Friday, September 19, 2008

Personal Achievement System – the only Magic Bullet

You need System in place – not bursts of rash actions. Bunch of bold rash actions may get you by but achievement of your long term goals requires you to take lot of small planned steps. It is here where the greatness lies. It is here where we can unlock our human potential.

Most people have a tendency to charge hard only when they are pressed against the wall. When you are in such an unfortunate situation, you have to do what you have to do. But to make sure you don’t end up in these situations, you need to have a system. A system ensures that you have your goals established and roles clearly in focus. It helps you take small steps towards achieving whatever you have been dreaming about all your life.

True legendary greatness comes through planning and discipline in everything you do. It is important to know that once you have laid out the path to achieving your goal, you may tweak and adjust and do course correction along the way. It is hardly ever that you follow your plans to the tee. It is like Brian Tracy explains in his book “Flight plan” that planes have a pre-determined flight path but they continuously deviate because of air pressures and wind conditions and what not. But the important thing is that the plane arrives at the planned destination on-time.

A System that enables you to achieve your goals and allows you to correct course along the way and keeps you focused is a POWERFUL force. Large corporations and businesses spend millions if not billions of dollars to develop a system like this that provide clarity and focus.

You should be no different. For such a system can catapult you in your personal quest to financial freedom or achievement of a worthy goal.

How do you set one up? It will be matter of time to develop a super efficient functioning system for your specific needs. You can start by clearing your vision for your future. Set goals that are in line with your vision. Break down goals into mini-milestones. Set intermediate deadlines. Track yourself along the way.

One important thing about creating Systems is that it needs to be such that it keeps you interested and charges with enthusiasm otherwise you risk stopping in the middle and abandoning any progress you have made towards you goals.

At www.TimeGoals.com, we have developed such a system. It can save you countless hours of developing your own and guides you to pitfalls of not having one. And the best thing is it is customizable to your needs. So let us get started, take your first step now.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Enter The "ZONE"

In olden days, things were simple – you gotta hunt to stay fed. You find a roof – cave or teepee would do. Nowadays things are complicated but underlying elements are same – Food – Shelter – Survival.

60,000 year of human existence and we are still paying mortgage and buying groceries and working our behinds to pay for these and other necessities of survival.

Where is the progress? Sure we are much more comfortable in our homes but for longer term most of us are still trapped in the survival mode.

There are very few folks out there who are different. They have taken the leap and they float in a different “Zone”.

It is known fact that this Zone exists. Few extremely successful people have proven it with their lives.

With exhaustive study conducted, I have concluded two criteria exist that launch humans into this zone:

- Long term Vision that is bold and challenging
- Drive or Hungry to do whatever is necessary
- Ability to Focus on one element at a time

Long Term Vision:
Have a bold and challenging Vision that pulls you towards itself. A detailed image of the accomplished vision goes the long way. If you envision yourself helping poor people in the third world or playing golf at Augusta or be a NASCAR race driver – create a mental image by surrounding yourself with the imagery that supports your vision. Our brain takes cues from these images and gets to work to fulfill these dreams and visions.

Hungry for the desired result:
Your success in getting in the “Zone” comes by how hungry you are to make it happen. A hungry person will do anything to feed. What matters is that how far you can go and what you can or cannot do?

Ability to Focus on ONE ELEMENT:
This is huge. Our mental abilities are honed to focus on one element and process one thing before you roll on to the next. People in the “Zone” have a laser like focus. They start shooting tasks and goals down one by one.

You need to have a System and Tools to get in the” Zone”. Visit http://www.timegoals.com/ to get the tools to launch yourself in the “Zone”.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Create Time - Literally!

Art can be created with paint, brush, pencil and paper. A beautiful vase can be molded from a lump of clay by a wizard sculptor. A magnificent building or bridge comes out being out of a vision of engineers and architects. Fabulous inventions have happened from the rich fertile brains across the globe. Time is no different.

There is one rule about time. It is more like a Law of Time. You can only spend time – you can not save it. Regardless of this law, Successful and Wise people have created time consistently. How they do it? Time seems to be at their beck and call.

They have several ways to make time. We can learn some nuggets by observing their lives:

- They know what they want. They prioritize the tasks constantly.
- They delegate tasks that can be done by others.
- They create chunks of time by allocating a specific amount.
- They create systems to deal with repetitive and routine tasks.

Learn more time nuggets and become time wise.

You need to have a system of tracking your dreams, so you can be accountable. Get the tools that you need to excel in your life goals at www.timegoals.com.

TIMEGOALS Presents Dashboard Kit. Our copyrighted system will ease you in to the natural process of setting and achieving goals and maximizing an effective use of your time.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Goal Setting - Embolden your Dreams

Goals are the soul of successful life.

Yet many of us wander through life without seriously setting one. Creation of human being is a greatest miracle of our galactic times and we are destined to achieve the unthinkable. Yet thousands and millions of us keep our dreams locked up in the dream world – never to see the day light.

