholarships available to help you pursue your dreams of becoming a life coach. There are a number of companies willing to help you as long as you meet their qualifications and display the necessary level of desire and determination.
One approach you can take is with your current employer. You can inquire whether or not they have scholarships or other programs available that would meet your needs. Many companies offer incentives for their employees to further their education, especially if it's in an area that would benefit the company, such as life coaching.
If no such program currently exists in your company, you could suggest it to the appropriate department head or your supervisor. There are many companies that fund 100% of continuing education.
Another approach is to apply for a scholarship with the top coaching academies. One of these institutions is the International Coach Academy.
International Coach Academy is one of the top schools in the world for coach training. They provide top notch, affordable and accessible training. Their Certified Professional Coach Program is fully certified by the International Coach Federation. What may be of special interest to you is they offer a number of 50% scholarships for their program.
Find a Mentor
Another method of obtaining affordable life coach training is by finding a mentor. If you have the necessary desire and motivation, you can look for someone already working as a life coach who is willing to take you on as an apprentice. This may not be formal training but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will be less effective. Someone currently working in the life coaching field may well be a better teacher or trainer who has been in the classroom and isn't an actively practicing coach.
Of course it's going to require some work to find someone willing to become your mentor. You will need to gain their trust as well as demonstrate a high level of desire and determination to become a life coach. While you should attend some sort of formal training later to attain life coach certification, the lessons you will learn from studying under a personal mentor will likely prove to be far more valuable than anything you will learn in a classroom.
Self-Training
If you are unable to find a mentor or are unable to afford formal life coach training, then your last resort is going to be self training. One source of self training that is widely available is books. There are many books on the subject of life coaching, but you don't necessarily need to buy them yourself. Find the ones available through your local library and start with those.
Another good source of information is the internet. The information superhighway has an incredible amount of information on life coaching. Just make sure you exercise some caution on where you get your information. Choose sites that are credible sources of information regarding life coach training.
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Task Management for Individual efficiency
Have you ever undertaken a large project, only to become overwhelmed at the sheer scope of time and effort required? If so, you're not alone - managing long-term, large-scale projects is a challenging prospect, even for those experienced at it. And then consider juggling three or four or even five or more at a time - for many people the mere thought of it is staggering.
And yet, as you look around your workplace, you can probably spot someone who seems to thrive on doing it and actually does it exceptionally well. And while that person may not seem to be any more intelligent or hardworking than you are, for some reason they embrace the challenge while you shy away from it.
The underlying difference between yourself and that person is simply this - they understand and practice a very simply concept - Task Management.
Regardless of the actual scope of work involved or the timeframe to completion, every project can be broken down into smaller, easily managed tasks that are readily completed over the short-term. As each task is completed, it contributes towards the completion of the project itself, in due time.
More often than not, each task itself can then be broken down into a fixed schedule, allowing you to steadily and consistently work at it over a number of days or weeks. Depending upon the type of task, it may even be possible to work on several tasks concurrently, by spending a relatively small amount of time on each, every day.
The watchwords of Task Management are diligence and consistency, but tempered with flexibility. A given task may need to be paused if it is dependent upon the completion of another task or an unexpected issue presents itself. With flexible scheduling and a willingness to adapt to these unforeseen barriers, the project itself will continue while you explore options to resolve them.
Those whom excel at project management do so because they are able work in such a way that each and every day they make some degree progress on one or more of the tasks involved. This may mean spending as little as 10 or 15 minutes per day or up to an hour on each task. At different milestones within the project, the amount of time spent each day will inevitably vary.
It is for this very reason that project managers are often able to take on multiple projects simultaneously and not become stressed over their workload. Managing several projects at once actually breaks up the monotony of working on one single thing at any given time. It provides a way for you to step back from each project for a short time and then resume it the next day with a fresh perspective.
While we can never lose sight of the overall project itself, by focusing on Task Management, careful scheduling and consistency in how we approach our work, we can easily increase our Personal Productivity without unduly frustrating ourselves or becoming stressed about our workload.
