Secrets for Sure Success!

Mind Tools Newsletter 39 - 5 January 2006 This newsletter is published by Mind Tools Ltd, of 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PY, United Kingdom. To contact us, please email us from this page. You have received this newsletter because you have subscribed to our double opt-in newsletter. To unsubscribe, just click the link at the bottom of the email se sent you. If you are not already a member and you would like to subscribe, please visit http://mindtools.com/subscribe.htm.

Contents: In This Issue... My Secrets for Success Beating Procrastination Mind Tools Store Effective Scheduling A Final Note

In this first issue of the New Year, we focus firmly on helping you achieve the greatest possible success in the year ahead – and in the longer term.

We start with the final part of our life design and goal setting series, in which Rachel Thompson interviews Rod Moore, life strategist and creator of Mind Tools’ Design Your Life”.

They discuss Rod’s secrets for success, and talk about the people who have inspired him to reach higher every day

We print an article by Kellie on Beating Procrastination – new this week on the Mind Tools web site.

And we provide readers with information on effective scheduling in our Tools reviewed section. In fact, we have included the article on Effective Scheduling from the Mind Tools website, following requests from several newsletter readers.

Now, I know that some people’s eyes “glaze over” when they think about scheduling. However, effective scheduling is one of the most powerful stress-busting and achievement tools available, so please read about it and use it!

Combined, these three articles pack powerful punch and are sure to help you start your New Year off right.

And as we usher in 2006, we hope you and your family have enjoyed a wonderful holiday season and wish you all a New Year filled with accomplished goals and continued career successes.

So let’s get going!

James & Kellie

Tools Reviewed:
My Secrets for Success!

Rod Moore talks to Rachel Thompson and shares his secrets for sure success. As a life strategist, trainer, and creator of the “Design Your Life” system, Rod has inspired thousands of people to achieve more success in their lives. Rachel talks to Rod about his own influences and his secrets for success.

Rachel: Rod, can you tell me something about the successful people you most admire?

Rod: There are many people who come to mind but three in particular that I see as role models for what is possible.

Martin Luther King Jr. – The spiritual leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s was one of the most influential and persuasive people of the last century. His ability to move people to action through his mastery of language was truly inspirational. He directly modeled the success of Gandhi, using a peaceful approach to voicing discontent. He had strong moral conviction and was prepared to die for what he believed.

Richard Branson – Told he was dyslexic at a young age, Richard Branson’s is an amazing story of success. Some people with a similar condition are held back by it or worse, use it as an excuse that limits their achievement. Instead, Richard took action and, at the age of 15, launched his first business. He based his businesses on what he values most: having fun, involving his staff and treating them well and making great products and services accessible through lower prices.

Lance Armstrong – Lance Armstrong is an example of what you can achieve when you are focused on a compelling future. When diagnosed with cancer, he chose not to focus on this and instead to focus on his dream: To win the toughest bike race on the planet. Winner of 7 Tour de France races, he is a model of consistency, focus, determination, self-belief, guts and glory.

Rachel: Great role models! So how, specifically, can people learn from these role models and apply their successes in our own lives?

Rod: In each of these people, we can find many clues for improving our own lives. Quite simply, by studying such people you can learn how to model their success. For example, when I wanted to learn how to be a more compelling professional speaker, I went out and got recordings of all of Martin Luther King’s speeches and listened to them over and over. I studied the structure of his speeches, his vocal tonality, his use of metaphors, his pacing and his passion. As a result my own speaking moved to a new level.

So the key is to ask: What goal are you working towards? And whom can you learn from who has been successful in that before you?

If you want to climb Mount Everest (or any other challenging mountain!) then make a list of the great mountain climbers. Then simply learn to model their attitude and actions: What are their thoughts and beliefs, their strategies such as preparation and training, their resources such as the team they worked with? By modelling those who have succeeded before you, you can really achieve anything you want to.

Rachel: You've worked with some amazing people and helped them achieve much more from in their lives. Can you share with us some of your most favorite success stories?

Rod: Every day I have the good fortune to hear from people who have used our goal setting systems to transform their lives. It’s exciting to see that people can totally change their lives simply by expanding their view of possibilities, creating clear, focused goals, and developing the right mindset to propel them towards the life they dream of.

