My Free Gift To You For 2018

Nothing says happy holidays like gift giving. And I’ve got something extra special to share with everyone that is FREE! But, more importantly, it’s the kind of gift that can help make 2018 one of the best years ever.

Your Better Future

I teach a regular workshop for all new associates at Dwyer Group and new franchise owners of our Neighborly service brands who come to Waco for business training. The class is called “Design Your Life,” and it focuses on target-setting for those important areas in life and business that people always look to improve. To help with this exercise, I created the Your “Better” Future worksheet. And I’m sharing it with everyone. You can download it along with my free Create Your Culture Workbook HERE.

When I teach this class at basic training for our new franchisees, these are business owners we want to challenge to think big about their futures. And the same should apply to everyone who approaches the New Year. For that, I invite you to check out what I call an annual booster shot for those areas of life that deserve attention. Think of it as more than a New Year’s resolution.

The worksheet for Your “Better” Future is a one-year plan to look at 10 different areas:

-Physical Health

-Family/Relationships

-Financial/Career

-Spiritual/Ethical

-Mental/Capabilities

-Social/Contribution

-Time

-Energy/Teamwork

-Trust/Reputation

-and “Other”

If you could do one thing, what would it be?

Looking at this one-page worksheet can be intimidating to some people. I’m sure people can think of several things they might want to do in every single category to outline a better future. But the key is to set targets, prioritize activities and pick only one thing for each category in order to measure those achievements.

For example, I consider my family a grounding force in my life both personally and professionally. I can think of a number of things I would like to do with my family next year. But in order to stick to something that is measurable and impactful in this area of my life, I chose to make sure to eat dinner with my family at least one time a week. That’s not easy with a husband and grown children who are busy just like me. But by writing it down, I’m committed to making that happen. And I know it will help to keep us close and connected from January through December in so many ways.

Another example is in the area of social contributions. While I travel and speak a lot, it’s usually to adults and business leaders. Every once in a while I might speak to college students. But I find it increasingly important for business leaders to reach students at an earlier age and share positive messages that they can carry into adulthood. So, I added a new target to teach my “Design Your Life” class at a local high school at least every other year. Just imagine if high school students learned to prioritize life targets before going on to college or heading out into the working world full-time? The more, the merrier. I’ve even graduated that message to readers of this blog in much the same way.

Don’t make change so hard to reach your targets.

Each month, I do a nationally-syndicated radio interview with the “Son Rise Morning Show” on the EWTN Radio Network. And this month I talked about this worksheet so listeners could access it as they plan for the New Year. But some targets can just feel insurmountable when they shouldn’t. And my advice for that is to look at them in a new way. Don’t make things harder than necessary.

I had the perfect example. While I consider myself a spiritual person, I admit that I’m not the type of faithful Catholic who reads the Bible or quotes verses the way others do so eloquently. But I’ve always wanted to make time in my day to study scripture more often. And I achieved that when I found an app on my phone that I could listen to every single day while I take off my makeup. It’s a quiet time where I have no interruptions. I can focus, listen and multi-task. Who doesn’t like that? So now, my target to study scripture for 15 minutes every day is accomplished, and a difficult goal has turned into an easy and achievable one. Best of all, it didn’t take up any more time. Instead, it made the most of time I already have.

That brings me to perhaps one of the most challenging areas on the list: Time. We all know there are only 24 hours in a day, and we should want to make the most of them. It’s no surprise that in the same way this worksheet can prioritize one’s year, I now spend about 30 minutes every weekend planning things that I want to accomplish during the week ahead. That’s my one line-item for Time on my worksheet, and it’s made a world of difference — in three ways throughout every week thanks to just 30 minutes of planning.

Now, here’s to making the most of your time….reading this blog…planning your year ahead…designing your life…and reaching your targets ,

Cheers to Your “Better ” Future and Happy Holidays!