And yet, as you look around your workplace, you can probably spot someone who seems to thrive on doing it and actually does it exceptionally well. And while that person may not seem to be any more intelligent or hardworking than you are, for some reason they embrace the challenge while you shy away from it.
The underlying difference between yourself and that person is simply this - they understand and practice a very simply concept - Task Management.
Regardless of the actual scope of work involved or the timeframe to completion, every project can be broken down into smaller, easily managed tasks that are readily completed over the short-term. As each task is completed, it contributes towards the completion of the project itself, in due time.
More often than not, each task itself can then be broken down into a fixed schedule, allowing you to steadily and consistently work at it over a number of days or weeks. Depending upon the type of task, it may even be possible to work on several tasks concurrently, by spending a relatively small amount of time on each, every day.
The watchwords of Task Management are diligence and consistency, but tempered with flexibility. A given task may need to be paused if it is dependent upon the completion of another task or an unexpected issue presents itself. With flexible scheduling and a willingness to adapt to these unforeseen barriers, the project itself will continue while you explore options to resolve them.
Those whom excel at project management do so because they are able work in such a way that each and every day they make some degree progress on one or more of the tasks involved. This may mean spending as little as 10 or 15 minutes per day or up to an hour on each task. At different milestones within the project, the amount of time spent each day will inevitably vary.
It is for this very reason that project managers are often able to take on multiple projects simultaneously and not become stressed over their workload. Managing several projects at once actually breaks up the monotony of working on one single thing at any given time. It provides a way for you to step back from each project for a short time and then resume it the next day with a fresh perspective.
While we can never lose sight of the overall project itself, by focusing on Task Management, careful scheduling and consistency in how we approach our work, we can easily increase our Personal Productivity without unduly frustrating ourselves or becoming stressed about our workload.
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Becoming a Life trainer
If you like to help people and are a charismatic and energetic person, then life training might be a good career choice for you. Let's first explore what a life trainer is and does, then we'll go into more detail on the process of how to become a life trainer.
Life trainers help their clients discover what is most important to them, help them perform at optimum levels, and achieve what it is they most desire. They work one-on-one with their clients, either in person or over the phone, and help them set and achieve personal goals. Life trainers are not therapists or consultants.
Life train1ng evolved out of executive training, which itself drew on techniques developed in leadership training and management consulting. Life training also borrows from disciplines such as sociology, psychology, career counselling, mentoring and other types of counselling. Trainers may apply mentoring, behaviour modification, behaviour modelling, values assessment, goal-setting and other techniques in their practice.
Some say that life training is similar to psychotherapy, but without restrictions, oversight or regulation. The State legislature of Colorado disagreed, and ruled that training is unlike therapy because it does not focus on examining or diagnosing the past. Life training focuses on changing the client's current and future behaviour. Neither does life training delve into diagnosing mental illness or dysfunction.
According to a survey of training clients, "sounding board" and "motivator" were what they were looking for most in a trainer. The desire that their trainer “really listens to them and gives honest feedback." Time management, career and business are the top three areas in which the surveyed clients sought help.
Before travelling too far down the path to becoming a life trainer, you should first decide on a specialty or a focus for your practice. Besides the three areas already mentioned, you could also specialize in finance, health, relationships, career management or a variety of other areas. Decide on your specialty, then pursue further training in that field.
Next you should attend a life training seminar. This will give you a good overview of life training in general, and you will have the opportunity to see how trainers interact with people in the crowd. A seminar may have one or several speakers. Approach one of them after the event and ask how best to break into the field.
After attending a seminar, you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not becoming a life trainer is something you really want to pursue. You want to be sure of that before you invest your time and money into life trainer training.
There are hundreds of training programs that range from $100 home study programs, to $15,000 two year life trainer certification. The value and cost of life trainer training varies widely and is something you should research thoroughly. The most comprehensive list of training courses and schools can be found at www.peer.ca/coachingschools.html
It is important that you pursue a program of instruction that results in accreditation. Without a training credential you will have a difficult time convincing potential clients that you are the real deal.
