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Each week receive exciting news, tips, articles and advice on how to be the successful person you've always wanted to be.
"Self Improvement Front Line" will guide you along the path to achieving all your goals in life with regular sections on all the important facets of your personal development.
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Newsletter 028
In "Self Improvement Front Line" this week:
* Your 10 Day Plan for Time Mastery
* Five Tips for Taking Risks and Expanding Your Comfort Zone
* The 10 Steps to Learning From Your Past Mistakes
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Your 10 Day Plan for Time Mastery
Nowadays we all live busy lives and everything seems to need
doing in a hurry.You can easily become overwhelmed.
Then on top of that you get my newsletters telling you all
about how to set goals and take control of your time. All well
and good, but how do you actually find the time in the first
place to start putting the tips and advice into practice?
Not easy I know but getting into good habits is essential if
you truly want to manage your time effectively.
But you really don't have to do it all at once!
There is a saying, I think it originated in Ancient China,that
"every journey begins with but one simple step".
My advice in all aspects of personal development is to do one
thing at a time. Set a time-frame that suits you. I don't mind
repeating that getting control of your time is essential but
doing just one thing each day towards your goal of managing it
effectively will soon get you to where you want to be.
Here's a suggestion for a ten day plan that will get you
started doing something that you really want to do:
Day 1
Define your goals - Write down exactly want you want to get
from your life.
Day 2
Analyze what you do now - List all that you do each day
Day 3
What can you change? - Take yesterday's list and see what
improvements you can make and write them down.
Day 4
Write a "To-Do" List - Write down everything you have to do
including the changes you have just identified.
Day 5
Prioritize your list - Go through your list and identify the
things you "must do", the "should do" items, and those that
you "want to do".
Day 6
Write your Routine Lists - Take your "must do"items and
put them on to routine lists - those things you must do
daily, weekly, monthly, etc.
Day 7
Sort what else must be done - Examine your "should do" items
and decide which really must be done and add them to the l
ists you created yesterday. Then simply discard the rest
- remember there's no such thing really as "should be done"!
Day 8
Prioritze what you want to do - Take a look at the "want
to do" things - the changes you want to make in your life,
the goals and ambitions. Sort out what is the number one
priority and write it down. Break it down into simple
steps that you can easily do to help you achieve it.
Day 9
What will you do tomorrow? - Get your lists together
along with the first step from the number one "want to do"
item you identified yesterday. Then put them onto a list
of actions for tomorrow.
Day 10
Take action - Just follow the list you wrote yesterday.
You will now be much more in control of your time and on
the road to achieving your goals.
So go on, take action, one day at a time and just see the
benefits you get in your everyday life.
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Five Tips for Taking Risks and
Expanding Your Comfort Zone
When speaking to groups of corporate professionals on peak
performance, I ask them: "How many of you consciously take
risks on a regular basis?" Only a few people raise their
hand, and those who don't look vaguely uncomfortable even
just thinking about it.
As toddlers learning to walk, talk and poke our fingers in
electrical sockets, we instinctively understood that taking
risks is necessary to grow. But as adults, we seem to fall
out of the habit. Why is that?
Well, there's the fear of failure, of course, and the fear
of being embarrassed, humiliated or chastised. But more
than anything, I think, we're afraid of uncertainty, of not
knowing what's going to happen. And the longer we put
something off, the greater the uncertainty becomes.
Here's what I've found: the very moment I take the plunge
and start doing something I was afraid of, I feel a huge
sense of relief. Once the wheels are in motion, I have some
say in what's happening - and, more often than not, the
reality is much less scary than I imagined.
That doesn't mean all nervousness disappears. (If it does,
then the risk isn't enough of a stretch.) The point is to
get used to that feeling of being nervous, of being outside
your comfort zone - that's the only way to expand your
comfort zone.
