C a r e e r Z e n
by Larry Daly, 'The JOB DOC'
Chapter 4. Setting Your Career and Life GOALS
If you want to get raises, promotions, and better jobs, reach the top of your profession, become wealthy or famous, perform some athletic feat, or achieve some other difficult goal, or just be happy, in charge of your own life, you must first define that goal, to make it happen. Setting your own goals is not difficult. I'll show you how, right now.
Defining Your Goals
For many people, this is today's most difficult problem. New careers appear and old ones vanish every day. Goal-setting and planning for careers and personal life in a world where there are so many options and everything keeps changing so fast is like living in Alice's Wonderland, where one must run twice as fast just to stay in place. You don't want to get stuck in the wrong one! Not to worry. I can show you several good solutions.First, the world is changing so rapidly that those of you who have 30 or more work years ahead will most likely have at least three different careers in your work life. So making a mistake on the first one isn't the end of the world, just a learning experience. You'll have two more chances (and maybe more, if you always follow my Careering Rule One) so don't cry yet.
Second, plan ahead in your continuing personal and career education, to stay ahead of change, and to lead it, if you can.
Third, knowing what is going on around you and around your career (by the weekly use of my 26 item Career Context exercise, above in Chapter Three) will help you see where change is going, what is heating up and what is cooling down, so you can plan. It gives you the widest possible knowledge - base, from which you can build for yourself a global overview.
The following is a powerful method that helps you decide exactly what you want to achieve in your life, and then helps you create the framework of plans and sub - goals that will guide you to those achievements.
This method provides a structured approach to setting goals in ALL areas of your life. You start with your big lifetime dreams, and then work down through a series of shorter term plans until you reach your weekly and daily To Do checklists of small, easy things that you complete each day to move toward your lifetime goals. Your Personality Profile, Interest and Experience Inventory, biography, and this planning method, all help you define what is most important to you, so you avoid getting hung up on trivia and keep moving decisively toward career and personal success.
Setting Your Career Goals
A few people know for certain at age five that they want to be firefighters or ballerinas, and stick to it. The rest of us need years to make this important decision, after long self-exploration, experience, and some study, and discussion with parents and others. The following sensible system has worked well for many people, and will help you, too.First off, 'The Future' is too big and scary and vague, as a whole. Let's chop it down into several bite-sized parts: a career goal, a financial goal, a health goal, and so forth. Then we can tackle each part separately. That makes it so much easier. Try this list on for size, now, then tailor it for yourself:
1. CAREER / BUSINESS (/ occupation / vocation)Start with a stack of 14 or more blank pages of standard white 8½ by 11 inch typing or computer paper.
2. FINANCIAL
3. PHYSICAL / HEALTH
4. FAMILY
5. ATTITUDE
6. SOCIAL GOAL(S)
7. ARTISTIC
8. PUBLIC SERVICE
9. EDUCATION
10. PLEASURE
11. EMOTIONAL
12. INTELLECTUAL
13. PHILOSOPHICAL/RELIGIOUS
14. TRAVEL / VACATION
15. _____________________On the FIRST PAGE, centered top and bottom and right and left, in big bold letters, write your career goal, if you know it now, or leave it blank until you do. For instance, on my first page, it says, as my goal (I haven't gotten there yet, but I'm close!), 'World's Best Personal Career Coach'.
Title page 2: "RETIREMENT GOALS, After 65" (or your chosen retirement age - enter the numbers appropriate for your present age and age goals). On this page, copy the above list of categories, with 3 or 4 spaces between each item for writing several lines of your desires. See the Ideas, Prompts and Examples below on how to fill them in:
Title page 3: "MAJOR GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE AGE 65" (prior to retirement), and copy the same list again.
Title page 4: "PLANNER to AGE 50 (Items in these categories to be completed by my birthday: _____)", and copy the same list again.
Title page 5: "PLANNER to AGE 40 (to be done by my birthday: _______)", and the list again.
Title page 6: "PLANNER to AGE 30 (to be done by my birthday: _______)", and the list again.
Title page 7: "FIVE YEAR PLANNER (tasks to be completed within dates ______ TO ______ )" List again.
Title page 8: "PLANNER for the NEXT YEAR (To be done by my birthday, _____)" Same list.