Perhaps my favorite story is of a lady who was interested in goal setting and personal development but had not really set any goals in the past. When she used my goal setting system she took a month to go through it and totally design her life. She ended up setting over 90 major goals! This gave her an expanded view of what was possible in life. As a result she decided to learn more and begin delivering goal-setting workshops. In the next 6 months she presented over 100 workshops. She became highly successful and now presents workshops frequently in the UK and Barbados.

Another story I love is of a young lady in New York. She dreamed of writing a movie script and having it become a Hollywood movie. So she already had her big dream – but no idea about how take it forward in real life. By using my goal setting process she was able to “chunk down” her goal into smaller steps, and soon she began to make rapid progress forward. She is now in negotiations for the movie deal and set to become a huge star.

Rachel: Rod, we are all so keen for success, so why do so many of us fail to achieve our full potential?

Rod: Most people fail due to their mindset. Many times, I have had people tell me they set a goal to become a millionaire. And failed. When I speak to them about what they have done to actually achieve the goal it usually amounts to very little. I call it the “million-dollar-goal, $10-dollar-mindset syndrome”.

Goals are of little value if your mindset is not aligned to the goals. Most people limit their success because of their mindset. They picture the worst possible outcome. They talk themselves out of making that phone call… They tell themselves it probably won’t work out anyway.

The most powerful tools I have come across to align your mindset with your goals are based on Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP works on your unconscious mind, re-imprinting new mental programs that compel you to action. The “Design Your Life” system uses NLP techniques to help align your mindset with your goals.

The first vital step towards achieving your potential is of course to design a compelling future. But the next step, and by far most important, is to align your mindset.

Rachel: So what are your top tips for everyone wanting to make 2006 their most successful year ever?

Rod: As I tell people in my goal-setting workshops, to achieve massive success, here’s what you must do:

(1) Expand your view of possibility. Don’t feel constrained. You can achieve much more when you follow your dreams.

(2) Design your life in detail using a specific life design system such as “Design Your Life”.

(3) Break your goals down into a step-by-step action plan. Learn from the strategies and actions of others who have found success already.

(4) Align your mindset to your goals. “Design Your Life” uses good NLP techniques to help align your mindset with your goals. Investigate and start using some such “mind programming” techniques.

(5) Take massive action. After taking action review the outcome and be prepared to adjust your approach if you do not get the result you where seeking. Keep doing this until you reach your goal

(6) Find a mentor, friend or coach who will support you and help keep you on track.

(7) Enjoy yourself! You need focus and work on your plans, but also have some fun along the way.

Click here for more on Rod's “Design Your Life” program.

---

Beating Procrastination
Manage your time; get it all done.
by Kellie Fowler

If you’ve found yourself putting off important tasks over and over again, you’re not alone. In fact, most people procrastinate to some degree - but some are so chronically affected by procrastination that it disrupts their careers and thwarts even their best efforts.

The key to controlling and ultimately combating this destructive habit is to understand how and why it happens (even to the best of us) and to take a few simple steps to better manage your time and outcomes.

Understanding Procrastination:
In a nutshell, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now, usually in favor of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you’re more comfortable doing.

Sometimes this happens when someone does not understand the difference between urgency and importance. The prevailing belief here: We all have the same amount of time in every day and procrastinators spend this time fully, but do not invest it wisely.

Instead, procrastinators focus so much on urgent issues that they have little or no time left for the important tasks, despite the unpleasant outcomes this may bring about.

Other causes of procrastination can be as simple as waiting for the “right” mood or the “right” time to tackle the important task at hand; a fear of failure or success; underdeveloped decision-making skills; poor organizational skills; or perfectionism.

How to Combat Procrastination:
Whatever the reason behind procrastination, it must be recognized, dealt with and controlled before you miss opportunities or your career is derailed.

Part of the solution is to develop good organizational and personal effectiveness skills. Learn to establish the right priorities, and manage your time in such a way that you make the most of the opportunities open to you.

The other part of the solution can be as simple as applying this rule of thumb: If you're not working (directly of indirectly) to progress your top priority projects, you may be procrastinating. And, when you're doing something important, such as working on your top-priority project or task, and something urgent comes up, recognize that this will take time away from this important work.

