The Get CLEAR Process for Business Success
Have you been struggling to reach your goals and achieve the level of success you desire and deserve? Then use my Get CLEAR Process to get the results you want.
Clear the Clutter. The first step in the process is to eliminate the clutter that takes up physical and mental space in your life. Your goal is to make room for your future by getting rid of the excess “stuff” that creates chaos in your surroundings and clogs your mind with overwhelm.
To accomplish this, you\’ll want to first select an area to work on—whether that\’s your desk, your home office, or some other space that\’s in disarray—and then implement a sorting strategy to 1) throw away things you don\’t use or need; 2) give away or recycle items that someone else can use; and 3) place in file folders paperwork and other documents you need, and place in containers your tools of the trade and other supplies. Everything should have its own designated space so you can find things quickly and easily every time you need them.
Clearing the clutter frees up your mind to focus on matters that are really important to you. You\’ll be amazed at how much more time and energy you have to do the things you love and that bring you the highest return when you\’ve purged your physical space and put systems in place to keep you organized for the long term.
Lighten Your Load. This next step involves taking inventory of your responsibilities, deciding which priorities are most important to help you accomplish your goals, and then either delegating those things that can be done by others so you\’re not trying to do everything yourself, or saying “no” to projects and obligations that prevent you from achieving your objectives.
Managing your time is key because it\’s easy to sabotage yourself by taking on too much. Pick your top three priorities and then set boundaries so you can stay focused and on track. Use a time blocking strategy to plot your scheduled tasks and stick to your schedule as much as possible. Treat yourself as if you are the client—you must get the work done, so focus on doing just that.
Another time management strategy is to build accountability into your system—enlist a buddy or a team member who will hold you responsible for achieving the goals you\’ve set for yourself. This also means making sure that others don\’t overstep their bounds by expecting you to do things that are not in alignment with your priorities. Learn how to say “no.”
Establish Your Goals. Your ultimate success relies on having, and reaching, a concrete set of goals. Using your top three priorities from the previous section, put your goals in writing and evaluate them against your responsibilities. Ask yourself: Are my goals specific? Are they measurable? Are they realistic?
You need to be very clear and concise about what outcomes you want to achieve, and what timelines are involved in getting from one milestone to the next. This will help guide you to accomplish tasks, measure your progress, and be accountable for your time. It also helps ensure that your goals are in alignment with the rest of your life. If not, you will continue to struggle with frustration and overwhelm as you try to find that balance, which brings us to the next step.
Align Your Goals. As you\’re establishing your goals and setting timelines, evaluating your current responsibilities against what your goals are, you will probably discover that you\’ll need to include other activities in your timeframe too, such as taking classes, creating joint venture partnerships, outsourcing projects, and building a team of people who can help you get from where you are to where you want to be. This is part of aligning your goals to make sure they fit with your life. Having a team and asking for their input also helps you learn what is and isn\’t working so you can make necessary changes and improvements in your systems and products.
Every year you\’ll want to revisit and realign your goals so that you\’re keeping up with industry trends and technological advances that can help you maximize your time and run your business more efficiently, which is how you align yourself for success.
Realize Your Potential. This is the result of all the work you\’ve done so far: clearing the clutter, lightening your load, establishing and aligning your goals, so you are responsible for your own success. You are now able to use leverage to realize your potential—leveraging your time to increase productivity; leveraging other people\’s time and energy to accomplish tasks you delegate to them; creating partnerships with others so you can leverage their contacts and database to expand your market reach; leveraging your knowledge to create information products that are out there selling for you even when you\’re not working.
You are now focused with accountability built into your system to keep you on track, and you\’re delegating, outsourcing, and using leverage to make the best use of your most precious resource—YOU. Now you can truly realize your potential by performing tasks that have higher payoff values because you\’ve set a CLEAR course for success.