Title page 9: "PLANNER FOR NEXT SIX MONTHS Date: _______to:______" Same list
Title page 10: "TO DO IN THE NEXT THREE MONTHS By date ____" Same list
Title page 11: "TO DO THIS MONTH by date _____" Same list
Title page 12: "Weekly TO-DO LIST for week of _____" Same list
Title page 13: Daily To Do Checklist
[Obviously, you will use up the monthly and weekly and daily pages faster, so make extra copies of these blank form pages. If you want a full set of all my forms, already printed out, so all you have to do is fill them in, or on 3.5" disks for your PC (no MAC), just call. (212) 876.5483]
Filling In The Forms
Over the next few weeks, as you review this list several times, and think about your career and life goals and interim steps and stages, ideas and desires will come to you (sometimes at 4:00 A.M.?). Write them in under the appropriate headings on the appropriate pages, and watch your plan begin to build itself.Most people take months, but don't worry if it takes you less or longer for the long term parts to jell.
Then, or as you go along, begin to fill in the nearer goals accordingly, and work out how to achieve them, down to the weekly and daily planning stages. Then begin to schedule and take the appropriate actions.
For instance, in the Retirement and age 65 and age 50 pages your goals will likely be quite vague and general.
In the Midlife 40- and 30-Year Plan pages they will become more specific, but not detailed yet, and broken down to major things that should be accomplished to achieve your later goals.
In the 5 Year Plan and closer pages, your goals should be broken down into smaller 'bite-sized' parts more achievable than in your later plans, and show what should be achieved if you are to stay on course for your later plans. Remember that you don't need to define all the steps needed to reach your later plans here - only those items that you want to achieve in the next 5 years. This plan will be used to prepare your more detailed 1 year plan.
In your 1 Year Plan will be items based on the 5 year plan you have already worked out. As before, all the goals should be even smaller and easier to achieve than in your 5 year plan. You should select items in each category that you are able to achieve over the next year, not all the details of reaching your 5 year plan.
The monthly, weekly, and daily to-do lists will be the specific tasks and details of what to do at that time.
Goal Ideas, Prompts, and Some Examples:
Here are some things to consider in entering specific goals and items in each category of the list.1. CAREER: Enter your most important career achievement goal in this category. What is the highest career level that you want to reach? How much do you want to be earning when you get there? What do you want to be doing at work? When do you want to retire? Examples: [a] To be Managing Director by the age of 50; [b] To be securely and stably employed with a reasonable income so that I can support my family comfortably; [c] To have made $25,000,000 by 01/01/2020; [D] To have created a pleasant and safe home for my family; [On the Retirement Page, write out a reasonable career goal, anything at all right now ( for practice - later you can refine it, or even change it if necessary), and break it down to parts in the appropriate age lists]:
2. FINANCIAL Enter your most important lifetime financial goal here. This might be the earning of a particular salary by a particular date or might be the amassing of a specified amount of wealth as a result of some activity, or owning a home with a specific value, etc. This might be the same as your career goal. Examples: [A] To have made $25,000,000 by 01/01/2025; [B] To have at least $50,000 per year to enjoy during my retirement; [C] To earn enough to send all my kids through college; etc.
3. PHYSICAL / HEALTH Enter your most important lifetime physical or health goal here. This might be winning a particular championship, might be the achieving of a particular feat, or might be the sustaining of a particular level of fitness. It might just be 'to be healthy, fit and mobile', where other categories of goal are more important. Examples: [A] To be Southern States karate champion; [B] To stay fit by running at least 10 miles each week; [c] To be fit, healthy, and mobile until at least 75 years old; [D] To stay slim and attractive by eating well and keeping to my exercise program; [E] To reach and maintain a weight of about 205 lbs., by taking up aerobics; etc.
4. FAMILY Enter your most important family or personal relationship goal here. Examples: [A] To be a good parent to my two happy, confident, well-adjusted children; [B] To ensure that I give my children at least one quality hour each day; [C] To always be available to my family to support and nurture them; etc.
5. ATTITUDE Enter here the most important attitude that you want to achieve through your life - if there is a side to your personality you want to improve, or a particular outlook you want to attain above all others throughout your life, then enter it here. Examples: [A] To always keep an open mind about all people I meet for the first time, and only form opinions based on their performance; [B] To maintain an optimistic and dynamic approach to problem solving; [C] To remember to treat problems as opportunities; [D] To understand that I don't need to feel guilty when I enjoy myself; [E] To maintain the self-discipline needed to continue improving my mind; [F] To make sure that people are pleased to have done business with me; [G] to remain always serene; etc.
