Top 10 `Define Yourself' Tips for Increasing your Personal Effectiveness1. Set Goals: Have a clearly formulated goal that you can write down, print out and connect with on a daily basis. Please ensure this is not only SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) but also truly inspirational so that it motivates you when you say it aloud. 2. Create a Strategic Business Plan: A lot of people may have a vague goal and also work with daily to-do lists. However, to be really effective you need to bridge the divide between the overall goal and the daily actions. Approaching your goal like a business project and creating a strategic business plan on how to achieve it will give you direction in your daily activities. Think of the broad steps or strategies you need to take in order to get you to your goal. Do you need to focus on "doing research", "exploring marketing opportunities", "networking", "making a decision", "implementing the plan", etc? Once you have considered your broad steps put them in chronological order to create your plan. It is from these individual steps or strategies that your daily actions will spring. This will provide you with a clear roadmap to achieving your goal. 3. Create a Daily Action Plan: Following your strategies one by one, write a list of all the actions you need to take to fulfil your first strategy. Be as specific as you can to ensure maximum success: rather than "contact old colleagues" write "call John and arrange meeting" or "email Mary to ask about...". This will clarify for yourself what you need to do and what you are hoping to achieve by doing it. Make sure you set yourself realistic tasks and decide when you will work on what task. Endless to-do lists are de-motivating and counter-productive if you do not have the time to tick off your tasks. It is preferable to use a timetable or diary and allocate tasks to individual time slots. If you have a clear structure in place you are more likely to achieve what you set out to do. 4. Plan Ahead: Decide the night before what you would like the next day to be about and what specifically you would like to accomplish. This will ensure that you always have an overview of the day ahead and are less likely to get embroiled in last-minute fire-fighting. It will also help you get the work done as your subconscious will be stewing over some of these issues overnight. 5. Prioritise: Effective time management is about dealing with what is important, not what is urgent. Tackling apparently "urgent" issues that come up is a major factor in delaying the achievement of your goal. Be aware of this distinction when you embark on an activity that may actually detract you from your goal. 6. Maintain discipline and focus: Just do it! Stick to your plan rather than get distracted by answering incoming emails or phone calls! The best goals and plans are useless if you allow yourself to lose focus. Make sure you are constantly visually reminded of your Daily Action Plan as well as your Strategic Business Plan and your Goals so you do not lose sight of what you are working towards. 7. Less is more: do not fill up every minute of spare time with tasks and chores but allow 20% of your time to be used at your discretion, allowing for spontaneity and relaxation. This ensures that you keep your energy levels up and do not get de-motivated by overwhelming demands on yourself. 8. Delegate: If you have a team or work with other people, delegate projects or tasks to appropriate colleagues. This demonstrates trust and confidence in their abilities and will ensure they remain motivated while allowing you to concentrate on the key projects you are working on. 9. Acknowledge Yourself: Many of us tend to be quite hard on ourselves and keep focusing on what has not yet been achieved. Get into the habit of acknowledging yourself for all the things you have accomplished during the day. Set aside a couple of minutes at the end of your working day to remind yourself of all your successes. These could range from completing your set tasks to keeping your cool in the face of stress and pressure or making a difference to somebody else. 10. Embark on a self-coaching programme: Make a clear commitment to work on yourself by embarking on a self-coaching programme. Make yourself accountable and use the discipline and power of daily writing to make your goals, actions and insights really stick. You can choose a comprehensive life coaching programme or one of my dedicated packages on Career, Wealth, Relationship, Weight or Spirituality. Posted by Dr Clara Seeger (CIAC, MAC) http://claraseeger.coachinginteractive.com Follow me on Twitter! | 
