Debra Kasowski

7 Things Will Happen When You Start Tracking Your Progress

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Setting goals has always been seen as one of the most important pieces attributing to a person’s success. You can’t achieve success if you are not measuring the achievement of your goals. If you want to perform at your top level of potential, you need to start tracking your progress. By tracking your progress, you will accelerate your success faster than if you did not track it.

Write out your goals and track your progress. There are many app based tracking tools for your smartphone like LifeTick, BackPack, 43 Things, Stickk, and Achievr to help you keep on track. You can track the progress of any goal you set has long as it is S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely). You can track the cups of coffee you are drinking, the amount of money you are spending, how many kilometers you are driving, and the number of referrals you have followed up with after a networking event. If you are not tracking you are not making progress. Ink it so you can think it!

“Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you start tracking, you will start noticing a shift in how you approach your goals:

  1. You will be excited to keep track of a visual of your progress. Colour code it. Set milestones that you can celebrate along the journey to achievement. Tracking a goal makes the goal itself more tangible. You can already feel closer to your goal.
  1. You will be more intentional with how you use your time. You will start to notice where you are spending your time, money, and resources and whether or not you are getting a greatest return on your investment.
  1. You will make a plan in alignment with where you want to be. Are the actions that you are taking getting you closer to achieving your goal or farther away?
  1. You will start self-reflecting and adjust your course of action toward the achievement of your goals. What is working? What is not working? What can you stop doing?
  1. You will make better decisions based on the facts that you have at hand. You will be able to evaluate your resources and ask better questions about information you need to make an informed decision.
  1. You will be able to say “no” or set boundaries with greater ease. You have made a commitment to yourself. By tracking your progress, you will feel less guilt because you can see how close you are getting to achieving your goals. Whether you or saving for the new car, starting a new business, or saving up for your dream vacation, you will start to track spending patterns and areas where you need to cut back on your spending. It may be easier to eat a meal or make a coffee at home instead of going out.
  1. You will be more solution focused on getting your desired results. You will come up with new ideas on how to approach things. What you did not know “how” to do, you will start figuring out or you will start asking for assistance.

You will begin to notice how vital it is to track your progress. You will be more committed to your goals than ever before. Each action you take gets you closer to your goals so go and be a goal getter!

DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her work has been published in Diversity Magazine and Fabulous at 50 magazine. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. www.debrakasowski.com

What Are You Waiting For?

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My role as a speaker, author, and business, executive and entrepreneurial coach is to help people really get clear on the direction that they want to go. Often, they are faced with a challenge in their immediate time frame. They are trying to figure out ways to move forward to and move through to breakthrough. So many times I find people are waiting. Waiting for opportunities to be brought to them on a silver platter!

Well, sometimes you need to go out there and create your opportunities. You need to start sharing what it is you want to go after.  There are people along the way who are willing to help you but if you are not willing to share what it is you are after – how do these people know how to help you?

The other thing is being very focused on what it is you want to achieve. What are things you need to do and be- to get there? How do you need to show up? Think about those things – waiting does not get you anywhere.

By taking persistent action and moving forward toward your goal, you create something to look forward to. The thrill of anticipation will be your motivator. Think about how things could work for you to move forward. Whether it is something in your life that you know there is one thing – that if you did this one thing it would change everything. It would create a shift whether it be in your family life, your personal life or in your business. How do you need to be to make things happen?

The question is “Why Wait?”. Create your opportunities and make the shift inside yourself. Become more aware of the opportunities already around you. There are probably many around you right now and the door is open.

But if you wait too long the door is going to close.

So take the opportunities and grab your silver platter. Make your day happen by creating those opportunities for yourself.

Why wait?

What opportunities are you creating for yourself?

 

 

7 Secrets to Staying Motivated to Reach Your Goals

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Staying motivated can be tough. For some, the idea of setting goals can be simply overwhelming. The extra demand that would put them over the edge. Achieving your goals does not have to be a daunting task and it should not be.

Courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net
Courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net

There are challenges that arise. The challenges should not stop you as the sweetness of success alone should propel you. Think about what is really stopping you: not getting enough sleep, the belief that you need to look and talk a certain way, or even the money in your bank account. Look around you – there are people sleeping more or less hours than you and achieving goals. There are people of all shapes and sizes creating the life of their dreams. There are people with more or even less money than you but they are unstoppable. What is your excuse for not rising to the challenge?

The secrets are out! The solution is a lot easier than you think.

Here is what you can to to stay motivated:

1.  Make IT a game- FUN! Bust out of the routines. Break patterns of boredom. Create strategies or even make a game board so you can have a visual representation of your goal or journey. Make it real! Consider blogging about your journey or sharing it on social media platforms.

2.  Create a compelling reward. What would make the challenge worth your while. Is a day at the spa or a day of golfing and dinner at the clubhouse? What would it be for you?