You are now armed with a basic outline of how to become a life trainer. Make sure you invest plenty of time in researching the topic further before you open your wallet.
Life trainers help their clients discover what is most important to them, help them perform at optimum levels, and achieve what it is they most desire. They work one-on-one with their clients, either in person or over the phone, and help them set and achieve personal goals. Life trainers are not therapists or consultants.
Life train1ng evolved out of executive training, which itself drew on techniques developed in leadership training and management consulting. Life training also borrows from disciplines such as sociology, psychology, career counselling, mentoring and other types of counselling. Trainers may apply mentoring, behaviour modification, behaviour modelling, values assessment, goal-setting and other techniques in their practice.
Some say that life training is similar to psychotherapy, but without restrictions, oversight or regulation. The State legislature of Colorado disagreed, and ruled that training is unlike therapy because it does not focus on examining or diagnosing the past. Life training focuses on changing the client's current and future behaviour. Neither does life training delve into diagnosing mental illness or dysfunction.
According to a survey of training clients, "sounding board" and "motivator" were what they were looking for most in a trainer. The desire that their trainer “really listens to them and gives honest feedback." Time management, career and business are the top three areas in which the surveyed clients sought help.
Before travelling too far down the path to becoming a life trainer, you should first decide on a specialty or a focus for your practice. Besides the three areas already mentioned, you could also specialize in finance, health, relationships, career management or a variety of other areas. Decide on your specialty, then pursue further training in that field.
Next you should attend a life training seminar. This will give you a good overview of life training in general, and you will have the opportunity to see how trainers interact with people in the crowd. A seminar may have one or several speakers. Approach one of them after the event and ask how best to break into the field.
After attending a seminar, you should have a pretty good idea of whether or not becoming a life trainer is something you really want to pursue. You want to be sure of that before you invest your time and money into life trainer training.
There are hundreds of training programs that range from $100 home study programs, to $15,000 two year life trainer certification. The value and cost of life trainer training varies widely and is something you should research thoroughly. The most comprehensive list of training courses and schools can be found at www.peer.ca/coachingschools.html
It is important that you pursue a program of instruction that results in accreditation. Without a training credential you will have a difficult time convincing potential clients that you are the real deal.
You are now armed with a basic outline of how to become a life trainer. Make sure you invest plenty of time in researching the topic further before you open your wallet.
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Techniques for dealing with Stress – Deep Breathing is not one of them.
When we begin feeling stressed, we have a tendency to also begin breathing faster and shallowly, which reduces the volume of carbon dioxide in our blood and causes blood vessels to constrict. More often than not, this can lead to hyper-ventilation, which throws our metabolism completely out of whack!
Coaches and athletes understand the need to practice good breathing habits to keep metabolisms in balance and produce up to 99% of the body's energy aerobically. Conversely, those of us who have poor breathing habits experience a drop to around 85%, which is a significant decline in aerobic energy production.
The physiological changes caused by poor breathing habits throws off our pH balance, the ratio of O2 to CO2 in the bloodstream, diminished energy and of course a feeling of anxiety or poor health in general. Although we naturally breathe autonomously, over the course of our lifetimes we actually learn to breathe incorrectly. It's a behaviour that can be unlearned given time and effort.
That said, we first need to become aware of our breathing habits, by actually listening to ourselves breathe. We need to time how many breaths we take per minute and if that number is much over 12 in a relaxed state, we need to think about how we can best re-learn to breathe normally.
The first step is to avoid holding the stomach in, preventing the diaphragm from working properly. Relax your stomach muscles and inhale slowly through your nose to a count of 3. Now hold that breathe for a second and then exhale to a count of 6. Repeat that three times and then allow yourself to breath normally. The entire exercise should have taken you 30 seconds.
Since a good 70% of your body's waste is eliminated through exhaling, you're going to always attempt to double the time spent exhaling compared to inhaling. This allows your body to balance its metabolism and pH levels and well as increase the amount of energy produced. In stressful situations, your body will literally relax as you do it and your fight or flight response will quickly recede.
