May
23
A Great Way To Smell The Roses AND See The Garden
Posted under Goals and Goal Setting
There are times in life that we get so focused on our goals, we forget to look at the whole picture. In many cases, our focus on the goal itself obscures the other parts of our lives. Instead of taking a moment to stop and smell the metaphorical flowers along the path, we walk as quickly as we possibly can toward our destination. In some cases, we literally kick those metaphorical flowers out of the way trying to reach our goals.
We’re all guilty of ignoring things we shouldn’t be in favor of other things, but it’s a hard habit to break. For example, maybe you don’t have time to spend with your spouse throughout the week in favor of spending all of your time together on the weekend. The problem with that scenario, though, is that you’ve spent so much time ignoring your partner during the week, they no longer want to spend time with you on the weekend.
Unfortunately, life isn’t ruled by your schedule, and in order to be flexible enough to reach your goals and stop and smell those flowers along the path to that goal, these tips may be helpful.
First, make your to-do list or your schedule as flexible as possible. Put in some overflow time here and there in case your initial plan gets interrupted.
Prioritize carefully. While you shouldn’t procrastinate, you should remember that tasks that can be held until the next day should be if necessary. For example, if you have to choose between finger-painting with your three year old and finishing up that PowerPoint that could really be finished tomorrow, choose the finger-painting.
Learn to effectively multi-task. If there are activities that can be combined, do so. It will save you time in the long run. For example, if you need to chat with an employee about the project they’re working on, use an IM service instead of the phone. As you’re chatting, you may be able to finish checking your e-mail and making your schedule for the next day during the downtime between messages. Remember that you can only do so many things at once, though, as multi-tasking can get out of hand quickly.
Remember, completely being able to take control of your time is just not possible. Other things will intervene, but the more flexible, and ultimately the more organized, you are, the better you’ll be able to handle everything you need to accomplish in an effective manner. It’s possible to smell those metaphorical flowers and reach your destination, but you must balance things very carefully.
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