Plan Your Work, then Work Your Plan.

When you first became a member at WA I know like everyone you were excited at the opportunity, and dived into the training with enthusiasm, and devoted a lot of time to learning all the new things you needed, eager to succeed. A web site in 30 seconds and off we go!

Initially maybe even you lost sleep with all those ideas coursing through your head that would contribute towards success. Perhaps it was all a bit chaotic.... I admit It was for me.

Then I remembered what I had learned years before. You must plan your work and work that plan.

When my students were approaching exam time many asked me how to do their revision and my answer was to plan their days ahead to discover an ideal time available to fit in a selected revision topic.

How is this relevant to us at WA, and can it be usefully adapted to our needs? Well it should be .... we are all students here at our internet university.

My solution is simple, you need some kind of daily Diary ... You can create your own on an A4 pad, or perhaps even buy one of those large daily desk diarys for the complete year ahead. They are cheap in February.

The key is to place in your personal diary, all those occasions where you know for certain CANNOT be devoted to WA activity. Surprised? ...read on.

These occasions are personal to you.... e.g. You will be at work or at play, you have family duties to deal with, you have an appointment scheduled, you will attending an important event, Those unmissable ....Days Out, Celebrations, TV programmes etc. etc.

Once you have completed this, you are now aware of the precise free times that you can devote to WA tasks, and know they will be available on an uninterrupted basis. Now you can allocate what you wish to achieve in those free time slots you have identified. End of ad hoc scheduling chaos.

Some further important points.

1. You may identify some quite long periods that are available, say maybe 3 hours or so. It is advisable to split these into one hour sessions. It has been shown that intense concentration levels, particularly in front of a computer screen, cannot realistically be maiaintained for longer than one hour.

2. Within each one hour slot, set yourself a target item for completion that you believe should be possible to achieve in around 45 minutes. That way if you overrun it will prevent you becoming stressed.

3. At the end of the hour give your eyes and brain a break. Congratulate yourself on completing the task. Cross it off your list... that will feel really good. You did have a list before starting didn't you?

4. A good idea before starting any task is to promise yourself a reward on its completion. A nice cup of coffee perhaps, or some other treat. Relax, a stroll round the garden for a few minutes fresh air. Gather your thoughts before moving on to the next item in your Plan.

I do hope this is a helpful guide in creating some kind of plan of your own, particularly if you do not have any plan at present.

I will only add that my students who took the advice of "Plan Your Work Work Your Plan" generally performed better than those who neglected to do so.

Hoping that your Plan contributes towards your ultimate goals.

Regards to everyone who read this to the end

David

P. S. View TJ Books'training, and associated Video entitled

"Good habits bring good results"

it compliments and reinforces my suggestions above.