Sunday Night Success

At the start of each year, and over the course of each year you may set specific goals for yourself. When you set these goals you have the clear intention to complete each of them. Over the course of the year you can accumulate a number of different goals, and by the time the end of the year rolls around you may not be able to achieve all of them.

End of the year focus – pick one goal and do it

I am writing this post on Thursday, December 17, 2009 exactly two weeks until the end of 2009. This past year was the first year I moved forward with a clear strategy on goal setting and goal achievement. As can be expected, and is not a bad thing, I set myself too many goals, and have a number of them still on my list to get done before 2010. There are two strategies I think I can use for the next two weeks:

1. Work on all the goals and try to get as much done as I can, with the risk that I only partially complete each of the goals.
2. Pick one of the remaining goals and put all of my energy into completing this one goal. I will only work on a different goal once my focus goal is finished.

As you can probably tell from the words I used in each possibility I am favoring the second option.

What is your focus goal?

Setting some of my other goals aside is going to be difficult, but I am excited with the prospect of getting one of the really big, and really important goals completed before 2010. My focus goal for the rest of 2009 is:

Complete all of the class and written requirements for my coach training certification

That is my commitment, and that will be the only major project, unless I complete it, I will be working on for the rest of 2009. There is a definite lightness, excitement, and energy I am feeling now that I have made this decision. The weight of the other goals has been lifted, and I am ready to focus on this one goal.

How would the end of 2009 be different for you if you chose one focus goal and did nothing but work towards its completion?

Share your focus goal in the comments section below and let’s get to work on ending 2009 with a successful bang!

If you need help with being accountable for you goals check out this post on accountability.

One of twelve:
1. Make pencast of SNS changes – Incomplete.
2. Write “Homepage” – Incomplete.
3. Write “Is this you” page Incomplete.
4. Write “How it works” page – Incomplete.
5. Write “Last Ditch” page – Incomplete.
6. Write “About” page – Incomplete.
7. Write “Sign up” page – Incomplete.
8. Write “Contact” page – Incomplete.
9. Write “Archives” page – Incomplete.
10. Write Power Tool – Incomplete.
11. Edit Coaching Model – Complete.
12. Edit Power Tool – Incomplete.

Feeling tired and blocked

This past week was by far my worst week ever for getting my action list completed.

Why?

I think completing 50000 words in November emptied my brain of words. I just don’t think I had any writing left in me this week. I made notes on what I needed to write, I planned some of the writing tasks; but, I just couldn’t put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard) and get the words out.

I was 100% blocked this week.

Working the list to zero not working?

I am not ready to say the experiment of working my list to zero is a failure yet, I haven’t been at it long enough. I will continue to work with this list until I get everything off.

I think what I needed to do was listen to myself when I talked to my SNS partners on the phone two weeks ago. I mentioned during that call that I was feeling the need for a break coming up: that I needed to take a week off. During that call I had decided that I would take the week after NaNoWriMo ended off from working on my different projects.

I forgot about that promise to myself, but I think my mind decided to honour it subconsciously as I definitely took the week off. However, I am not going to beat myself up over it. I had a week off, this week it is time to get back at it.

Wish me luck!

I managed to move my list closer to zero by

1. Make pencast of SNS changes – Incomplete.
2. Write “Homepage” – Incomplete
3. Write “Is this you” page – Incomplete
4. Write “How it works” page – Incomplete
5. Write “Last Ditch” page – Incomplete
6. Write “About” page – Incomplete
7. Write “Sign up” page – Incomplete
8. Write “Contact” page – Incomplete
9. Write “Archives” page – Incomplete
10. Write Power Tool – Incomplete
11. Reorganize goals for end of year – Complete
12. Edit Coaching Model – Incomplete
13. Edit Power Tool – Incomplete
14. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
15. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
16. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
17. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
18. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
19. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
20. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
21. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
22. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
23. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Complete
24. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
25. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
26. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
27. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
28. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
29. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
30. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
31. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete
32. Write 2000 words for NaNoWriMo – Incomplete

Focus on writing – NaNoWriMo

Although I put a number of different writing tasks on my current action list in an attempt to work the list to zero I wasn’t really planning on getting to most of them this past week. I knew ahead of time that I had fallen behind on my National Novel Writing Month challenge and was going to need to catch up.