As a quick fix, this type of breathing technique works wonders for calming yourself down, but does not address the larger issue of learning to breath this way all of the time. To do this, you need to remain aware of your breathing habits and continually remind yourself to stay in control of your breathing.
Over time, you will develop the habit, but meanwhile, you may need prompting. One solution is to set a timer (for example on a digital watch) to beep every 3 to 5 minutes as a reminder to check your breathing. This helps because as we submerse ourselves into a given task, we can easily lose track of our breathing without realizing it.
You may even find it helpful to repeat a phrase during your practice like, "I'm breathing in", "I'm breathing out", to help you establish the proper rhythm. Your goal is to allow your body to take over autonomously with proper breathing habits as a result of your practice.
If you condition yourself to breath properly, especially in stressful situations, you will alleviate the stress and anxiety of it and remain calm and rational. Good breathing habits are learned, so training yourself beginning today will get you back on track to a happier, healthier you!
Coaches and athletes understand the need to practice good breathing habits to keep metabolisms in balance and produce up to 99% of the body's energy aerobically. Conversely, those of us who have poor breathing habits experience a drop to around 85%, which is a significant decline in aerobic energy production.
The physiological changes caused by poor breathing habits throws off our pH balance, the ratio of O2 to CO2 in the bloodstream, diminished energy and of course a feeling of anxiety or poor health in general. Although we naturally breathe autonomously, over the course of our lifetimes we actually learn to breathe incorrectly. It's a behaviour that can be unlearned given time and effort.
That said, we first need to become aware of our breathing habits, by actually listening to ourselves breathe. We need to time how many breaths we take per minute and if that number is much over 12 in a relaxed state, we need to think about how we can best re-learn to breathe normally.
The first step is to avoid holding the stomach in, preventing the diaphragm from working properly. Relax your stomach muscles and inhale slowly through your nose to a count of 3. Now hold that breathe for a second and then exhale to a count of 6. Repeat that three times and then allow yourself to breath normally. The entire exercise should have taken you 30 seconds.
Since a good 70% of your body's waste is eliminated through exhaling, you're going to always attempt to double the time spent exhaling compared to inhaling. This allows your body to balance its metabolism and pH levels and well as increase the amount of energy produced. In stressful situations, your body will literally relax as you do it and your fight or flight response will quickly recede.
As a quick fix, this type of breathing technique works wonders for calming yourself down, but does not address the larger issue of learning to breath this way all of the time. To do this, you need to remain aware of your breathing habits and continually remind yourself to stay in control of your breathing.
Over time, you will develop the habit, but meanwhile, you may need prompting. One solution is to set a timer (for example on a digital watch) to beep every 3 to 5 minutes as a reminder to check your breathing. This helps because as we submerse ourselves into a given task, we can easily lose track of our breathing without realizing it.
You may even find it helpful to repeat a phrase during your practice like, "I'm breathing in", "I'm breathing out", to help you establish the proper rhythm. Your goal is to allow your body to take over autonomously with proper breathing habits as a result of your practice.
If you condition yourself to breath properly, especially in stressful situations, you will alleviate the stress and anxiety of it and remain calm and rational. Good breathing habits are learned, so training yourself beginning today will get you back on track to a happier, healthier you!
Friday, 26 June 2009
Stress and how to relieve it!!
Stress can have a number of adverse affects on your health, both short-term and long-term. If you're experiencing some of the following symptoms, it could indicate that you could benefit from some advice on how to relieve stress before your health suffers any worse than it already has. Feelings of anger, fear or helplessness are common indicators of stress, as is insomnia. Stress can cause headaches and pain in the jaw, neck and back. Habitual smoking, drinking, overeating and drug abuse are also caused by stress.
