How To Take Action (Works For Daughters as Well As Busy Business Women.)

On the school run today, my daughter and I got chatting about the work she has to complete.

She does tutoring and has school homework, as well as other things to prepare for different clubs she likes to do. I know that naturally (looking at this mornings progress!) that she will gravitate to doing the prep for her clubs rather than her tutoring, and lets be honest us busy business women can slip into the same kind of patterns can’t we?

Its all too easy to do the things that are easy. To do the things we enjoy doing, but how do you take action (that gets results) on things you know are going to be tough, challenging or require more effort than normal?

Here’s the top tip’s I shared with my daughter to take action (even when you don’t want to);

(And for the record she is sat next to me taking targeted action – so I know these work!)

Firstly power up your reason why – It’s not good enough to know it needs to happen, and you are the one that needs to do it. Find your gut instinct, your deep to the core of your being reason why its got to happen and you’re the one that’s go to do it. And when you know that….

Visualise the targeted action working – Even if you don’t know how you are going to get the job done, visualise, see, hear, feel that it has worked. See yourself sat there at the end of the completed task, thinking “Yes, I did it!”

My daughter struggles to not get distracted (and I’m not saying us business women ever suffer from that right?) If you find that’s you too, then once you have your clear end result visualised, ask yourself what needs to happen for me to get that result? Write a list. Talk it through out loud to another person or even to yourself to really get the answers you need.

Reward yourself – If my daughter gets her work done tonight, I’ve promised I will take her to see her Grandparents tomorrow for a play date. Dad is an even bigger kid than me so it will be a great time for us all. (Wow, I think that’s making me work harder too. What an added bonus!) How will you reward yourself for your success?

The right environment for the right action – I can work anywhere. But my daughter is not like that. So she has kept her school uniform on. As she pointed out “Mummy these are my work clothes and if I stay in these clothes I will work as hard as I do at school.” She has also chose to sit in the office with me, so that she is in my work environment and rely on me to spur her on. Which leads me on to my last top tip….

Who will motivate you into action? I know that posting it on Twitter or Facebook will make me take action. Because as far as I’m concerned my word is my honour. Credibility is critically important to business women and so if I tell you I’m going to do something on social media and I don’t I’ve undermined me. Now I could never let THAT happen! Thus action happens. What and / or whom would motivate you?

And if you don’t know. Just post your “AAAAA I’m not motivated” Posts to my Facebook page and I will give you the rocket of motivation you need. Click here to get to my Facebook and get movitated

Stop Being A Catherine Wheel – Its Wrecking Your Focus

So in honour of Fireworks night (I do like a little bit of seasonal chatter and marketing don’t you?)

I’ve been working with a lot of clients recently who know what they should be doing but aren’t getting down to it. And then there are those very busy business women who have so many opportunities and so many ideas not a lot seems to happen but boy are they busy!

So is that like a Catherine Wheel.

Well think of your poor garden fence or garage door tomorrow night when you nail your Catherine Wheel to it. You are highly likely to end up with a brown burn mark where the Catherine Wheel spun around and around making a lovely pattern. But hang on a minute. If that Catherine Wheel was to be pointed in one direction it is highly likely it would be able to burn a whole right through your fence panel!

All that power focused and targeted in one direction and the results is very different. And that fabulous sparkly people  is what I see so often with many clients.

There are so many ways in which you could be growing your business and getting the success you want how do you work out where to focus your attention? How do you know the direction you have chosen is the right one?

So to stop you being a Catherine Wheel here are my cracking ideas to Be A Fired Up Focused Worker!

1. Stand back from the big picture. you wouldn’t drive to the other end of the country without a plan, so plan now. What are you aiming to achieve? What is the end goal? How many more clients or customers? How much more money? How much more free time? Knowing the big picture is critically important – but don’t get bogged down in how you will achieve it. Just know what you want!
2. Outline as many ideas as possible to lead you to your desired goal. Again don’t worry about time constraints or financial implications. Concentrate on the what if’s I could do anything.
3. Now using that wish list of ideas look at the list with a critical eye and ask yourself what here do I know works? What could I replicate? Ideally, you will come up with a plan that ensures you are working in little steps to your goal, but that your eye is still on the big idea that you know could really rocket your business. Many of my clients call it putting it on the back burner. This is great because it allows the idea to bubble away while you stay focused on the big picture on what needs to happen now. But because that idea is there it ensures your subconscious is starting to process the why? the what’s? and the how to?s for you.
4. Get realistic. If you have 2 jobs, a family, a pet, holiday plans, health problems, responsibilities, or a desire to not work 24 hours a day, factor in your life. Goals are achievable and remain on target when life is not something you forget to prioritise too. So with your list of ideas and your focussed approach what do you need to take into account? Have you promised someone you will be there for them? When you start to neglect other areas of your life it can cause a high level of stress and guilt and negativity can build up. And trust me they are not good for achieving your goals and lasting business success.
5. Now take action. And remember you are not a Catherine Wheel! As new ideas and opportunities come to you (and they will, afterall you are gorgeously amazing!) you can ask yourself this critical question. Does this fit into my current goals for my business? If not have the confidence to say “No” Its a powerful word and it does not mean No forever. Just I’m sorry that does not fit in with my current business growth structure. People really admire a person with a clearly defined goal that they are going for. And it other people know your business goals, they can help you achieve them faster too!

I hope this helps you appreciate the damage it has been having on you as you can end up flittering from one thing to another, doing a little bit here, some marketing there, a little bit of networking, then a bit of this and bit of that.

Get focused and target your success – you sparkler you!