Actualization Assessment – Balancing Time for Your Fulfillment

Since time flies, it might be helpful for you to have a way to give yourself a reality check on where you are vs. where you wanted to be at the end of this coming year. It鈥檚 all about balance but not the way you might be thinking of it鈥� it鈥檚 the balance of where you鈥檝e been AND what you have left to do in order to feel fulfilled at the end of this year. With realization, you can have actualization鈥� you still have time to accomplish what you wanted for your soul-driven business this year.

Before we go any further, let鈥檚 talk a bit about balance and fulfillment. In that light, consider the act of walking. When you鈥檙e walking, do you think you鈥檙e balanced? If you said yes, you might want to think again because walking is actually a controlled fall鈥� you have to lose your balance in one direction or another and use your 鈥渙ther鈥� foot to catch yourself! So balance is a bit relative鈥� the idea is to engage enough with your own rhythm of balance so you can make progress toward what fills you up.

It鈥檚 also what you have left to achieve, such as balances on credit cards or 鈥渓oose ends鈥� of desires and social obligations (you owe someone a Starbucks, for example). In this case, it鈥檚 about what you have left to complete from your own wish list from January 1 in order to know you鈥檝e fulfilled your anticipated outcomes for this year.

While we鈥檙e at it, let鈥檚 take a minute about fulfillment too鈥� a lot of people mistakenly measure fulfillment as the accumulation of material possessions or simply knocking out a to-do list. And while those are valid, short-term measurements, the best sense of fulfillment is what makes you feel good at the end of the day. It鈥檚 the satisfaction from doing what you wanted with your time, energy and resources and experiencing the sensation of aware contentedness with your contribution to a greater whole. Fulfillment doesn鈥檛 come from the outside 鈥� it鈥檚 an inside job. And the most conscious fulfillment is the feeling that results from true engagement with the world in a lasting way. You鈥檝e made a difference.

The idea here is that you are invited to discover the extent of your balance (or controlled fall!) so far this year, and what you have left yet to accomplish to feel really fulfilled on December 31st. So take a moment to consider the following questions鈥� and if you discover that you鈥檝e got something left undone yet, now is the time to make a plan and get moving!

1. What do you feel are your most significant achievements since January 1? And have you celebrated them to give your spirit the joy, satisfaction and incentive to keep you moving toward other achievements in the future?

2. What goals did you set for yourself in the beginning of the year that you have not yet achieved? How about the ones you haven鈥檛 even started yet?

3. Does your business / life look and feel different than it did on January 1? If yes, in what ways? If not, is there anything that needs to be changed or are you completely happy?

4. What regrets do you have about anything that has occurred this year? If any, what can you do to either release or reframe them?

5. What is the source of your greatest joy? Have you given that enough time this year?

6. What does your morning feel like consistently? Are you ready to jump out of bed to take on the day? If not, what needs to change for you to be excited about your day?

7. Does your world reflect who you are now? Consider your environment, relationships, habits鈥� anything that makes up your world is a reflection of you, and if it鈥檚 the 鈥渙ld鈥� you, it鈥檚 time to let that go because it鈥檚 now officially become 鈥渃lutter鈥�.

8. Who isn鈥檛 being helped by what you do because you aren鈥檛 visible enough yet? And what do you need to do to become seen by them?

9. Do you feel spirit moving through you on a daily basis? If not, where have you become disconnected from your source energy?

10. Are you spending your life force energy for your best and highest good? Are you focusing on the best use of your time, energy and resources for what you want to achieve on a regular basis?

Bonus Question: What three things will you do in the next nine days to get you closer toward your goals for 2011?

My intention is that this assessment has helped you get some significant clarity on your balance so far this year so you can close out the year in celebration of your fulfilled achievements.

4 Tips to Use Time Well

1. Be effective vs. efficient

• Doing right things is more important than doing things right.
• Be effective with people and efficient with things.
• Key is not how many or how busy you are but what you accomplish.

2. Use the longer view

• Don鈥檛 give into shortcuts that have the potential to go awry.
• Delay gratification if it鈥檚 necessary.
• Reward yourself as you go.
• Live in today but look toward tomorrow

3. Focus your energy (vs. scattering or being diffused)

• The concentration of effort is the springboard to success.
• Limit your distractions, diversions and time interruptions.
• Do one task at a time until it鈥檚 done.
• Focus on the vital few instead of the minutiae or trivial 鈥榤any鈥�.
• Use to do lists and 80/20 Rule to prioritize (20% have greater value or impact than other 80%).
• Write it down 鈥� clarity in writing is clarity in action.
• Be vigilant in how you spend your time 鈥� don鈥檛 let others waste it, get the most from every moment, don鈥檛 be so much to everyone else that you have nothing for yourself.

