=============================================== "Achieve Your Dreams" - Volume 21, January 2007 =============================================== Greetings! Welcome to "Achieve Your Dreams", a bi-monthly newsletter for people with a dream - - whether it's accelerating a career, changing careers, building a business, securing a new job, achieving that long-desired goal, or discovering a new life vision and direction. Each newsletter will offer 1-2 noteworthy articles, a section on "Office Happenings" and "Helpful Resources", and some favorite quotes and sayings to motivate and inspire you. In this issue: 1. "Walking the Work/Life Tightrope: 7 Steps to Perfect Balance" 2. Office Happenings (Amazon.com approves DVD!) 3. Helpful Resources ("Getting Things Done") 4. Favorite Quotes Feel free to forward this to those you believe would find it useful. Feedback is encouraged and appreciated. If there is a specific topic you'd like covered, please send the suggestion to me via the e-mail address below. =========================================================== Walking the Work/Life Tightrope: 7 Steps to Perfect Balance =========================================================== A new year has arrived and, for many of us, that means embarking on an annual ritual of resolutions aimed at improving our lives. For some, this means resolving to eat healthier. For others, it means getting our finances in order. But, do you know what the majority of people I talk to believe would most enrich the quality of their lives? TIME. More time to spend with family and friends... to enjoy hobbies... to look for a new job or pursue a career change... to tackle their to-do list... or just to sleep! More and more, Americans are short-changed on time. Longer commutes, increasing responsibilities at home and on the job, and cell and internet technology that often blurs the line between the two, can all create a "perfect storm" of busyness. Allowing this busyness and the stress it produces to get out of control can take a serious toll, ranging from mere burnout to exhaustion, depression, and even anxiety disorders. And, every aspect of your life - your emotional and physical well-being, your relationships, and your career - can suffer as a result. Is work/life balance a challenge you would like to address in the New Year? If you feel like life is one long to-do list - where every minute is scheduled for something and you never have a chance to catch your breath before you have to handle the next project or crisis - then, I challenge you to make 2007 the year you attain work/life balance. To help you do that, here are seven questions and suggestions to ponder: 1) What REALLY matters to me? Identifying your values is the first and most critical step toward prioritizing the activities that compete for your time. Whether your focus is on family, health, hobbies, relaxation, or some other area, time spent really analyzing what truly matters to you is a priceless investment in your personal fulfillment. Armed with a solid understanding of your most important priorities, you can be mindful that you are spending your time on activities that support them. 2) What would work/life balance look like if I had it? Using your values as a framework, visualize what a schedule supportive of work/life balance would entail for you. For some, committing to be home no later than 6:00 p.m. and focusing on family and hobbies each evening might represent work/life balance. For others, only working part-time will do. For still others, working full bore all week long would be fine as long as their weekends were free to devote to what they love. Only when you have a clear picture of your version of work/life balance can you take meaningful steps toward making it happen. 3) What do I need to start saying "no" to? What happens to us between the age of two, when "no" is our favorite word, and adulthood, when it becomes one of the hardest words for us to utter? How many of the activities that eat up our time are things we didn't need or want to do, but said "yes" to simply because we were asked? Learning to say "no" to activities that are inconsistent with your values and your definition of work/life balance is one of the most effective ways you can regain control of your time. Remember... a "no" said to something that isn't important to you allows you to say "yes" to something that is! 4) Where can I "let up" on myself? Contrary to what Martha Stewart would like you to believe, perfection is neither attainable nor necessary! Your house doesn't always have to be spotless. The yard doesn't always have to be leaf-free. Holidays don't always have to be magazine- quality. Keep your standards high where activities directly related to your values are concerned. But, be kind to yourself and lower the bar on things that matter less to you. Not only will you recover more time to devote to your priorities, you'll feel a lot less stress. 5) Whose help do I need to enlist? Who can I delegate to? Help, believe it or not, is not a four-letter word! As admirable as self-sufficiency is, it can backfire on you if you allow it to consume valuable time and create undo stress. So, examine your responsibilities at work and at home. What tasks can you delegate to co-workers, your spouse, or your children? Is it time to bring in outside services to help with house cleaning, yard work, and other time-eaters? Can a friend help in some area? Acknowledge the limits on your time, have the courage to seek help, and enjoy the time you'll have liberated. 6) Is it time for a new job? ... or even a new career? Some jobs are just inflexibly stressful... as are some companies. They may offer no room for schedule modification, no opportunity for delegation, and/or no escape from a highly charged work environment. So, if your job cannot adapt to support your values, perhaps it's time to find a new job offering a culture that does. Similarly, if you are in a career that, by its nature, requires too much time and energy that you would prefer to devote to other things, it may be time to consider a new direction. 7) Am I as organized and efficient as I could be? Disorganization is a gigantic black hole into which your time and energy can disappear. So, employ more effective organizational systems at work and home. Clean your work space and develop a filing system you can easily maintain. Find a calendar that suits you and your activities. Use a weekly or daily reminder list to prioritize your tasks. And, resist the urge to procrastinate. Every minute you spend struggling to find missing pieces of paper, remember appointments, and recall important to-do's, is a minute taken away from your true priorities. ================= Office Happenings ================= I'm excited to announce that Amazon.com has approved "10 Steps To Interviewing With Confidence" for inclusion on its website! It's been an exciting time since I launched this DVD program back in October... sales have been steady and the feedback has been terrific. I'm thrilled that Amazon will make "10 Steps To Interviewing With Confidence" available to such a wide ranging audience. If you'd like more information on how "10 Steps To Interviewing With Confidence" can help you, or someone you know, ace the interview and get the job you (or they!) deserve, visit http://www.careerdesigns.biz/dvd.htm. ================= Helpful Resources ================= "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stressfree Productivity" Do you feel overwhelmed with too many things to do, too little time to do them, and a general sense that you're not as organized as you should be and something important is being missed? If so, then I highly recommend David Allen's book, "Getting Things Done: The Art of Stressfree Productivity". David is considered the "guru of productivity" and he's developed a unique and practical approach to help you organize and stay on top of everything on your to-do list. His philosophy is simple: get your to-do's out of your head and into an easy-to-manage, reviewable system that keeps your mind clear, your productivity high, and your stress low. I read this book over the holidays and can't believe how much more organized and productive I feel after implementing just a few of his techniques. My favorite tool is the Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, do it... get it out of the way and free up both your time and your mind. David's system can work for anyone, in any industry, at any level of an organization. So if getting organized is high on your priority list for 2007, then check out "Getting Things Done" and watch your productivity soar. =============== Favorite Quotes =============== "You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - to say 'no' to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside." -- Stephen Covey "If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they might have planned for you? Not much." -- Jim Rohn "I realized early on that success was tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and went on to other things. If you simply didn't give up, you would outlast the people who came in on the bus with you." -- Harrison Ford "The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are." -- John Pierpont Morgan In support of you, Jeanne ** If you would like someone added to this newsletter distribu- tion list, please forward their name and e-mail address to me. They will be added promptly. ** If you would like to be removed from this list, please reply to me via this e-mail address. I will remove your name promptly.