To do this, it is imperative to understand the difference between urgency and importance.

On one hand, let’s say that your boss comes to your office and says he or she has called a meeting and wants you to join other team members in the conference room now. This is clearly urgent.

Or, your sales manager calls in from the field and explains that your biggest customer just received the wrong shipment and is in dire need of the correct shipment. This will require tracking down the original shipment, working through the placed orders, even the salesman’s paperwork, etc. Again, this is urgent.

However, while immediate action is needed here, these things only tangentially affect the truly important things in your life.

Important things are likely to be the actions that serve to broaden you, build your career, or achieve something of real human significance to you. These important actions are often easy to pinpoint, for they are the ones that help you achieve your goals.

This is not to say that you do not have to take care of the urgent things. Instead, you will need to take care of these things as efficiently as possible, while also staying on top of the important demands/going-ons of the day. You’ll need to minimize the time spent on these urgent tasks, while still ensuring that they are successfully and efficiently resolved.

With proper planning and some self-discipline, many urgent matters disappear altogether or, when they do surface, your planning and discipline makes them less urgent and easier to deal with. This means that you waste less of the valuable time that should be spent on the important things.

And, keep in mind that you probably do not have to handle every urgent matter yourself. Delegate as far as possible, so that you do not get caught up in remedying every urgent situation. To spend life "firefighting" is a misuse of your “important” time.

---

The Mind Tools Store:

• Design Your Life Design the life you want to live. Set the clear, vivid, powerful goals you need to live it to the full. More >>
  
  
• Make Time for Success: Learn 39 essential personal effectiveness techniques that help you bring your workload under control and maximize your productivity, so that you can make the most of the opportunities open to you. More >>
  
  
• Personal Coaching from Career Excellence Professionals:Find career and life direction, bring your job under control, build self-confidence and put yourself on the path to long term success with a Mind Tools coach. Our coaches give you the focused personal coaching you need to make the very most of your career and life. More >>
  
  
• The Mind Tools E-book:All of the tools on the Mind Tools website in one convenient, easily-downloadable, easily-printable PDF file. We have excluded advertising to enhance clarity and have formatted sections to be easy to read, print and use. More >>
  
  
• How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You: Learn the 48 simple but essential skills you need to become a top leader in your industry. More >>

---

Tools Revisited :
Effective Scheduling: Make Time for Your Dreams

In the Time Management section of the Mind Tools site, we provide an array of resources to help you better manage your time and increase your effectiveness. Scheduling is one of these.

Scheduling is the process by which you look at the time you have available, and plan how you will use it. As such, it’s the vitally important technique that decides how quickly you’ll achieve goals that really matter to you. Get scheduling right, and you’ll power towards your goals. Neglect it, and you’ll drift…

By using a schedule properly, you can:

• Understand what you can realistically achieve with your time;
• Plan to make the best use of the time available;
• Leave enough time for things you absolutely must do;
• Preserve contingency time to handle 'the unexpected'; and
• Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment to yourself and others.

Tip: There are many good scheduling tools available, including diaries, calendars, paper-based organizers such as DayTimers, PDAs and integrated software suites like MS Outlook or GoalPro. The scheduling tool that is best for you depends on your situation, the current structure of your job, your taste and your budget: The key things are to be able to enter data easily, and to be able to view an appropriate span of time in the correct level of detail.

Scheduling is best done on a regular basis, for example at the start of every week or month. Go through the following steps in preparing your schedule:

1. Start by identifying the time you want to make available for your work. This will depend on the design of your job and on your personal goals in life.
   
   
2. Next, block in the actions you absolutely must take to do a good job. These will often be the things you are assessed against.
   
   For example, if you manage people, then you must make time available for dealing with issues that arise, coaching, and supervision. Similarly, you must allow time to communicate with your boss and key people around you. While people may let you get away with 'neglecting them' in the short-term, your best time management efforts will surely be derailed if you do not set aside time for those who are important in your life.
   
   
3. Review your To Do List, and schedule in the high-priority urgent activities, as well as the essential maintenance tasks that cannot be delegated and cannot be avoided.
   
