2016: Set off in style
First off, let me wish you, cherished reader, a happy and prosperous New Year. As we often say, time flies when you are having fun, and as l have stated repeatedly in this column, we did have a lot of fun in 2015.
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There were certainly periods during the year that we experienced some positives, and other times too that we were weighed down, heavily, by some negatives. Together, these two extreme conditions that we experienced only go to prove that we cannot expect conditions to remain the same forever. Boom will always follow burst, and vice versa and therefore the most important thing here is how you react to situations and seasons.
So, one recommended solution is to accentuate the positives experienced in the past year, and address the negatives. Ultimately, you should be able to turn the negatives that require just tweaking into real opportunities!
To this end, my admonishing, therefore, is that you should prepare yourself to set off in 2016 in style as you cannot turn back the clock to address the ills of 2015, if even you wanted to.
The year 2015 will never be experienced again, so what we have at hand now is 2016, with no guarantees that the subsequent years will be ours too.
We must, therefore, make the most of it, and to help you to set off in style, l have decided to introduce to you a technique that l have used often in my creativity and innovation classes over the years with effective results.
This technique is called mind mapping, a powerful but simple process that helps to create detailed and well-thought through steps to achieving goals.
The point is that at the turn of a new year we always come up with a number of resolutions. We set personal goals, create wish-lists and a number of to-do lists for the year.
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The unfortunate thing is that most people forget about their new year’s resolutions just some few weeks into the year because they were either not committed to what they set for themselves up to do or that they did not do planning properly and therefore could not find their way through.
Hopefully, in 2016 you should be set up well, because if you follow the map-mapping techniques that we are about to learn together, you will be able to gather the information you need to be successful at achieving your set goals.
For instance, a well-created mind map should guide you, in your goal setting, to know who you will need to talk to, to be successful at achieving your goals, the small steps that you need to take, how much money you will need to achieve your goals, how much you will even need to earn, possible obstacles, deadlines and so on. It is so powerful and the only required skill to perform this process is commitment.
Now let us follow the steps below to achieve our own mind maps, and here l am going to use the steps prescribed by Jack Canfield, the co- author of Chicken Soup for the Soul.
You need to find yourself a nice A4 sheet of paper. Then, in the centre circle, jot down the name of your stated goal. Let us call this, increasing my earning in 2016.
Now, with this goal it means that you will have to take a number of steps to move from where you are to the next level.
What you have to do next is to draw a nice circle around your goal. Mind you, it must be in the centre of your sheet of paper because your next steps would create connections to your goal.
The next thing that you need to do is to create “outside circles”. You do this by dividing the goal into the major categories of tasks that need to be performed in order to accomplish the greater goal.
So, linking this to the goal of increasing my earning in 2016, you should be looking at specific categories, such as specific amount, sources, investment, savings, risk, deadline, timeframe and so on.
The third and final stage is to “connect” the various tasks to the major goal. You do this by drawing “spokes” outward from each of the identified tasks to link the major goal. This is understandable because you cannot increase your earnings just by writing it down.
You may need to save, invest some money, set specific timelines and deadlines as well as train yourself in some of the skills desired of an astute, money conscious person. After you have performed this activity very well, you need to break down each one of them into more detailed task spokes with action items. The main aim here is for you to be able to create your master to-do list.
Mind mapping, if you have followed the description above diligently, would put you into a “free-thinking” state that will allow you to create the necessary connections to how you can achieve your goal. It releases your creative juices.
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In creating the necessary mind map scenario, you soon discover how easy or difficult it would be achieving your goal.
The awareness created following this process is enough to get you focused on your goal. It strongly helps in preserving and protecting your resolutions, bearing in mind that you can create a mind map for just about anything that you would like to accomplish.
Don’t forget to convert all the necessary tasks identified and fully captured on your mind map into to-do items that captures what you might even need to do on a daily basis.
You can now schedule them into your calendar, with the appropriate reminder options so you stick to the task.
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What is even more interesting these days is that various applications have been developed on calendars and in Google Play and other online folders (stores) for applications.
If you have a compatible android phone, you should be able to download an application to make life easy for you, putting together your task and schedule.
My main interest is for you to be able to chunk it down in 2016, doing the first things first so as to be able to operate at your most optimal level.
Lastly, Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time should be your book for 2016.
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In this book, Tracy uses a unique system to advise goal-setters on how to break tasks into priorities. Tracy helps you to pick one to five things that you need to do, and then following on, pick the one you absolutely must do first. Yes, eat that frog first!
The meaning is that once you have done the most difficult (pressing task) successfully, it releases more adrenalin and motivation to accomplish the following activities.
Enjoy 2016 in the best possible way.
(botabil@gmail.com)