When we think about achieving our professional or personal goals, we tend to start where we are now and plan ahead. We decide what we’re going to do and where we want to be in three, six or twelve months’ time. But if we have a specific goal that we want to achieve, we can often benefit from doing things the other way around. From starting where we want to be and planning backwards.
Continue reading “Think forwards, plan backwards”Tag: Planning
Making better decisions
There are lots of big decisions being taken at the moment. With the world moving at a rapid pace and new challenges arising on an almost daily basis, we need to move quickly and decisively if we’re to even survive, let alone thrive. But big decisions aren’t easy, especially when we have little information and even less time to think.
Continue reading “Making better decisions”Alignment: The key to achieving your goals
The late computer science professor (and author of the truly excellent ‘Last Lecture‘) hit the nail on the head when he said that the way to achieve your goals is to chip away at them a little bit every single day.
And as we get into the new year, I suspect that you – like me – have a shiny, brand new list of goals ready to go. But in the hustle and bustle of doing all the things we need to do in a given 24-hour period, it’s all too easy to let our longer-term aspirations slide.
There is, however, a surefire way of making sure that we do indeed spend our days working towards the achievement of our longer-term aims. And it’s called alignment. Continue reading “Alignment: The key to achieving your goals”
Turning a hobby into a living
Making a living from their hobby is the dream of many craftspeople. In a slight change of pace, I explore here how they can turn this dream into reality. I’ve focused on woodland crafts because, as an amateur green woodworker, that’s what I know about. But the lessons are the same for pretty much anyone wanting to turn pro.
As our jobs become more stressful and less secure, an increasing number of us spend our few idle moments wondering what it would be like to jack in the day job and make a living by doing something that we truly love. Whether it is managing a woodland, making chairs or carving spoons, the thought of using our skills to create an exciting and profitable business holds many of us in its thrall. But what would it be like to turn our hobby into our livelihood? And how can we make it happen? Continue reading “Turning a hobby into a living”
Trying something new
I read with interest the other day that a number of Dutch municipalities are introducing a pilot scheme in which a small group of benefits claimants will receive a ‘basic income’ of about £650 a month. Nothing novel there, I’d admit. But what’s interesting is that, if these individuals are in work or manage to get a job, then they will be allowed to keep any additional money that they make. Continue reading “Trying something new”