6. SOCIAL GOAL(S) Use this to set lifetime social goals to achieve, regarding your relationships with friends and colleagues. How many friends do you want, of what backgrounds, seeing them how frequently, and with what depth of relationship? If you want many friends, maybe you'll have difficulty having the time to get to know them individually in any depth. Examples: [A] To have a small group of friends who I know very well, and respect, and who respect and like me; [B] To know at least one hundred people well, and to go out to at least two dinner parties each week; etc.
7. ARTISTIC Enter your most important artistic or self-expressive goal here. Examples: [A] To have won the Booker Prize; [B] To have exhibited my sculpture in the Hayward Gallery; [C] To brighten up my neighborhood with my murals; [D] To learn how to paint landscapes in watercolor; etc.
8. PUBLIC SERVICE Enter here your most important lifetime goals relating to the way in which you contribute to your community, however you may choose to define that. This category includes charitable contributions, work and time dedicated to a cause, or political work, or any other activity from which others may benefit. Examples: [A] To continue writing at least two sets of human rights appeals per month; [B] To set up and run an inner city youth project; [C] To help old people with shopping in the local community; [D] To organize fund-raising campaigns for cancer research; [E] To fund scholarships for poor children to high-powered education institutions; etc.
9. EDUCATION Enter here your main lifetime educational goal: not only courses and exams to take, but also your continuing self-education and maintenance of accurate up-to-date knowledge. Examples: [A] To read the Economist each week; [B] To stay up-to-date with all papers published in my field; [C] To always know how to use the latest data retrieval methods available; [D] To become an authority on 19th Century French literature; [E] To ensure that I am always using the best practice known in my job; etc.
10. PLEASURE Enter here the most important pleasure goal that you want to achieve. This is an activity or goal purely for you, directed entirely at your own personal pleasure. If you're following all the other parts of your life plan, and what you do does not seriously hurt anyone else, then you've earned this! You may choose just to allocate time to do whatever you want to do at the time, being purely spontaneous rather than planning it. Examples: [A] To put aside at least one evening each week to doing whatever I want to do at the time; [B] To sample as many different wines from around the world as possible; [C] To ensure that I have a specific time each day just to sit down and relax; etc. [See REWARDS, at the end, also.]
11. EMOTIONAL Examples: To learn to control my moods, develop enthusiasm, reject pessimism, remain cheerful no matter what happens, because people do not like to see sad or angry face. To chart my emotional cycles so I can be most efficient at the most important work at the peak of my cycles and make the least mistakes at the lowest part of my cycles. To learn my emotional triggers, and learn how to control them, so others cannot take advantage of me through manipulating them.
12. INTELLECTUAL Examples: Books to read, courses to take on improving my thinking abilities (different from those for information or knowledge). [A] To keep up with the newest advances in the study of the mind and body and emotions. [B] To write a book, or [C] become a chess Grand Master.
13. PHILOSOPHICAL/RELIGIOUS Examples: To understand why people must believe in Supreme Beings. To translate the Bible into modern day AMEN (AMerican ENglish), and explain all of the recorded miracles in terms of technology brought by an alien humanoid species visiting earth at that time, which must have seemed miraculous to the primitive peoples living then. To separate moral principles from religious origins.
14. TRAVEL / VACATION Examples: Maintain my list of places to go someday, perhaps as retirement locations, or for vacations, etc. And as background to understanding news in general and my career in relationship to the context of other nations. [If Travel and Pleasure are the same goal to you, you might want to combine them as one category.]
15. _____________ Here is space for any other goal you wish to achieve in your life. Add more category lines if necessary.
In customizing this list you may add more categories or delete some of these or rearrange your list in any order you see as the most practical sequence for you. This is your life planning tool, not mine or anyone else's, to be used by you, as you decide best for your own lifetime and purposes.
