Category Archives: Goal Achievement

From Covid-19 Lockdown To Success With Our Goals

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The Covid-19 pandemic has touched all our lives in different ways, no matter which country you are reading this from. Apart from the direct health impacts of the virus it has also hit the global economy and impacted negatively on livelihoods. In this article I want to give an update on the pandemic from an Irish perspective and share what I have been up to since January 2021. I am working to use this time in lockdown to create goal success and I want to share my key tips on making the most of this time in lockdown.

World’s highest infection rate

On 30th December 2020 Ireland, where I live, went into full lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. All non-essential shops closed. All pubs, restaurants, hair salons etc. closed. All sporting and music events stopped. People are required to work from home if possible, and exercise not more than 5km from their homes.

What happened was that we had a surge of Covid-19 infections over the Christmas period. At one point in January we had the world’s highest infection rate of Covid-19. Infection rates rose sharply from what was the lowest incident rate of Covid in the European Union in early December. As of Friday 5th March 2021 according to Irish government statistics there have now been 4,357 deaths of people with COVID-19 in Ireland. My thoughts go to the families of those who have passed away, to those who are still in hospital and to those who are still recovering from this terrible virus.

There are signs that things are starting to improve. Thankfully the lockdown has worked and infection rates and deaths are coming down now and restrictions will likely be eased in April. We also have our vaccination programme being rolled out to the most vulnerable. The weather is also getting better as we head into spring which is another reason for optimism!

My lockdown Project

My aim to use use this time in lockdown to create goal success. Since January I have been working on a new online course on beekeeping. This will be my 6th online course and I am really enjoying developing the course. When I made my first online course in 2017 it was a very steep learning curve to get the sound quality and video quality right. I hadn’t a clue how to edit videos. By now I am getting into the swing of things and I find it is much easier to develop a video lecture. However, there is still a huge amount of work to be done in developing a course. The course structure and content has to be right to start with. My object is to make this course a top quality course which will help people start their first hive of bees. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to teach people using an online learning platform.

No permission needed

I taught beekeeping at Baraka Agricultural College in Kenya for over 10 years. Having attained my PhD in beekeeping in 2012, I always wanted to teach beekeeping to students at a university. However there are not many opportunities to do so. Particularly in a country like Ireland where the weather is not very conducive to commercial beekeeping (it rains a lot here!). Now, using the world wide web I can teach beekeeping to the world! For example my current course ‘Background to Beekeeping’ has 840 students from 81 countries. I enjoy interacting with beekeeping students from all over the world. One really important point to remember when we want to do something is that we don’t need anyone’s permission to do it. I just made and launched the course. I did not wait for anyone to tell me that I had their permission or that I was good enough.

After Action Review

In my new course I have 22 lectures completed out of 79 so far (nearly 30% of the course done). I still have a long way to go but I am making steady progress with my lockdown goal. I do love when I have a clear focus on a key goal. Right now I am writing this article on Saturday and on Saturdays I usually complete an After Action Review (AAR). I review the past week and plan the week ahead. As part of my AAR I also take time to review my goals. Today I am going to set a realistic target launch date for the new course. Ideally I want to launch the new course by the end of April. So loads of work to do over the coming weeks!

What about you?

How about you – do you have an all consuming engaging goal that you are working on? Especially if you are in lockdown like me you can use the lockdown to create goal success. Do you have a goal that makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning? Do you have something that you have a burning desire to do or achieve? Perhaps you have been waiting for someone’s approval or permission to do something?

My first piece of advice is to choose yourself. Give yourself permission to do whatever you feel drawn to do. My second piece of advice is don’t wait. We are already in March and the first quarter of 2021 is nearly over. Make a start right now. If you are not sure what you want to focus on then please check out my course: Goal Setting 2021: Set & Achieve Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. Do the course, get clear on your key goals and then go for it! Life is fun when we have a clear goal that we are working towards. Time in lockdown can certainly be put to good use to create goal success.

Best wishes,

Tom

Does a 30 Day Challenge Work?

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Day 18 out of 30 update

On July 1st I started a 30 day challenge on improving my online marketing skills and knowledge. How well does a 30 day challenge work? The 30 Day Challenge is an assignment from my course: ‘Goal Setting 101 – How to Set and Achieve Goals 2020’. In this blog post I want to give a 30 day challenge progress update as I am just over half way through my challenge. Since I started the challenge I have been spending at least one hour per day taking courses on digital marketing and implementing ideas in my business. I am currently on day 18 of the challenge and so far I have not missed a single day. In fact I estimate that I have actually spent 45.5 hours on the challenge so far which way more than double the time input I was supposed to have given at this stage. I am extremely happy with my progress and what I am learning.

Tracking my progress

One thing that has really helped me stay on track is having a very clear record to fill in and record my daily progress. Each day I record what I am doing and the time spent. Importantly I also record what lessons I am learning. This is very motivating and I don’t want to miss a single day. Therefore if you track your progress carefully it really does help in making a 30 day challenge work.

  • My 30 Day Challenge in Action

As you can see from the above copy of my 30 day challenge record sheet I am learning loads as I go along. You can download a copy of the template I am using here:

30-Day-Challenge-Template_FinalDownload

What I have learned so far

A key thing that I have learned is that a sole focus on results can be really frustrating. For example I have really worked hard on improving my YouTube account. I have added thumbnails, key words, tags etc. to improve Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). This type of effort is tedious and slow (as I have noted on my record sheet a number of times). I don’t yet see any change in my results from this effort. Views have not increased. That is why it is really important to focus instead on inputs and be really happy about that. In my case that is the minimum of 1 hour per day spent learning and working on the task. I have to believe that results will come later. I think of Jim Collins and his book ‘Good to Great’ and the what he calls the Flywheel Effect. Success at anything is like pushing a heavy flywheel. It turns very slowly at first and takes a lot of effort. We have to keep pushing and eventually the flywheel builds momentum.

Best wishes, Tom

P.S. I will be giving a full analysis of my 30 day challenge when it is completed. If you are feeling stuck and lacking momentum on any of your goals try a 30 day challenge to get you unstuck! The 30 Challenge is an assignment in my course ‘Goal Setting 101 – How to Set and Achieve Goals 2020’. Please click here to find out more about the course and watch the free course preview. I look forward to seeing you on the course!