Successful Time Management For Dummies. Zeller Dirk

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your children expressing greater thanks for your efforts as a parent equate to being a better dad or mom?

      As you identify and record 50 goals you’d like to achieve in the next 10 years, contemplate the following five core questions to guide your goal setting.

Using what works for you

      Individualism is key when crafting your goals, and it applies to both what you record and how you record it. You can put your goals in Evernote, enter them in an electronic spreadsheet, post them on a visual whiteboard, or even use them as wallpaper for your phone.. whatever is easiest for you and triggers the constant reminder. Or maybe you find that your thoughts flow best when you write them down by hand. The important thing to remember is that whatever method best enables your mind to flow freely and inspires you to craft your goals is the one you should use. Don’t let others sway you in how to craft and define your goals or what your goals should be.

      Consider this little‐known fact about yours truly: I have written ten books, and all have been written by putting pen to paper. This archaic approach may seem ridiculous in today’s high‐tech publishing environment; dictating my thoughts into Dragon or some software would certainly be easier and less time‐consuming than writing everything by hand. But not for me. For whatever reason, the direct connection among my hand, pen, eyes, and brain enables me to create a better book. Inspiration comes to me frequently while writing thoughts down, so I stick to my routine and get someone with more time to type my writing into an electronic file.

       What do you want to have?

      The question of what you want to have focuses on material acquisitions. What possessions do you yearn for? A swimming pool? A sailboat? Do you fantasize about owning a sports car? Do you dream of a formal rose garden landscaped into your backyard? Someone to cook and clean for you? Your own private jet? Winter vacations in the Caribbean? If your home environment is a priority, imagine the place you want to live. An expansive ranch overlooking the Pacific Ocean? A Fifth Avenue penthouse? An off‐the‐grid abode that runs on solar and wind power? A villa in Tuscany?

      

Although possessions are important to consider, they’re typically a means to an end: They enable you to create the lifestyle that you want to have.

      

One of the best goals I set and achieved was to own two houses, one as my primary residence and one to which I could retreat. Achieving that goal also motivated me to better invest time during work hours so I could enjoy spending long weekends at my second home. Our second home also created an opportunity to become involved with a church that connected us with two birth mothers we would not have otherwise known. I’m a father because of divine intervention – because of the original goal was simply to have a vacation home.

       What do you want to see?

      When you ask yourself what you want to see, think experiential acquisition. Travel is likely to be a key focus. I’m certain you can easily come up with at least ten places you want to see. Have some world wonders fascinated you? The Pyramids of Egypt? The Great Wall of China? I travel internationally a few times a year on business, and it only fuels my desire to see more parts of the world and expand my awareness of how other people live.

      Your desire for new sights may lean toward unfamiliar geography – the desert lands of the Southwest if you’re a New England native or the Rocky Mountains in winter if you hail from a lowland home. Perhaps your see goals are more personal. You may have always wanted to visit the country your ancestors came from or even visit the small town in the Midwest where your great‐grandparents met and raised a family.

       What do you want to do?

      Most likely, many of your goals are connected with the question of what you want to do at some point in your life. Whereas the possessions you want to acquire help create your lifestyle, the action‐oriented question you consider here focuses more on bigger events and feats outside the daily realm. Because this category is vast, I have my clients consider three main aspects of this question:

       ✓ Activities: You may want to include some once‐in‐a‐lifetime experiences, such as snorkeling with sea turtles or hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro. What about a goal of regular exercise four times a week? Or maybe you want to see a particular artist in concert.

       ✓ Skills: For example, have you always wanted to speak Spanish or Mandarin Chinese? Do you wish you could play the piano or electric guitar? Have you put off a new experience – snow‐skiing, surfing, fly fishing – because you thought it was too late to learn? Whether these skills can enhance your career or financial state or are simply actions that bring personal pleasure, cast a wide net and list the ones that intrigue you most.

       ✓ Career: How do you want to seek fulfillment through your career? Be honest with yourself and sort out how you’d like to measure that success. Do you yearn to be recognized as the top authority in your field? To win an international award? To write an influential book?

       What do you want to give?

      Andrew Carnegie, the great steel entrepreneur, met his goal to amass a fortune in the first half of his life. His goal for the second half was to give it all away. Many of the public libraries in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom exist today because of his philanthropy.

      An important way to balance all the want, see, and do items on your Fabulous 50 list is to include give goals as well. What are you willing or interested in giving back? How do you want to share your good fortune with others? Which causes are near and dear to you?

      

Your give list may include specific monetary goals – “give 10 percent of my income to charity” – but you may find more fulfillment by tying in your giving goals to your other interests. For example, if your career aspirations involve writing a bestseller, supporting a charity that champions literacy, or volunteering to teach adults to read may be goals that touch a chord with you. If you dream of traveling to exotic destinations, you may participate in a humanitarian mission, bringing medicine and other important supplies to people in a developing country. If you care deeply about environmental initiatives, maybe you want to look into ecotourism or green volunteering opportunities.

       Who do you want to become?

      To a degree, what you want to have, see, do, and give determine the person you want to become. But you should still envision and write down how you see yourself developing while you achieve these goals. The real value of goals isn’t what you achieve – it’s in the accumulation of knowledge, skills, discipline, and experience you gain through learning, changing, improving, and investing yourself as you work toward your goals. Often, those newly discovered or carefully developed traits are the only lasting acquisition that stands the test of time.

      Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting that you become someone other than who you are; rather, I’m encouraging you to earnestly and honestly evaluate the characteristics and disciplines best suited for your ambitions. To identify the areas you should focus on, take a look at all the goals you’ve written down so far (if you haven’t yet read the preceding sections, complete them before moving on here). Then ask yourself the following questions when considering your goals as a whole:

       ✓ What personal characteristics do you need to change or improve? Do you need assertiveness training to deal more effectively with your boss or co‐workers? Do you need to work on interpersonal skills? Does your anger get in the way of your success because you get

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