Reaching Your Goals Through Mini Goals.

The tortoise and the hare is a great example of how to reach your goal. If you asked the hare what his goal was before the race he would have said "To win!" Had you asked the tortoise he would have said "I plan to go slow and steady and put one foot in front of the other until I reach the finish line. I plan to stay focused and meet each obstacle and overcome it while always moving forward."

Well, okay, maybe they would not have said anything like that at all. The point is if you set your goals high without a plan it is just as bad as not setting a goal at all. I have to write my goals down. I then try to imagine the path to reach my goal. I tend to write a flowchart like path. I then look at each of the mini goals that lead to the end result. If those goals are too big I break them down even further.

I do not always reach my main goal but I do manage to meet many of the smaller ones along the way. I also learn from each of my mistakes. My biggest flaw is seeing the timeline. What I sometimes think will take a month may take a year. Perhaps I am overly optimistic sometimes. I am working on that.

This week I have set a goal of getting 2000 "Likes" on the Tangled Metal Facebook Page. When I set the goal I was at 143 followers. That was three days ago. Today I am up to 153. It seems like a very unreachable goal if you look at it overall. However, I have set the goal of having 200 followers by the end of the next weekend. 47 Likes seem a lot easier to reach than 1947 followers.

I have set a plan in motion and I am going to stick to the plan and reevaluate after the weekend. I will let you know how it goes. If you would like to help me reach my goal go to the Tangled Metal Facebook Page and "Like" it and share it with all of your followers. What are your long term goals. What short term goals have you set to make it to your long term goal? I would really like to know. Please leave me a comment and maybe we can help one another.

Spare Time And Extra Money

There was a time, not too long ago, that I had spare timer and extra money. That was before the current economic recession we are in now. It seems that I am always working these days. Trying to make ends meet. I think that sometimes I work a little too hard, though my wonderful girlfriend might disagree!

It is Friday and I have far too much to do to take the entire weekend off. Sunday is Father's Day and I would love a break, but I do not see it happening. I have a show next weekend and I need to continue building up my stock. So, I work outside for a few hours helping my neighbor with her pond and then I work on creating more art.

I am sore all over but it is a good sore. It is the kind of sore that makes you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have accomplished something. It is also the kind of sore that says that I am getting older each and every day. I don't feel old, I still feel like a kid most of the time. But I digress...

The whole point of today's blog is that when you have spare time and extra money you sometimes take it for granted that it will always be like that. You can lose both at any time. So, when I get around to finding my spare time and some extra money I am fully going to take advantage of it.

This summer I would like to get Penelope (That is my 1951 Nash Ambassador in the picture above) some new floor boards welded in. I would also like to get the engine out and get ir ready for whatever power plant I eventually will put in. I would also like to get her rust stopped. Most of these things will just require my time which is good because I think I have a better chance at finding spare time than extra money.

What do you do with your spare time?

How To Better Manage Your Time Each Day

"Cage Of Hours" A One Of A Kind Brooch in my Etsy Shop

In attempt to become more efficient with my time I have decided to get up earlier each day. Today I set my alarm for 6:20am I realized something very important that I should have done before taking this step. I should have gotten organized and had a plan. Because now I am up early but don't know what to do!

This got me really thinking about time management. It may not actually be about just adding more time to your day. It may be about using your time more efficiently. Having a schedule and a plan makes all the difference in the world. Without it, you are still just wasting the time you have.

In the extra time I have today I am going to write out all the things that I normally do in the morning. On a separate piece of paper I am going to write out all the things I need to accomplish each week. I am going to also add how long each task takes me and how many days a week I need to do that task.

I am going to organize this as a day by day list. I know that I need to blog at least three times a week. So, I am going to put "M-W-F: Write Blog" I also need to create a Treasury on Etsy on days when they get the most views. For me it seems Tuesday through Thursday so I am putting down on my paper "T-W-T: Do Treasury." I also need to do a collection on ArtFire. These take a bit longer and I don't know what the best days to do these are. So, for now I'll put "M-F: ArtFire Collection."

After I get all the things I need to do down on paper I will assign times to do them. Then I will create a single list with all the schedule. This will help me to get into a routine. Not everyone needs an outline, but it would sure seem that I do!

Do you have any tips or tricks that help you to be more efficient with your time? Please share them with a comment.