How to Stay Focused For Successs

Staying focused on any one task to completion is often easier said than done especially when there seems to be a thousand and one distractions hurling at you from every direction on the compass.
Some days, the easiest of tasks can often appear to be overwhelming when the tiniest of things can take your concentration. Distractions are inevitable that is the nature of life and if we did not have those little things to distract us life would actually become quite boring. Achieving your goals is very important but so is enjoying the journey.
We all know though, that in reality it really does take focus and concentration to complete a job and do it well, whether it is a job at work, at home or even as part of your hobby. To achieve success in what you are doing requires focus, dedication and a hunger that will drive you across the finish line.
Focus requires you to become organised and ambitious. These two characteristics are essential for your success.
When you are determined to achieve what you want one of the first areas you need to look at is your organisation. You need to literally set the required amount of time aside to do what you need to do. Many people use the excuse of lack of time, this is a cop out. If something is important to you you will find the time. This is where your organisation skills are put to the test. The 3  below are a great way to get organised and get you focused on your goal:

• Write down exactly what it is you are aiming to achieve. Write down the how in as much detail as you can and then break it down into small steps. Each time you accomplish one of the smaller steps you are taking yourself closer and closer to your goal.


• On your list put deadlines to make sure you achieve the small steps by certain times or dates. This holds you accountable. Making it time bound and realistic. Creating these deadlines will prevent you from making excuses and putting tasks off for later.


• Each and everyday put aside time to work on these goals. If it means getting up a half hour earlier then do it. The only person responsible for your success is you.

Always, and I mean always keep your eye on the prize. Remind yourself constantly of how great it will be when you achieve what you set out to do.
When you are ambitious, organised and you work for what you want, success will come.

Time waits for nobody and if you wait too long, your dreams and goals will become a what if?
Set your goals now and achieve what you want [http://www.improve-daily.info] to experience success [http://www.improve-daily.com]. Sign up for your free information and make the changes today.

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Don't Wait For Your Ship To Come In - Swim Out And Meet It!

Growing up in a single-parent household, and one with little resources, it was a common refrain from Mom upon all requests from my sister and me for anything extra, "Wait until my ship comes in." Maybe you heard that as your grew up or perhaps you say it to your own children today.

If I asked for those white, high top, Chuck Taylor basketball shoes, or just shoes that didn't have a hole in the sole, the answer was always, wait until my ship comes in. My sister and I are pretty sure that the ship was sunk off the coast of Jacksonville Beach and was never seen again.

As working professionals, we catch ourselves thinking, if not saying, things will be better if only my ship comes in, or I win the lottery, or a rich relative gets promoted to the church triumphant, or... you get the picture. We pass on that attitude to our family, co-workers and friends. It becomes a deeply entrenched; however, potentially negative way of planning for your future. The feelings that we are downtrodden and there is no way out of the current economic challenges except by some miraculous occurrence that has the same odds as winning the Powerball, or about 17 million to one, is debilitating.

The energy that you expend on unproductive thoughts can be better used. One of life's hard lessons is that you are complicit in your failure. You cannot claim credit for success unless you also own failure. That hurts doesn't it? I know about failure on a grand scale. It's a human characteristic (blunder is more descriptive) to lay the blame for our short comings and failures at the feet of others. I have done that too.

There are lots of valid reasons, excuses, and events beyond our control that contribute to success and failure. There are thousands of books on self improvement, motivation, and anecdotal stories of overcoming both. Here's a little secret... you need to be OCD to be successful in your personal and professional lives.

What's OCD, you ask? Its three keys to success that have been distilled to their simplest meaning and instruction.

Objective: You have to have them or at least one. Call it a mission, call it a vision, what you call it is not important. Why do you do the things you do? For whom?

Commitment: Stick to it, don't give up, and press on. You are accountable for your own success or failure. Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Direction: Taking the right actions, for the right reasons, at the right time, with the right people, produces the right outcomes.

Find whatever it is that you are passionate about and get to it. Each of us has a talent and skill to do something and when you add the desire for that vocation that is in your heart, success will not be denied.

Don't wait on your ship to come in. Swim out to it and climb aboard to greet it.

Discover your Own Leadership Talents at no-cost by simply contacting me at info@kesgroupllc.com.

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A Guide to Developing a Personal Development Plan

How do you develop a PDP?

Development is a process of expanding, shaping and improving skills, knowledge and interests to improve your abilities and effectiveness.

This can involve developing skills and knowledge that will enable you to move ahead to the next stage in your career but also to expand your breadth of skills and knowledge so that you become more expert in your current post or even to develop a new skill outside work e.g. playing a sport.

