Spur Planners

A career progression plan is your roadmap to where you want to get to professionally. It is the simple steps you plan to take to get where you want to be.

Think of career progression as a goal. The steps to take to achieve that goal are:

• Identify the career you want.
• Understand the skills/experience/qualifications/strengths you need to succeed.
• Identify the skills etc.. you already have, and those you need to develop.
• Set out how, where and when you will achieve these skills.

Do you want to boost your productivity but don't have time to read dozens of articles? Here are the three area's you need to focus on:

1. Know what times of the day you are at your most alert and productive. Schedule your most difficult tasks then.
2. Focus on the tasks that add the most value. Delegate or remove any others.
3. Create a working environment that increases your productivity.

For more detailed support on managing your calendar for productivity read this article . If you are struggling to control your inbox then you need to read this article.

There is no one size fits all answer. Having the goal to be a billionaire might work for some (I really wouldn’t recommend it as it’s more of a dream than a goal anyway). For others, like Spur Planners for example, the goal is to help 1 million people improve their ability to reach their goals.

The best goals are those that mean something to you, that you have a real desire to achieve and a commitment that will drive you on when times get tough.

Consider the following: Passion, emotional connection, your strengths and finally, your values. Your goals need to align with these.

The point of goals is to help you focus on a change you want to make.

Making change in your life is the easiest thing to say and the hardest thing to do. Well set goals give you the road-map to achieve the change you want.

Then you can put in the Stepping Stones (check out spurplanners.com if you don't know what Stepping Stones are) to guide you action by action to your goals.

In very simple terms: What is the point of goals? To guide you step by step to live the life you want to lead.

Why meal plan? It saves you time, money and can help you be healthier.

Here are the three easy steps you need to start meal planning.

1. Decide what day you will do your meal planning. I do the planning in the middle of the week for the following week before I go shopping.

2. Write down the meals AND SNACKS that you want for the week. Don’t forget snacks.

3. Set aside some time on a weekend to batch cook. Batch cooking is the key to saving time and money.

The key points to remember when you are trying to fit healthy eating into your day;

• Plan and prepare your food in advance. It stops you making bad decisions when you are running between meetings.
• Block out periods in your day to give you a natural break to eat. 
• Eat at the same times each day to create a positive habit.

Stop wasting these regular periods of the days and turn them into exercise time with no fuss:

Morning commute - get off the bus or train early and walk or run part of the way. Bike to work instead.

Lunchtime - go to the gym, for a swim, a run or a brisk walk.

Evening - can't get to the gym? Do home workouts using all the free online videos there are.

Weekends - everyday chores burn calories but you can up it with a family cycle ride or go for a solo run.

1. Use the morning commute to clear out your emails and prepare for your meetings that day.
2. Turn the morning coffee run as a time to check in with colleagues and chase up outstanding work face to face.
3. Change lunchtime into exercise time and burn some calories. Then you don't have to go to the gym in the evening.
4. Finally, use the evening commute to meal plan, message friends and family and catch up on the latest podcast.

While employees are generally very positive on the benefits of flexible working, employers can be split, and potentially for good reason.

The Pro's:

• Improved work life balance.
• Happier employees which can reduce illness and staff turnover.
• More autonomy as employees can manage their own workload/time.

The Con's:

• Staff can feel isolated.
• Teams need to make extra effort to communicate.
• Creativity can be more difficult when not face to face

You need to balance these out.

Protect your productive time. Book that time out of your diary. Ideally you want two hours to make a real difference to your to do list so block book it every day. This will be your time every day to focus on the tasks that matter to you.

Book the last 30 minutes of every day out so you can catch up on late emails and plan tomorrow.

At the start of your day review what is in your calendar. Do you know what all of the meetings are about?

Don’t be afraid to decline meetings.