Additional Notes
Each goal you set should be as precise as possible: not just 'Make Money', but specify a particular amount you really would like to have by a certain date, such as "Accumulate $10,000,000.00 net worth by my birthday in 2010", or, perhaps better, earn at least 20% more each year. Goals are easier to achieve if they are small and incremental rather than large and unattainable - you can slowly 'tick off' a series of small goals as you achieve each of them, maintaining a feeling of progress, rather than facing discouragement when you seem not to be making any progress toward attaining a huge goal. Much of what you are doing here is breaking down your goals from huge and overwhelming targets into small, achievable steps.The moment you have decided your lifetime plan, you can start turning it into achievable goals. As you break these big impossible dreams down into bite-sized parts (sub-goals you want to achieve by 50, then 40, then 30, then in 5 years, by next year, within 6 months, 1 month, this week, and today), each step or task becomes smaller, more manageable, and easier to achieve. By the time you have thought through the actions you need to do this month to achieve your lifetime dreams, your planned daily tasks should be comfortably achievable. For example: 'Be a good father' in your lifetime plan becomes "Give the kids more of my personal time" in your next year plan, then to 'Take children to zoo Saturday' in your next week checklist, and 'Be fit and mobile' in your lifetime plan becomes 'Give up smoking' in your one month plan, and 'Buy a motivational book' in your daily to-do checklist. In other words, you go from general wish and hope and theory and big picture scope with no detail, down to specific actions and tasks on a practical weekly and daily level.
This method makes sure that you complete most of the little tasks with very little effort or stress, and get them done, and on time. But if you find this too easy, make the tasks bigger and tougher, so they are still a challenge, not boring you so you quit, but not so large they intimidate or discourage you. Seek balance, excitement, anticipation, challenge, and personal satisfaction in using this system.
Don't set goals you can't achieve - doing so will only depress and discourage you. Nor should goals be excessively easy. Each step should be difficult enough to maintain interest, enthusiasm, and a sense of being stretched, while not being so difficult and exhausting that you burn yourself out doing it. Know your capabilities. By running through the plan defining process I describe here, you not only decide how you are going to achieve your dreams, but also work out how to 'pace yourself', and see how your dreams can be made practical and realizable. If you truly cannot achieve some desire in real life, as is, you may see how to bring it down a notch or two, so you can achieve 95% of it. Or maybe something better.
Remember that the world changes. Dreams, plans and goals that interest you now may be obsolete, or no longer interesting, in 5 years time. Don't be afraid of making substantial revisions to your plans if they no longer appear practical or desirable.
Remember that this method is a tool to help you in your life. It is not a master telling you what to do. If you become anxious about it telling you what you have failed to achieve, then you are probably setting goals for yourself that are too difficult. Revise your plans accordingly. If you are achieving long term goals very quickly, then you probably need to set harder, more challenging goals. Revise your plans to make them fit your abilities and situation.
By keeping and using your weekly and daily planner and to-do checklists right along with the routine tasks that you must carry out in the rest of your daily life and work, you keep your long-term life goals an active part of your everyday life, and in your mind at all times, as a compass for every act and decision you make every day.
Nobody wins all the time. Everybody has weaknesses. Everybody who has ever tried to achieve anything has made mistakes. The important thing is to learn from failure, avoid making the same mistake again, and recognize, and compensate or work around your weaknesses. If you haven't failed at something, and haven't made mistakes, then you probably haven't tried to achieve goals of any real worth.
Some Pertinent Facts About Planning Your Life
FACT 1: You CAN control your future. Not always 100%, but 75% to 90%, which is much better than hoping and guessing and being at the mercy of every wind and other person. Outside events and other people will affect your future also, and will often present temporary problems to be worked around, but they need not derail you completely, or even substantially, once you know where you want to go, what you want to do, keep it in the front of your mind, work on it every day, and you are sincerely determined to get there or do it.FACT 2: To determine your future, you must select one or more goals. It is in the achieving of those goals that your future develops. To not set your own goals is to allow the defaults of chance, accident, or the needs and wants of others, to determine your future for you. To go along with peer pressure, or to simply avoid commitment because it appears to limit your options, usually leads to a wasted and painful life; you will be confused and angry and resentful against society and yourself. Your life is yours. It does not belong to anyone else. So you can do something with it, no matter what, for yourself. By choosing something that you feel worth your time and effort (no matter how distant, no matter how absurd or imaginative or strange it may seem to others, as long as you want it) you are already moving forward! If you absolutely can not choose even one goal in the life areas on my list, then choose one of the other goals just for practice, to build self-discipline and confidence, until you can define a whole set of life goals of your own.
FACT 3: This method makes setting goals almost easy. But it still takes your time and thought and effort. Nothing good in life is free. How can your personal Support Team help?
