Invest in Yourself!

“Invest in myself? Are you kidding me? I have no time!” I know I’ve said this many times over and over to myself. Everyone is busy taking care of multiple responsibilities, all at once. Sometimes it feels like we are running on a wheel or treadmill of life, constantly going, with no time to invest in ourselves.

And now, here I am telling you that you should invest in yourself. I had an interesting, little epiphany the other day, when I was feeling frustrated about the lack of time that I had, and how I had used that as an excuse to continue writing my new book, Evolving Achievements.

Then, what popped into my head, was the 10% rule on investments. The golden rule is to always pay yourself first. Pay yourself first, pay yourself first….the message never grows old. And the rule works. Almost everyone is able to save some amount of their pay cheque, even if only a few bucks. So, I thought, could we not apply this rule to our personal goals, even if we are really busy women?

I don’t think we really have a choice. I once read in one of Bob Proctor’s books, that time is never the real barrier behind achieving our goals. The real issue is our failure to prioritize our time effectively.

So, how can we all use our time more effectively? A mentor recently reminded me that the most successful people became that way because they learned to break down their large goals into small tasks that could be done on a daily or weekly basis, in such a way that those tasks never interfered with the rest of their life.

I can remember several years ago, I was in Edmonton at one of Dan Poynter’s book publishing seminars. There was a lady in her early 40’s who was so determined to complete her book that she woke up at 4am every morning before work, and wrote until 5:30am. Then, she went to the gym to exercise before heading off to work. I remember asking her why she didn’t pursue her workouts in the evening (assuming 4am was too early), and she said that early in the morning was the only ‘quiet’ time where she could fully concentrate. How’s that for self-discipline, and more importantly, finding a habit

So, how will you find time in your schedule to work on the things that are most important to you? Will it be early in the morning? Do you have time between running errands, or while waiting to meet a friend or colleague? What could you do on your lunch break? One thing that has worked wonders for me, is simply making to-do lists all the time, and thinking or planning ahead about what I will do in my next block of time, whenever that might be. A lot of time gets wasted simply thinking about what to do next.

Another realization that I continually experience over and over again, is how it is a necessity to invest in yourself first. I can remember one weekend, having a major work assignment to prepare for, having two social obligations to attend, an entire house to clean, and a few appointments that I couldn’t miss. I was feeling a bit stressed out, and then I reminded myself about the importance of taking care of myself. So, each morning, I was up an hour earlier to workout, and then, I came home and gave myself time to write – something that gives me absolute joy, and fills up my ‘buckets’. That joy, that energy and vitality carried itself all the way through to all the other tasks that I needed to finish that weekend.

The point then, is to think of investing in yourself, as just that, – an investment. Don’t look at the achievement of your personal goals and habits as a chore, because those activities are what fill you up with expansive, positive energy, and drive you to maintain an excellent attitude and vigour in everything that you do.

Here’s an excellent exercise that I’d suggest. Pull out a sheet of loose leaf paper. Make a list of all the small time blocks that could possibly be used to work on some of your important goals. Identify some times when you could truly get yourself into the habit of working on the pursuits that are most meaningful to you. This will ensure that your achievements continue to evolve as opposed to desolve.

Cheers to your success! that works.

Goal Setting Software

These goal setting software programs have become popular because they are helping people to organize their personal goals. I myself, was contemplating on buying some goal-setting software until I encountered many great free goal setting software programs.  However, I’ve realized there are pros and cons to using these tools as opposed to writing your goals down on paper.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Goal Setting Software

One benefit is being able to have all your files together, and this includes your personal goals. Just as you are in the habit of checking the online news, your email, Facebook and anything else online – now you can check your goals at the same time.

Also, many of these programs provide for a nice visual background, and a sense of true interactions since others can also read your goals. You feel supported and you feel a sense of community which can be motivating in and of itself.

There are a few disadvantages to using these online programs. First, are you going to take the time to login to check your goals? Or, will it become one more ‘to-do thing’ on your list?

For myself, I love to read my goals every night as I lay in bed. Somehow, this seems more real and personal for me. My journal is so easily accessible, whereas I don’t always feel that my software is if I’m not at my computer all the time.

Also, if I’m plugging my goals into the computer, I’m more likely to get distracted with all the other things occurring online, and so I might not focus as much on setting my goals.

In contrast, there are many benefits a person can reap from the power of hand writing their goals. It has been thought that it is a more active approach integrating many different sensory faculties. As you move your had across the page, often times your hand will cross the median of your body, and this is thought to activate different parts of the brain.

Handwriting might actually ingrain the goal more into your subconscious mind. This is important, because it normalizes and ingrains how badly you want your goals – your desire and expectation to achieve these goals simply becomes your true waking reality -and you won’t accept anything less.

Of course, if your goals are in notebook, they aren’t as confidential as someone could find your notebook. Also, if you’re the type of person who would lose your notebook, or paper on which you’ve written your goals, then maybe using a goal setting software program is best for you. Check out the following goal setting software programs!

Goal Setting Software Programs

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Joe’s Goals – Free Goal Setting Software

Take the tour, and check out this amazing platform first! You can easily add new goals and new logbooks to track everything! This program is all about measuring your success. You just click on a calendar to log in information! It’s fun!

A Program that Creates Wallet Size Goal Setting Cards!

Try this totally advanced platform now!This along with the free goal setting program will keep you inspired and taking full action!

Receive Your Goals by Email!

goal setting software program because you can have your goal emailed to you each week! Advertise your goals to yourself through email so you don’t have to remember to go out of your way to read them! How great is this? Reminding ourselves of our goals is half the battle in my opinion!

The Fun Life Tango Goal Setting Program

This is a totally cool, easy to use goal setting program. The platform itself is very colourful and well put together.

It sort of reminds me of Facebook in that you can decide whether or not to share your goals, and your level of privacy. The flip side is that you can view your friend’s goals as well! You can choose an alias name if you’d like. They have a really unique set-up where you can view a whole bunch of people’s goals, and you can even adopt someone else’s goal and have it set up on your own profile!

There is also a task tracker, so you can remind yourself of the little steps required to meet your bigger goal. I promise that you won’t be disappointed with this site – you’ll love this one for it’s ‘looks’ alone!

Value Based Goal Setting!

This is yet another great site – no joke again! As soon as you get to the site, you can watch an inspiring video informing you on what the goal setting software includes. Watching this video alone is worth the trip to its site!

Join A Goal Setting Ring for Group Goal Setting

This good program has all the standard features as above. While it is not as visually appealing, it does include other perks such as a goal setting guide, the ability to set goals as part of a group, and finally, it also includes charts to track your progress. Have a peak at this program, and you can begin sharing your goals with others and receiving support right away!

8 Goals Online: Set Your Goals and Track Your Progress for Life!

Another user-friendly goal setting freeware program that allows you to track your progress in achieving your targets. This has a video demo for you to follow instructions on how to use it. It has current, future and lifetime goal categories. What is unique about this program is that it contains a section called “Reason to Achieve”, so that you write down why the goal is important to you. The program also contains some decent charts as well.

43 Things Goal Setting Freeware

What I like about this site, is that you can type in your goal without registering to see how many other people have that goal as well! This is a great site that is user friendly and free of course, – well up to 43 goals, and then you’d have to pay. You can take the 43 Things Goal Setting Tour to see what it is all about. While this site is not overly aesthetically appealing, it has a very nice basic look.