GOALS 3: Something’s Gotta Give
December 18, 2008 1 Comment
A colleague Twittered her followers asking what top three things we would be focusing on in 2009. I responded in the allotted 140 characters: “Happy goal = More time with friends. Healthy Goal = More time at the gym. Wealthy goal = More clients. It’s about MORE!”
After I sent my tweet, I realized that MORE is not a likely scenario in my life in the near term, given that “more” relates to TIME. I am a single parent of two teens, an entrepreneur, active on the board of a professional group, in a book club, a camera camera club, active in church, etc. Just where will this additional time come from to meet my important goals?
I read an article recently that suggested eliminating an hour of TV each day to free up needed time. I scoffed. Not going to work for me. I am already a virtual social outcast because my television watching = ZERO. (People’s jaws hit the table when I tell them I never saw a single episode of Seinfeld.)
Be mindful that the reason we may fail to attain our goals is likely because we put too much on our already-full plate. In order to make room for new things in your life, it is important to consider what can be eliminated. Here is my list:
– Break the email addiction. Do I really need to checking every 7 minutes? Three or four times during the workday should really suffice. I will also try to turn off the computer before dinner most days (this is going to be life changing).
– Limit social media “play time” to twice a day. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will no longer remain open in my browser all day long. I work from home and crave community, but these resources are not a replacement for the deep personal interactions I want.
– Delegate more. Get a cleaning service and consider a virtual assistant. That’s right, I’ll be doing my part to create jobs for others and get this economy back on track. I will also encourage the kids take on more responsibilities.
I’m going to work on one of these areas each week for the next three weeks. Trying to change too much at once would be a recipe for failure.
Take Action Challenge: What can you give up to make time for achieving your important goals?
© 2008 Jocelyn Canfield, ABC
www.communication-results.com
About jocelyncanfield
Business Dialogue 
Jocelyn, some very well thought out advice. More seems to be pervasive in society today, I like you don’t know how much more I can give and still build my business. Your posts have me re-evaluating my priorities.
1) Much like the cobbler’s shoes my own website needs attention.
2) I’ll market myself more in certain areas, print, and online.
3) Take some downtime for my hobbies, coin collecting, reading spy fiction novels, and target shooting.
See I took your advice and wrote it down. Keep up the good writing.