In an earlier post this new year, I talked about how to make 2010 a great year
for you.

Well, we’re over three weeks into the year…how’s it going for you so far?

For me personally, one of the things in 2009 that stood between me and my
achieving my goals last year was intermittent focus, or as Mike Murdock says,
“broken focus.”

It’s so easy to get distracted.  When you think about it, it’s hard to go
through a day without having someone email or call you with an idea or proposal
which, although it may be good, doesn’t fit into your plan.

Your plan?

You do have one (written), don’t you? (if not,it’s not too late, but don’t wait)

To maintain my focus in all the areas of my life where I’ve set goals, I use
a “black book” which has all the information I need to do just that. As I’ve
shared in the past, I take several days (no work, no phone, no email) at the
beginning of the year and critically review the past year and look forward to
the coming year.

Involves a lot of quiet thinking and writing.

And this year, something new for me is a “black book” which I’ve almost always
got with me.

In my “black book” I’ve got my dreams list, my affirmation statements, yearly
business plan (on 1 page), and (something new for me this year) my monthly
map. Don’t remember where I heard about it, but I put together a map of what
I’m going to accomplish in the current month.

Lots of visual stuff, but with my goal of reading through it first thing
every morning, it’s a tool that helps me. And, the map doesn’t lie. Every week
I’m scheduling my time from the monthly map. Because things always come up,
not every hour of every day is scheduled, but I’m finding that as “new
opportunities” or other things come up, I can look to the map to see if they
fit within my priorities for the month.

I’ll continue to talk about and share about this during the year, as much to
help myself as to maybe give you an idea that can help you achieve what you
want to achieve in 2010.

Here’s to a great rest of the year.