You have to set yourself for success. Here is how you do it:

Create Passion: You must create passion for your dreams. Get in love with your ideas. Get Angry with the status quo. Have an intense belief in yourself.

Dream Big: Let your imagination be free from the shackles of real life present or past. If you are going to dream, dream big. Let us reach out for stars. Find out what you really want and need.

Set Goals and Mini Goals: Cash your dreams by writing them down. Set milestones and create steps to achieve your dreams. Call them goals, mini-goals or tasks. Sit back and play with sequencing of the tasks and execute each step as you have planned. Identify the hurdles prior to setting tasks in motion. Ground your tasks in real life.

Reward Yourself: When you accomplish your goals, reward yourself with small treats. This will condition you for success and you will start to associate achieving goals as rewarding experience in itself.

Set Higher Goals: Do not lose sight of your eventual dreams. If you have achieved your goal, set another one that is more challenging.

You need to have a system of tracking your dreams, so you can be accountable. Get the tools that you need to excel in your life goals at www.timegoals.com.

TIMEGOALS Presents Dashboard Kit. Our copyrighted system will ease you in to the natural process of setting and achieving goals and maximizing an effective use of your time.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Nine Keys to Leadership

1. Personal Responsibility - You lead today by building teams and placing others first. It's not about you.

2. Simplify Constantly - Every leader needs to clearly explain the top three things the organization is working on. If you can't, then you're not leading well.

3. Understand Breadth, Depth, and Context - It's how your company fits in with the world and how you respond to it.

4. The importance of alignment and time management - There is no real magic to being a good leader. At the end of every week, you have to spend your time around the things that are really important: setting priorities, measuring outcomes, and rewarding them.

5. Leaders are teachers - Leaders learn constantly and also have to learn how to teach. A leader's primary role is to teach. People who work with you don't have to agree with you, but they have to feel you're willing to share what you've learned.

6. Setting boundaries with freedom in the middle.The boundaries are commitment, passion, trust, and teamwork. Within those guidelines, there's plenty of freedom. But no one can cross those four boundaries.

7. Stay disciplined and detailed - Good leaders are never afraid to intervene personally on things that are important. Michael Dell can tell you how many computers were shipped from Singapore yesterday.

8. Leave a few things unsaid - I may know an answer, but I'll often let the team find its own way. Sometimes, being an active listener is much more effective than ending a meeting with me enumerating 17 actions.

9. Like people - Today, it's employment at will. Nobody's here who doesn't want to be here. So it's critical to understand people, to always be fair, and to want the best in them. And when it doesn't work, they need to know it's not personal.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Secret Doctrine

Sixty thousand years ago Humans begin to exist on the face of this earth according to Wikipedia entry. 60,000 years of Nature’s programming is burnt into our genes. Some of our instincts have roots when our ancestors were hunters, gatherers and cave men. They were afraid of the predators who confronted them every day. Tigers, Lions and Diseases roamed the face of earth. The food chain was in place and we were at the bottom.

Fast forward 60,000 years – the food chain is still intact.

Now, at the top of food chain is Mankind. Humans have won over most diseases and ferocious beasts.

As our society has become more sophisticated, our lives have changed radically in the last 40 years. However, our instincts are lagging in the older times and they have not caught up with the changes caused by us. With the new systems and technologies, we need to train ourselves. With some guidance and conscious training, we can get there.

There is enough food in the markets so you do not have to hunt.

You can buy or rent a home and protect yourself from the extremes of weather.

The hospitals provide the care until you are healed.

All rosy picture – right. Well, mostly it is. We have made huge strides in terms of innovations and inventions. With all the good hearted people, there are few who prey and continue to find ways and means to exploit the rest of us.

Credit card companies and financial institutions charging hidden fees. Mortgage companies setting up the system against us. Media driving you to consume when you do not need to buy. Our government wasting our hard earned money and gouging taxes in hidden forms.

Who is looking out for you?

Answer: No one but yourself.

The saber tooth tiger has been replaced with the present day challenges and unlike the saber tooth tiger these things don’t kill you immediately but they surely take a stab at you – a little bit at a time.

Our ancestral instincts were honed to defend against the wild creatures. Unfortunately – we are not well equipped to face the present day challenges. We do not feel strong enough to protect our investments and income.

We need to train our instincts. We need to let go of the idea of instant gratification and replace it with the SECRET DOCTRINE.

Secret Doctrine is two pronged: Carrot and the Stick.

- You need to have a big enough Carrot to move you forward

- You need to be accountable to make sure you are making progress

We need to re-program our instincts that have roots going back million of years to be able to face the challenges of the new world.

Goals are the carrots. We need to have reasonably high value goals to create a force that pulls us forward towards our dreams.

We also need to have an accountability mechanism to keep us in check to ensure that we are on track and making progress.

We need to train ourselves to get the same feeling that you get through instant gratification by following your goals.

