Episode 80: A simple way to stay on track

00:51 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast. You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes. Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started!

01:32 I don't know about you but i've certainly been guilty of setting an intention and then forgetting all about it when life starts to feel busy. So as we enter the second quarter of the year, I wonder can you remember the intentions that you set for yourself at the start of the year if you did set any? Can you remember what goals were important to you back in January will you be setting some new intentions for this next quarter So whether it's in Make It Happen Club or my One to One clients, I'm always talking about how important it is to remind ourselves of our goals and of our intentions if we really do want to make a change. So habit trackers are something that can be really useful in terms of keeping an eye on the actions you're taking to move you closer to your goals. It can be a really good way of keeping your goals in mind and making sure you're taking the action that you're committing to taking I also know from my mentoring work, this is not the right solution for everyone so for some people habit trackers are a really useful motivating reminder of their good intentions

02:32 But for others, they can quickly become a source of frustration and guilt. So if you're the sort of person who is going to beat yourself up when you fall short of your own really high expectations then a tracker might not be a good idea for you. You know if you're expecting to maintain a perfect record it won't take long until you're disappointed because you are after all only human So today I'd like to suggest another way that you can keep your good intentions, keep your goals front and centre. And it might sound simple but it can make a big difference! So write down some statements that reflect the changes you want to make so things like... You know whatever it is write those statements down and then put them somewhere you will see them

03:23 So that could be at the front of your journal if that's something you look at habitually every day. It might be on a wall in your office, it could be on the inside of the door to the cupboard where the tea bags live – it doesn't matter where you put them as long as you're going to see them often! And then every morning as you open your journal sit down at your desk wait for the kettle to boil whatever is that works for you You get to read those statements to yourself. You'll see them there and then you get to connect with them again, you can even speak them out loud if there's no one around or you could ask for some accountability if there are people around. Connecting with your intentions every day in this sort of way will embed them in your head as a reminder of what you're aiming for

04:03 So you're not putting ticks in boxes or keeping score with this approach, but engaging with your intentions in this way gives you a far greater chance of success than just writing them down in a notebook on January 1st or at the beginning of a new quarter and then never looking at them again. So you might also want to have a play around with moving those statements, moving the post-its or the pieces of paper around because after awhile you might get so used to them being there that actually you stop seeing them. I know that can be the case for me. The joy of doing it in this way is that you can move them around if they're on post its orbits of paper you can keep moving them so that you keep noticing them. Sometimes i record a podcast episode and then i hesitate before hitting publish

04:48 There are so many books out there on this subject after all, But today I just wanted to share the simple act of writing these things down and then looking at them daily is a really great place to start. So as always, I hope that this helps and i look forward to seeing you again soon Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and a review as that will help more people discover this podcast. If you'd like to hear more from me to help you stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find a link to join my mailing list in the show notes and I would really love for you to join us so thanks so much for your support and I look forward to seeing you next time!