Have you ever had a feeling that you need to be doing more with your life? Or that there’s still so much you have to do and no time for it? And does this feeling come towards end-month and you want to make this week count?
These are some of the questions I’ve been helping women explore during the International Coaching Week (ICW) which ends today. I’ve also asked myself the same questions given that I didn’t manage to complete one of my key goals for this week!
International Coaching Week is a week where coaches all over the world “…celebrate the power and impact of professional coaching… (We also) educate the public about the value of working with a professional coach and acknowledge the results and progress that’s made through the coaching process.” (International Coaching Federation).
The theme for this year’s ICW is Reimagine the Future
This theme is spot on as we restructure our lives, careers, organizations, or businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot has happened since the pandemic began. We’ve had to create, abandon, and re-create new normals on a regular basis.
Beyond the pandemic, people, especially women, are dealing with extreme levels of stress and burnout. We are now living in a volatile world that keeps changing, seemingly without notice. This uncertainty and complexity will be our normal for a while.
Old ways of thinking and doing things are gone for many. Surviving in this new world requires unlearning, re-learning, and learning…all at the same time and sometimes without warning!
Such an environment is tough if you’re in a management or leadership position. It’s even harder if you’re in business and things keep shifting on the ground.
Coaching is well-positioned to help people reimagine the future and start working towards it. This is what we do best as coaches and we can help people stabilize and create their new normals more effortlessly.
That is what we’re celebrating this ICW. I personally feel blessed to be a part of people’s journey, whether it’s a client, a member of my community, a colleague, a business partner, or someone who follows me online or reads my blog posts.
For today, I’d like to share a process my clients and I use when we need to step back and make a week count. This process is especially handy as the year moves on so that you have more productive and results-filled weeks and months.
Try this process to make this week count!
Each year, many people resolve to change their lives or grow their careers or businesses. No matter what you’d like to change or achieve, the steps to success are the same:
- Get clear: Be very specific about what you want. The clearer you are about what you want to be, do or have, the more likely you are to achieve it. Also, when you have clarity, it will be easier to create an action plan.
- Get external perspective: Most people don’t tell anyone what they want or what they are struggling with. This lack of sharing leads to not having an outside perspective. It’s also not easy to choose the people whom you can trust with your dreams and ideas.
- Get support and accountability: Very few people achieve anything great alone. You must be willing to ask for support and accountability from your circle.
When you understand these 3 steps and put them into practice, you will win.
It may take time to get to the success you’re looking for. Additionally, there may be detours, crashes, or rest stops along the way. But if you have clarity, perspective, and support, you will eventually get what you want or better!
The last week of the month is critical because once it’s gone, you’ll have one less month to work on your goals. So you have to make this week count more than the others!
At the same time, don’t always wait for the last week to make a dash on your goals. Break your monthly goals into weekly tasks and do your best to complete these weekly tasks.
Do this if you want to end the month powerfully:
- Reimagine your future and identify what you want. Sometimes our dreams change as we’re busy with life and we lose momentum by working on the older version.
- Map out where you are today in relation to what you want.
- Create an action plan or recalibrate the one you have.
- Talk to one or two trusted people for additional perspective.
- Get support and accountability.
- Get moving by taking action on your plan.
- Pick one task that you can complete within one week while still stretching yourself.
- Break the task down into daily to-do’s.
- Schedule the daily to-do’s in your calendar as appointments.
- Aim to prioritize these appointments so that you complete them as early as possible in the day.
- Review your progress at the end of each day then plan for the next day.
- Review your tasks at the end of the week. Then repeat Step 6 next week.
When you achieve your goals, go back to Step 1 and repeat this process. You don’t have to complete all the steps each month, but it’s a good idea to keep your support and accountability team in the loop.
You can also check out these articles for tips on how to make this week count:
- How to Conduct a Personal Mid-Year Review
- How to Conduct a Powerful Review of Your Year
- 6 Tips to Make the Second Half of the Year an Outstanding Success
While these articles are for specific times of the year, you can use the same strategies to gain perspective and push your goals forward at any time of the year.
But what if you have no control over your time?
Some jobs and roles mean that someone else controls your time. When a client tells me this, I advise them to identify a part of the day when they have control over their time.
Everyone has at least one hour when they have total control of their time. However, it’s easy to miss this especially if you’re a slave to the internet, social media, or if you spend a lot of time talking with colleagues in the office.
Evaluate how you spend your time and then use that time to work on your task for the day. Here are some ideas you can implement to carve out some time for your tasks:
- Wake up earlier or go to bed later than normal and spend this time on your tasks.
- Go to work earlier or leave the office later than you usually do.
- Reduce your lunch break or eat while working on your tasks.
- Hire someone to do other work for you e.g. housework, so that you have extra time.
- Delegate more effectively. Note that you have to train the people you delegate to and that you cannot delegate responsibility for the process or the end result.
- Eliminate time-wasters such as spending time on social media, browsing the internet, watching TV and spending time chatting or gossiping.
You can always find time for what is important to you if you’re determined. The question is, just how determined are you to make this week count?
Over to you…
I’d love to hear about how you’re doing personally, professionally, or in your business
- SHARE your thoughts or experiences in the Comments section at the bottom of this article and let me know how you plan to make this week count.
- If you love being part of a positive community, JOIN US in Elevate Community on Facebook where we connect, learn, network and grow together.
- And if you need some additional perspective and support, BOOK a complimentary Discovery Session and find out how coaching can help you speed up your success rate while reducing the time you spend working.
(Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash)
