Commentary: Spring is a perfect season to refresh your life plan
Spring is a perfect season to refresh your life plan.
Spring is finally here! But you may have second-guessed its arrival with the past two snow storms that recently made their way through North Carolina.
Just like in life, sometimes the previous season wants to cling on, and not slip away quietly. You must remain focused on your goals and where you are heading, no matter what season your life may be in.
At the start of the New Year, I encouraged you to design S.M.A.R.T. goals in 2018, which simply means they must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Focused and Time-Driven. With 25 percent of the year gone, now is a great time to revisit your life plan, and make some calibrations to ensure you’re traveling in the right direction.
Refresh your life plan with these helpful tips:
*Start each day by reviewing your plan. I personally spend about two hours each day when I wake up reading Scripture, reviewing my goals and sorting through the mass amount of thoughts/ideas floating through my mind. It’s a great time of day to refocus on what’s most important and evaluate whether I’m successfully achieving those objectives. I deliberately schedule phone calls and meetings to start no earlier than 10 a.m. to give myself this critical quality time and I never check email when I first wake up; I’ve discovered not placing too much stress on myself when I first roll out of bed leads to increased energy, productivity and effectiveness.
*Know your personal peak energy hours. For me, it’s the morning through afternoon, so I organize my day and focus on the highest priority tasks during this period.
*Control interruptions and set boundaries. If you want to successfully achieve the goals most important to you, then you will have to avoid personal phone calls, drop-by visits from close friends and continually checking your phone for voicemails, texts, and status updates – these activities eat up valuable time.
*Focus. If you’re easily distracted like me, then you will have to deliberately organize your work environment and remove items not related to whatever the task is at the moment. Not to mention be careful of the people around you because needless chatter and gossip can be time vampires.
*Use a calendar. I often joke that if I ever lose my phone or computer, then I may be wondering around town aimlessly. I place everything on my calendar and task list, so that I can remain super focused throughout the day while not missing important calls, meetings, and commitments.
These are only a handful of tips that can help you maintain strict focus on your goals, so that you move closer to creating the life that you want. Get in the habit of reviewing your task list daily and your overall life plan/goals weekly. I hope you have enjoyed the beginning of 2018 – thank you for reading my column and I look forward to sharing more knowledge and insight as the year progresses. If you would like to share what you’re working toward in 2018, then I’d love to hear from you.
Algenon Cash is a nationally recognized speaker and the managing director of Wharton Gladden & Company, an investment banking firm. Reach him at acash@algenoncash.com