FACT 4: Your goals do not lock you in, do not imprison you. You can change goals at any time. They are your goals, alone, not the goals of other people, though you may often align with others and may have the same goals and may work together to achieve some of them. Your goals are only your way of saying what you want to do with your life, your body, your mind, your heart, your future. You would not be human if you didn't change your mind sometimes, whether about dinner tonight or life goals forty years away, but some structure is better than none, for a start. At the very least, you can realize and work to avoid what you don't want; a negative goal is better than none, but a positive is better than a negative, and a balanced set of achievement / avoidance goals is quite sensible.
FACT 5: Your goals may be formal or informal, one or several, or otherwise, as you wish in your life, but you must specify them in advance, so you know where you are going in your life. You will often make changes, in detail if not concept, as you go along. This is a result of growth and learning more as you complete one step after another and see a better path or match between your abilities and a certain desired career position or other achievement. But setting that final goal as a guiding light will keep you on track, in spite of all the little problems and changes along the way.
FACT 6: Your final destination determines what you have to do between here and there, now and then. For instance, if you want to take a trip to Paris, you must get a passport, buy a ticket, pack your luggage, get to the ship or plane, and board it. Steps. Tasks. Same in your career and personal life: you work backward from your final goals to interim stages and steps, then make a detailed daily "to-do checklist" in order to complete all the necessary tasks, in logical order, to not miss or forget anything.
FACT 7: You must take action. Dreaming isn't enough. Words and promises are not enough. Thinking and wishing and hoping and planning are all essential, but not enough. Making a to-do list is pointless if you just throw it away when completed. Do it. Follow through, to achieve a power punch.
Step-By-Step Details
STEP 1: What do you think you might like to be known as or famous for at the peak of your career, or at or close to retirement age? Would you like to be remembered for or known as a famous artist or author, a corporate chairman, a successful rebel or philosopher, a wealthy philanthropist, a president or congressman or statesman or world banker or dedicated doctor or researcher or discoverer of some great help for mankind, or military general or a political or social leader, or what? What will they write about you in the history books? You don't want people to say of you, "He avoided all responsibility, even for himself, and was pushed around all his life by fate and others, because he did not want to be tied down by having to do anything or be committed to anything - so by avoiding control, he was controlled every day by others - a real jerk." What would you like them to read about you? Write out your own epitaph, making a nice sign of it, and put it up on your wall, as a guiding light. Then look up at it every day, and work hard to make it come true.For instance, I want people to say about me: "Larry Daly helped others go much farther in their lives than he did in his, and helped save them from wasting their time and making the same stupid mistakes he made."
You might consider something like: "As a great music journalist, reporter and historian, this man opened the world of rock music to many who otherwise would have missed much of that joy in their lives." Rewrite that paragraph to fit yourself and your likes, interests, motivations, etc., by filling in the blanks: "As a great _____<title or life work>, this man <did, achieved>___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ <action and result>."
Ask yourself 'What is fundamentally important to me?', 'What would I lay down my life to defend?', 'What are my ambitions?', 'What gives me a real sense of achievement and self-worth?', and other questions like these.
If you feel 'blocked', try writing down the first thing that comes to mind, for a starting point, however silly or pretentious it may seem: nobody else will see these goals - they are for you alone, and you will change or give them a different emphasis as you change and grow as a person. This is only a first step, only a starting point for your growth toward lifetime goals and structure and accomplishment and personal and career success, as you define it for yourself. Take the time you need to decide precisely what your lifetime dreams are. The process will be difficult, and may require some self-discipline to complete. However once you have completed this first and most vital step, everything else will fall into place in your life.
This big final goal might be 25 work years away in the life of a 20-year-old, but it helps him select a particular mountain he can climb, to be at that peak at that time, when he is 45 years old, the prime of his life, and gets him started doing something now, to be there then. It does not rule out other mountains, or even say you must get to the peak of that mountain, but simply helps set your personal compass for direction. Where do you want your compass to point?
Then, working backward from there, up the corporate ladder or through your art shows and sales, or the stages of government appointments or elections, or any other career path, you can set subordinate goals for where you would have to be at age 40 to be there, then see what you would have to be doing at age 30 to be at the age 40 goal, etc., working down to 5-year goals, then 1-year goals, then 6-month and 3-month and next month goals, to then make your weekly and daily to-do checklists for tasks and detail follow through.
On the appropriate page, write down this lifetime peak career goal, with some description of what it would be like to be there, living that life and enjoying those benefits, whatever they may be and mean to you. To help you do this, spend a few minutes daydreaming about that life, imagining the wildest and most extremely successful scenario, then bring it down just a little, toward real life.
