The acronym SMART stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Timely

Each day we went over ways that you can improve your goals by really thinking about what you want and then setting yourself up for successful completion. Your goals should fall in line with your business vision. They should be dynamic and motivating, not unmeasurable and frustrating.

Have you been taking a harder look at your goals? Are you happy with your professional goals? What can you do to make them better? What piece(s) of SMART goal setting will help you the most? How?

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When you set a goal, you must have a starting time. When do you plan to start working on your goal? If you never give it a starting point, it will be easy to keep putting it off until you “have the time.” But if you don’t schedule it and make the time, you’ll never magically find the time.

Your goal must also have an end time. A neverending goal frustrates people. We need a sense of accomplishment from being able to say something is done. Make your goal small enough that you can assign an end point.

Deadlines are a big part of helping people get motivated to finish something.Without a time for completion, long-term projects get pushed aside for day-to-day and urgent tasks. And assigning a deadline to employees can help them plan their workload. An open-ended project sounds nice, but it’s really a project that will probably never happen.

Don’t just assign an arbitrary due date. Take into consideration the steps to accomplish the goal and plan accordingly. Don’t rush yourself, but don’t allow too much time to get distracted with other things.

Do you assign deadlines to your goals? Does it help motivate you to make progress on them? How?

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(myorganizedbiz.com) – We’re getting close to the end of our series about setting goals. And today the topic is making your goals relevant.What comes to mind when you think of a relevant goal? First, it must be relevant to you. It must fit you. And it has to be something that you have control over, that you can complete.

If you set a goal that it’ll be a nice day for the company picnic and that everyone will have fun, it’s a nice goal but it’s not relevant to you. You can’t control the weather. And you certainly can’t control others’ reactions to things. What you can do is plan to have sufficient food and entertainment for everyone without going over a specific budget. Those are things you can work on.

The same thing applies to your employees. Give them goals that they can work towards, but bring your company closer to what you envision it will be. Make sure it’s relevant to them, that it’s an activity that they can have a direct impact on.

Have you been thinking more about your goals with this series? Do you even think setting goals is relevant to you? Your business? Why or why not?

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If you set your goal too high, you can feel like a failure, like you’re not good enough when you don’t complete the task. If you set it too low and you don’t have to work at it, you’ll either ignore the goal or get bored with it. The same goes for your employees. They need to feel that they have a reasonable chance of meeting the goal with a standard or slightly above-standard performance. You want to build their confidence and help them find their strengths.

Have you ever set goals for yourself and then realized they weren’t really attainable? How did you feel? Did you adjust the goal to something more reasonable, or did you just scrap the goal entirely?

Find previous SMART goal posts here: Part I: Specific and Part II: Measurable.

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(myorganizedbiz.com) – To continue our series on SMART goals, we’ll talk about designing a measurable goal. What is that, anyway?

A measurable goal should be quantifiable. You, and your employees, need something to work towards. You need milestones. How will you measure progress if you don’t have milestones?

For example, which of these goals is measurable?

• In the next five years, we’d like to grow our customer base and increase sales.

• In the next five years, we’d like to see a 50% return rate from our new customers and increase sales 10% each year during that time.

Those aren’t perfect examples, but you can tell which one is measurable, right? Once you know how to quantify your goals, you can track your progress. And making actual progress, and being able to see it, is one of the points of setting goals in the first place.

And if you have employees, measurable goals is equally important for them. If you want them to stay motivated, they must have milestones for indicating progress. One of the things that used to frustrate me was having vague goals tacked onto my evaluation. The results were completely subjective, and that certainly didn’t help motivate me to get them done. I’m the type that will do my best to meet them anyway, but milestones would have lessened my frustration and lack of control.

Do you set measurable goals? Do you feel like you make actual progress when you do?

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(myorganizedbiz.com) – In order to set your goals and achieve them, you have to be SMART in your planning. And it starts by being Specific.

Goals that are vague are goals that just sit around. You can’t work towards something nebulous like “success” until you’ve defined what success means to you. Is success working less than 40 hours while still caring for you and your family? Is it a certain dollar amount in the bank? Is it just doing something you love?

Clear, specific goals give you something to work towards. You are setting your expectations of things. Of yourself. If you don’t have an end (or a goal) in sight, it’s easy to get distracted or not realize how much (or how little) progress you’ve made.

Every business needs goals. You want to measure your business’s progress, right? And if you have employees you’ll want to measure their progress as well. Make sure they know what is expected, when, and how much. Specific expectations will help avoid any confusion.

In our next part of the series, we’ll talk about making your goals measurable.

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Today’s feature comes from AJ West at Lifehack with an post about how to free yourself from paper clutter.

Want to know which papers to keep – and which ones to throw away? Do you know what the government expect you to have on file if you’re ever audited? Here’s the post you’ve been waiting for. And AJ serves it up.

This is also timely information considering tax season is just barely behind us. Maybe you set an intention for that proverbial new leaf. Check it out here.

