Adjustments

Hey y'all!

Poppin in on hump day to apologize for my MIA status. :) Have had a lot of things going on at work that have kept me tied up and have been keeping my efforts focused on eating right and getting my workouts in....those are key to achieving my goals.

A lot of the blogs I follow have been focusing on goal setting and I wanted to share with you one of the systems that works for me and perhaps it will translate to something that works for you as well. I do love the fact that we all support and help each other. I couldn't do it without you guys!

So, here is what I do...I set my goals - and I make sure I have a clear understanding of what those goals are at different milestones. Then on Sunday's (or Monday's) I fill out my Weekly Compass which is a proprietary tool Franklin Covey uses but it is basically a 8.5x3.5 inch card that has seven roles listed out and the big rocks you want to achieve every week. That probably sounds like Spanish to you (the big rocks part) but here is how it works. If you want to fill up a jar with rocks, you would start with big rocks and then fill in with little rocks right? Otherwise you have to throw in a bunch of little rocks which takes twice as long. So, you set your goals and then WEEKLY you review your goals and make sure each week you are achieving a goal toward your bigger goals.

THEN (and here is where it gets REALLY important), you must review your weekly goals when you plan your day. Make sure that every day you are doing something that will allow you to reach your weekly goals which should all roll up to your overall goals. Here is what it looks like:

The Compass card breaks your "big rocks" down by life role. So, for example, my roles are the following (with weekly goal examples):

• Wife - date night, hall closet project
• Competitor - 90% meal compliance, 100% workout compliance, research new suit options
• Account Director/Leader - blah, blah, blah
• Manager - blah, blah, blah
• Team Leader - blah, blah, blah
• Dr. Me - Make eye appt, make OB/GYN appt

You get the idea. I guess I just want to REITERATE that to achieve your goals you must think about them every day and incorporate them into you daily planning.

Reach for it. Plan for it.

MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Hope this helps! Jess

P.S. I found this article on the big rocks concept this morning and wanted to post as part of this blog. Here is a great explanation of why you need to have your big rocks figured out FIRST before you start going through the details of your day. :)

“Scheduling is how we manifest our intent on the world”
- Stephen Covey

Those of you familiar with Stephen Covey’s great read, “First Things First” will recognize the reference to placing your big rocks first. The story goes:

I attended a seminar once where the instructor was lecturing on time. At one point, he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” He reached under the table and pulled out a wide-mouth gallon jar. He set it on the table next to a platter with some fist sized rocks on it. “How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?” he asked.

After we made our guess, he said, “Okay, let’s find out.” He set one rock in the jar… then another….then another. I don’t remember how many he got in, but he got the jar full. Then he asked “is the jar full?”

Everybody looked at the rocks and said “yes”.

Then he said, “Ahhh”. He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar and the gravel went in the little spaces left by the big rocks. Then he grinned and asked once more “Is the jar full?”

By this time we were onto him. “Probably not,” we said.

“Good!” He replied. And he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went in all the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel. Once more, he looked at us and said, “Is the jar full?”

“No!” we all roared.

He said, “Good!” and he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in. He got something like a quart of water in that jar. Then he said, “Well, what’s the point?”

Somebody said, “Well, there are gaps, and if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life.”

“No,” he said, “that’s not the point. The point is if you hadn’t put the big rocks in first would you ever have gotten any of them in?”