Special Report! Top 10 Time Management Booby-Traps in Goal Setting.

“Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait. The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don’t count.” — Dr. Robert Anthony

In my mind, the only way to reach a goal is to put in the necessary actions that lead to success. Actions take time. So if you don’t put in the time, the actions don’t get done.

I remember several years ago being angry and cursing the world saying “It’s just not fair! Why haven’t I broken $40,000 a year yet? Why is this so hard?”

But then I did an accounting. I wrote down how much time and effort I had spent every day taking specific action toward reaching my goal income. What I found was surprising.

I put maybe 2 hours per week one week, zero hours the week prior and 1 hour the week before that. How enlightening that discovery! Three hours of work wasn’t worth an additional $10,000 per year.

Keeping an account of the time you put in is crucial to avoiding the delusion of “working hard” when you aren’t really working.

Last night I was reading a post by Darren Rowse at ProBlogger about blogging for money. Darren says he puts 40-60 hours per week of work into blogging. That’s 40-60 hours! Isn’t that telling? Doesn’t that explain why he makes more than a full time income from his blogging ventures? Sixty hours is serious time in. And he is being paid accordingly.

So what’s the difference between someone who puts in the time and the one who doesn’t? The one who takes action has an effective time management plan. The other either doesn’t have a plan or is consistently messing up his plan.

Here are the mistakes, errors and outright blunders I see some newbies (and not so new people) make cure them and you’ll amaze yourself at what you can accomplish.

1. Not Putting in the necessary time – Isn’t it a bit insane for someone wanting to lose 50 pounds to spend 0 minutes each week exercising or eating healthy? There she sits complaining about being too fat, yet not putting in any time toward the actions that we all know take off weight.

Here’s how to put in the proper time: Obviously the first step in effectively managing your goal time is getting busy. I assume you have plenty of distractions from your goals such as a day job, family, friends and hobbies. These should be carefully weighed against the potential outcome of achieving your goal.

In other words should you put forth 12 hours per day working a job for someone else in order to make them more successful? Or would your time be better spent working 8 hours for the equivalent or a little less pay so you have time to achieve your goals?

A few jobs ago when I made that personal decision, it was tough. I felt the pressure of other people’s expectations – I had a manager tell me she was disappointed in me and my yearly “increases” went down from 5% to 3%. Boo-hoo. But on the other side of the coin, my personal business STOMPED that, who cares about a measly $700 increase a year when a side business can bring in that much or more a week?

To quote a Bible phrase, don’t trade your “birthright for a mess of pottage.” (Gen 25:34)

2. Not knowing how much time to invest – How much daily action does it take to lose 50 pounds in 6 months? How much time each day would you have to work to create a part time business that increased your income by 30%?

If you can’t answer the amount of time required for your goal, how can you possibly commit to an effective daily action? Committing time is vague without a set number of minutes or hours. You absolutely must know how much time it will take each day. Otherwise, you are relying on luck, inspiration or fleeting motivation.

How to decide on the amount of time to invest

Hey, I’m here to tell you, inspiration and motivation are fair weather friends – they rarely show up to your party. And luck? Forgettaboutit. Luck is what happens when preparedness meets opportunity. It’s best to just get busy.

The mistake of counting on inspiration or not knowing the time necessary prevents you from measuring your results.

We’ve probably all heard the saying “you get out what you put in.” If you aren’t putting in, how can you expect to get out? To avoid this mistake, simply research, or even guesstimate how much time it will take each day to reach your goal. Then write it down as a daily action. Then, gasp! do the time.

3. Not Getting Up Early and Starting Early – Isn’t it great to sleep in? Ahh, it’s warm underneath that blanket. The room is so cold. The floor is so hard. Who wants to get up early on a day like today? It’s still dark outside.

This mistake happens to most of us. Getting up earlier than necessary can be a struggle. You might be grumpy or unmotivated. But here’s why it’s a mistake not to start early. But it’s a mistake to waste all your mornings just sleeping.