So, I managed to sneak a couple other tasks into my week, but the main focus was on increasing my NaNoWriMo word count so that I would at the challenge.

20000 words in a week

I am happy with the outcome: I have never written 20000 words about the same topic in one week before, including seven thousand words in one sitting during a Spokane virtual write-in. I am still about 3000 words behind but that is a far cry from how far behind I was earlier this week.

The upcoming week will probably be focused on NaNoWriMo once again as it is the last week of the challenge and my 50000 word milestone is only a handful of days away. After that my focus will change to the other writing tasks I have put on my list.

Ten of twenty-one:
1. Investigate mailchimp – Complete.
2. Work with Dad on Blog theme – Complete.
3. Plan out SNS changes – Complete.
4. Make pencast of SNS changes – Incomplete.
5. Change coach website to subdirectory – Complete.
6. Point URL to new “under construction” coaching site – Complete.
7. Download Ecto trial – Complete.
8. Download Fastpencil documents into Writeroom – Complete.
9. Pack business necessities for Calgary trip – Complete.
10. Write 30 minutes 7 times for NaNoWriMo – Complete.
11. Write “Homepage” – Incomplete.
12. Write “Is this you” page – Incomplete.
13. Write “How it works” page – Incomplete.
14. Write “Last Ditch” page – Incomplete.
15. Write “About” page – Incomplete.
16. Write “Sign up” page – Incomplete.
17. Write “Contact” page – Incomplete.
18. Write “Archives” page – Incomplete.
19. Write Coaching Model – Complete.
20. Write Power Tool – Incomplete.
21. Reorganize goals for end of year – Incomplete.

Lacking the list

This week didn’t go so well. For the first time in a long time, a really long time, I didn’t make half of my list. The reason? I think, upon relfection, there are a few, but the biggest one by far was I ended up without internet for the middle of the week. Not only did I not have internet, but I did not activate my Google Gears properly so was without my list for all of those days.

Without my list, which I normally check on a daily basis, I ended up a bit lost with what I was doing. In fact, it was not until today when I had a chance to look at my list again, that I even remembered a couple of the items I had on my list. By not being able to do my daily check I fell out of my normal process and things came to a bit of a grinding halt.

Action list as an environment

This is an excellent example of how effort is just not enough for achieving success. My effort alone allowed me to get ten items completed on my weekly list, but after that, I lost focus. When I have my action list at hand, and I start to lose focus, I don’t need to spend any time or energy trying to figure out what to do next. I open my list and I am instantly back on track. My weekly action list supports me in being successful by keeping my mind clear and focused.

Has my list become too important to my success or is it still the supportive environment I think it is? I would love to hear what you think.

Here are my actions for the week:
1. Investigate mailchimp
2. Work with Dad on Blog theme
3. Plan out SNS changes
4. Make pencast of SNS changes
5. Change coach website to subdirectory
6. Point URL to new “under construction” coaching site
7. Download Ecto trial
8. Download Fastpencil documents into Writeroom
9. Pack business necessities for Calgary trip
10. Write 30 minutes 7 times for NaNoWriMo
11. Write “Homepage”
12. Write “Is this you” page
13. Write “How it works” page
14. Write “Last Ditch” page
15. Write “About” page
16. Write “Sign up” page
17. Write “Contact” page
18. Write “Archives” page
19. Write Coaching Model
20. Write Power Tool
21. Reorganize goals for end of year

Check back on Sunday to see how I did.

