Time outs can help you reach your goals

May 19, 2014
Filed under: Coach's Corner — jonimar @ 2:29 pm

Q I have so much on my plate that I don’t know where to begin. I feel so overwhelmed that all I do is procrastinate. I have to meet my deliverables; how do I get back on track?

A Everyone procrastinates from time to time. We negotiate, rationalize, justify or excuse ourselves just to avoid doing something we dread or don’t know how to tackle.

Avoid beating, badgering or berating yourself, which will only demotivate you further.

Perhaps the goals are overly ambitious or too complex, creating discouragement and undue stress.

Setting and celebrating smaller benchmarks or milestones leverages the power of small wins by building motivation and momentum.

Believe it or not, possibly the best thing you could do for your situation is to take a time out.

Take a 20-minute nap, or go for a walk.

Stepping back can provide new information, a bird’s-eye view or a muchneeded perspective shift.

Envisioning what it would be like to be congratulated for being successful; what life would be like without the burden or the impact the results would have on others can be a useful way to reframe the work.

You may have the best intentions of fulfilling your goals, but when kept to yourself, you have less than a fifty-fifty chance of attaining them.

Go public. Set deadlines for yourself and tell your team members to hold you accountable.

The benefit of writing down your goal and sharing it with someone else will increase the likelihood of you achieving it to almost 65 per cent.

That figure goes up to almost 80 per cent if you also provide them with weekly progress reports.

The added value of asking for help is potential innovation, collaboration and delegation which can provide you with much-needed respite and relief.

Originally printed in The Province, May 18, 2014

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