Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - September 26, 2023

 Focus on simplicity… once you get there, you can move mountains. - Steve Jobs

You don’t get results by focusing on results. You get results by focusing on the actions that produce results. - Mike Hawkins

At the beginning of the year, the author listed four areas she was going to focus on this year. Here is an update on each of them.

1.            Prioritize – As the author stated in last week’s post, prioritizing reading has been an issue for the author this year. She has prioritized work and volunteer opportunities based on how the year has been. Over this last weekend, the author prioritized herself and spent a number of hours reading on Sunday and finished two books, which she is immensely proud of herself for doing.

2.            Solitude – This has been another challenging area for the author this year. Living alone, the author is lonely and having quiet in her home is difficult. The author is still working to have quiet times to help recover from the draining year.

3.            Communication – When this year started, the author discussed her need to improve her communication skills. For the author, she thought reading books and slowing down her speaking pace, which she has done to interact with a high-level official, would be all that she would be doing. Through slowing down her pace, the author has built her confidence up to accomplish her job responsibilities. The least likely thing occurred for the author, and she had a major milestone. On Tuesday, the author spoke to her largest audience (over 1,000) at her job. She also created the presentation with input from coworkers. The author practiced her speech and prepared for the presentation. It went wonderfully!

As long as I continue to stretch my capabilities, as long as I continue to take risks in making my dreams come true, I am going to experience fear. - Susan Jeffries

4.            Energy – Like the author stated in her mid-year review, her energy is based on eating well and good sleeping habits. During stressful times, she has struggled in the last three months remembering things at 1am, 2am and 3am. For the author, she continues to focus on these areas to keep her energy strong to finish the year strong.

ACTION: How are your focus areas going for the year? What changes do you need to make in life to help finish 2023 strong?

Resources

•       https://thestrive.co/quotes-about-focus/

•       Foy, Terri Savelle.(Executive Producer). (2023). Live Your Dreams [TV Series]. Victory Television.

•       https://wisdomquotes.com/goals-quotes/#:~:text=Review%20your%20goals%20twice%20every%20day%20in%20order,and%20you%E2%80%99ll%20be%20more%20motivated%20on%20tough%20days

•       https://www.success.com/18-motivational-quotes-about-successful-goal-setting/

•       https://www.govictory.com/episode/live-your-dreams/

•       https://www.christywright.com/e/BAh7BjoWZW1haWxfZGVsaXZlcnlfaWRsKwhzE%2FyRAgA=--d3f4c547c69fe49039fbb4f14ebed8ebab970779?cid=3fdceb97-8044-4840-b7ad-edbd62ddd668&skip_click_tracking=true

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - September 19, 2023

 A goal is a desired outcome. A strategy is a desired outcome combined with a plan for achieving it. Create strategies, not goals. - James Clear

All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible. - Orison Swett Marden

As we are approaching the end of the third quarter of 2023, it is time to do a status check on our goals this year. Over the years, the author has talked about reviewing goals to see which goals the reader is hitting it out of the ballpark on, and those goals that the reader needs to create a strategy to focus on for the rest of 2023 to accomplish.

Each year, the author plans her year and always says at the end that it is nothing like she expected. Nine months through the year and she already knows this year is nothing like she expected. When the author took time to review her goals, she was proud of herself that she has taken many adventures to visit new places, volunteered a number of hours, sent cards to many people, and did a number of activities with friends.  

In June, the author discussed prioritization and that still is an area the author has to work on. This year has been difficult and quite draining. The author has not prioritized reading like she should have and is now behind on her goal. For the author, she is not changing the goal, but looking for ways to reprioritize her activities to read more. One part of life that will help the author is that college and NFL football are back, and she will spend time reading while watching football. Additionally, even though the author is behind in reading, she has stepped up listening to books and has continued to increase her knowledge via that media.

Lastly, the author earlier in the year talked about spring cleaning and decluttering. During that time, she took her own advice and worked in her house.  However, she recently heard a motivational speaker say “The way you do anything is the way you do everything (Foy, 2023). With the author’s crazy year, the author is reevaluating her house to find those things she needs, get rid of what she does not and purchase items to spruce up her house. She is also doing this with her closet.

ACTION:  Review your goals for this year. What changes do you need to make for the next 3 months to accomplish your goals by December 31, 2023?

Resources

·        Foy, Terri Savelle.(Executive Producer). (2023). Live Your Dreams [TV Series]. Victory Television.

·       https://wisdomquotes.com/goals-quotes/#:~:text=Review%20your%20goals%20twice%20every%20day%20in%20order,and%20you%E2%80%99ll%20be%20more%20motivated%20on%20tough%20days

·       https://www.success.com/18-motivational-quotes-about-successful-goal-setting/

·       https://www.govictory.com/episode/live-your-dreams/

·       https://www.christywright.com/e/BAh7BjoWZW1haWxfZGVsaXZlcnlfaWRsKwhzE%2FyRAgA=--d3f4c547c69fe49039fbb4f14ebed8ebab970779?cid=3fdceb97-8044-4840-b7ad-edbd62ddd668&skip_click_tracking=true

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - September 12, 2023

 One good day does not mean you can coast tomorrow. You never have it fully licked. Making good choices is an endless process. Many areas of life that we value most—our relationships, our fitness, our craft—require a continual commitment. – James Clear

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. – Gail Sheehy

As we have embarked on creating and implementing our personal growth plans, we all need to be prepared for delays that may come and fear of failure.  When those delays arise, we will often move towards procrastination, which will prohibit us from moving forward.  This will cause inaction.  However, we must overcome that fear by taking one action.  That one action will encourage us to take the next action towards overcoming fear and delays.

