The Indispensable Little Notebook

Are you busy tackling your everyday life? All your precious time is so pre-occupied with work, family, friends, co-workers, and yet you still have a part-time business to cope with. It feels like you are about to explode some time soon. You seem rattled when you talk about your small business. Well, time to get hold of that lifesaving (or shall I say ‘face-saving’) indispensable little notebook.

What good it does to always have a notebook with you?

1. Primary reason is you will remember important dates, events, appointments, tasks, things-to-do, grocery list, and a whole bunch of things.

2. It is where great ideas are kept. Your plans and goals will be recorded in the almost amaranthine pages of a tiny notebook.

3. Impressions and annotation from a recent seminar you have attended are well-accounted for where you can refer from time to time.

4. A collection of thoughts. Surely, there will come a time you will notice you have collected a few notebooks full of important ideas that will come in handy when you need it most.

5. Lastly, it is imperative to have little notebooks prettily near you. You just don’t know where you can jot down all those tremendous thoughts and ideas overflowing from significant and even common mundane stuffs.

Though bringing several notepads is eye-catching, it helps you focus and manage your already assiduous life. “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Then, let the notebook be your deadliest weapon.

Be Smart in Goal-Setting

Of the billions of words ever formed and created in the world, I think the most typed keyword in the search box of Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN is about goal or goals. An attempt to enhance my goal-setting skill is an aftermath of online researches, trainings and seminars from one of the best networking companies (NSE) I have come across my entire life.

A goal is having an objective already visualized in your mind. It is the end result or achievement for which an effort is directed.

Like a cab driver hailed by a passenger with a specific route or itinerary of stops in the performance of the passenger’s work or duty, you are responsible for getting your passenger to his/her destination in proper state. You are the driver of your own motor vehicle or life. Likewise, you are responsible for your own decisions and actions to accomplish your goals in life.

How does the endeavor of reaching goals become achievable? It is simply through setting goals. But how does one set up goals? Setting up goals constitutes of a driver and a vehicle. You, yourself is the driver of your goal and the vehicle is the means of completing your specific goal.

There are certain directions in setting up for one’s goals. An acronym is provided below which are definite ways to help you carry out your objectives:

1. Beginning. To start acting on your goals, you must “begin with an end in your mind.”

2. Ending. Have a clear-cut picture of your goals in your mind. This way you become fully aware of what you really want to achieve.

3. Specific. Goals should be “specific, personal, and in present tense.”

4. Measurable. You can define your own method of measuring your objectives or goals. This can be in the form of personal rewards for internally motivating your self is a hard-earned habit and discipline as well.

5. Attainable. Attainability of goals is measured by the level of commitment towards achieving it. Ask yourself, “How willing are you to get it?” Are you the type who says, “I’ll try”, “I’ll do my best” or “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

6. Realistic. What one accomplishes must make sense and is rewarding or relevant. “Are your goals realistic for you?”

7. Time-bound. Set a deadline to complete your goals within a finite time. Have a time-frame for your goals and be amazed of what you have attained.

Remember, “Be smart.” Before I end this article let me share this wonderful quote, “Having a simple clearly defined goal can capture the imagination and inspire passion. It can cut through the fog like a beacon in the night.”