How To Achieve Any Goal

Let’s Be More Productive…

No hot dogs roasted here!

This time of year, I take a look at my New Year’s Resolutions to see if I’m staying on track.  Actually, I’m not doing too bad.  Some resolutions are going better than others, but when your goal is to “cook more food at home” and you end up having to have contractors in to fix water damage in your kitchen…well, let’s just say cooking without a kitchen takes more time and effort than most of us are willing to put in. (I did consider roasting hot dogs in the fireplace, but that directly contradicts “eat less processed food”…it was a really great fire though!)

Something that helps with a lot of these goals is a tool that I learned back in high school from the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Foundation.  One of the many skills they taught me was how to create SMART goals.  SMART goals meet the following criteria:

• Specific – target a specific area for improvement
• Measurable – quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress
• Attainable/Assignable – achievable/able to be assigned to someone
• Realistic – state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources
• Time-related – specify when the result(s) can be achieved

Since you aren’t here, and I don’t have any of your New Year’s Resolutions handy, I’ll pick on myself.  Here is the first thing on my list (inspired by Random Acts of Kindness Project I did for my birthday last year)

Commit Random Acts of Kindness (at LEAST one per month) such as:

•          DVIS volunteer
•          Packages for Homeless
•          Food for…whomever
•          Smile and wave at strangers (if nothing else, it will freak them out a bit, but most likely just make their day better)

So, I’m putting myself to the test.  Is this a SMART goal?

• Specific – random act of kindness (kind of vague, but at least there are examples)
• Measurable – some of them, like volunteering for DVIS or making packages and food for people, yes.  Overall…not as much
• Attainable/Assignable – I assign myself!  Very attainable
• Realistic – There are options, none of which have to be incredibly taxing or time consuming
• Time-Related – at least one per month, definitely time related.  There’s a deadline for each month.(Wait, what’s today?  whew!  I still have time)

So what does this have to do with energy?  I’m thinking more about work in general here, and maybe personal energy expended.  Productivity is something that is on my mind quite a bit.  My friend, Jim Stovall wrote a book, Ultimate Productivity and in it, he warns of the danger of activity vs. productivity.  You know what he means.  How many of us have gotten to the end of what felt like a really busy day, but have no idea what we accomplished?  (You don’t have to raise your hand.  I can’t see you.  Don’t feel bad.  It happens to me sometimes too.)  I wonder a lot about whether I’m just being really active or if I’m actually being productive. (I’m wondering that today, in fact.)  There are some tools I use to combat this niggling worry of “am I really productive?”

Today’s List

Begin and end every day by reviewing a list of “Things to Do”.  Yes, I actually mean a physical list, not a mental one.  At the end of every day I look over that day’s list and create a new one for the next day.  Personally, I like paper, because there is nothing quite like making that slash through an accomplished task. (Also, I remember the stuff on the list better if I actually write it down vs. typing it.)  If there are remaining items on the list I move them to the next day with a priority mark before putting other items on my task sheet.

My workday is pretty fluid to begin with. (Aren’t they all?)  You never know if you’ll be called upon to take on a task that has to be accomplished “immediately”.  I also work closely with clients, so that adds an extra level of fluidity.  Most days, I do much more than the items on my list.  If I get a new task, I just write it at the bottom of the list (sometimes, I write it and mark it out at the same time).  Yes, it seems a bit redundant, but it also eliminates that feeling of being hard at work and accomplishing nothing.  I have a physical reminder of all the things I did accomplish.  It feels pretty good.  You can see my list for today on the right.  It’s nothing fancy, and not everything got marked off.  Not a bad day’s work, though.

Make SMART goals. What?  You’re telling me you don’t always set your own goals?  Well, me either.  Goals are handed down from pay grades well above mine, but I review them with my manager when I get them.  Not all the goals that I receive start out specific, measurable, attainable/assignable, realistic, or time-related.  However, we reword them so they are.  For example, “increase sales” isn’t a SMART goal.  However, if we tweak it a bit to read “increase research sales by Q4 through reaching current customers at least once every 30 days, identifying and contacting at least 15 prospective customers a week, and recruiting subject matter experts to participate in free monthly webinars about existing products and services” that looks a lot more like a SMART goal.

These are the tools that I fall back on when I’m feeling more active that productive, or even if I just feel like my schedule is running away without me.  What tools do you use?

‘Til next time,

Jessica

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Travel, Topsides, and NAPE Expo

This week, I’m travelling the country.  Okay, so not the country, but Texas anyway.  I’m spending a couple of days in Galveston before I head up to Houston.  Believe you me, I am grateful for the relief from the cold, snowy weather engulfing my home state right now.  Give me 50’s over 20’s any day!

I’m here for the Topsides show being held at Moody Gardens before going back up to Houston for the Winter NAPE Expo.  These are two industry shows that I really enjoy.  The exhibitors and attendees always have great information to provide, and always friendly and willing to talk.  The Offshore Technology Conference that will be held at Houston’s Reliant Center in May is awesome, but with more than 100,000 attendees, sometimes it becomes challenging to have good conversations with people.

Today, I’ll be at Topsides with Dr. Scott Shemwell, the author of our report on SEMS regulations and an Integrity Management specialist (among other things).  We did a couple of webinars on the topic a couple of months ago, and you can check out the archives on Integrity Management: A Critical Issue in the Energy Industry here and Critical Issues in the Energy Industry here.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions for either myself or Dr. Shemwell.  This is the second year Scott and I have attended Topsides to talk with people about what’s happening in the industry, and every time I talk to that guy I learn something new.  (You know how it is when you get to spend time with really smart people.)  I’m sure tomorrow will be no exception.  Again, I’m always excited to meet readers in person, so if you’ll be there, let me know!

Tomorrow, I’ll be at the NAPE Expo in Houston at the George R Brown Convention Center.  Last year this event was a huge success, and I don’t just say that because I won an iPad. (although, that in and of itself would have convinced me to mark that show down as time well spent!).  PenWell and the Oil & Gas Journal will have a booth at the event, and I’ll be out and about on the show floor meeting new people.  Stop by and say hello.

Well, yesterday was a rainy morning in Galveston. Today, however is crystal clear, cool, and gorgeous. I am a happy camper.  Why?  I had a wonderful hotel room last night.  Normally, I wouldn’t be so excited by the mere existence of a hotel room, but I am especially grateful this time. As the plane’s doors were getting ready to close my phone rang.  It was the website I’d used to book my hotel room.  The hotel I’d booked more than a month in advance was overbooked, and they asked if this was a good time to talk about re-booking somewhere else.  Unfortunately, they frown on telephone conversations on planes.  When my plane landed, I called back and the helpful representative and I spent an hour looking for a comparable room in Houston.  That didn’t work.  I offered up Galveston as an alternative, since…I was working in Galveston this week too.  Finally, we got me set up with a place to lay my weary head.  That’s a little more drama than I care to find in my traveling, but it all ended up working out for the best.  I have a great room at a lovely historic hotel, my window faces the gulf and I can watch the waves, and I got to cut down my travel time for the next couple of days.  Now, if I can get the weather at home to cooperate and get me home on time….
‘Til next time,
Jessica