DannyRod Organised

danielrodmotivation:

I wrote last about the importance of setting goals in the context of direction and a few weeks later I feel it’s important to give you a boost while you consolidate and move forward with your goal setting and planning for the future…says Danny Rod.

Danny Rod

You see, in setting goals it’s important to set goals that you can achieve in the short, medium and long terms.

They need to be focussed goals that reflect your desires and dreams but are also simple enough that you can define them with clarity. Another trick is to actually set yourself realistic time limits to achieve your goals and steps that will allow you to reach them with ease.

This being said set large goals – like mine of travelling to India.

I had set my sights on India at the beginning of last year, and each day I was reminded of my goal as it was on the list of goals strategically placed on the wallpaper of my phone. I arranged my life throughout the year with this in mind and by keeping it there I had realised, come November last year that I had still not achieved my goal. At this stage I was planning on undertaking summer school subjects whilst working over the summer. I realised that in actual fact I had time off before I started university in 2012 after completion of summer school allowing me a window of 3 weeks to travel. So one day I decided to book a trip to India. The decision process was instantaneous, I chose dates, airlines (I have a secret passion for aviation) and within 3 days of my decision, my flights were booked for early February.

The reason I mention this is because your goals are like affirmations you make to yourself. They define the person you want to be, the person you allow yourself to be. By making the decision to go to India I had honoured a commitment I had made to myself. I remember my exact words I said to myself: “it’s almost the end of 2011 and this goal is still sitting there. Am I going to let this year go by with this goal left unchecked?”

You see at only 23- I’ve realised that I need to be in the very best position to get every little bit of juice from life that I can possibly get and thus far it has served me well. My decision to follow my dreams and to set myself such big goals comes down to the fact that when I look back at my life I know there will be more regrets over the things that I haven’t done over the things that I have. I am determined to avoid this.

So friends, take a look at your goals – refine them and craft them like a piece of art. This is your life and you are creating it from a blank canvas – it is up to you to paint the colours you wish on it and to make the artistic masterpiece out of it.

I wish you all the success you allow yourself to achieve!

danielrodmotivation:

It’s easy to lose yourself and what you stand for in the midst of things. Lives keep getting busier and often with technology, you can lose sight of who you truly are and who you truly want to be…writes Danny Rod.

Danny Rod

I feel that as a young leader of the community it’s time to take a responsibility to give back to the community in other ways that do not revolve around day to day running of organisations and unrelated to current events.

Many years ago I used to deliver motivational talks on a regular basis, something that I felt really impacted those around me and inspired people to reach their potential. Through the years I lost sight of this and I feel it is something truly important to reconnect with and I am going to do so here.

Every Month, or more if I can, I will write a column and will post it on J-Wire and hope it will be something that inspires you and motivates you. I’m starting with the importance of direction.
Whether you are leading an organisation, studying or just trying to regain your edge it is important to know where you are heading.

In coming weeks I hope to introduce a method of productivity called Getting Things Done (made famous by David Allen) but in the meantime it’s important to consider taking things step by step.

So I invite you to take a few days to actually think about your direction in the short, medium and long term and once you do here is one amazing trick to help you stay motivated!

If you are using an iPhone or Android phone, set your wallpaper so that there is an image that inspires you and use a program such as Sticky Notes to write them as a list that appears over that picture. After you’ve aligned everything set the image as your background and look at it every day.

Mine is an image of my grandfather Max, someone who inspires me and next to this is 10 goals I wish to achieve this year. I’ve been doing something similar to this for the past 5 years and it’s uncanny just how many of your goals you end up achieving. Funny though, the goals that were not achieved were not due to lack of effort or not succeeding but rather because I’ve changed course in a small way and these goals are no longer what I want. (We’ll come back to this in later weeks when I start on the ABZ method)

If you don’t have a smartphone, try doing the same thing, find some images of things that inspire you (inspirational people, things, pictures of goals you may have) and type up your list of goals.
Print it off in a wallet sized card and laminate.
Read it every day and already without even thinking you’re several steps ahead to achieving your desires!

In the meantime, I urge you to take the next week or so to thing hard about a list of tentative goals you wish to achieve – they will change (trust me!) but write them down, keep refining them and once you’re happy and you’ve implemented the trick I’ve just shown you, you’re already ahead!

Danny Rodd is a 22 year old Law and International Studies Student who has served in numerous Jewish Community Leadership positions. His passion is to travel to make a difference to the world around him. You can find him at www.dannyrod.net