   
4. Next, block in appropriate contingency time. You will learn how much of this you need by experience. Normally, the more unpredictable your job, the more contingency time you need. The reality of many people's work is of constant interruption: Studies show some managers getting an average of as little as six minutes uninterrupted work done at a time.
   
   Obviously, you cannot tell when interruptions will occur. However, by leaving space in your schedule, you give yourself the flexibility to rearrange your schedule to react effectively to issues as they arise.
   
   
5. What you now have left is your "discretionary time": the time available to deliver your priorities and achieve your goals. Review your Prioritized To Do List and personal goals, evaluate the time needed to achieve these actions, and schedule these in.

By the time you reach step 5, you may find that you have little or no discretionary time available. If this is the case, then revisit the assumptions you used in the first four steps.

Question whether things are absolutely necessary, whether they can be delegated, or whether they can be done in an abbreviated way. Remember that one of the most important ways people learn to achieve success is by maximizing the 'leverage' they can achieve with their time. They increase the amount of work they can manage by delegating work to other people, spend money outsourcing key tasks, or use technology to automate as much of their work as possible. This frees them up to achieve their goals.

Also, use this as an opportunity to review your To Do List and Personal Goals. Have you set goals that just aren't achievable with the time you have available? Are you taking on too many additional duties? Or are you treating things as being more important than they really are?

If your discretionary time is still limited, then you may need to renegotiate your workload. With a well thought through schedule as evidence, you may find this surprisingly easy.

Key points:

Scheduling is the process by which you plan your use of time. By scheduling effectively, you can both reduce stress and maximize your effectiveness.

Before you can schedule efficiently, you need an effective scheduling system. This can be a diary, calendar, paper-based organizer, PDA or a software package like MS Outlook or GoalPro 6. The best solution depends entirely on your circumstances.

Scheduling is then a five-step process:

1. Identify the time you have available.
2. Block in the essential tasks you must carry out to succeed in your job.
3. Schedule in high priority urgent tasks and vital "house-keeping" activities.
4. Block in appropriate contingency time to handle unpredictable interruptions.
5. In the time that remains, schedule the activities that address your priorities and personal goals.

If you have little or no discretionary time left by the time you reach step five, then revisit the assumptions you have made in steps one to four.

Click here to visit the Mind Tools time management section.

---

A Final Note From James

At Mind Tools, our team took some time this holiday season to reflect on 2005 and set new goals for 2006. As we look ahead, we are excited about the many new developments and resources we are gearing up to bring to you.In the year ahead, you’ll see more than 100 new tools and career skills, rich background information, book and product reviews, downloadable MP3s and podcasts, and much, much more, all focused on helping you make the very most of your life and career.

In keeping with this, we encourage you to take some time during this busy season to reflect on your accomplishments and to also set attainable goals for the New Year.

Let us know what has helped you reach your goals and what excites you about the new goals you set for 2006. We always like to know more about tools that work for you and look forward to expanding on these so other readers can rely on them as they chisel out their own career success.

Or, if there is a tool you want more information on, just let us know. We will research it and get back to you and, in most cases, share the information with fellow readers.

Thank you for being a valued member of the Mind Tools family. We appreciate you and look forward to meeting your needs and exceeding your expectations in 2006 and well beyond.

Wishing you a happy and very successful new year!

James & Kellie

James Manktelow & Kellie Fowler

Click here to email
Mind Tools
Essential Skills for an Excellent Career!

Privacy Policy:
Mind Tools will treat your email address with complete respect and will not circulate it to any third party.

To unsubscribe, please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email we sent you.

IIf you are not already a member and you would like to subscribe, please visit the mindtools.com site and subscribe using the form on the right hand side bar.

© Mind Tools Ltd, 2006.
If you have enjoyed this issue, please feel free to email it on to your friends and co-workers. If you think they would benefit from the skills we teach, please pass this newsletter on!

Also, you are very welcome to post this issue of the newsletter to your own web site. If you do, you must leave it completely intact, include copyright information, and include both the URL of the mindtools site (http://www.mindtools.com) and the subscription email address for the newsletter (http://www.mindtools.com/subscribe.htm).

---

Where to go from here: