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While many people are turning to credit cards, EFTs, and electronic checks to pay their bills, there’s usually cause to write at least a couple of checks each month. Come January, lots of those checks will accidentally say “2007″ on them.
Keep your checks error-free in 2008! Grab your checkbook and fill out just the year on the first 10 or so checks.
This week, I’ll be highlighting some of my friends around the blogosphere’s resolutions for 2008, and giving specific advice that you can use if you have a similar goal!
The action plan below follows the outline from The Ultimate Guide to New Year’s Resolutions.
Next up is Chris Brogan, well-known blogger, social media guru, and all-around nice guy.
“I’m going to say ‘no,’ more often, and better.”
This is a common style of resolution that too many people fail at because they don’t think they have to have an action plan for it at all.
In reality, these more conceptual resolutions are the goals you REALLY have to plan and review in order to achieve them. You can tie a string around your finger to remind yourself to “say no,” but inevitably you’re going to become immune to the presence of the string and start saying “yes” a whole lot when you meant to say “no.”
When you’re changing a behavior, you need a strong, concrete foundation to support you in the process. None of us can simply wake up one morning and decide to change an ingrained habit by just thinking about it.
It’s also important to reword this type of resolution into more concrete terms that better reflect the true reason behind the change. I’m going to guess that Chris, being as high-profile and talented as he is, feels over-extended. He’s probably committed to a number of projects that required a lot of work on his part in exchange for little or no gain. Since he has only so many hours in a day, and presumably doesn’t want to spend all 24 of them working, the motivation behind this resolution is to better balance his work with its rewards.
In its current form, it’s also measuring the wrong thing. Chris doesn’t want to chart the total number of times he was asked to do something and maintain a certain % of “no” responses. Instead, he wants to conserve his resources so he can get the best possible return (in terms of money *and* karma) for his investment. To make this measurable, Chris basically wants to agree to better-evaluate potential opportunities.
“When presented with a new opportunity, I’m going to say “Let me get back to you on that” and run the opportunity past my personal Opportunity Management Checklist.”
The only new habit Chris needs to adopt is saying “Let me get back to you on that” instead of giving a definitive answer. He should do this every time he receives a proposal, even if he’s 99% certain it’s a yes or a no. This way he doesn’t ever have to think about his response until he’s in a position to measure it more objectively.
Chris needs a worksheet with a short series of questions to help him objectively decide whether or not he should say yes to a new opportunity.
He doesn’t need to physically fill out this worksheet every time, but he does need to consult it.
While the questions should be objective to an extent, they should also take into account ALL factors that would make him want to say yes or no. A project might pay well and take little time, but be mind-numbingly boring. It also might involve a lot of work and be a long-shot at a return, but benefit a cause that’s important to Chris, present a new opportunity for growth, etc.
He can also use this worksheet when pondering starting new projects for himself.
My suggested questions:
He should also plan ahead for a “no” response. There’s no need to specifically explain why he chose to say “no,” and he should avoid being overly-apologetic about his decision.
Here’s a jumping off point:
“Thanks so much for offering me this opportunity! Unfortunately, I’m going to have to decline at this time. I wish you the best of luck with your project, and if another chance for us to work together comes up, I’d love it if you let me know. Thanks again!”
When he does physically fill out the answers to these questions, whether on paper or electronically, he should save a copy and review his decisions once a week. (At least in the beginning — towards the end of the year, as he gets more familiar and confident with saying “no” he might space this review out more.)
For bigger decisions, he might want to journal a reaction. Does he regret saying yes? Why? Did he say no to a big opportunity and regrets it now? What signs did he miss that would have led him to say yes (if any)? He may want to share a few of these stories through his blog, too.
During this review, he’ll also want to re-evaluate the questions on his worksheet. It’s likely that other important criteria will arise to help him make even better decisions.
The point of these reviews is NOT to beat himself up over his decisions. It’s to help him make better ones in the future. There’s never any point in regretting what you can’t change. Guy Kawasaki readily admits to an episode of “bozocity” when he turned down the opportunity to interview for the position of CEO of Yahoo, but as painful as those missing zeros are on his bank statements, he says that at the time, his family was (and is!) more important.
While tying a string around your finger alone will never help you achieve behavioral change, it can be useful for reminding Chris to respond with “Let me get back to you on that” when someone asks for his participation.
Even if it’s on on a small post-it note, Chris should put that exact phrase — “Let me get back to you on that” — up anywhere that he regularly gets proposals. His computer monitor, desk at work, car, wallet — it might even be his desktop background or on his cell phone screensaver. As long as he adopts this one small habit, he’ll have the opportunity to change his behavior on a much larger scale.
We all know Chris is a really nice guy, and somewhere not-too-far down the line, I’m willing to bet someone will get upset that he didn’t say “yes” to their opportunity right away. While this person almost certainly deserves a “no” right off the bat for their attitude, it’d be a good idea to plan ahead for the potential for guilty feelings. If someone does get upset, be prepared to be firm in your response. It couldn’t hurt to keep a list of positives — more time with your family, growing blog audience, Twitter friends, that last successful project — to remind yourself that you need to say “no” sometimes in order to enjoy these positives even more.
Even if he only does it privately, Chris should celebrate his “no”s. He should be proud that he’s worked hard and is at a point where demand for him exceeds his output capacity. He should remember that saying “no” to one project might open up the doors to five others. Most of all, he should celebrate that we all have the freedom to say “yes” OR “no” at all!
Other resolutions in this series:
For a thought-provoking look at the current state of our education system, check out Ken Robinson’s Ted Talk speech.
This week, I’ll be highlighting some of my friends around the blogosphere’s resolutions for 2008, and giving specific advice that you can use if you have a similar goal!
The action plan below follows the outline from The Ultimate Guide to New Year’s Resolutions.
Next up is Pamela Troeppl, a humor columnist and writer who offers a premium PLR content subscription service. She also runs an Internet Marketing Forum where you can register for free!
“Get 100 new subscribers for my Internet Marketing Forum”
There are a LOT of ways Pamela could go about securing 100 new subscribers. She should brainstorm a list of all possible ways to attract customers (either on her own with a coach) and write out an action plan for each one.
Even if she comes up with 30 different strategies but only has time to execute 10, she should still write out the initial action steps for every plan. This way, she has no excuses for stopping once she gets started — if she sees one strategy through to fruition and/or another action plan doesn’t quite work out, she can immediately move on to a new one without missing a beat — or a potential client.
I’m going to focus on two strategies Pamela could adopt: getting new business from previous clients, and setting up an affiliate program.
A surefire way to drum up new business is to get back in touch with past satisfied customers. Pamela should compile a list of all of her writing clients’ emails and get back in contact with each one, letting them know about the convenience of her new subscription format. She can either write one form letter and use a mailing list service like Aweber to personalize it with each person’s first name, or (even better) write to each client personally, reminding them of the last project they worked together on and letting them know about her latest endeavor.
Her initial Next Actions for this first project would be to compile all of her past clients’ email addresses and first names into a CSV file, to signup for an Aweber account, and to draft a short email getting back in touch and promoting her new service.
She should also start an affiliate program so that other writers can promote her service in exchange for a small cut of the subscription fee. In fact, some other writers may want to signup themselves to distribute Pamela’s materials to their own clients as bonuses.
Her initial Next Actions for this first project would be to ask around for suggestions for an affiliate program management tool, and to brainstorm a list of places to find writers that may be interested in becoming affiliates (i.e. freelance writing blogs, Craigslist, or Elance).
Other ideas could include: search-engine-optimizing her blog; writing guest posts on writing blogs to attract other writers to her affiliate program; and personally contacting other ebook authors and offering her service as a means to add extra bonuses to their existing packages.
At least once a week, Pamela should review all of her project plans for Next Actions, and make a list of actions to complete during the following week. (Breaking it down into a few key steps each day is a great way to fit constant progress into a busy schedule.) She should also evaluate how successful each plan is, and refresh her memory as to what plans are still on hold waiting to be executed. It might be time to stop working on one idea and start working on another.
For a source of motivation, Pamela could put a large chart on the wall that ticks off her progress towards the first 100 subscribers. She should also surround herself with printed receipts for her paid subscriptions to give her that surge of energy she might need to send just one more email or contact just one more ebook writer at the end of a long night.
Of course, the real motivation behind getting more subscribers is bringing in more passive income so she has more time to spend with her family. If she has a dedicated office area, she should decorate it with memories of happy times spent with her husband and kids, if she hasn’t already. A quick glance at a smiling family photo is great motivation to keep going when the going gets rough.
Pamela also needs to celebrate the smaller victories. She should setup a reward for herself after every five or ten new customers, even if that reward is something small like a bubble bath or a favorite dessert.
Through her blog, Twitter account, or other outlet, Pamela can also get positive reinforcement (and positive peer pressure!) by sharing how close she is to her goal for even more motivation.
Other resolutions in this series:
This week, I’ll be highlighting some of my friends around the blogosphere’s resolutions for 2008, and giving specific advice that you can use if you have a similar goal!
The action plan below follows the outline from The Ultimate Guide to New Year’s Resolutions.
First up is Andrew Paradies, Founder and CEO of PhoTrade.com.
“Try harder to maintain my personal relationships despite feeling like I can’t make time for them.”
A lot of people balk at applying organizational principles to their personal life. After all, isn’t it impersonal to have “call my best friend” on my Next Actions list alongside “clean the oven hood” and “launch a new blog”?
Well, would you rather have it on your Next Actions list (and @CALLS context list), or not talk to your best friend for another six months?
That might sound a little extreme — it’d be hard for a month to pass without talking to my very closest friends — but for the majority of personal relationships, it’s frighteningly easy to let an entire year or more go by without checking in and catching up. If you want to improve your personal relationships, you need to organize and track them the same way you would if they were business clients.
By spending less than an hour setting this up, you can enjoy all of your relationships a lot more without having to think about it again!
A specific, measurable version of this goal would sound something like:
“Initiate communication with Group A contacts at least once per month; Group B at least once per quarter; and Group C contacts at least once every six months.”
First, I’d suggest that Andrew make a list of all his personal relationships — including people he’s lost touch with but that he’d like to reconnect with.
He should then separate them into three groups: A, B, and C.
Group A includes his closest friends and immediate family members.
Group B includes his friends and extended family.
Group C includes anyone he wants to casually keep track of, like old co-workers, neighbors, classmates, and mentors.
These names should be entered into a two-column alphabetical (by last name) list, with a colored oval next to each name that corresponds to their group.
For example, Group A would be red, Group B would be blue, and group C would be yellow.
Example:
The list then goes into a plain 8.5″ x 11″ plexiglass picture frame and is hung on the wall. With a dry-erase marker, you write the month (i.e. MAY) you last contacted the person in the oval next to their name.
Once a week, Andrew should review his contacts chart.
If he’s contacted anyone in the past week and forgotten to mark it, he should update the chart.
All Andrew needs to do is glance over the chart three times.
Let’s pretend it’s April.
First, he’ll look at all of the red ovals (Group A) and make sure they all say “APRIL.”
Then, he”ll look at all of the blue ovals (Group B) and make sure they’re all “JAN” (three months earlier) or later.
Finally, he’ll look at all of the yellow ovals (Group C) and make sure they’re all “OCT” (six months earlier) or later.
If any contacts are out of date, he’ll create a Next Action to initiate communication with them during the following week.
I suggest wiping the oval clean next to any out-of-date contacts. This serves as a quick visual reminder that you need to get in touch with that person. (Aren’t dry-erase markers great?)
For this particular resolution, creating a no-fail environment and treating himself gently aren’t relevant.
However, he can definitely motivate himself by surrounding himself with happy memories of his personal relationships. Putting photos on the walls, on the fridge, in his wallet, and/or on his computer desktop would be a great idea (especially since he runs a photography website!), as would designating a few moments a week to unwind and look over photos, videos, and memorabilia.
The actual contacts will probably act as motivation in themselves, too.
This is just one of a few projects that could stem from Andrew’s original resolution. He might also want to commit to wishing everyone on his list a happy birthday, or to send one hand-written card each month to a friend “just because.”
Other resolutions in this series:
The New Year is fast approaching, and it’s up to you, right now, to decide:
Will this year be better than the last?
You’re probably familiar with making New Year’s Resolutions. You’re probably equally familiar with breaking them.
Throw all those yesteryears out the window. This guide is going to show you how to make New Year’s Resolutions that you will actually achieve, and more importantly, it’s going to give you the tools you need to REALLY achieve them this time!
Remember: freedom — and achievement — comes from organization.
The #1 reason why people don’t achieve their resolutions is because their resolutions weren’t really resolutions at all.
It’s no secret around here that I’m big on goal-setting. However, New Year’s Resolutions are a very specific kind of goal.
A New Year’s Resolution has to meet the following criteria:
Forgetting the criteria I just mentioned for a moment, make a list of any and all goals you think you might want to achieve next year. Don’t worry about details; just list as many things as you can think of.
Try to brainstorm at least a goal or two in every area of your life. Don’t just focus on losing weight and quitting smoking. Consider new hobbies, your personal relationships, your reading habits, your educational status, and so on.
In the free printable version, there’s a goal-generating worksheet for you to use.
Out of all your potential goals, choose five. (Six if you must.)
(Keep that goal brainstorming worksheet, though! Maybe you’ll want to embark on a 101 Goals in 1,001 Days adventure…)
Don’t pick five goals from the same topic area. We all want to improve our financial situation, but five resolutions to spend less and earn more ignore the many other important aspects of life.
Referring back to the definition of the perfect New Year’s Resolution, it’s time to transform your five goals into five iron-clad resolutions.
Be creative and try to incorporate two or more goals into a single resolution.
(You can always return to your goal brainstorming worksheet if you wind up whittling your resolutions down in this way.)
For example:
Lousy: “Lose weight”
Better: “Lose 20lbs”
Good: “Weigh 134lbs naked on the morning of December 31″
Awesome: “Run three miles without stopping wearing XXS Aerie sweatpants”
The awesome version of this resolution not only incorporates two common goals — losing weight and exercising more — into one, but it also focuses on one of the real reasons we want to lose weight: to fit into a smaller clothing size. It doesn’t matter what number the scale shows if your pants won’t fit!
Another example:
Lousy: “Save money”
Better: “Save $1,000″
Good: “Have $1,000 in an ING savings account on December 31″
Awesome: “Earn $1,000 in AdSense revenue from a blog, put it in an ING savings account, and don’t spend a penny of it”
A vague resolution is just begging to be crossed off before you stayed true to the original spirit of the goal. You could technically “save $1,000″ from your paycheck on Friday for two days and then spend it all on Monday. The awesome version of this resolution is awesome because it focuses on building a passive income stream, and it specifies that you don’t spend any of the new income.
Repeat this resolution-refining process until you have five perfectly-tuned New Year’s Resolutions!
For each resolution, you’ll need to make as detailed a roadmap as possible guiding you from where you are today to where you’ll need to be in order to declare the resolution a success.
Every step needs to be so basic that your fifth grade niece could read it and have a pretty good grasp of what needs to get done.
You might not be able to map out the latter end of the journey right now. That’s okay. The important thing is that you have at least one action step that you can take RIGHT NOW towards each of your resolutions.
For example, for the goal “Earn $1,000 in AdSense revenue from a blog, put it in an ING savings account, and don’t spend a penny of it,” you’d have to map out a few sub-projects, such as: AdSense; Planning for the Blog; Blog Layout; Blog Content; Blog Marketing; and ING Account.
Right away, you could:
In the free printable version of this guide, there are Next Action worksheets for you to use in your planning efforts. (All these worksheets are GTD-compatible!)
At least once per week, make an appointment with yourself to review your progress towards each of the five resolutions.
Enter this weekly appointment as a recurring event in Google Calendar and set an email or SMS alert to remind yourself.
At this weekly appointment, make sure that you have at least one action item for each of your five resolutions, even if that action item is just to brainstorm ideas.
Search Google to see if there’s already a roadmap for achieving your particular resolution. For example, if you want to start running, the Couch to 5K Running Program will get you running three miles non-stop in just two months, at a steady pace. Your action items, in this case, would be to continually follow the program and move on to the next stage as outlined.
The less ways you have to fail, the easier it will be to succeed. Eliminate distractions and disruptions now, before the New Year begins.
If you’re going to start exercising, make sure all your workout clothes are clean. Fix the zipper on your windbreaker. Stop storing file boxes on the gym equipment in the basement.
If you’re going to eat better and/or lose weight, go through your kitchen now and get rid of all the empty calories. Donate what you can to a local soup kitchen or give it to the neighbors.
If you’re going to be more productive, cancel your cable television subscription. Clean off your computer desktop (and your computer desk).
The worst thing you can do — and we all do it — is to try to beat yourself into submission when embarking on a new goal.
Remember: the entire point of a New Year’s Resolution is to make next year BETTER than last year. If you become your own personal slave-driver, you might achieve your goal, but you’ll have missed the entire point.
If you’re starting an exercise regime, invest in some new, comfortable, well-fitting workout clothes. (Or at least a GOOD pair of sneakers.) If nothing else, buy a box of pleasant-smelling dryer sheets to wash your workout gear in so it perks you up when you put it on.
If you’re going to be eating healthier, don’t stock up on celery and rice cakes — take time to find filling, delicious foods to replace your cravings for the bad stuff.
If you’re going to work long hours, spend some time turning your bathroom and/or bedroom into a sanctuary (heavy curtains, candles, warm smells, clean/soft sheets and towels, warm lighting, etc.) so you can really relax when you have the chance. Get a library card and check out a couple books you’ve been meaning to read so you have the means to unwind. Subscribe to a trashy tabloid so you can zone out when you’re overworked and need a break.
Bottom line: treat yourself gently! You’ll thank yourself for it later.
“People often say motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” — Zig Ziglar
No matter how revved up you are now to see your goals to fruition, chances are that at some point (and probably a lot sooner than you think), your motivation is going to wane and you’re going to be tempted to give up.
Luckily for you, you planned ahead for that!
Surround yourself with motivation and reminders wherever possible. (In moderation, negative reinforcers can also help, but they should be mostly positive.)
Subscribe to motivational blogs and podcasts. Tape up pictures of people and things that reflect your end goals. Keep a motivational quotation journal. Post motivational stories and quotations on the fridge, on the front door, and in your office.
The best place to put a motivational reminder (or two, or three) is by your alarm clock. Not only will it help you to wake up [faster], but it will start your day off on the right foot!
There you have it! Follow this plan, and 2008 is guaranteed to be your best year yet!
Remember to download the free printable version so you can access the bonus worksheets by scrolling back up to the top of this page.
If you want some one-on-one help with your resolutions, drop me a line at marina (at) sufficientthrust (dot) com or Tweet me (@MarinaMartin).
Be sure to check out the Blogosphere’s New Year’s Resolutions Series:
What are your New Year’s Resolutions? I’d love to hear in the comments!
If they don’t still live in the same town they grew up in, many people at least have the luxury of “going home” for holidays and visits where they can run into old school friends at the grocery store and hear the latest details of the star high school quarterback’s minimum wage job and fourth illegitimate child.
I, on the other hand, went to boarding school, and with the sole exception of New York City, no two of my friends live in remotely the same place. This made keeping up and keeping track a challenge from the day I left — a challenge that I’m sure many others experienced a few years later upon college graduations.
Enter Facebook. It was the perfect place to keep track of everyone’s latest location, job, relationship status, and cell phone number, without having to experience the pain that comes with looking at or listening to a MySpace profile. (It was especially perfect in the early months when they let you export your contacts’ information as a CSV file! Oh, those were the days…)
Over time, Facebook grew, and in stark opposition to the rest of the planet, my daily page views shrunk as the total number of users went up. I was friends with one, two, then ten people I wasn’t *really* friends with. I questioned whether or not to post certain things in my profile or put up certain photographs. Worse, I noticed that people were including less and less personal contact information in their profiles — and what good is it to know you live in Manhattan if I have no way of reaching you besides your Wall when I’m in the city for an afternoon?
Then, there were the Facebook apps that grew plants and hatched eggs. Let’s not even talk about those.
A year ago, I installed a browser plugin to block my access to Facebook during certain hours so it wouldn’t hinder my productivity. Last week, I realized that since upgrading to Leopard, I hadn’t even bothered to make a Facebook shortcut in Firefox.
Does any of this sound familiar to you?
Last night, I had an epiphany, and I am once again a happy Facebook user.
Create a Second Facebook Account
I now have one personal account, and one professional account.
I’m aware that I could restrict access to certain content within my profile to certain user groups, which I thought was my original concern. However, once I created a professional profile, I realized that I was using it in an entirely different way than I was using my earlier profile.
As an efficiency consultant, I hate clutter, and I prefer to only receive information pertinent to my needs. My professional connections don’t need to know about the dinner and drinks I’m having with my old high school friends, and my old high school friends aren’t going to run into me at any of the 10 Upcoming events I’ll be at in Seattle. Now that I have two profiles, I can display relevant information to each of the two groups, and only relevant information.
Some key differences:
Personal Profile
Professional Profile
So, if Facebook has lost some of its luster for you, try starting fresh with a new professional profile and leaving the growing plants for your friends, who will love you anyway.
TIP: Set your privacy settings for your personal account so that it doesn’t show up in search results. If a personal friend initiates a friend request to your professional account, simply ignore that request and initiate a new friend request from your private personal account. This will eliminate confusion *and* won’t broadcast to the world that you really have two separate profiles!
Add me on Facebook!
How do you use Facebook? I’d love to hear in the comments!
Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a gazelle or a lion.
WHEN THE SUN COMES UP, YOU’D BETTER BE RUNNING!
“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”
–Fight Club
Add a Google Alert for their name to hear about their latest gallery openings, publication date, album, or movie premiere.