Stress is how your body responds to change. And situations that cause stress in one person may not cause stress in another. It's a very individual experience. One person may become tense when driving over high bridges, while another may enjoy the view. The thought of skydiving terrifies some people, but others find it thrilling. It's nearly impossible to classify any particular situation as stressful, because what causes stress in one person could be a source of enjoyment for the next. The key is to identify and manage what is stressful for you personally, because letting stress go unmanaged can have life-threatening health consequences.
Things you feel that you have no control over can be upsetting. But remember that it's not the situation, but how you deal with it that's important. You can't control everything that happens to you, but you can choose how you handle stressful situations.
Here are some tips for relieving your stress:
Focus on your breathing and breathe slowly, deep and deliberately. Picture a peaceful scene in your mind.
Exercise regularly. Exercising releases tension from your body. Find something you enjoy that get the major muscle groups going. Jogging, walking, swimming or bicycling are all excellent choices.
Count to ten slowly and deliberately. This helps you to pause and relax before reacting to a stressful situation.
Do some stretching exercises several times during the day. Stretching relaxes the muscles and reduces tension.
Have a friend massage the back of your neck, shoulders and upper back. These muscles get especially tense when you are stressed.
Take hot showers and baths.
Listen to relaxing music.
Talk to your family and friends about what is causing you stress.
Seek help when you need it. If you have recurring headaches and neck or upper back pain, and are having problems sleeping, you should see your doctor.
Learning how to relieve stress, and putting these methods to use are critical your overall health and happiness. Try to learn to accept what you can’t change. Not everything is going to happen the way you want it to. Train yourself to look for the good in what appears to be a bad situation, talk to others about your troubles, and try to mentally remove yourself from the situation then evaluate it from the outside looking in.
Stress is how your body responds to change. And situations that cause stress in one person may not cause stress in another. It's a very individual experience. One person may become tense when driving over high bridges, while another may enjoy the view. The thought of skydiving terrifies some people, but others find it thrilling. It's nearly impossible to classify any particular situation as stressful, because what causes stress in one person could be a source of enjoyment for the next. The key is to identify and manage what is stressful for you personally, because letting stress go unmanaged can have life-threatening health consequences.
Things you feel that you have no control over can be upsetting. But remember that it's not the situation, but how you deal with it that's important. You can't control everything that happens to you, but you can choose how you handle stressful situations.
Here are some tips for relieving your stress:
Focus on your breathing and breathe slowly, deep and deliberately. Picture a peaceful scene in your mind.
Exercise regularly. Exercising releases tension from your body. Find something you enjoy that get the major muscle groups going. Jogging, walking, swimming or bicycling are all excellent choices.
Count to ten slowly and deliberately. This helps you to pause and relax before reacting to a stressful situation.
Do some stretching exercises several times during the day. Stretching relaxes the muscles and reduces tension.
Have a friend massage the back of your neck, shoulders and upper back. These muscles get especially tense when you are stressed.
Take hot showers and baths.
Listen to relaxing music.
Talk to your family and friends about what is causing you stress.
Seek help when you need it. If you have recurring headaches and neck or upper back pain, and are having problems sleeping, you should see your doctor.
Learning how to relieve stress, and putting these methods to use are critical your overall health and happiness. Try to learn to accept what you can’t change. Not everything is going to happen the way you want it to. Train yourself to look for the good in what appears to be a bad situation, talk to others about your troubles, and try to mentally remove yourself from the situation then evaluate it from the outside looking in.
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Time Management, the big benefit
Exercising time management requires--you guessed it--time. It seems a bit of a paradox, doesn't it? In order to develop effective time management skill, you must take more time out of your busy schedule that already contains more tasks than you have time to accomplish. But the investment of time used to schedule your time will create more time available to you in the long run.
So if you're already overwhelmed by your to do list, and you find yourself making excuses not to do what you know must be done, then you need some motivation. You can find that motivation in the Big Benefit of Time Management.
And what might that big benefit of time management be, you ask?
Happiness!
Think about it for a moment. Why is it that when you can't seem to drag yourself out of bed at 7:00 to get to work by 8:00, you will jump out of bed with great enthusiasm on a weekend at 5:00 to spend a day in your favourite hobby or pastime? Because the leisure activity brings you joy. You are motivated to get out of bed because you know the day will bring you happiness, as opposed to the workday that brings misery.
