Category Archives: Goals

How to Get Lean With Your Time

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We have kicked off 2014 with a mission to improve financial efficiency, by declaring it as the “Year to Get Lean.” Lean refers to the production system pioneered by Japanese automobile makers, Toyota, which focuses on eliminating wasteful processes to improve profitability.

This concept of reducing waste can also be applied to your personal and professional life. If you want to be a peak performer in all your activities and be successful with your goals, then lean is the way to go. This week, we will look at strategies to incorporate lean techniques in time utilisation.

There are three Japanese words that explain the types of inefficiencies that can hamper your results. Muda means idleness or wastage of resources when carrying out your tasks, mura is the unbalanced or irregular usage of resources, while muri means excessive or impossible activities. Continue reading How to Get Lean With Your Time →

Get Financially Lean in 2014

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Once again, we begin a brand-new year, when we can reflect on the past and resolve to improve the future. For some, this is usually a time of remorse, as they regret all the wasted opportunities that passed their way. Others use this period to make optimistic plans for an even better year to come.

If you’re already in the process of recording your New Year’s Resolutions for 2014, try not to repeat the mistakes you may have made last year. It is pointless to put together a wish list of dreams and goals you would like to accomplish, without equipping yourself with the means to get them done.

This week, I would like to introduce a concept of planning and execution that may change the way you think about and approach goal setting and achievement. This methodology will help you to become more efficient and effective in many aspects of your personal, financial and work lives. Continue reading Get Financially Lean in 2014 →

Money Mission: Count Your Blessings

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All too soon, we have come to the final month in 2013. Over the year, our ‘money mission’ columns have tried to keep you on target with your goals; encouraging you to carry out specific objectives to further your plans, and giving you strategies to overcome obstacles that can hinder your progress.

We’ve covered diverse topics such as overcoming disappointments, earning independent income, looking for opportunities in change, and discovering your motivating force. We’ve also shown you how to focus on a priority goal, get organised, control your time and complete your tasks.

Rest, reflect and review

Although December is usually consumed with thoughts of shopping and revelry, for this month, we invite you to spend some time in reflection. Consider the financial successes that you have enjoyed, as well the money mistakes you have made. What lessons have you learned from them? Continue reading Money Mission: Count Your Blessings →

Money Mission: Deal with Disappointments

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As we draw nearer to the close of another year, a lot of persons will look back with regret at lost opportunities or unfulfilled objectives over the past months. Although most people will begin the year by making optimistic resolutions, many will not be satisfied with their year-end results.

It can be discouraging to set your heart on attaining a desired objective in a specific time, make diligent efforts to carry out the required steps, and then get derailed somewhere along the process. Part of goal achievement is learning how to deal with the inevitable disappointments that will arise.

It may be a little naïve to expect calm waters and smooth sailing when you embark on your voyage towards your goal destination. The reality is that you will most likely encounter unexpected and unpleasant challenges along the way that will test your resolve and determination to succeed. Continue reading Money Mission: Deal with Disappointments →

Money Mission: Focus On Your Primary Goal

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If you had created a New Year’s Resolutions list for 2013, your agenda may have included several financial objectives which you had hoped to achieve for the year. It’s a smart idea to write down clear, specific goals if you really want to accomplish your personal and money targets.

However, if you include too many items on your to-do list, you can actually retard your ability to successfully carry out your objectives. When faced with too many options, sometimes your brain can get confused about what is required to be done, and it will short-circuit the action process.

Your brain is a sophisticated computer, which absorbs all the instructions it receives and decides the appropriate course to take. If you provide it with competing requests such as “get out of debt,” “save aggressively,” and “start a side business,” it may not be certain which route to take first. Continue reading Money Mission: Focus On Your Primary Goal →

Money Mission: Embrace the Opportunities in Change

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As we continue to look at strategies that can help you to accomplish the financial goals that you set for 2013, it is important to consider some major obstacles that could be hindering your progress. Goal achievement requires you to be honest about the issues that may be holding you back.

If you are working towards your goals, you must be proceeding in a forward motion. No one has ever achieved anything by standing still or looking back on the past. So, in order to succeed in your objectives, you must be willing to move from where you are today onto new pathways.

Whether you want to budget effectively, save more, get out of debt, increase your income, buy a home, or start investing for your retirement, it is necessary for you to adopt improved money attitudes and actions. Change is integral to the process of accomplishing your financial goals. Continue reading Money Mission: Embrace the Opportunities in Change →

True Grit Brings Financial Success

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Recently, a reader shared that his secret for success was based on the four-letter word ‘grit’. His recipe to get ahead in life was to stay focused on his tasks, find ways to overcome any obstacles that might arise along the way, and work diligently and consistently until his goals were realised.

Speaking on a TED Talks Educational video, psychologist Angela Lee Duckworth explained that grit is “passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.” Grit is having the stamina to keep working at your important tasks every day, over many years, until you have accomplished your objectives.

Duckworth, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania who researches educational achievement, posited that grit is a better indicator of a student’s success than factors such as IQ. This trait may be even more critical than natural abilities or other determinants of achievement. Continue reading True Grit Brings Financial Success →

Don’t Settle for Less – Aim Higher

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Recently, I conducted a training session for sales persons from various Caribbean countries, where I outlined the budgeting techniques which would allow them to manage their income effectively. I also demonstrated how using a budget could help them to set and achieve their sales goals.

One participant from a smaller island explained that it was hard to stick to her budget because she often received widely fluctuating bills from a utility company in her country. She could pay as much as fifty per cent more on a bill, without actually increasing her usage of the service.

“How can you manage your money when your budgeted expenses are not consistent?” she asked. Continue reading Don’t Settle for Less – Aim Higher →

Money Mission: Complete Your Tasks

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At the start of every month, we have been looking at a specific issue that can affect your ability to accomplish the goals which you resolved to work on for this year. You can only make progress with your objectives if you continually place them in the forefront of your mind.

One major challenge to goal achievement is our propensity to get started on a project but give up on the process before it is complete. We get a sense of satisfaction once we begin carrying out the required steps, feeling content enough to know that we have started on the road to success.

Cross over the goal line
We may excuse the fact that we actually never finished the task at hand, saying that we are still on track. However, when it comes to goal achievement, you don’t get a ‘good effort’ in your homework book just for trying. A goal that’s only partially completed is a goal that has not been achieved. Continue reading Money Mission: Complete Your Tasks →

The Slight Edge Brings Major Results

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I have often wondered why some people seem to get ahead in the game of life, while many others only sit on the sidelines and watch life pass them by. What is the defining factor that allows two persons with similar circumstances and opportunities to achieve vastly different results?

As a money coach, I usually search for strategies to help people to accomplish their personal and financial objectives. There is a wealth of information about goal achievement available in books, CDs, training programmes and on the Internet for anyone who wants to learn more about this topic.

Searching for the right formula
I recently read a resource that appeared to hold the answer to one of my basic questions about personal achievement. In his book, The Slight Edge, businessman and author Jeff Olson promised to reveal the one secret component that could help people to achieve success in life. Continue reading The Slight Edge Brings Major Results →