#IntentionalLiving Archives

Looking back to plan forward Part 4

This week we will take a short journey through a series of exercises that we use to cement the leanings from the past year and prepare for the quantum leap into 2016.

The final part to this planning exercise is to make a list from your outstanding issues that needs and can be addressed in the remaining time this year. So many of us just write off December as down time and spend far too much time playing Angry Birds and not getting the small items off the list.

Take your list from Part 2 of this series and write out all the A items that need to be addressed and sorted before the close of the year. Add to this any items that need to be done. Often small items around the office such as backups, cabling, lights or equipment servicing can be included and done during this time.

Then allocate resources; actual names and dates to each item. Good time for a staff coffee meeting and let everyone have a copy of your list. Communication, feedback and accountability is always a great way to get things done. Celebrate when the list is done and take the afternoon off to do your Christmas shopping. Do not forget to get me something.

By nbmedia|2016-11-01T10:20:16+02:00November 26th, 2015|General|0 Comments

Looking back to plan forward Part 3

This week we will take a short journey through a series of exercises that we use to cement the leanings from the past year and prepare for the quantum leap into 2016.

Today we will begin to look ahead to 2016 and put pen to paper on what your BHAGs and WIGs are. Let’s start with goal setting, this is preached at every business and personal development and time management seminar you will ever go to and for good reason.

Setting Goals do actually work. Simply by writing out your goals and sharing them with other people, you have already done up to 40% of the work towards achieving them. So get going. Set some goals for 2016. We are encouraged by John Maxwell to set BHAG, Big Hairy Audacious Goals. These are goals bigger than ourselves, a little larger than we would be comfortable with and just out of reach of our normal way of operation.

What this does to us is causes us to grow in ourselves and learn to rely on others to achieve them. Both are not so bad things. We are also told by Covey to set and keep a list of WIG’s, Wildy Important Goals. These are the top 3 to 5 goals that we spend 80% of our time on each day. We read them when we get up and re read them before we go to bed, they are top of mind at all times.

So what are your goals for 2016? Write out a list of 20 main objectives for the new year. Remember to include some of the following categories: Finance, Business, Personal Development, Family, Fun Time, Product Research, Networking and Holidays. Have fun with this and allow your mind to dream a bit. If your list scares you a little you have done it right. Now select your top 5 WIGS and circle them in red. Job done.

By nbmedia|2016-11-01T10:20:17+02:00November 19th, 2015|Business Resources|0 Comments

B.O.B Episode 5 – How intentional is your business

How intentional is your business? This might sound like a weird question, but it is a question that will challenge you and make you introspect yourself about your business, why it is there and where it is going.

If you know the intentions of your business then you should be able to answer this question without grabbling with the answer first. If you find yourself finding it hard to answer this question, then you need to pause for a moment, think about this question, and ask yourself how intentional is your business.

We’ve been working with John Maxwell and his new programme called #IntentionalLiving that has started and spread all over the globe in the past few weeks. This programme is challenging us to think about how we live our lives intentionally on a daily basis. It challenges us to really go into introspection and ask ourselves what is it that we are doing intentionally as people, as staff, as businesses, etc?

Now, if your business is just waiting for something to happen in order for it to react, then you have a reactive business. That is a business that waits for opportunities to come for it to grow. That means it is the opposite of an intentional business. It is almost like waiting for an opportunity to hit you in the face for you to make a sale and to grow.

An intentional business is a business that does not wait for opportunities, but goes out there to look for them. . It sends out scarves to unknown territories, beyond comfortable and known territories. That involves networking, talking to people, selling your products or services to a whole lot of people out there.

By nbmedia|2016-11-01T10:20:18+02:00November 9th, 2015|Bruce on Business|0 Comments

Looking back to plan forward: Part 1

This week we will take a short journey through a series of exercises that we use to cement the leanings from the past year and prepare for the quantum leap into 2016.

The first exercise is a simple one but so many people neglect to do this each year let alone each day. Take time to pause and reflect on your achievements. Make a list of all the highlights that both you and your team have achieved throughout the year. Go through each month, pull out old notes or your diary and make a celebration list.

Once you have exhausted your achievements, jot down, next to each item, the reasons why you achieved these. What was the catalyst or mechanics behind each one? What we are looking for here are the cogs that turned and engaged that resulted in success. This is the real learning here, to understand what was done to achieve the results you experienced. When you are done with this, share these with the team and chat about what went right and what went not so right this past 12 months.

Celebrate the victories and learn from the failures.

By nbmedia|2016-11-01T10:20:18+02:00November 5th, 2015|Reflections|0 Comments

Congratulations to the Rugby World Cup winners!

It is really interesting that in championships like the Rugby World Cup, so many teams arrive to participate, and all f them except one, have to go away losers. it’s not quite fair, is it? Of course for the winning team it is alright, but what about the loosing teams?

Do they ever get a chance to reconcile with their emotions, management or fans, to understand what went wrong? In instances like this it is natural for the fans to point fingers and blame. they blame the referee, the coach and sometimes the weather.It is always nice to blame other people for the failures we encounter, because it makes us feel validated in our misery or anger.

So how does that relate to business? do you ever take time to analyse both your failures and victories in business? Do you spend some time in a postmortem discussion, understanding the things that went right in your business, so you can do more of those and the things that went wrong, so you can do less of them.