So, in order to motivate yourself to exercise effective time management, you must use the carrot of the Big Benefit of Time Management rather than the stick your boss likely uses--increased productivity. Remember, the more time you can free up, the more time you will have for your favourite activities.
To develop effective time management skills, begin with what motivates you. Don't worry about mundane tasks or activities that increase productivity, but rather think about the things you love to do. Think about the things that drive you to try and earn more money so you have more money to spend on them. Then make those things your priority, schedule them first, and schedule other things around them.
There are many places on the internet you can download a daily planner template or a free printable daily planner. Don't get too caught up in what tool to use. A legal pad or wall calendar is enough for now. The important thing is you get into the practice of planning your time and writing it down.
Let's say the activity that brings you the most enjoyment is cycling. First, decide how many days this year you want to spend cycling. Then decide what times of year you want to use those days. Now that you have the number of days and the season, take a look at the calendar and begin planning which days specifically you want to spend cycling. Block those days out on a calendar.
Now you must evaluate what you need to accomplish to be able to spend that time cycling. If you're going to be gone for a week, what must you do prior to being able to be gone for that week? Consider the "must do" items only, write them down, and then schedule the necessary time for those activities.
This is a simplified example, but you will notice how much more motivated you are to schedule other tasks when you first schedule your favourite activities. You are motivated because there is a reward of the Big Benefit of Time Management. Happiness!
So if you're already overwhelmed by your to do list, and you find yourself making excuses not to do what you know must be done, then you need some motivation. You can find that motivation in the Big Benefit of Time Management.
And what might that big benefit of time management be, you ask?
Happiness!
Think about it for a moment. Why is it that when you can't seem to drag yourself out of bed at 7:00 to get to work by 8:00, you will jump out of bed with great enthusiasm on a weekend at 5:00 to spend a day in your favourite hobby or pastime? Because the leisure activity brings you joy. You are motivated to get out of bed because you know the day will bring you happiness, as opposed to the workday that brings misery.
So, in order to motivate yourself to exercise effective time management, you must use the carrot of the Big Benefit of Time Management rather than the stick your boss likely uses--increased productivity. Remember, the more time you can free up, the more time you will have for your favourite activities.
To develop effective time management skills, begin with what motivates you. Don't worry about mundane tasks or activities that increase productivity, but rather think about the things you love to do. Think about the things that drive you to try and earn more money so you have more money to spend on them. Then make those things your priority, schedule them first, and schedule other things around them.
There are many places on the internet you can download a daily planner template or a free printable daily planner. Don't get too caught up in what tool to use. A legal pad or wall calendar is enough for now. The important thing is you get into the practice of planning your time and writing it down.
Let's say the activity that brings you the most enjoyment is cycling. First, decide how many days this year you want to spend cycling. Then decide what times of year you want to use those days. Now that you have the number of days and the season, take a look at the calendar and begin planning which days specifically you want to spend cycling. Block those days out on a calendar.
Now you must evaluate what you need to accomplish to be able to spend that time cycling. If you're going to be gone for a week, what must you do prior to being able to be gone for that week? Consider the "must do" items only, write them down, and then schedule the necessary time for those activities.
This is a simplified example, but you will notice how much more motivated you are to schedule other tasks when you first schedule your favourite activities. You are motivated because there is a reward of the Big Benefit of Time Management. Happiness!
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
The Theory and Practice of Goal Setting
As part of the overall business planning process, establishing goals is of course fundamental in providing a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. Setting one or more goals seems to be a straightforward process. You establish a specific goal, one that's measurable and has a defined timeframe for completion. You implement your plan, measure your progress towards reaching your goal and then evaluate the outcome objectively to refine your process.
On the surface of things, it reads well and sounds easy enough to do. Unfortunately, it rarely works out that way for numerous reasons; primarily because we often fail to establish realistic goals. Additionally, we often casually set goals with only a hazy view towards how they'll actually be accomplished. And while we're typically motivated at the beginning of the process, it's not at all unusual to lose our motivation somewhere along the way.