Still, sometimes "just do it" isn't enough. Here are some
other ways to entice yourself into strengthening your
risk-taking muscle:
1. Pinpoint your fear. Sometimes we avoid taking a risk out
of a general, undefined sense of anxiety even though there
is often only one specific element that we're dreading.
Maybe it's not networking per se that you dislike, for
example, but simply that initial awkward moment of
approaching a stranger to introduce yourself. Homing in on
the specific point of resistance will prevent anxiety from
coloring the whole activity and help you take action.
2. Channel the confidence you need. Are you waiting for
that moment when you feel absolutely, positively ready to
take a risk? Well, you'll be waiting awhile. Instead,
identify people who demonstrate the kind of confidence
you'd like to have - a colleague at work or a character in
a movie (Joan Allen as the vice presidential candidate in
The Contender works for me). Study them -- how they carry
themselves, their mannerisms, their wardrobe - and then
channel some of that confidence into your own performance.
3. Forget about the outcome. If you focus on the
possibility of failure (whatever that means) or
embarrassment (also subjective), then that increases the
likelihood of that happening. Instead, ask yourself how
you'll feel once you've taken the risk. Most likely,
regardless of the outcome, you'll feel a burst of
confidence and euphoric sense of "I did it!" (Conversely,
ask yourself: "How will I feel if I don't do this?")
4. Keep score. In his book "Fight Your Fear and Win,"
sports psychologist Don Greene suggests keeping a courage
log. Develop your radar for opportunities to exercise your
courage, and then make note of the brave actions you take,
big or small, whether cold-calling a potential client,
expressing a dissenting opinion in a meeting or trying that
hiphop dance class at the gym.
5. Reward yourself. Once you've logged a certain number of
risks, 20 say, be sure to give yourself a reward. Ideally,
it should be something tangible that you can see and feel -
a unique piece of jewelry or desk ornament, for example -
that will symbolize and remind you of your achievement.
Taking risks is like visiting a foreign country for the
first time. You're bound to feel out of your element at
first but frequent world travelers learn to enjoy the
challenge of navigating unfamiliar environments and feeling
comfortable being uncomfortable.
About the Author:
Peak performance specialist Renita T. Kalhorn is a
Juilliard-trained pianist with a top-tier MBA and a
first-degree martial arts black belt. Leveraging the power
of "flow," she helps entrepreneurs and corporate
professionals to achieve extreme focus and reach the top of
their game at work. Claim your complimentary copy of "Find
Your Flow! 21 Simple Strategies to Banish Tedium, Reduce
Stress and Inspire Action" at
http://www.intheflowcoaching.com
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The 10 Steps to Learning From Your Past Mistakes
I've written before in Self Improvement Front Line about why
you should have no regrets. Quite simply you cannot change what
has gone before so why waste time regretting what you cannot
alter?
But that's not to say that you should ignore the things you
have done in the past that went wrong or those occasions
when you made mistakes. Instead you should always be prepared
to learn from them and so take something positive from all of
your experiences.
So, unusaully, I'm going to ask you to look back for a moment.
Bring to mind something from your past where things went wrong
or you believe you made a mistake or failed to achieve what you
wanted to do. It may even be that something continues to play
on your mind and so possibly prevents you from doing what you
want today.
Then follow these 10 simple steps:
- Write down exactly what happened with as much detail as you
can.
- Define what part you had in the incident.
- Define who else was involved and what they actually did.
- Ask yourself truthfully what you could have done differently
that would have resulted in a better outcome.
- Identify what anyone else involved could have done
differently and what you could have done to help them to do
so.
- Define what the best outcome would have been.
- Having followed the steps so far now write a plan for how
you would achieve the desired outcome.
- Write a list of all the things you have learned by carrying
out this exercise.
- Identify how the things you have learned can help you to
achieve the goals you have and what additional things you
need.
- Write a clear plan as to what you are going to do in order
to put to use what you have learned.
We all make mistakes and get things wrong but by having a
genuine desire to learn from them you can really take
advantage and move forward.
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