Eighteen of twenty-six:
1. Write refund policy for workshops – incomplete. Off list.
2. Plan out SNS changes – incomplete.
3. Make pencast of SNS changes as example of action planning – incomplete.
4. Pay for Thesis developer’s license – complete.
5. Download Thesis 1.6 – complete.
6. Watch Thesis 1.6 tutorial video – complete.
7. Download grunge theme for Dad – incomplete.
8. Change Dad’s blog to grunge theme – incomplete.
9. Change coaching website to new folder – complete. (Didn’t work)
10. Make new folder for main coaching site – complete.
11. Upload Thesis 1.6 into new folder – complete.
12. Backup Sunday Night Success – complete.
13. Load SNS backup onto MAMP – complete.
14. Play with SNS and thesis 1.6 options – complete.
15. Download Straightshooter theme – complete.
16. Play with SNS and Straightshooter theme – incomplete.
17. Business Academy: write self story – complete.
18. Business Academy: write 7 yeses – complete.
19. Write message for NaNoWriMo forum – complete.
20. Post message for NaNoWriMo on forum – complete.
21. Write 30 min 7 times for NaNoWriMo – complete.
22. Download Elluminate trial – complete.
23. Experiment with Elluminate – complete.
24. Take bike racks off roof – incomplete.
25. Try Shambhala meditation for 15 minutes 5 times – incomplete.
26. Call Telus and change long distance plan – complete.

Off the list

For the second week in a row I did not write my refund policy for future workshops. While reflecting on the fact that I missed this for the second week in a row I decided that, at this point, I have other much larger priorities, and this action needed to be taken off of my weekly list and put on my braindump list. It will return later, but for now it is just a distraction on my weekly action list that is not going to get done.

Didn’t work

I spent quite a bit of time trying to switch my current coaching website to a subdirectory. It didn’t work, and nothing I tried worked. However, I am marking this as complete as I put in the effort, tried everything I could think of doing, then sent a message to others who may be able to figure out what is going wrong. Even though my coaching site is not in a subdirectory I did my best to complete this action and, in fact, did complete the action. It just didn’t work.

I am marking it as complete because the purpose of my action list is to support me during my week, so I see no need in beating myself up because the action I took didn’t work. By marking the action as complete it is a success and I can still use the energy of that success to build momentum going into next week.

Re-strategizing

One thing I did learn about myself this week is that I am getting a little muddled in my weekly action lists. I think this is mostly because my overall goals and actions have been adapting so much lately that I am not fully clear on where I am trying to get before the end of the year.

This upcoming week I am going to spend some time with my vision and my goals and try to regain clarity on where I am headed before the end of 2009. Not only will this help me stay focused for the rest of this year, but it will better prepare me for creating my big goals for 2010.

Have you revisited your vision and goals lately? Do you know if you are still on track?

Here are my actions for the week:
1. Write refund policy for workshops
2. Plan out SNS changes
3. Make pencast of SNS changes as example of action planning
4. Pay for Thesis developer’s license
5. Download Thesis 1.6
6. Watch Thesis 1.6 tutorial video
7. Download grunge theme for Dad
8. Change Dad’s blog to grunge theme
9. Change coaching website to new folder
10. Make new folder for main coaching site
11. Upload Thesis 1.6 into new folder
12. Backup Sunday Night Success
13. Load SNS backup onto MAMP
14. Play with SNS and thesis 1.6 options
15. Download Straightshooter theme
16. Play with SNS and Straightshooter theme
17. Business Academy: write self story
18. Business Academy: write 7 yeses
19. Write message for NaNoWriMo forum
20. Post message for NaNoWriMo on forum
21. Write 30 min 7 times for NaNoWriMo
22. Download Elluminate trial
23. Experiment with Elluminate
24. Take bike racks off roof
25. Try Shambhala meditation for 15 minutes 5 times
26. Call Telus and change long distance plan

Check back Sunday to see how I did.