When you sort through your papers, how do you know what to keep and what to get rid of? How do you know something is worth keeping?

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Post written by Maggie McCauley, ACC, LICSW

Ah, the dreaded filing task! UGH! We tend to make this the very last item on our “to do” list, don’t we? That’s mainly because we haven’t created proper homes for it. Our battle with paper can end with the creation of a good system. It doesn’t matter which paper system we put in place as long as it takes under a minute to find it or put it away and it makes sense to us. Here are three things you can do to right now to eliminate the dread of filing.

Make room. You’ll need twice the space you think you’ll need in your filing cabinet. Keep files for current documents, archives (year+), and resources.

Follow the two step rule. When paper comes in it gets sorted or acted on. Sort– keep or toss. Act– file, pay, fax, mail, recycle, or review. Set up a mail sorting system to accommodate this rule with coordinating file folders.

Develop categories. Track all the important paper coming into your home or office for one month. As it comes in assign it a category. Create larger categories using colored hanging file folders (clients, marketing, receipts, banking, etc). Then use manila folders for sub-categories. Label clearly, alphabetize, and stagger tabs. At the end of a month you should have clear idea of the kind of paper categories you’re generating.

We live in the information age. There is power in knowledge and having information at our fingertips. Keep only the most valuable and usable information from the most highly regarded sources. Remember, 80% of what we file away we never look at again. The choice is ours—we can be in charge of our paper or let our paper be in charge of us. Take charge!

Maggie McCauley, ACC, LICSW is an Organizer Coach—Certified Life Coach & Professional Organizer. She has a background in clinical social work and has been working with adults promoting balanced, vibrant and healthy lives for over 16 years. She is a member of the International Coach Federation, the National Association of Professional Organizers, and Toastmasters’ International. You can reach her for comment at www.anewviewforyou.com.

How does your filing system work? What tweaks have you made that make it more intuitive and easier to use?

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Post by Brandie Kajino

Have you ever felt like you could never “be organized”? An audience member talked with me about this after a presentation recently. She said, “I just don’t think I can BE organized.” I was saddened by her comment, because she clearly felt a great deal of shame about it. Unfortunately, society has a very strict interpretation of what “organized” means, and it’s not really working for a lot of people.

First of all, organization and perfection have nothing in common (besides the “-tion” part of the word). Secondly, “being organized” just means you can find most anything you need in 5 minutes or less. Organization is about systems for life and success. What organization looks like is different for everyone. Thirdly, organization is a skill, or a state of mind. There are a few simple things that can guide you to organization success in your own life.

Here’s a few tips when deciding what to do in your situation:

1. Keep it simple. There’s no need for color coding and decimal systems, unless you’re into that. You can always step things up later, but keep it simple in the beginning. A notebook and a pen can be a great place to start on a task (or “To Do”) list.

2. Be honest with yourself. Do you like technology of feel sick when you head the term, “PDA”? Do you prefer to write things out long hand, instead of typing? If you feel overwhelmed when looking at an organzation tool, it might not be the right one for you.

3. Be true to yourself. Even if you don’t “feel” organized, I bet there is something in your life that you are proud of. Search your heart and mind, and find that one thing that felt successful at. Look at why you are proud of it, and I bet there is something you can glean from that experience that can apply to other areas of your life.

“Being organized” is a state of mind, and it doesn’t always come in a box. You are unique and intelligent, so take it easy and do what works for you.

Brandie Kajino, The Home Office Organizer, is a dynamic speaker, author and professional organizer. Brandie helps home office professionals get organized. Her website includes free resources, teleclasses, personalized services and a blog with dozens of articles. Visit her web site or call her at 971-533-7735.

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Post by Alison Marks

Most likely, there are ways that your work environment makes you have to work harder than you need to. Try these ideas to turn your work space into a powerful tool to support you and your productivity:

Fresh Eyes. Come in from outside with “fresh eyes,” as though you were visiting for the first time. What do you notice? How do you feel? What can you tell about the person or people who work here?

Declutter. The #1 most powerful tool for creating a supportive space! Give your eye fewer things to look at. This brings clarity, helping you to really appreciate and utilize what’s there.

Yin/Yang Balance. Yang is active and energetic – bright colors, movement, electronics, loud music or noises. Yin is soft, calming and restful – pastels, soft light, textiles. Give yourself enough yang to keep you motivated, enough yin to feel nurtured.

5 Senses. There’s no reason not to bring pleasure to work. What delights your senses? Sometimes one small change can make a huge difference. Some ideas to try: use aromatherapy, add a soft rug, bring in a fountain, or play soft music.

Making some of the changes suggested here will bring satisfaction and flow into your day. Good luck!

Alison Marks helps busy women create sanctuaries in their homes and peace of mind in their workplaces. She is a San Francisco-based design coach, Certified Feng Shui Consultant and professional organizer. For more information and articles, visit her at InsideOutDesignCoaching.com.

In what ways does your work space support you and not? What’s one small (or large) change you will make?

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