Numbers Are Life

A comment by Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Work Week and 4-Hour Body) at the Problogger event really got me thinking. He said: “A lot of teaching fails from too much info, not too little.” From what I can tell from feedback, I give great information. But as to what content my reader is after, [...]

Holidays of any sort, be they school holidays for your children or family vacations, all require planning when you have a business. With my business we have monthly, quarterly and yearly deadlines to met. As such, it’s imperative that I map out when all the school holidays are for the year on a wall planner at the beginning of the year. That way I can see if any of those super important deadlines occur during school holidays and present a conflict for the schedule I have with my children.

The same goes for scheduling in vacations. They are often booked around ongoing commitments that can’t be moved. Planning plays a big part in ensuring your transition from work mode to play mode is successful.

When a child is learning to walk sheer determination kicks in. Regardless of how many falls or mishaps, once they have a taste of it they need more and are single-minded in achieving the goal to walk. They continue to try over and over again until they succeed. One focus, one aim; achieve, tick; onto the next goal. And think about it – they literally take baby steps (hence the expression) to achieve walking. The first step is crawling, next standing, then walking. Single, focused baby steps achieve the end result.

Once we’re adults we tend to “rush over” baby steps, anxious to get to the end result. And often, as the end result is slow coming, we are left feeling disappointed, unmotivated and doubtful of our intentions. I have been guilty of this many times. In this fast-paced world we live in, we have forgotten about taking single, focused steps to achieve the end result. So, how can you maintain your motivation, drive and focus to achieve your end results, without sabotaging yourself along the way?

Could you tell me right now exactly what you will be doing for the remainder of the week? Some of you will give me a resounding yes. Others will say no, I don’t work like that Alycia; I’m too creative or I go with the flow.

How’s that working for you? Have you achieved all your goals up until now? Have you made progress on those fab ideas you’ve had? Your business is growing purposefully? No? I thought so. Being fluid and in the moment is just not going to push you – or your business – forward purposefully, regardless of how spiritual and connected to source you are.

Have you lost your loops?

I’m a fan of the GTD (Getting Things Done) system; not a fanatic, but someone who sees the benefits of incorporating such a system into my life. Although, I will add if I was fanatical I probably wouldn’t get overwhelmed like I do occasionally.

If you’ve not heard of GTD, what rock have you been under? Seriously David Allen and his Getting Things Done system has been around for some time, and has an almost cult-like following. Try Googling GTD and you’ll see what I mean.

My attention has been diverted away from my own business of late, three months in fact. I have been so busy with existing clients – and new clients coming on board – that I have neglected my own business.

I have long been a proponent of structuring your week for the various functions of your business. For me that’s client days on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, Wednesday is business development day and Fridays are my follow up and admin days. This system has worked well for not only me, but for clients and readers of my material.

So last week I took a break from my business appointments. And I really mean a break – I made sure nothing was scheduled and I concentrated solely on the systems in my business.

Yes there were still calls to answer, but I took myself away from my desk and set up either on my kitchen table or my local cafe, whichever took my fancy. My goals for my “systems break” were to get a better handle on our new project management system and revisit some processes in the business.

So it’s the middle of February. How’s your year progressing so far? 12% of 2011 has passed already. Yes, 12%! Time literally flies by without taking any notice of what we are doing – it does not pause for us, it consistently ticks by minute after minute. So what have you been doing with those minutes? If you’ve wasted 12% of the year already, what can you do to make sure the remaining 88% is concentrated on business growth?

Have you noticed that the momentum you have when start your week, your year or even your day has a big impact on the results you achieve?

It’s momentum – the impelling force or strength – that gets things happening. The fabulous thing about momentum is that once it starts rolling, its takes a lot to stop it. But the trick is to get that momentum started in the first place.

I love a new calendar year – it’s so exciting with so many possibilities. I particularly love the planning process which I find invigorating and motivating. I enjoy planning for the New Year and setting bold goals for my life and my business. I always come up with some numbers to go with the process, for example, a revenue goal of $250,000 for the year. Then bang! The New Year starts and we’re off!