Page 336 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

Project Name: Manual for Soft Skills
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List What needs to Be Done this Week in order to Reach your top priority
goals. Rate Each Activity:

It is very beneficial to review your situation each week, giving a few minutes
of serious thought to what actually needs to be done to achieve your goals. For
example, what would be especially appreciated by loved ones? What would
improve my physical or emotional health? What can I learn that would help
me do my work better or improve my relationships with others? What future
problems can I avoid or prevent? What school or work assignments are due
and most important? What kinds of things could I do that would really thrill
me or inspire me or turn me on, or would leave a legacy to others? What tasks
must be done to successfully achieve my major goals? You are now translating
your major purpose in life—your aspirations—into concrete actions.
Based on your rather wide-ranging thoughts and feelings, make a realis-
tic list of the learning and work that seems to be required to reach your ‘top’
priority goals. Be creative and realistic. Don’t confuse goals with activities.
Getting into M.Ed. course at ICFAI is a goal; activities leading to that goal are
studying 4 to 6 hours every day, doing well in every semester, preparing for
the examinations and projects for 5 hours every week or for 3 or 4 months,
and so on. You will surely list many more activities than can possibly be done.
Hence again rank the importance of each activity as ‘top’, ‘second’, and ‘low’.
This helps you decide what needs to be done to reach your important goals.
If you don’t know how to reach your goals, i.e., where you want to go, talk
to people who have made it (or read their histories and advice). It is vitally
important that your actions actually lead you to your goals. This knowledge
of what leads to what comes from science, experience, and wisdom.

observe how you Spend your time
It could be an eye-opening experience to simply record how you spend your
168 hours per week. Note how you waste time, spend time on low prior-
ity tasks, have trouble getting started, or tend to be inefficient. Also notice
when you have most of the energy for exercising or hard work, when you are
alert mentally, when you get tired or irritable, and what distracts you from
high priority activities. This information may be useful in setting up a daily
schedule so you will stay on task.

make a master Schedule of fixed Activities for the Week

A master schedule for the week tells you how time is ‘committed’, i.e., time
periods that you have already scheduled. It includes sleeping, dressing, eating,
travel time, meetings or classes, housekeeping chores, time with loved ones,
friends or children, and some leisure-relaxation-exercise time. This is your

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