Time management, in a focused sense, for this creative brain has been a very big challenge. So Claire decided to climb out of her box and do things a little differently – here’s her key learning’s and sharing……
Claire Burge in conversation on ebizradio.com
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Source: flickr.com via Claire on Pinterest
A New Time Management Strategy:
At the start of this year I decided that I needed to tackle my goals for the year in a very real and visual way. I created a Goal Wall. I took a day off, cleared the diary, switched off my mobile and turned the music up real loud!
I am a visual person and I process my thinking through pictures and scribbles. My goals to date have never reflected this visual side of my thinking. Come the end of any given year, I would always scribble mind maps into a journal and every now and then through the following year, I would refer back to them. Come year-end again, I would face a big list of goals that hadn’t been accomplished: not due to a lack of willpower but simply because I forgot I made them in the first place.
The Review:
I am pleased as pie to report that after a Q1 review it has proven to be an excellent decision for the following five reasons:
- I am on track to achieving all the goals that I have set out to achieve for 2013.
- I am able to identify obstacles early on because I look at the wall every day and realise where matters are slipping.
- I maintain a more balanced schedule that includes exercise, adequate sleep, quiet time,family and friends time, focused work time and learning time.
- I remain excited about my goals and achieving them which means that I feel a genuine sense of purpose every day.
- I am more focused about where I am going than ever before because my time management is no longer about working to a clock and a random to-do list: it is about a highly prioritised to-do list that is steadily moving me in a definite direction.
The most important thing I did as part of my Goal Wall exercise was identify four filter words.
The Success Factor: Creating Filter Words:
The most important thing I did as part of my Goal Wall exercise was identify four filter words. The reason why I did this was because of my creative mind. I am bombarded with new ideas and I really need to reign in my natural inclination to hop from one new thing to the next. The four filter words have proven to be a real solution to this problem. My filters words are:
- Productivity
- Incognito
- Photography
- Travel
Every opportunity or idea that has presented itself has been filtered through these words and if it does not meet at least two of the words, it gets parked for another day’s ponderings.
We are two weeks into Q2 of this year:
- Are you on track with your goals?
- What changes can you make to get back on track?
- If you were to identify four filter words for yourself, what would they be?