Why get up early and start early

Depending on your living situation, early time can be quiet (uninterrupted) time. You don’t have to get up 3 hours early or 4 hours early, although, that’s what Jay from Dumb Little Man does and it looks like Jay isn’t doing too bad . But even a half hour in the early morning is time in on your goal. Knocking out some of your actions early in the morning motivates you to get back to it later in the day. Plus, most days people will pester and distract you. You don’t want to get to the end of the day and find you haven’t worked for 10 minutes on your goal do you? By working early, you don’t have to worry about other things getting in the way.

4. Failing to Leverage your weekends – The masses of people who fall short of their goals misuse their weekend time.

Sure, weekends are a time for rest and relaxation. But should all of that time be for relaxation and play? Shouldn’t a few hours be dedicated to your life’s dreams? If not during the weekend? Then when?

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Relaxation, socializing, watching TV and seeking entertainment doesn’t use up 16 hours of free time per weekend day – at least it shouldn’t. The mistake of not putting in the necessary time is a blunder that could cost you your dreams. We have plenty of time for both fun and our goals if we focus.How to make better use of your weekend timeFrankly, you should look forward to working on your goals, but yes, not all of it is fun. Some tasks might be boring or repetitive. But what I like to do on my weekends is make some time for fun and gaming. And intermix that time with 30 minute periods of goal actions. I’ll play for an hour take 30 minutes for targeted actions.What often happens is I’ll “break through” the boredom cycle and spend 2-3 hours straight on my goal because it becomes fun again. At that point, I start having to say “Hey Brad, it’s the weekend, get to resting.”

5. Not buying time for yourself – Have you ever heard the term “don’t sweat the small stuff?” I’m sure you have.It seems many of us are sweating a lot of the small stuff when we could actually pass our small stuff off to other people. Not buying time for a yourself to work on your goals is as bad as putting your money into a ponzi scheme hoping to get a major return. It’s simply bad business. You trade time doing something like spending 2 hours filing papers when you could pay a neighbor $10 to do it. Isn’t your time worth more than $5 an hour? If so, start acting like it.How to stop sweating the small stuff

Think of it this way. I pay a kid in our neighborhood $20 to mow my lawn. He does a really good job and it saves me at least an hour and a half if not 2 hours. Now what can I do during that time? If I put that much time into my goal I probably see 10 times that amount plus interest.

The key is to use that time well. Don’t pay a kid $20 to mow the lawn just so you can put your feet up and watch Mama’s Family reruns. Get to work on what’s really important.

I recommend you do the math and see what these little tasks are costing you when it comes to your big picture.

6. Not getting out of your old environment - when you are trying to create a new habit for yourself, old contacts, situations and images can influence you to stay the same. So one of the mistakes that some goal setters make is they never getting themselves into a new environment.

An example is someone who wants to quit drinking who hangs out with their old drinking buddies. Instead of finding a new hobby or something to do with their time, they find themselves in old hangouts, with old habits biting at their heels. At first, they resist but then the old feelings of “it wouldn’t be that bad if I just had one” crawl back into the consciousness and what the person is left with is the same old excuses for getting drunk.

Getting yourself into a new environment leads to new ideas, new thought processes, new inspirations, and eventually new actions. So don’t make mistakes of those stuck in the past. Move forward into the future by finding new environments.

How to get into a new environment

I’m not talking about moving away or packing your bags and hitchhiking across the country. I’m referring to where you spend your free time. A writer will be inspired when they leave the confines of their house and go and sit on a park bench in the woods or in a grassy field. Someone looking to lose weight will find weight loss by walking to the park and making new friends who are supportive of their new skinny lifestyle.

New goals are inheritly more fun when you are away from your old stomping ground. So say goodbye to the the same old people and situations that bring you down and get into a new place.

7. Not using a time tracking device - If you don’t know how much time you are currently putting in, how do you know if it’s enough?