President John F. Kennedy said:

There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

If we live in fear and do not take actions to grow, we stifle our opportunities and we risk not accomplishing our purpose, dreams and goals.

ACTION:  What one actions will you take today to help overcome fear and help you on the path for your personal growth? 

 Resources

·        Duhigg, C. (2012). Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Work. Random House.

·        http://www.espn.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_/id/50292/on-tony-dungy-changing-player-habits

·        http://www.newdirectionsconsulting.com/leadership-engagement/behavioral-management-the-power-of-habit-to-determine-our-behavior/

·        http://www.cpe.vt.edu/gttc/presentations/8eStagesofChange.pdf

·        http://www.deconstructingexcellence.com/the-power-of-habit-summary/

·        Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week: Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - March 7th

·        https://dd.darrenhardy.com/avoid-the-unhappiness-trap?utm_campaign=DarrenDaily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=271952977&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s488h7Irm1m8ay63EbeeeNuui-g-Fc2nGQ8Zju1eFYpsFcuegOKqsxhS4A-l2U8Ab96-atJa33e9Tg_ZoEEP9ZSkOKw&utm_content=271797501&utm_source=hs_email

·        https://www.success.com/15-personal-development-quotes-to-help-you-invest-in-yourself/

·        Are you growing strategically? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zchBipamqZE

·        https://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/the-maxwell-plan-for-personal-growth/

·        https://www.maxwellleadership.com/blog/growth-plan-for-significance/

Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - September 5, 2023

 The beginning is always today. -Mary Shelley

You are never too old to start over. Every day is a chance to make changes to create the life we want. – Karen Waddell

Over the last couple of weeks, blog posts have been about creating a personal growth plan.  One might ask why at the end of summer would one discuss creating a personal growth plan.  As the quote indicates, it is never too late to start. 

You can start anew at any given moment. Life is just the passage of time and it’s up to you to pass it as you please. – Charlotte Eriksson

With summer over, the time has come to reestablish a regular routine.  This is also a great time to implement a personal growth plan that will continue for the rest of the reader’s life.  How does one carry out this new plan (habit)?  Here is an excerpt from Terri’s Tuesday Tip of the Week on March 7, 2017:

Tony Dungy, one of the greatest football coaches of all times, incorporated this concept with his football teams.  During practices, his goal was to train his teams to stop thinking and instead react to normal on-field cues.  When they experienced a normal “cue”, they inserted a new routine (response) and received the same reward.  By continually practicing this process, it became automatic during football games.  Dungy used this process with both the Buccaneers and Colts and both of these teams greatly improved.

In her article “BEHAVIORAL MANAGEMENT: The Power of Habit to Determine Our Behavior”, Deborah Mackin gives a great example we can all probably relate to.   When we hear the “ding” of a new email, we immediately stop what we are doing to deal with the email in anticipation that it might be important.  Our “reward” might be that we caught an important email early and resolved the issue.  To change, we have to hear the “ding” of a new email (cue), develop a different routine of waiting to review email until a set time (response) and still feel rewarded when we are able to clean out our email before we leave for the day (reward).

ACTION:  How will you take Tony Dungy’s advice to implement a new personal growth plan (habit) in your life?

Resources

·        Duhigg, C. (2012). Habits: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Work. Random House.

·        http://www.espn.com/blog/afcsouth/post/_/id/50292/on-tony-dungy-changing-player-habits

·        http://www.newdirectionsconsulting.com/leadership-engagement/behavioral-management-the-power-of-habit-to-determine-our-behavior/

·        http://www.cpe.vt.edu/gttc/presentations/8eStagesofChange.pdf

·        http://www.deconstructingexcellence.com/the-power-of-habit-summary/

·        Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week: Terri's Tuesday Tip of the Week - March 7th

·        https://dd.darrenhardy.com/avoid-the-unhappiness-trap?utm_campaign=DarrenDaily&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=271952977&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--s488h7Irm1m8ay63EbeeeNuui-g-Fc2nGQ8Zju1eFYpsFcuegOKqsxhS4A-l2U8Ab96-atJa33e9Tg_ZoEEP9ZSkOKw&utm_content=271797501&utm_source=hs_email

·        https://www.success.com/15-personal-development-quotes-to-help-you-invest-in-yourself/

·        Are you growing strategically? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zchBipamqZE

·        https://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/the-maxwell-plan-for-personal-growth/

·        https://www.maxwellleadership.com/blog/growth-plan-for-significance/