Eighteen out of twenty:
1. Workshop: write instructions for weekly action planning – Complete.
2. Workshop: write instructions for accountability calls – not needed.
3. Workshop: write foundations as filters – complete.
4. Workshop: print out receipts for workshop participants – Complete.
5. Workshop: print/photocopy workshop heft – Complete.
6. Workshop: print/photocopy workshop agenda – Complete.
7. Workshop: organize workshop heft into folders – Complete.
8. Workshop: One page agenda for participants – Complete.
9. Workshop: attach business cards to folders – Complete.
10. Workshop: write out final lesson plan – Complete.
11. Workshop: investigate recording using bluetooth headset – Complete.
12. Find time with Jason and Vicky to talk SNS – Complete.
13. Test freeconferencecall.com bridge line – Complete.
14. Write refund policy for workshops – Incomplete.
15. Write teleclass instructions for workshop phonecalls – Complete.
16. Send out workshop email with a challenge for the week – Complete.
17. Figure out schedule for one-on-one workshop sessions – Complete.
18. Plan out SNS changes – Incomplete.
19. Apply for coaching job – Complete.
20. Talk with Dad about brokebikealley.com – Complete.

Nineteen out of twenty:
1. Edit guest post for WhenIgrowup – complete.
2. Send guest post to WhenIgrowup – complete.
3. Buy trifold paper for workshop – complete.
4. Buy markers for workshop – complete.
5. Send out workshop email – complete.
6. Write pre-workshop assessment: five questions – complete.
7. Workshop: Write out SMART goal setting instructions – complete.
8. Workshop: Write out steps to creating action paths – complete.
9. Workshop: Write out backward action planning steps -complete.
10. Workshop: Write out forward action planning steps – complete.
11. Workshop: Write out instructions for accountability calls – incomplete.
12. Workshop: Write out instructions to creating action themes – not needed.
13. Workshop: write out instructions for “brain dump” and creating a master list – complete.
14. Workshop: write out final lesson plan for workshop – incomplete.
15. Workshop: complete core values edits – complete.
16. Business academy: review welcome pack – complete.
17. Business academy: write welcome pack – complete.
18. Business academy: write coaching agreement letter – complete.
19. Business academy: complete self reflection – complete.
20. Carry out strategy session with client. – complete.
21. Carry out strategy session with client. – complete.

Eleven out of twelve:
1. Make special paypal page for client – Complete.
2. Fix 100 Day Dad Challenge welcome email- Complete.
3. Fix 100 Day Dad Challenge email #1 – Complete.
4. Call Aweber about phishing problem – Complete.
5. Research Magic Jack free conferencing service – Complete.
6. Write networking letter for business academy – Complete.
7. Write exploratory session format for business academy – Complete.
8. Define network top 20 for business academy – Complete.
9. Write out key phrases for coaching introduction – Complete.
10. Research how to get testimonials – Complete.
11. Write testimonial questions – Complete.
12. EDTF interview – Incomplete.

Smaller list, less motivation

I have been working off of some fairly large lists lately and getting a lot of forward movement with my goals. This past week I decided to give myself a break and work off a smaller list, a bit of a vacation. Interestingly, my week turned out to be far more difficult than I had imagined. I did end up getting all but one of my actions completed, but a lot of the actions were completed last minute.

Trick of the mind

I think one reason getting only twelve actions completed instead of twenty or thirty was so challenging is because my list was so short. Each day, when I checked my list and saw how few actions were present I ended up putting things off for later: “there are only twelve things to do this week, I have lots of time to get them done”. I tricked myself into thinking a shorter list would take less time, and be easier to complete, and ended up procrastinating more than I usually do.

What length of list?

This will be very personal for every person as they create their action list for the week. For me, I am going to try a shorter list again this upcoming week to see if last week was just an anomaly. If I have trouble again I am going to switch back to much longer lists and remind myself that my goal for the week is to finish at least half of that long list, not the whole thing.

Having trouble coming up with actions for your weekly list? Check out this weeks post on “Brain dumps” and see if it helps.