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Greetings All:
So it's about this time of the month of January when memorial
services are held for those New Year's Resolutions. I am not much of a
resolution guy as I think they don't really work. I do believe firmly in
goal setting and focusing in on habits and the systems you employ to make your
goals reality. As I have said before, systems are really just habits that
have shaved and put on a collared shirt.
One of the questions I ask myself in thinking about goal setting
or new (and hopefully better) habits/systems is where to begin? There are
different schools of thought on this subject. David Allen, author of Getting Things Done advocates
getting everything down on paper. As I recall, he advises taking a single
sheet of paper and writing one thing on it. Then, after you've swept out
your mind, you go through an organization process and throw out/recycle a bunch
of stuff.
It's a great system, except that one needs to commit a LOT of time
to make it work. I tried it a few times with results similar to my stints
with the Adkins Diet: The first few
hours are great. And then, it’s back to
the old to-do lists and pizza.
The challenge, at least for me, was trying to figure out
everything that I need to and (more importantly) want to do. Allen’s process is great IF you can commit
the time to it. (To learn more about
him, here is the link to his website: http://www.davidco.com/)
A few weeks back I ran across the Allen book and thumbed through a
few pages. Acknowledging that I am in no
position to attempt this program again, I put the book back on the shelf. Still, I wanted to accomplish more goal
setting. I also wanted to tie it into a
sustained, regular process, dare I say it, a system.
As I was kicking this idea around, the news was on, talking about
the security issues in Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics. I made the connection (don’t ask me how,
please, as these things just come to me)
Without further adieu, here is the idea: The Medal Stand.
At the Olympics, there are medals presented for the top three
finishers. There are a variety of
schools of thought on the significance of three. For decades in America, there were the “Big
3” auto companies. Jim Collins of the Good to Great book states, “If you have
more than three priorities, you don’t have any.” So long story short, the top three matter. Thus, the idea for the medal stand.
So, to quote The King (a/k/a Elvis Pressley) “A little less talk
and a lot more action.” Let’s put the
theory into practice. Here’s how to take
the concept of “The Medal Stand” and put it into practical application:
1. Think about the things
you want to/need to do. You can take as
long as you would like but I am a fan of limiting this to about five
minutes. This stuff is in your
short-term memory, so getting the initial stuff down on paper should not be
that hard.
2. From the list, do a
first cut of say the top five or six things.
3. Now, of this first cut,
decide what is the most important thing you need/want to do.
Example-My Upcoming Weekend.
Here’s my proposed for the medal stand:
1. Exercise both Saturday
and Sunday. This will involve both doing
two sets each day of continual sit-ups and push ups, as well as running for 2
miles as fast as I can;
2. Cleaning up my office
area. One hour each day on this
endeavor; and
3. Read and return to the
library the two books that are (ahem) overdue.
There it is, three things.
This is in addition to the various other thing that I want to do this
weekend and the typical “catch-up chores” we all do during these two days. I’ll do a follow-up post to see how I do.
Please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think
of this concept. If you’d like to share
what is on your medal stand, please do so.
Here’s to climbing your own medal stand.
Be well my friends,
Jeno
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