STEP 2: That was for your career goal on that page. Now do the same for your financial goal, your family goal, and other areas of your life, also on that page.
STEP 3: Now go to the next page, and put in some notes about what you might want to do or be by age 40, in order for you to get to the final goals.
STEP 4: Go to the next page and make any appropriate notes about where you want to be or what you must do by age 30 to get to the age 40 levels. Should you have completed your Masters or Doctorate in the field of expertise you have selected? Should you be teaching it? Have you written your nth book or article, shown your photos or paintings at so many shows, made so much money toward your goal, purchased enough land, hired enough people, or whatever else you will need by this date? Should you own property and a vacation home? Or what?
STEP 6: Now, on the next page make notes about what you have to do or be within the next five years, toward those goals.
NOTE: Don't worry about most of these pages being empty - you will take months, maybe years, at this ongoing planning process, come back to it again and again, make changes, see the practical side of things when doing something else, and so forth, and fill in the appropriate notes on the appropriate pages as you go along. This is not a one - time action, but a lifelong process. You are only starting now. This is only opening the first door and taking the first steps on your lifelong planning process journey into your personal future. Keep your career and life plan handy and work on it regularly.
STEP 7. Now write on the next page some things that you should have done by this day next year to get to your 5-year list goals. Have you enroled in certain vital courses or completed your thesis or found a publisher or what? If you are ahead, congratulate yourself, have a party, buy something you want as a personal reward, and keep it up. If you are a little behind your schedule, should you break your goals down into smaller chunks to do faster? Should you get more help? Do you need advice or facilities or what, to help you catch up, or at least not fall farther behind? Or should you readjust your 5-year goals? Are you on the right track? What will help you get there? How can you get it, or do it? That is what this planning system is for, to work out all those little lifetime career progress bugs, not let them stop you or derail you into something you don't want to do, not let you give up. Keep your eyes on your goal. Always remember that everything we do, every one of us, all our lives, is in the context of other people in this world. Peopling may be the most valuable art and science you can learn, so cultivate every person you can, to hook up with others going your way, get others to help you, get around those blocking you, who to affiliate with, etc. Are there groups and associations you should join to find and meet valuable people for your career? Should you start joining them now, this year? Put it down.
STEP 8: On the next page write down some things you must do within 6 months to fulfill your annual 1-year goals.
STEP 9. On your 3-month page note what steps are to be listed, outlined, detailed, to fulfill your 6-month goals.
STEP 10: On the next page write down what has to be started or completed by next month at this time. Must you have registered for a course, gotten financial papers completed and sent in, received your business license, insured your business vehicle, dug a foundation or purchased lumber to build your house, or what? Put it down.
STEP 11: Now you can start to generate your weekly TO-DO CHECKLIST. Start taking action on those things that must be completed or started by this day next week, or on the date you write next to each item. Check off each item as it is completed (and note next to it the actual date it was done).
NOTE: Do you keep a diary? DO IT. Start now. If you do not have a personal planner, get one this week (put it down on your daily to-do checklist right now - stop reading and do it right now, and then come back to this). Get used to recording your daily activities and ideas and thoughts and discoveries as you go along, toward your goals. Years from now when you want to remember those details, who you met for what purpose, what date you paid a bill, where you went for what purpose, this will be a goldmine. I personally like the Day Runner best, but you choose any that works best for you and start using it, and keep using it, every day. Page a day is best, even if you never use a whole page. Later you can write what you should have done on that page, maybe in a different color ink (red?) and thus learn from it not to make that same mistake again. Write down in your personal planner every idea and thought and realization you get, every problem to be solved, every person you meet, all your personal events, needs, career options, discoveries, your feelings about things, moods (so you learn your emotional cycle in order to plan to do important things on your peak days), and so forth. Maybe create a sort of daily check list that folds over each daily page, to remind you.
STEP 12: Now, looking at your next week checklist, write down on your to-do list only 3 things that you should do today to complete that list. Q. Why only 3 things? A. To help you prioritize, and to keep your list from overwhelming you. A list with 10 or 20 things on it looks long and hard. Whether it is or not, a long list discourages most people. It's okay if there are 20 things on your Next Week list, because if you do only 3 of them each day between now and then, you will have completed them all! But for each daily list, choose only 3 things to do. When you complete these 3, perhaps by noon, then you may add 3 more you can do in the afternoon, but don't start out with 6, only 3. If you do those next 3 also, great! If not, start tomorrow's DO IT TODAY checklist with those not yet done, and when they are done, add 3 more. And so on. If you really have a fire in your gut to do something more, go ahead, but beware of burnout. Getting a little ahead of your schedule is fine, but you might also balance these by studying, meeting people, taking a day off, or doing other things helpful but not already on your lists though related to your goals. Making it a personal rule to look at your list several times every day and do those 3 things every day that you have written down the evening before, will keep you cool and on track.
