Even if we find a new direction we’d love to take to establish a sustainable livelihood and a strategy for doing it, there’s still the challenge of fitting all that’s involved in making the transition to our new life. The toughest part about changing directions is that you have to do it while juggling what you’ve already got up and running. We have to exert an effort to restructure our lives to support the changes we want to make, and create a new path on which our lives can unfold. As long as our lives are structured to function as they have, they will continue on indefinitely as they have. How is your life structured right now? Is it structured to assist you in smoothly putting your strategy on the road or is every day a struggle you must endure or simply give up on? To effect change in our lives we have to take charge of our time, master our energy, manage ourselves and have a winning attitude.

Schedule for Results

Time is a wonderful resource, but most of us aren’t taught to think of our time as such. We see its limitations, not it limitless malleability. As children few of us learn how to use our time effectively. It’s scheduled for us. Parents, teachers and later spouses and bosses often decide upon its use. Before we can change directions, we’ve got to make room for the things we need to do to carry out our strategies. The truth is most of us have a myriad of minutiae that take up far too much of our time and energy. This backlog is usually what keeps us from getting around to making changes.

You can’t concentrate on implementing your strategy if you’re spending your time keeping track of all kinds of other things you could, should, and ought to be doing. The first thing you need to do to remove some of the time pressure is to get rid of those things in your life that don’t need to be done. A good way to start is to sit down and make a list of everything you think you need to do – everything.  At first the list may seem overwhelming, but seeing it written down frees your mind immensely and pinpoints areas you can reduce or eliminate. At a glance you can see what is a priority and what isn’t.

Be Specific

Nothing happens until we create a space for it in our day and that’s what a schedule is for.  To make room for change you need to master the art of scheduling. It’s important to set goals for each day based on where you are in the process of implementing your strategy.

Specific goals enable us to focus on what we want to accomplish and measure what we have accomplished. If your goals are very general in nature you won’t know if you are on target or not. Are you setting specific goals to accomplish each day? How do you know if you’ve accomplished them? If you’re not sure, then you need to be more specific in defining your goals. For example, be specific about the number of things you will do and when you will have them done. Some people use a daily planner or calendar and list their goals each day.  By having goals where you can see them means you rarely forget them.

Setting specific goals with target dates, identifying action steps, setting priorities and putting what matters most onto a calendar is by far the more accepted way to get and stay on track.  The right schedule shouldn’t feel restrictive, but will free you to put your energy into the direction you want to go with less effort. Are you ready to free yourself and move forward?

If you think we can help, we offer counseling.

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