Organise my Life for 30 minutes every day

So, if you spent just one minute on each of 43 goals per day that would be three quarters of an hour.

So less time (but enough) spent purposefully (and some time for fun!) would be better.

...so I’d better muse over what this actually means for me.

I’ve always been weak with self discipline so notably stronger self discipline would be favourite.

That means planning my time so that this gives me the best chance to succeed.

The mornings are the best time to get new stuff into my head and my desktop pc (which is still working) has a very good keyboard which is much easier to use than the laptop pc.

So outline of normal weekday:-

wake up 5 mins (decide if it’s worth getting up – of course it is!)
get up 5 mins (slowly, so as to not unduly disturb other half)
son time delay 10 mins
wife time delay 10 mins
wash face 5 mins
shave 5 mins (5-10 mins more, if I cut myself!)
basic yoga 10 mins (necessary: stops my joints from ceasing up)
shower 5 mins
dry-off / deodorant 5 mins
get dressed 5 mins
eat breakfast 5 mins
prepare packed lunch 5 mins
review errands for the day 5 mins
self time delay 10 mins (I’m getting on, you know!)
That makes 5+5+10+10+5+5+5+5+5+5+10 = 70 mins

So to leave for work on time requires me to wake up at least 70 mins before I need to leave for work.

To get 50 mins of study (plus 5 mins setup and 5 mins pack away) means getting up 2 hours and ten minutes before I need to leave for work.

Well I can do that if it’s in the summer. Spring and fall would be troublesome and winter extremely difficult

...to keep to the time.

My manager might quiz me on this (I know I would were I in their position) but it is whatever works.

DAILY TARGET PRAXIS

...so I can mark more as complete. (Sort of a game if you will!)

...via web-based mail. So now I can access it wherever I have access to this web-mail service.

Took a while but I’m starting small.

Not to get distracted (too much.)

...get an early night. For me that’s before midnight.

Start small. Less likely to fail.

EDIT: Did it!

...but that doesn’t mean that I should give up at the first hurdle. I kind of want to delete this goal because I’m starting to get too many failures from attempting challenges.

But perhaps all I really need is to move the goalposts.

No, not to cheat but to define goals more explicitly – perhaps following the SMART model. I’m writing out what I’ve discovered about this process to get it straight in my head:-

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

Specific – A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who: Who is involved?
*What: What do I want to accomplish?
*Where: Identify a location.
*When: Establish a time frame.
*Which: Identify requirements and constraints.
*Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

Measurable – Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.
To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as…...How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?

Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

Realistic – To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

• T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

...I am the slave.

For a few minutes a day I am idealistic and forceful but as the day wears on I get worn down and despondent.

So I should set the bar low at the beginning and do whatever I write within reason.

I think I ought to split this into 2. Say 15 mins in the morning and 15 at night.

This should be how it is – short punchy sentences and paragraphs for immediate tasks.

Then longer ones for reflection and deliberation.

Looked at the conditions of use for 43T and it looks like you can make recommendations of commerical products if you don’t get anything out of it and they are relevant to the goal. See the previous entry as to what my recommendation can do or help with. (If that is wrong I will delete this whole entry.)

I have tried using MS Visio at work a few years back (so it might be better now) using mind maps. Just didn’t feel right for me though it was ok.

Goal Enforcer visual interface suits me better – it works on hierarchcial format – hiding most of the stuff that isn’t relevant at that moment – it can produce HTML / other format progress reports. Different colored balls for sub-tasks at different stages – wonderful!

The learning curve is very shallow too – the initial tutorial is something very mundane – but that is the point. If it can make the mundane more effective and efficient then think what it could for your business operations. It’s brilliant. A link is below. You can even try it for free. After that there is starter, standard and hyperfocus editions. I think that starter should suit most goal – setters. and indeed you will need at least this level to be able to save your “projects”.

Goal Enforcer is a great goal setting program. Try it. You’ll be glad you did.

http://www.goalenforcer.com