Improving your Personal Effectiveness

Improving Personal effectiveness

How to make more progress in less time

If you want to make more progress in the least amount of time, then it is important that you work in the most efficient manner possible.

How can you ensure that you work in the most efficient manner possible?

You can ensure that you work in the most efficient manner possible, by working according to a six step system; a system that, if followed, will guarantee that you will be at your most effective.

The system we are referring to is a system of six simple questions that you ask and answer every day. If you ask these questions of yourself, every day, and if you demand from yourself, detailed answers, it will inevitably cause you to make great strides towards a better future.

The six questions are as follows:

1. What is your long range goal? What major goal do you want to achieve, within the next six months to a year?
2. What is your detailed plan of action? How exactly do you intend to achieve the goal that you have set out at point one?
3. What have you done in the last few weeks to enact your plans in order to achieve your goal?
4. In relation to the actions that you have taken in the last weeks, what has been going well for you?
5. In relation to the actions that you have taken in the last few weeks, what has not been going well for you lately?
6. In relation to the things that have not been going well for you, what adaptive changes do you need to make in order to make things go better in the future?

These questions are important because all successful action is goal directed action.

All successful action is based upon an evolutionary progression from a position of having a goal, with an undefined plan of how it can be achieved, to a position of having a goal together with a clear and defined plan of how it can be achieved.

The evolutionary development of your plan is dependent on you continuing to act; continually observing and evaluating the feedback results, which your actions are creating. You need to see what works and what does not work. And if your current actions are not working, then you need to change your approach. Then try again; and again see if you can improve your plan.

The continuous application of this simple system of six steps is the basis of all successful action.

1. You need to have a goal.
2. You need to have a plan.
3. You need to be taking continuing action in the pursuit of your goal.
4. You need to be noticing what is working.
5. You need to be noticing what is not working.
6. You need to be willing to change, adapt and evolve your plans and actions, when what you are doing is not working.

The above principles are the basis of personal effectiveness.

Use them every day.

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Definition: personal effectiveness

Personal effectiveness is the workplace skill of turning clear goals into results. It means you write goals, build and follow a step-by-step plan, use time wisely, and check what works so you can improve fast. Lose any one of these four parts and you lose personal effectiveness.

Article Summary

Personal effectiveness soars when you ask six daily questions: set a clear goal, build a detailed action plan, act, spot what works, note what fails and adapt fast. This simple loop turns each hour into progress and fuels constant improvement.

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About the Author: Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years' experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.

Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.

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