When preparing your own goals, it's important to first understand that every goal you set must be realistic and readily achievable, given an appropriate amount of time and resources. For example, setting a goal to earn $25,000 per month within three months, when your present earnings are less than $1,000, is probably unrealistic. On the other hand, setting an ongoing goal to increase your earnings by 5% or 10% per month is not only realistic, but more likely to be achievable.
Once you've defined a goal you believe you can accomplish, the next step is to break it down into smaller, manageable tasks and scheduling them in sequence (assuming one task depends on the completion of another). Before defining the target date the overall goal must be completed, be certain that each task is given a reasonable amount of time for completion and allow the sum of the tasks to define the completion date, rather than arbitrarily selecting one.
Depending on how far into the future your goals are planned for, it's very helpful to schedule regular progress reviews, even if you're the only one involved. For example, scheduling time every Friday afternoon to review your progress and make any necessary adjustments will keep your goals current. Don't be surprised if something unexpected interferes with your scheduling from time-to-time. That's normal and you will simply need to identify some way to compensate for it.
Another artificial barrier to actually meeting your goals is the process itself. Be careful to avoid implementing a goal management process that consumes more time than the goal itself. On a smaller scale, a simple spreadsheet will often suffice to meet all of your management needs. For larger scale management, a variety of goal management software exists, usually scalable for most organizations.
Aside from actually working the process towards eventually realizing your goal, the final step is to take some time to evaluate the overall process and your performance at the end. This should be done objectively and embraced as a learning opportunity, one that will help you to improve your performance the next time.
With proper planning, setting realistic goals can only benefit you and your business in the long run, especially if you streamline the goal management process for yourself. If you think of it as an evolving process focused on continual performance improvement, over time you will see a measurable improvement in everything you do!
On the surface of things, it reads well and sounds easy enough to do. Unfortunately, it rarely works out that way for numerous reasons; primarily because we often fail to establish realistic goals. Additionally, we often casually set goals with only a hazy view towards how they'll actually be accomplished. And while we're typically motivated at the beginning of the process, it's not at all unusual to lose our motivation somewhere along the way.
When preparing your own goals, it's important to first understand that every goal you set must be realistic and readily achievable, given an appropriate amount of time and resources. For example, setting a goal to earn $25,000 per month within three months, when your present earnings are less than $1,000, is probably unrealistic. On the other hand, setting an ongoing goal to increase your earnings by 5% or 10% per month is not only realistic, but more likely to be achievable.
Once you've defined a goal you believe you can accomplish, the next step is to break it down into smaller, manageable tasks and scheduling them in sequence (assuming one task depends on the completion of another). Before defining the target date the overall goal must be completed, be certain that each task is given a reasonable amount of time for completion and allow the sum of the tasks to define the completion date, rather than arbitrarily selecting one.
Depending on how far into the future your goals are planned for, it's very helpful to schedule regular progress reviews, even if you're the only one involved. For example, scheduling time every Friday afternoon to review your progress and make any necessary adjustments will keep your goals current. Don't be surprised if something unexpected interferes with your scheduling from time-to-time. That's normal and you will simply need to identify some way to compensate for it.
Another artificial barrier to actually meeting your goals is the process itself. Be careful to avoid implementing a goal management process that consumes more time than the goal itself. On a smaller scale, a simple spreadsheet will often suffice to meet all of your management needs. For larger scale management, a variety of goal management software exists, usually scalable for most organizations.
Aside from actually working the process towards eventually realizing your goal, the final step is to take some time to evaluate the overall process and your performance at the end. This should be done objectively and embraced as a learning opportunity, one that will help you to improve your performance the next time.
With proper planning, setting realistic goals can only benefit you and your business in the long run, especially if you streamline the goal management process for yourself. If you think of it as an evolving process focused on continual performance improvement, over time you will see a measurable improvement in everything you do!
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