To address a development need effectively it is necessary to:

• Define what you want to achieve and set yourself a goal(s).
• Plan the actions you need to undertake to achieve that goal – you should write a personal development plan (PDP) to outline the actions you are going to undertake to achieve your goal.
• Evaluate your development to assess how close you are to your goal and to examine if further action needs to be taken to achieve your goal.

As already noted to develop your skills and knowledge it is important to begin by setting yourself effective goals.

Why should you set goals?

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
                                                                                         Epictetus

Here are just a few good reasons to set yourself goals:

• To establish the direction that you need to take.
• Provide you with time to reflect on your role and the areas in which you want to develop. You may find that creating time to reflect on what you really want to achieve very useful as you begin to consider what you really want to achieve overall and you may look at the problem or your overall aims differently.
• Motivation is key to achieving goals.  Individuals and teams find goals are motivating as they provide direction and a way of measuring success.
• Allow you to take control and be proactive rather than be reactive to events.

How should you set goals?

Often goals can be very straightforward e.g. I must learn to use PowerPoint by the end of the month as I have a presentation in three weeks. However, sometimes they can be more involved and more thought needs to be taken to identify your goals.

When developing goals ask yourself:

• What do I want to achieve?
• How important is this goal to me?
• What are the factors that will help me achieve my goal?
• Who can help me achieve my goal?
• What are the factors that may stop me achieving this goal?
• What is the gap between where I am now in terms of my skills and knowledge, and where I want to be?

When thinking out your goals you can think of your situation in terms of a SWOT analysis, i.e.

Strengths – what are you good at? In what areas do you make most contribution? What comments and feedback have you received that gives you an indication of how others see your strengths.

Weaknesses – what areas do you feel you need to develop? Have you received any feedback or comments that may suggest that there are development needs in some areas? What aspects of your work do you find relatively easy to undertake and what areas are more difficult to complete? Think out what are the areas you should develop and consider how you can reduce or manage them so that they don’t hinder your ability to achieve your goals.

Opportunities – what is your potential? Are their opportunities that may arise in the University that you could apply for if you had more skills and knowledge in your area?

Threats – is there a great deal of change happening in your area of work that may lead to a change in your role and do you feel you need to develop your skills to ensue that you are able to continue to undertake you’re role effectively.

When you have thought out your goals clearly you then need to develop an action plan to help you achieve those goals.

Goals and actions must be SMART:

SPECIFIC	The goal must state exactly what you need to achieve.
MEASURABLE	You need to know when you have succeeded. Therefore outline as precisely as possible what skills and knowledge you will have acquired when you have achieved your goal.
ACHIEVABLE	The goal should be achievable and within your capacity and constraints. You should not set yourself goals that are impossible or unrealistic to achieve.
RELEVANT	Think to yourself, are these the right goals? Will they help you get to where you want to be?
TIME RELATED	Realistically consider how much time do you need to achieve your goal? Some goals can be achieved in the short-term, some may take a long time to achieve. Setting time related goals will be helpful in organizing your time effectively and breaking down the goal to smaller elements. With long term goals milestones are extremely important to keep you motivated to achieve your longer term goal.

How should you set goals?

In order to put yourself on course to achieve your goals you need to take action. Ask yourself the following:

• What additional knowledge do you need?
• What experience do you need?

To help you develop yourself there are many different types of training you can undertake.

Listed below is a brief selection:

Attending a course	The University and the School of Lifelong Learning have a wide range of courses for staff.
Gaining a qualification	Gaining a qualification can be an excellent way to develop in-depth knowledge of a topic. The University sometimes offers support to staff to follow qualifications that are relevant to their post.
Coaching and Mentoring	You could also find a mentor or coach to help you. A mentor tends to be a more senior or more experienced in a certain field mentoring another with less experience, where as coaching can be two members of staff in which one assists another to examine and find solution to a problem.
Shadowing and delegation	You can get more experience by undertaking a project to expand or attending meetings etc to expand your skills.
Performance Review	The review process is a good way of receiving constructive feedback and working with your line manager to identify development aims and actions to be taken to improve your knowledge, skills and confidence in your work.

Evaluating your Success

The learning process is a cyclical process in which you need to identify your development goal, initiate the action(s) that you need to reach your goal and then periodically you have to evaluate your progress. Taking time to evaluate and reflect your progress is essential to enable you to make necessary changes to your plan. When evaluating your progress you need to ask yourself:

• What have I learnt?
• What more do I need to do to achieve my goals?
• Is my progress too slow or ahead of schedule?
• Do I need any assistance to achieve my goal?
• What’s hindering my progress?
• Do I need to change my plan?
• What additional benefits am I gaining from the process?

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/hr/pdp/HowtoPDPs.php.en