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How to build a focused and productive 2016
By Paul Milano
Summary:
Read Time: 6 min
Have you made your New Years resolutions yet? Me neither.
How many people do you know have said the same New Year’s resolutions over and over every year?
The majority who make New Years resolutions will never keep them (92% according to some stats) and a lot of people have basically said screw it and never even make them any more to begin with.
The concept of improvement though is amazing and something we should strive to do continuously, instead of waiting for some set date to pass.
Here is the action plan I will be using to ensure a productive 2016 for myself and I encourage you to try it along with me and give up the traditional “New Years resolutions”.
It is all about creating a vision for what you want your life to look like in 2016 and then creating a strategy to get there.
Any successful company will create or update a fiscal vision and strategy for each year but few people do this in their own life.
Without setting this specific system / strategy though, our efforts to reach our vision can be unfocused and chaotic which leads to accomplishing far less then we hoped.
I don’t know about you but when I look back at 2016 I want to feel like I crushed it and put in everything I could.
Grab a piece of paper and right down exactly what you want to happen in your life for 2016.
This can be how much income you want to make, what new job you want, what new skills you want to develop etc.
For example for me I have written down the following:
The more specific and detailed you can get the easier it makes to create and implement a strategy to make it happen.
I’m currently reading Lewis Howes newest New York Times Best Seller, The School of Greatness. He breaks down the habits of improvement into four categories.
Your Body, Your Mindset, Your Relationships and Your Skills.
I find creating strategies for each one works amazingly well in support of reaching your goals in your overall vision for the year.
Losing weight or building more lean muscle are the obvious one’s that come to mind here and your strategies to get them should be placed in this category.
Optimizing your body for high performance has greater effects though then just physically looking better. The mental effects are profound, creating the potential for more energy, productivity and focus.
Do you need to start getting more done?
Are you as productive and have the energy you need to have to complete your goals?
What new habits can we form to ensure we are as productive as we need to be to complete our vision?
“Your body is everything. You may think being a little overweight isn’t that big of a deal but on the road to greatness it affects your overall energy and can be that one thing that holds you back from everything.” – Lewis Howes
For myself, I have created my exact fitness strategy and plan to hit my weight and body fat goals. Along with this I have outlined and will be implementing some new habits to further ramp up my productivity.
If you need help on this check out some of my past articles or send me an email (hit reply).
Is your mindset in support of your vision? Do you have any limiting beliefs that may stop you from reaching your vision or thinking they are not possible?
This is the spot to outline strategies to address those then do some work to change your perspective.
For example, I grew up incredibly shy and for the longest time had a huge fear of public speaking (still do to be honest!). I knew this is something I needed to overcome to propel me forward to my vision so I joined several toast masters and powerful conversation groups to break out of this fear.
I guarantee you for every fear you have, there is someone else out there who has resolved it and published a book, video, seminar or created a group on it. Track these down for any limiting mindset you want to help overcome and then put it into action.
Aligning and surrounding yourself with the right people is one of the most impactful things you can do to help turn your vision into reality.
Look at your vision and ask who is going to help support me in this, motivate me or be someone I see as a mentor?
Take a roll call of your current relationships. I realize this isn’t the easiest to do as it is quite personal but your closest companions habits will run off on you, so you want to ensure those habits are positive ones and align with where you are headed.
As well investigate and look into groups or organizations you can join.
For example I have joined several MasterMind and entrepreneurs groups where I can learn from individuals who have already achieved success in the areas I am looking for. This is without doubt the fastest way to propel you forward to your vision.
An easy place to start is to check the meetup groups in your area on similar topics.
What new skills do you want to learn this year to help propel you toward your vision?
For example, I have on my vision to be featured in a few publications that will hit over a million readers. In order to do this I know I need to ramp up my writing game and skills.
I’ve purchased 5 of the top rated books on amazon in order to boost this skill as well have been connected with some top rated blog posts on the subject.
These skills could be anything from writing, speaking, playing an instrument, dancing, improving your technical skills. No matter where we are at with any skill there is always room to improve more.
Write down the skills you need to help get you to your vision and then go out and get the material, lessons or training you need to make it happen.
Your action steps:
Write down your vision for 2016 and then below that create a strategy of how you will reach that vision using the 4 categories as above. Get as specific as possible and then start taking action!
Let’s make 2016 our best year yet.