Posts Tagged ‘ goals ’

Continuing on the New Year New You theme, here are some tips  to help move you closer to your goals. If you do not have any goals, take some time out to think about what you really want to do or achieve in your life. It doesn’t have to be a mammoth goal or project and it can related to any subject, not just finance and career. Just take a few ‘Kaisen’ steps towards your goal every day and you will achieve

• Focus on what you really want – Think about what you would like to change or achieve in your life right now. Write a list of everything and choose the two most important goals. Be honest and visualize what your life would be like this time next year if you do not take action to change your life immediately. Now visualize what your life will be like if you do take action to change your life and what it will feel like to achieve your most important goals. Even write down the positive benefits, so that your sub-concious mind gets the message about where you want to go.

• Play by your own rules, not another persons – Many of us worry about what other people think and will stop short of trying to change because of these limiting thoughts. Be good to yourself and focus on what you really want, even if it means having to change the dynamics of a relationship with a loved one or friend. This is your life, not theirs.
• Be honest with yourself – Self denial is one of the biggest killers of the human spirit and leads many people never to achieve their life’s desires or make even the most basic of changes. Take yourself out of the comfort zone if you are stuck in a rut. Remember, short term pain will lead to long term gain in this instance.  For example, if smoking is slowly killing you and you are coughing your guts up everyday, make a slow ‘Kaisen’ step to eliminating this habit, such as buying one less pack of cigarettes a week. At the same time, reward yourself with a positive action to balance your sacrifice (e.g. Put the money saved towards a family day out and imagine how great the day will be).

The main message is that you can and you will achieve, if you set you mind to it. Do it now!

This time of year is a good time to begin the process of change. Out with the old and in with the new. Consequently, many of us make New Year Resolutions. Unfortunately, by the end of January, a high percentage of us have already returned to our old ways and simply can’t be bothered to continue with the resolutions that we made less than 1 month earlier.  Here is a list of practical ways that will help you to plan your route to successfully accomplishing your New Years Resolutions:

1) Keep you resolution list low. Concentrate on ‘quality’ not ‘quantity’, when you are compiling your New Years Resolutions list. Instead of list of 20 things, for example, concentrate on a handful, maybe 2 or 3 at the most that are achievable. This way, you are more likely to accomplish or stick with your resolutions.plish, focused

2) Funnel you resolution list. Out of your total sum of resolutions, prioritize them in numerical order, 1, 2, 3 etc. Number 1 on your list should be the resolution that you most want to achieve and so on.

3) Mind map each resolution. Create a Mind Map of each resolution to come up with create ways to stay on track and to help you accomplish your goals/resolutions.

4) Reward yourself. As you complete each stage of your journey towards achieving your resolution, reward yourself with a small action. This small action should not be detrimental to the completion of your goal/resolution, such as eating a donut, if you have just lost a few pounds, for example. However, your reward must be mean something to you.

5) Get your family, friends and loved ones on-board. If possible, get some kind of support system in place via your family, friends, loved ones or even a social network website. It will make accomplishing your resolution/goal much easier.

Stay focused and go for it. You can do it!

Kaizen for those of you who are not familiar is a Japanese business technique for achieving great and enduring success through taking regular, small steps to reach your goals. Kaizen is actually the Japanese word from ‘improvement’. After the second world war Japan, like Europe, was devastated and much effort  was needed to create a new and properous Japan. Kaizen techniques were used by Japanese companies like Nissan, Honda, Toyota & Sony (to name a few) to change the perception of their products in the West, from low end inferior to high end reliable products. Kaizen techniques were used in the manufacturing process and with the labour force, improving their attitude and making them ‘stakeholders’ in the business. Listening to the workforce and rewarding them for their commitment and input was a primary technique.

Of course, Kaizen goes a lot deeper than surface management techniques by addressing the way that challenges and perceived problems are approached mentally. If used correctly, it can trick the conscious and sub-conscious mind and melt away any negativity that surrounds an issue or hurdle, creating a positive outcome.

To find out more about Kaizen, just do a search engine query. There are plenty of good articles and books out there. I would recommend anything by Robert Maurer.