The personal development and self-help voices are getting REALLY LOUD at this time of year. I am getting pounded and hounded with offers of books, online courses, webinars, videos and, and, and. WOW, turn down the noise!
How do you decipher what is best for you? What will serve you the most? Let me help.
Clearly you have options:
- You can simply hit delete, but you might be missing something that you would really enjoy and could be really good for you.
- You could skip over the messages in your email and decide to revisit them later, letting them all pile up andprobably ultimately deleting them anyway.
- You could react immediately, Johnny on the spot and sign up for whatever is being offered
OR
You could take a moment today and ask yourself, what is it I am looking for? What specifically will help me move into the direction of my goals or vision this coming year? (You can’t say, “I don’t know” because if you get quiet and ask the questions, you do know).
First lets Look at just three of our domains in life. The things you most likely want to improve.
- Love, Family, and or relationships
- Health and well being, physical, emotional, spiritual
- Money/Freedom – Job, make more money, change careers, security, time
Ask yourself:
What would I love in these areas and write down at least 3 things in each area.
Example: Money – Job
- Earn more money this year
- Start investing my money
- Be more efficient and organized with time management.
Now when the emails come, or the pop-ups or ads show up.
Ask yourself:
- Does this directly apply to my goals and me?
- Will this help me in the specific area that I have decided to give attention to?
If not: Delete.
If so: Create an email folder and save them to it.
Next ask yourself:
How do I really learn best?
- Books or Audio?
- Self study courses?
- Live or recorded courses?
- Do I need to be accountable to someone to actually follow through and not get sidetracked?
Personally, I either read or listen to Audio as part of my DAILY routine AND I attend live courses online or in person where the facilitator is expecting me. I need to show up, I need the accountability.
Now pick your most successful method.
So if I ask myself what is most important to me this year?
I will tell you: Earning Money and My Weight Control.
And then I look at my answers to: How do I learn best? What is the best way for me to achieve these goals?
I learn best by daily routines and live accountability.
I am going to quiet the noise and delete the emails that are not in alignment with my specific goals this year and THEN…. I am going to SET A DATE on my calendar to sit with the offers that have been sent to me and see if they are a fit right now. So drag them into the folder and then calendarize when to review them.
I KNOW – If I start too much at once, I will fail.
So, we decide on ONE or TWO things. That’s it!
If 6 months from now you need to change it up? Go back and look at the folder, look at who is making the offer, if they are reputable and successful I am sure when you visit their website you will find something to boost your interest in the areas of change and improvement.
I hope this helps you to quiet the noise and really take steps to increase your learning, growth and quality of life this year.