How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 321

Setting Goals
Set yourself specific and clearly defined goals, and make sure
that these are realistic and achievable. To do this, you first need
to examine your present situation and assess what goals are
important to you and what action you need to take to achieve
your target. Have a contingency plan or alternative route to your
goal in case you have to change your plans, for example, taking a
relevant postgraduate course if you can't get a job.
Prioritising
Efficiency and effectiveness are not the same. Someone who
works hard and is well organised but spends all their time on
unimportant tasks may be efficient but not effective. To be
effective, you need to decide what tasks are urgent and
important and to focus on these. This is called prioritising. It's
important to list the tasks you have and to sort these in order of
priority, and then to devote most time to the most important
tasks. This avoids the natural tendency to concentrate on the
simple, easy tasks and to allow too many interruptions to your
work.
Differentiate also between urgent and important tasks: an urgent
task may not necessarily be important! When jobhunting, you
won't be able to apply to every employer. You will need to
carefully prioritise those you wish to apply to, based upon
factors such as closing date, location, degree class required, and
chances of getting in.
Avoiding Procrastination
Procrastination is the scourge of action planning. It's important
that you manage 'Your fear of doing things' you don't want to do
and realise that the fear is often far worse than any possible
negative results. Try to take decisions immediately when
possible and when you don't need to gather more information
pertinent to the decision. The best time to do something is
1199