What Would You Do If You Wern't Scared

WOW, I have just read cover to cover 'Who Moved My Cheese' and felt compelled to share my

thoughts with you all. As a cheese lover I love the analogy Dr Spencer Johnson (The Author) uses, so simple, such a great impact regarding the response to and impact of change.

In life whether at home or at work change happens, how do you react to it? Do you resist and procrastinate of it being unfair, not acceptable or that great cry of 'its not broken don't change it'. Do you embrace change and are  aware of your beliefs and fears so as to manage and control them and not let them overwhelm you. Are you a sniff or scurry type who watches for change and reacts to it.

We will all have encountered change, like it or not, to succeed you must be adaptive, all to often we over analyse change rather than reacting to the simple impacts and moving on. In the same context we need to ensure we are always aware and ready should change occur, be prepared, which can be achieved through awareness of the situation. There is no doubt you have to react quickly to change, maintain momentum by not being anchored to the old but released to establish and find the new. ultimately move with change and enjoy the challenge, indeed why not seek out new opportunities, be a change maker, move forward and grow.

I found this 10 minute cartoon on You Tube worth the whole family watching, enjoy..........

Stop Blaming Time

How many times have you heard people say "I don't have enough time to do ..." or "If only I could find the time to do ..." Or "I am too busy to do ..." Perhaps the person you heard saying these or similar things is the same person who stares back at you every morning in the bathroom mirror. Well, it is time to stop blaming time! Time is an absolute-there are 24 hours (1440 minutes, 86,400 seconds) in a day and that will never change. We cannot "manage" time. What we can manage is what we do during the next 60 minutes.

How we use time is one of the great determinants of how successful we are both as business owners and as individuals. Everyone from Bill Gates to the small business owner is given the same amount of time each day, 24 hours. Think of it like the auto races where they make all the drivers drive identically built and tuned race cars. The winner is then determined not by who has the fastest car but who can drive that identical car the best. Similarly in life the "winners" are those who learn how to drive their use of time the best.

So how do you take control of your time?

1. Accept that there is no such thing as too much or too little time. There is enough time available for you to be successful-others have been successful and they had no more access to time than you do. Take ownership of your situation. Be accountable for your results and responsible for your actions.
2. Decide what you want to accomplish. What do you want to be "successful" at? To some it may mean making a million dollars, to others it may mean being healthier while others may be looking to have better relationships with their family and friends. This is your goal. You must also understand the benefits to you of achieving the goal -how will it make you feel when you achieve it. Both the goal and your "why" must be written down with a time frame.
3. Once you have decided the goal and your "why", you must now determine the activities that will be necessary for you to accomplish that goal. What do I have to do? What time commitment will I make? What will I need to adjust/sacrifice/reduce/delegate in order to have the time to do the activities identified? Remember if it was easy everyone, including you would have already done it. What separates the successful users of time from the unsuccessful ones is the discipline and determination to obtain their goals no matter what. Winners never give up and they never quit on themselves.
4. Understand that life and business are about choices. You choose how you will spend your time- on what activities and how much on each. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Being successful in many different areas takes effort and time. Success comes from laser-like focus on one or two goals. Once they are accomplished you move on to the next set of goals and focus on those.
5. Prepare your calendar each week by creating "appointments" to do the activities that you have identified. These are defaulted into your calendar before anything else. Treat these as if the appointment was with your most important customer. Would you easily change your Monday 2-3pm "meeting" just because someone asked for that time slot? No, you would negotiate- "I am booked at that time. I can see you at either 1pm or after 3pm, which would work for you?"
6. Be militant about your schedule. If you don't care how your time is being spent, why should anyone else? Learn to say "No". In Stephen Covey's book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" he breaks activities into 4 categories- Not Important/Not Urgent, Urgent/Not Important, Urgent/Important and Not Urgent/Important. The danger for most people is the Urgent/Not Important category. This is when we are responding to other people's urgencies, however the activity does not move us toward OUR goal- by definition it is Not Important. Beware of the time and effort devoted to those tasks. Conduct your own time usage study. Every minute that you can divert from not important categories to the important categories will move you closer to your goal.
7. Review your successes/challenges in meeting your schedule each week and adjust where necessary. Be honest with yourself and continually reinforce your "Why" - what are you trying to accomplish and how important is that to you.
8. Find an accountability partner or mentor to help keep you on track. We can all use help every now and then- it is a strength to admit this, not a weakness.

In summary, stop blaming time, take ownership of your time and commit to the discipline necessary to win the race by being the best "driver" of time you can be.

Why is Planning So Important

In his book, "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School," Mark McCormak made an interesting discovery about the 1979 graduating MBA class. Within the group, 3% had written goals, 13% had thought of some goals and the balance were just thrilled to be out of school (I am sure you remember those feelings).

The interesting part was what happened ten years later. Here are the results of their success after a decade:

The group that had non-written goals were making TWICE in the field compared to the 84% of those who had no goals leaving Harvard.

The group with written goals was making TEN TIMES what the other 97% were making on average.

I think you would agree that the folks at Harvard have a long history of knowing what they are doing. So if the top 3% were able to make TEN TIMES the money as everyone else by simply writing out their goals, why aren't you doing it?

We are already through the hardest part of the 'recession' and yet people and businesses are still worried that our economic situation is dire. Resolutions made back at the beginning of the year, to get in better shape, to be a better golfer, to give more to charity, to be the best parent or spouse or partner that you could be may be starting to fade if they haven't already. But who says making and keeping resolutions is just for the beginning of a year. Why wait?

Make sure that one of the resolutions you set and keep right now is to make a strong plan for yourself and your business; ones with enough detail that you can actually make progress against them on a consistent basis.

Write down ALL your goals you have for the next year. Then, find someone to share them with and have them check up on you monthly (quarterly at a minimum) to see if you are making progress. Have them hold you accountable with winnings and loosing for completion.

ActionTIP: Make milestones and chip away at each goal a little everyday so the overall picture doesn't seem so overwhelming.

If you do this, then it won't be long before you are making TEN TIMES more than your competition.