Once you have trained yourself, you will feel good by achieving a task that moves you towards your goal. Reducing 15 pounds to gain your ideal weight will give you more pleasure than indulging in chocolate.

We also need to have a system of tracking so we are accountable. When we make decisions based on this carrot and stick strategy, we can achieve anything.

Visit http://www.timegoals.com/ to get the tools you need to implement the secret doctrine.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Power of Written Word

Joe’s boss called on him and asked him to join an ongoing meeting. Joe steps in. There are directives discussed and plan of action agreed upon. Joe makes mental notes as to what he has been assigned. Two days later, Joe seems to have forgotten couple of key points made in the meeting.

Katie is working on a project and a problem has gotten the whole team stuck. Driving down the freeway, she thinks of an idea. She reminds herself to try this to get the team un-stuck. While back in her cubicle, she cannot seem to remember the entire solution.

Sammy takes quick notes on a small yellow sticky. He is off to meet a client on a lunch meeting. He comes back and while on the phone needs to see the information on the sticky note. He cannot find it. He cannot seem to remember where he kept that piece of paper.

Joe, Katie and Sammy have a problem – A time management problem.

Here are the Time management basics for beginners:

Write Things Down – Have a place to record the happenings of your day. Write down things and make a record. Writing things down allows you to get back to them and re-think the idea and tweak it into something powerful. Get into a habit to write things will allow you to capture your time that you may be wasting away. Get a planner or create a 3-ring binder that keeps your notes.

Take Action – You are in charge of your life. Whatever happens, at end of the day you are but your actions. So take action. Decide what you have to do and then create a massive laser like focus and get the first thing in your list done and then the next and then the next until you get your goal.

Break Things Down – Break larger goals into small bite size tasks. Lot of times when confronted with a large task or formidable goal, we seize to do anything. This leads to laziness and procrastination. Don’t despair – you are not going to be asked to lower your goals. Instead, subdivide your goals into intermediate milestones. Create a sequence of tasks and follow the sequence. Move Mountain - one shovel at a time.

Visit http://www.timegoals.com/ to get the tools you need for best use of your time.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Time - Your Friend or Foe

Time is your enemy or friend! Doesn’t it feel that time is against you. It stalls at our weakest moments and zips away when we need it the most.

Jon starts his office day. He starts on a task that has a due date approaching. He knows that there are few people dependent on finishing his work on time. He receives a phone call from a client on another project. The client wants a certain piece of information immediately. Jon promises to get back to him very shortly. As he is looking through the piles of paper, there is a familiar ping sound indicating an email arriving in the inbox. KL was promised something by Jon and KL is following up with a reminder to receive the promised task completion. It is only half way through the day and Jon is stressed out. He cannot seem to attend to any one item and before too long half the day is gone.

Does this resemble your day at the office? Years ago, I found myself in the midst of this kind of busy work. I felt that weeks and months are zipping by with a feeling of no fulfillment taking over. I reviewed my use of time and tool control.

Being busy is a good thing but you got to have something to show at the end of the day. This satisfies you and it projects you as an effective person at work.

You should have your own agenda. You need to prioritize and focus on the tasks on your agenda. Get them done. Protect your time and don’t let any distracters to spoil your life.

Time is your friend, if you engage in the habits that show you care for your time. If you disregard the value of your time, it will be your enemy. Years will go by and you will be stuck in a situation without progress. Get un-stuck now by practicing good time management habits.
Learn the skills and grab the tools you need by visiting http://www.timegoals.com/ now.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

SOCIAL SKILLS FOR HYPER SUCCESS

People want consistency.

Non verbal connection is the key in having a social impact.

Plan your first 30 seconds – All it takes for people to lock in the first impression.

Deliver consistent accurate brand with commitment & service with Value to the client. Promise to meet Client goals.

Technical skills are given. Top echelons will have social skills & will be deemed as trusted professionals. That is where we want to be.

At social events, be there with a purpose/goal. Achieve the goal. Overcome your fear of strangers. Know your goals. Have a goal of meeting 4-6 new people at these events.

Dress Well.

Show Confidence.

Speak Clearly.

Act like a host. Be open & approachable.

Observe successful people around you. See how they exude a sense of being in the moment. Learn & apply immediately.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

GOING AN EXTRA MILE

Always deliver more than you promise. This is the key in having a successful life. Do this consistently and you will be able to name you price tag.

Go an extra mile today and every day from here on. Andrew Carnegie said that there are two kinds of people. One who does not perform what he/she is asked to do and the other who performs exactly what is asked of him/her.

Deliver more than asked for. This is how someone puts a value on your service. That is how you are branded as valuable and indispensable. Most people are locked in the paycheck-to-paycheck ordeal and there is no escape. Why not increase your value and increase the return?

This is the magical key that will bring forth miracles in your life. Welcome the miracles by putting a little extra effort in what has been asked of you.

Such a simple rule to increase your compensation - “GO THE EXTRA MILE!”