Now write those 3 things on tomorrow's TO-DO TODAY Checklist that you will be carrying with you tomorrow in your wallet or purse or personal planner, so they are ready to be done first thing tomorrow.
STEP 13: Now you will do the most important thing of all. On Page 1 (and on the cover of your lifetime planning book), you will now write down a three to five word description of your major lifetime career goal, in large letters. Really big big letters. Really neatly. Centered top and bottom, right and left, in the middle of the whole page, like a great big newspaper headline, where you can't miss it every time you look at your book. Your goal must be very simple and clear: WORLD FAMOUS DIPLOMAT BEST-SELLING AUTHOR MUSIC HISTORY PROFESSOR @ COLUMBIA Reduce your goal to those one or two or five words, and no more. Allow space for your name. BUT do not dare put your name there, yet. You have not yet earned or achieved that honor. It is still in the future, so just put that goal on the cover, so you can see it and keep it in mind every hour of every day of your life, as motivation. When you are actually doing that thing or career, then you can put your name there, and connect it to yourself. For now, it is only a distant mountain. Paste a picture of a mountain under or above it, if you wish, to remind you of this relationship between you and that future title or goal.
Finally, bind and get clear covers for your book. A screw pin or other binding that will let you add pages. You will be adding a lot of pages, as you go along, using this book in the years ahead. At 365 pages a year, you will write a big book every year, doing just one page a day. Keep this book on your desk every day, and each day make your notes in it, and make up your WEEKLY and TODAY to-do checklists from it. A pocket in back might keep loose papers, or get a paper punch so you can bind important documents in it. A divider system may be necessary in a few months, but for right now you have only these few pages in it, so it will be thin and simple and easy to use: Front page: goal and motivation. Second page: today to-do list generator. (When you have begun to use it, and need it handy, move your daily and weekly to-do list generators up front.) Remaining pages stepping from future goal and vision down to practical details at each stage.
Together, this book and your planner will help you discover and define your goals, and help you get there, to make your life and career the success you want.
The Secret of Success: Rewarding Yourself
All of the above is your planning system. But it means nothing at all if you just file it away and forget it.If you understand how it works and that it does work, you will most likely put it into effect, and take action, but most people slack off after a while, for one major reason: There is no immediate personal pleasure in it.
RULE: The secret to making any system work is having an immediate enjoyable personal reward for all your hard work and self discipline.
Creating Your Own Personal Reward System
What are some things you like most in life? Some people like to sleep, and the greatest self-reward in the world to them is an afternoon nap. Others like to eat, and a snack (or a 9-course meal) satisfies them better than anything else. Others like an hour stroll in the woods, or window shopping, or collecting best. Some people save and pinch all year for a 2-week annual vacation in the sun at a resort, and others for an arduous mountain climb, or camping trip, or voyage. Some people fantasize about a weekly orgy, others about attending a monthly club meeting, or an outing with friends. What sports fan does not want to attend an important game, at home or away? Some people live for solitude, and others live to party. Some want a new car every year, and others want to get away from traffic. Some would virtually live in the zoo, or a museum, if they could. Others are not happy unless they hunt and shoot, either targets or live game. Some live to accumulate tennis trophies and others for Broadway shows or dance contests or ice-skating exhibitions. For some, an hour with a friend is the best part of the day, and for others the evening tv news hour, maybe with a beer or highball, is all that makes life worth living. The young might like to hang in the mall with their gang, and the elderly may prefer gardening or reading a classic or the latest thriller. Women may like to shop for jewelry, and men for tools and gadgets.Everybody is different. That's why you have to make up your own personal rewards list, just like your goals lists.
List below the things you like best, for your own rewards list. Only 3 things you like to do in each category.
Just 3 things you would really like to do in the annual vacation type of context.
Just 3 things you would really like to do sometime each month.
Just 3 things you would really like to do each week.
And 3 things you would really like to do each day.