“Why am I not getting good grades in my classes?” She cries. Meanwhile, a simple question of “how long did you spend studying last week?” results in a choked back cough and a story.

This is simple: If you don’t track, you won’t know. If you don’t know, you’ll be confused.

How to track your goal time like a pro

Almost all businesses that I can think of use time as a measure work output. If you have not been putting the time in, you are making the mistake of not using a tracking device or method. This doesn’t necessarily need to be a gadget or some computer program, but you may find it helps. All I am saying is a tracking device of some sort – be it on paper or electronically you need to know how much time you’re putting into your goal.

That is the only way to know if you are putting forth enough.

Like Darren Rowse above, are you putting in the 10, 20, 40 or 60 hours that your goal requires? If not, it is a little unfair to expect it to be accomplished don’t you think?

8. Playing at your goals, instead of taking real action - consistent work on a goal can be difficult at times. After all, you do not have a boss hanging over you saying “you better get in 3 miles today or you won’t be able to finish that 10 day marathon on Saturday.”

Goals are personal, they require self-direction. If you spend time the you should be running puttering around in the garage, jogging a half mine and then talking for 30 minutes on the cell phone that’s not jogging, that’s playing.

Put in your best effort – don’t play

Hey, this is your life we are talking about. If you’re going to put in the time necessary anyway. Put in 110% effort. You put forth effort at your job for someone else, why not do it for yourself too? Don’t you deserve it?

9. Not being consistent with your schedule - what do you get if you put in 20 hours toward your goal this week in 20 minutes towards that goal the next week? Inconsistent results. This mistake arises from waiting for inspiration or motivation to take hold. We wait for inspiration or motivation to somehow grip us and lead us toward action. There are some people who have been waiting their whole lives for that to happen.

Be consistent despite the level of your inspiration

Waiting around for illusive motivation to deliver you from the couch is a recipe for disaster. Do you really want to risk it? If you really want to achieve your goals, consistency is key. If you set a goal of one hour per day of labor at your goal, then you need to put in one hour per day no excuses.

Don’t make the mistake of the “also-rans”. They are always waiting for some external situation or spirit to come along and tap them on the head and say “get to work”. Sure, there will be days when you’re more inspired than others, but when you can work to the uninspiring days and still make progress, then you are truly successful. You are motivated. And you will succeed.

10. Taking 2 Hour Lunches and long “coffee breaks” -

I’ve known all kinds over the years. From the people who take two hour lunches every day to the ones who do that and take 30 to 45 minute coffee breaks twice a day. If you fall into this category, is this really the best use of your time? This is a huge time management mistake. Because you are choosing a very low pay off over a potential windfall.

Let’s do the math. Not that I am recommending 1.5 hours of coffee breaks, but what if you look at the same person but with a tweak to the break. A 45 minute coffee break twice a day results in a net loss of ~$5.50 plus lost time. A 15 minute coffee break and a 30 minute goal action break would result in a loss of ~$5.50 a day but you’d gain 1 hour of action a day.

Benjamin Franklin had an interesting way to get an edge on all his coworkers. Instead of following his associates to their large meals, he would sit on a bench with a book and slowly eat a small baguette. The action of reading kept his mind active and allowed him to relax, and by eating light and doing something constructive, he would be awake for the rest of the afternoon.

Do away with silly idle time

Let’s look at it another way. Let’s say I told an entrepreneur “hey, I have a great employee for you, he takes only 45 minutes at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to coffee and takes a 2 hour lunch every day. But the rest of the time he’s working…” Would you want to hire him?

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I recommend a similar strategy. Since our time is finite, dedicating half of any lunch hour toward goal achievement is 30 minutes toward our own success. If you are taking two hour lunches, imagine what could have been if you put one hour and a half toward your goal each day.

These are tips #70-79 of 101 Goal Setting Breakthroughs: A 31 Day Blog Series That Will Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever! Subscribe to my free RSS feed to get the rest of the series and never miss a tip!

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