What You Need to Do Now to Get the Most out of 2011

Wow! We are now over half way through 2011. Now is a great time to take stock of your plans – and crucially how you can make the most of the remaining six months to ensure 2011 is another great year in your life.
Here are some great innovation and creativity tools – to ensure you make the most of your situation, talents and opportunities. Follow these eight steps to transform the rest of your year.
If I can help transform the remainder of 2011, just think what I can do to help your work, next campaign, or boost your innovation and creativity skills.
1. Your ten goals for 2011
Ideally, at the beginning of the year you should have drawn up your ten Goals for 2011. How far have you realized these goals? Which ones can you tick off, or re-prioritize? What Goals remain either incomplete or not even started?
If you didn’t do your ten Goals for 2011 at the beginning of the year – then do so now. Write down the ten things you would like to achieve.
Think about this task. Are you more professional when going on a diet to manage your weight levels, than you are in managing your life? The first thing you do when diet is to weigh yourself then set yourself some weight loss targets. By establishing Goals, in effect you are creating a framework.
You need to do same for your life. Where are now, and where do you want to be at the end of 2011? How is you future different to your present?
2. Mindmap your ten goals
This is a really good tool to both visualize your future situation and also can identify that some goals may actually be inter-linked, inter-twined in some way.
3. Celebrate your success so far
It is easy to beat yourself up, self-condemning any apparent failure in not achieving any targets you have set.
Instead, why not celebrate what you have done? Highlight your successes, no matter how partially complete, or short of your original goal. Celebrate to boost your energy, raise your spirits and use your positive successes as stepping stones for your new tasks for the remainder of the year.
4. Traffic light analysis
For the rest of the year: What do you need to stop doing? – your Red light. What things do you need to keep doing? – your Amber light. What new things do you need to do? – your Green light.
5. Identify 3×3 things
Prioritise your top three things in each part of your traffic light analysis – your Action Areas.
6. Identify five ‘Squeezesteps’
For each of your Action Areas identify five Squeezesteps you need to take.
A ‘Squeezestep’ is breaking down the actions you need to take into further baby steps. You should identify the five babysteps needed to take from where you are now to where you want to be: importantly, the first two steps you should have already done.
Identifying steps already taken establishes a platform for your next steps, creating a sense of momentum to take you forward.
7. Make yourself accountable in some way for your plan
Who can you tell about your plans for the next six months? It can be someone real – a friend, colleague or member of your family, or even someone imaginary – a role model who you greatly respect and would not want to let down. As long as it somebody or thing that makes you feel pain if you feel you have not proved yourself to them.
8. Act now! Take you Squeezesteps
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.! (These are not my words, but I am sure Goethe would not mind my sharing them with you.)