4. Leverage your efforts

• Produce vs. manage.
• Know your value 鈥� delegate anything that produces less than your value.
• Simplify 鈥� complicated things take energy, enthusiasm, strength, stamina and don鈥檛 confuse complexity with being successful (or busy with being productive).
• Look for the opportunities are already present before searching for more.

11 Tell-Tale Signs That Show You鈥檙e Throwing Your Life Away

1. Playing phone tag 鈥� leave clear messages with distinct action steps.

2. Useless conversations that don鈥檛 result in something you need / want.

3. Handling projects / files / papers more than once unnecessarily.

4. Scheduling issues 鈥� poor planning, difficult logistics, unclear priorities.

5. Having too many meetings or having them go too long.

6. Interruptions based on other people鈥檚 priorities; stopping and starting projects.

7. Crisis management 鈥� not planning contingencies so dropping everything at once.

8. Doing too much that you could be delegating to someone else.

9. Having too many goals or over-committing yourself to others.

10. Perfectionism 鈥� delaying project actions or completions, over-preparation.

11. Buried in paperwork 鈥� losing things, saving too much stuff, stuffed / filled inbox.

5 Things to Know About Procrastination

1. Procrastinating kills your personal effectiveness in what you are (and aren鈥檛!) doing.

2. Procrastination is caused by fear, indecision, inaction, apathy, unresolved experiences. Get it handled and get on with revitalized energy.

3. Procrastination is triggered by inertia, being committed to staying in your comfort zone and things that make you shrink or stay small. Take one step to go beyond what you know and you will discover untapped energy you didn鈥檛 know was there for you.

4. Procrastination creates a mental state of feeling boxed in, with a no-win mindset (so why bother?).

5. Procrastination means you need to consider the real cause of your inaction and address it, which sometimes happens through feeling the fear (or other negative emotions) and doing it anyway.

4 Tenets of Murphy鈥檚 Law

1. Something will go wrong.

2. Work expands to fill the time you give it.

3. Costs expand beyond budgets.

4. You always have to do something before you can do something else.

6 Keys to Organizing and Spending Your Time Effectively

1. Be present 鈥� right here and right now. Can鈥檛 do anything if you鈥檙e not present.

2. Do the right things with the right people at the right time.

3. Be efficient with how you do things to save time; use systems to support you.

4. Focus on what you want vs. what you want to avoid.

5. Say no when appropriate; when you say no, you are saying yes to something else.

6. You gain energy by finishing what you start; no loose ends hanging out there as a drain.

3 Signs That Procrastination Is Stealing Your Life Away

Procrastination happens for a number of reasons, but if you鈥檙e not aware that it鈥檚 happening, you aren鈥檛 aware of the effects it鈥檚 having in your life. Awareness precedes change, so here are three ways to know that procrastination is draining your time, energy and resources.

1. Your 鈥渢o do鈥� list never gets done.

There is a difference between healthy stress and something that is hanging over your head waiting for attention. It takes your mental energy to not look at it, and the thing itself will grow in proportion until it gets handled. It鈥檚 like never-ending homework. And avoidance strategies may include staying really busy, being in overwhelm, focusing on everybody else, creating drama and handling distractions vs. being productive 鈥� all of which are sabotage in the most insidious ways. (Insidious because they are disguised as being really productive, or kind, or engaged with lots of activities 鈥� they are socially acceptable but not truly productive for you.)

2. A sense that you can鈥檛 get ahead.

Procrastination keeps you stuck in the past by keeping the 鈥渋t鈥� you are delaying front and foremost in your mind as something that you should get done. After all, who would you be if you were moving forward easily and measurably instead of living from your past?

3. Your self-esteem drops as a result of not handling 鈥渋t鈥�.

There is a sense that you never measure up because you aren鈥檛 handling 鈥渋t鈥�. There are a number of reasons why you might not be handling 鈥渋t鈥� that are completely unrelated to your self-esteem, but your self-esteem doesn鈥檛 know that. All your inner being knows is that you aren鈥檛 getting it done and, if your programming runs like most people鈥檚, it must be because you aren鈥檛 good enough somehow to get it done.