3.  Celebrate the”small” successes. As you acknowledge all the small tasks or steps you are taking you create a momentum to fuel you through any challenges.

4.  Take at least one action step every day. When you know you are taking action every day you know that in one month you have taken 30 action steps toward your goals. You may have even gotten excited and accomplished more. Do you think you could take one action every day? They do not have to be monumental steps or huge leaps of faith (they can but do not have to) to make an impact. Imagine what could be accomplished in the here and now!

5.  Ink your goals. Write them down on a 3 x 5 business card and keep them in your sight to remind you of what you want to accomplish. This action will help you keep focused and can be used as a tool to make decisions based on your priorities.

6. Find an accountability partner. Achieving your goals can even be more fun when you are helping someone reach their goals at the same time you are striving to meet yours. They can call you on your excuses and challenge you to step up to the plate and push through your fears. They can be there when you need someone just to listen to you as your mindset plays tricks on you (and we know it will).

7. Be aware of your emotions. Do not let how you feel hold you back from the action you know you must take. Sometimes you need to do the things you need to do even when you do not want to. Think about the trash in your home. You may not want to take out the trash but if you did not…what would happen over several weeks? I do not recommend you experiment with this. The point being – you need to do what must be done even when you so not necessarily feel like it.

Motivation is the key to pushing through to success. It helps you  challenge assumptions and dispel any myths you may have been telling yourself. The journey itself is where the greatest excitement occurs. When focusing on accomplishing your goals, reaching the destination just seals the deal! Whatever you do – do not quit!

What do you do to stay motivated when trying to reach your goals? I would love to hear what you do! Share this post with others.

Are You Limited by Your Personal Vision?

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I am amazed at how many people do not have a vision for their life beyond the next 12 months. I have always considered myself a high achiever however I have learned that often my vision was limited. People entered my life challenging the way I did things and how I thought about the world. People, circumstances and experiences tend to stretch us to new heights. I am grateful for those lessons even though when I was in the midst of some of them I recall saying to myself, “And what did I do to deserve this.?” Now I embrace each situation as an opportunity and I find something to be grateful for in the lesson I am to learn. It is not always easy but it can be very rewarding.

Imagine creating the life of your dreams. How vivid is the picture in front of you? Does it feel like it is fading away beyond your grasp? Pack up the clutter of your mind and send it away. It no longer serves you in achieving what you want. To really create a life of your dreams, you need to have a powerful and detailed vision of what that is. Remember, this vision is not about what you think others want you to be, do or have. This is your dream. Scrap the thoughts of feeling it is impossible or not within in your reach. If you could have the life of your dreams, what would it look like? What are you doing? How do you feel when you think about living this life? Female Runner Winning Marathon

Do you feel a little scared? If so, you are probably stretching into your greatness. When I talk about greatness, it means that you are not only using your skills, talents, abilities, and knowledge base but you are trying new things, becoming more self-aware, and honing your strengths.

If you are not a little scared or uncomfortable, perhaps you are not dreaming big enough? I remember talking with a friend of mine who had just gotten back from a yachting vacation. The first thing I thought was, “Wow! What an incredible experience! I wonder how much that cost?” When I asked our friend a little bit more I learned it was not as significant of an investment as I thought. I simply wasn’t dreaming big enough. Now I have built my bucket list of BIGGER DREAMS.

Maybe you are not like me and have already realized everything you want to achieve but I find many people are blinded by their immediate situations. They only see their immediate situation and find it difficult to look beyond next week. Your today is temporary; it does not define your tomorrow.

Look beyond today. Give yourself something to look forward to. It gives you hope and seeing possibility in the future. When you start making a list of what your most powerful vision would be, you start to putting you plan into motion. You see, it all starts with a decision – the stake in the ground to say – I am claiming this dream for myself. Discover your “why” for wanting your dream. The more emotionally attached you are to your dream, the more motivation you will have to make it happen.

How to start creating your powerful vision:

  • Discover what you want your life to look like. (Ask yourself this several times and write it down: What do I want?)
  • Make a decision that you will do some research around this dream. (What needs to be done? Who is involved? What is the investment of money, time, and resources?)
  • Share your powerful vision with others; they can not help you if they do not know about it.
  • Decide to show up in the world the way you need to – to make your vision reality.
  • Start taking small action steps toward making your vision come true.
  • Revisit your vision every 3- 6 months to ensure that this is something you still want for yourself.
  • Celebrate your success along the way. You are getting closer with every action you take.

Creating a powerful vision can be done for other areas of your life as well. Think about what impact creating a powerful vision would do for your relationships, finances, or your business?

Imagine how much more confident you will be. Make the impossible possible. You deserve it – you have everything you need right here and right now. It starts with a decision!

Start by giving yourself the gift of discovering what you want.

Your life depends on it.