These 12 things should all be proven pleasures, things that you know you like, from experience, rather than what others suggest for you to do, or things you have never done, and may turn out to be not quite the rewards you expect and need. If your pleasure is not guaranteed, you will not see this reward system as being the motivator it could be.
Add and delete from these reward lists until you are happy with them. Do not allow anyone else to influence or make choices for you, or even to see your lists. Keep this private to yourself, lest a well-intended remark or accident ruin the process for you. Above all, do not put something on your lists because it 'should' be there. That is guaranteed to ruin it thoroughly. This is to reward you and you only, not your parents, your spouse, your friends, your boss, the president, the pope, or anyone else, just you.
You will probably take time to build each reward list. Then you will change it over time as you find that your reward desires change. That is good. It shows you are learning more about yourself. And growing.
My Daily Reward
1.
2.
3.My Weekly Reward
1.
2.
3.My Monthly Reward
1.
2.
3.My Annual Reward
1.
2.
3.
Each day you can do one of them, out of the daily list, after you have made out tomorrow's To Do List.Each week you can do one of them, out of the weekly list, after you have made out your next week To-Do.
Each month, you can do one of them, out of the monthly list, as reward for completing a substantial career-oriented task.
And, of course, each year, you do one of them out of the yearly list.
But only if you have earned these rewards.
Only if you have done something good. If you reward yourself for nothing, just because you want some pleasure right now, this method will not work. Probably no system or method in the world will work for such a weak person. You must understand that you reward yourself only if you earn and deserve a reward. That is where self-discipline comes in.
Self-Discipline
Self-discipline is tough. For most of us it is the hardest thing in the world to do. Those trying to diet, quit smoking, and so forth, can testify to this. That is why most of us need the buddy system. If you can not discipline yourself, you must work with another, or others, helping each other build self-discipline, practicing it until you can use your personal self-reward list effectively, and do other things that require control over yourself. (My Personal Career Coaching Program can really help you in this, and in setting up your own personal Support Team. 212.876.5483.)Setting realistic goals is important, in order to measure your progress. With some progress seen, no matter how small, we become more optimistic about further progress, and without some measure, negative thoughts, worry, and pessimism can get in. These goals must be important to you, and must be realistic. She will fit into her size 8 dress again. He will win the club race if he can quit smoking, and get that club trophy, and people will recognize and respect him. You must choose real-life goals valuable to you.
Knowing your psychological type is helpful again: you can choose the best buddy type, goals, methods to use, and so forth, for your optimum self-discipline support.
This is such a personal area, and so critical to your own personal success in achieving self-discipline, that no book can do it justice, so find yourself a good discipline coach and trust him or her completely. It can be done. Thousands of others have done it, so you can, too. I have a very workable system, so call me today at (212) 876-5483 to make an appointment.
Now that you know your goals, or at least some of them, you can complete your Personal Inventory Learning List (PILL), and be prepared for your trip ahead in life.
End of Chapter Four
Click HERE to go to Chapter 5
Click HERE to go to the Introduction
Click HERE to go to Table of Contents
Click HERE to go to Chapter 1 Your Career, your Life Work
Click HERE to go to Chapter 2 People Study
Click HERE to go to Chapter 3 Your Career in Context
Click HERE to go to Chapter 4 Setting Your Career and Life Goals
Click HERE to go to Chapter 5 Long Term Career Development
Click HERE to go to Chapter 6 Career Strategies and Tactics
Click HERE to go to Chapter 7 Realistic Expectations
Click HERE to go to Chapter 8 Your Personal Career Support Team
Click HERE to go to Chapter 9 Team Management; Research and Writing
Click HERE to go to Chapter 10 How to become an Expert
Click HERE to go to Chapter 11 Miscellaneous, and Executive Summary
Click HERE to go to Chapter 12 Your Personal Career Research Resources
Click HERE to go to Chapter 13 Those Awful People At Work Problems
Click HERE to go to Chapter 14 Assumptions and Expectations
Click HERE to go to Appendices
Click HERE to go to Bibliography
Click HERE to go to Index
Click HERE to go to Personal Career Coaching FAQ
Click HERE to return to my HomePage, to access COP and other documents
Careerists, please contact me directly to obtain your own personal printed copy of Career Zen, more complete and up to date, especially with the latest on Internet career information sources and research. Note that Career Zen is privately published, is only for my clients, and is not available in any bookstore or from any other source.
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