Without a documented goal, you may stand still

Have you heard that you are three times more likely to obtain a goal if you simply write it down? Why is that?

• It reminds you of what you want. It is easy not to do something you are NOT thinking about very often.
• It forces you to "see" it and then you will probably want to "plan" it and "act" on it more.
• In a small way, writing it down makes it more of a commitment - not just in your head, but now it's out there!

Think about it this way, if a goal IS VERY IMPORTANT to you, why wouldn't you do whatever you can to make it part of your "dashboard" and make it more a part of your daily thinking and "doing"?

You are driving the car, and its your goals that should be helping you push on the gas.

Email "signatures" - no big deal?

I have been working with a lot of accountants on their email habits lately. Surprisingly to me, the signature you put at the bottom of emails has been a big topic of conversation.

Some considerations:

• If you are looking for a consistent way to represent your organization's "brand", a consistent signature seems appropriate.
• If you are focused on providing the other person what they probably most need from your signature .... how can they contact you immediately if they want to talk live (i.e. email is just not efficient based on the issue(s) that need to be discussed) then give them your phone number. Some I've worked with get creative with this. They will have one signature with their office number and one with their mobile number depending on where they are that day. (Obviously these folks want to be immediately reachable!) Nothing can be more frustrating to someone to try and look through an email thread and not be able to find your phone number!
• Too much really can be too much! It might be nice to provide all of your contact information. (That makes it easy for us to create a contact file of you.) However, when you add your twitter account, your facebook page, your blog, your resume, and your life history, we may get annoyed. Note for twitter and linkedin and facebook pages, there are small icon-links you can create to save space. For example, here are the directions for linkedin. Facebook and Twitter directions are here.
• Don't spend too much time in focusing on your signature. Maybe create it once and be done with it?! If you have considered these options listed above, you are probably going to have a "responsible" signature. If you want to change it every so often go for it. It may have a "branding" impact (and that may be important to some) but don't let this consume too much of your time .... so you can get back to all those emails!!

If anyone wants to learn how you can save hundreds of hours a year for yourself, become more sane by getting out from inbox overload, or save thousands of hours for your organization contact me at brian@moxiepartners.com.

Procrastinating? Start simple - call yourself out on it

Have you found yourself procrastinating lately on some "big" thing? First off - call it out!

Call what out you ask?

Call yourself out!

(1) I am procrastinating.

The next question is why? There are lots of reasons for procrastination. Maybe the biggest? Fear.

So again, call yourself out.

(2) I have a fear right now.

Now, the natural next question ... What is that fear? But you don't get that far along until you first "call yourself out."

Links to other posts on Procrastination:

Reason #4 Lack of Confidence

Reason #3 Lack of Real Commitment

Reason #2 Fear of Failure

Reason #1 Getting Started