The Blog

Making the Most of What’s Left of 2016!

There are 34 days left in 2016.  You have a little over a month to achieve your 2016 goals which will set the foundation for you to LAUNCH your vision for 2017.

Let’s be honest with ourselves.  We are officially in the holiday season and during this time of year most of us are just not that focused.  However, if we really want to LAUNCH your vision, we must get serious about making the most of what’s left in 2016.

Here are a 4 tips to help you stay focused and intentional about finishing up 2016 strong:

  1. Write Down Your Goals & Corresponding Tasks. This is where you need to write it down, make it plain and then include all the corresponding tasks that are essential to each of your goals.  Recognizing we are in the technology era, there’s nothing like writing down your tasks to make them a real commitment.  If it isn’t written then it isn’t so.
  2. Prioritize Your Tasks. While you may believe all of your tasks are important, in reality your tasks have degrees of importance. Take the time to review each of the tasks you’ve written down and then place them in order of importance (remember, everything is not critical).  Here’s where I would recommend using technology.  I absolutely LOVE the Wunderlist   It will help you keep track of your tasks as it relates to each of the goals you need to accomplish.  The great thing about the app is that it will send you reminders and keep you on track.  Note: Apps are only good if you use them! 
  3. Use Your Calendar for Everything! My motto is if it’s not on my calendar, it isn’t real. Always place meetings and appointments on your calendar. Those are really important to keep track of and most of us use our calendars for those items.  I would also recommend use your calendar to block out time for tasks like returning emails, social media, writing…everything should have a time on your calendar. Blocking out times on your calendar for your tasks will keep you focused and intentional in achieving your goals.
  4. Begin with Most Important Task and COMPLETE IT! Listen, we have been sold a bill of goods that multitasking proves you are efficient with your time. When you multitask you often don’t complete tasks and you end up not being effective or efficient.  If you really want to LAUNCH your VISION, you must attack each task per goal, one by one and follow each of them through to completion.

These 4 tips can help you finish 2016 strong, lay the foundation for an incredibly successful 2017 and provide you with a high degree of satisfaction because you were able to achieve your goals.

The Ealons Group is here to help you create your journey to LAUNCH your dreams and turn them into profits and/or a successful career.  We look forward to working with you.  Stay tuned to learn more about our future LAUNCH programs, classes and accountability group coaching.

Dru Ealons
Founder & CEO
The Ealons Group, LLC

Did You Choose the Wrong Job?

Confucius says “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life,” but there are far too many people who wake up every morning with a bad feeling in the pit of their stomach because work starts in a few hours.  Are you one of those people? Not sure…no problem take this test:

  1. Do you have a spring in your step on the way to work?
  2. If you had 10 million dollars, would you be doing the same thing?
  3. Are you awesome at what you do?

Did you answer “No” to any of those questions? If you did, here’s what you need to do TODAY:

FIRST: Promise yourself that things are going to be different – soon.

You are in control of what happens next. Not money. Not your parents, not your spouse. You and God have this covered and you will make it right.

SECOND: Write down 3 things you enjoyed  doing when you were a kid. Do you remember what made you happy when you didn’t have bills. Did you write? Did you like helping people, did you love science projects? This is about identifying your passions.  Does your job call on you to do any of the three things you wrote down? If not, it might be time to reassess what you are doing.

THIRD: Contact THE EALONS GROUP.

We can get you right. We have the tools you need to launch you into the next [and BEST] phase of your career. It is time for you to operate in your purpose and we would love to help you get there.
Everything gets better today – Let’s get to work.

Stop Networking and Start Building Relationships

Throughout my career, every opportunity afforded to me has been based upon relationships.  Yes, I attended all of the appropriate networking events, joined all of the right organizations and I met the “right” people.  However, it wasn’t the networking that landed me the next job or propelled me into entrepreneurship, it was the genuine relationships that I developed that took me to new heights.  Well managed, strategic relationships will increase your value, your company’s bottom line and enhance your career.

Here are four keys to establishing and managing successful strategic relationships.  Each of these elements are what I’ve found to be incredibly helpful and successful whether you are an extrovert or an introvert.

  1. Be Authentic

No one wants to hire or work with someone that they don’t feel a real connection to.  The importance of being authentically you in the relationship building process is not only liberating for you but your confidence level will automatically show the other party that you are trustworthy and give them an ideal reason to want to establish a connection to you.

  1. Relationships must be strategic

You cannot waste time building relationships with people who are not able to provide access, opportunities and/or wise counsel as it relates to your goals. This doesn’t mean you must immediately go and try to create a relationship with the CEO of the company you wish to work for or do business with. What it does mean is when you are creating a networking plan based on strategic relationships, you have to spend time making a targeted list of people and/or companies (The Ealons Group helps clients create a strategic networking plan).

  1. Relationships must be mutually beneficial

When evaluating relationships, I often look at the areas in which I will likely need assistance in my business or in my personal life. I do not keep tabs, but I need to assess whether or not the relationship is unbalanced. You never, ever, want your contact to feel as if a relationship is unbalanced. Focusing on what you can offer rather than what you can receive will likely keep that from happening. Ultimately, to ensure relationships are mutually beneficial, make sure that you are able to provide an investment and more importantly, be strategic in choosing those to establish a relationship with.

  1. You can never over promise

In any relationship, integrity is the glue that keeps it together. Integrity is akin to being authentic. The goal here is to never promise something or agree to do something and then fail to do it. If you aren’t able to provide what you initially said you would, be honest and upfront about it as soon as you realize you cannot deliver. It is equally important not to over-promise either. Be sure of what it is you can provide before offering it. If you fail to follow through, your integrity with that person will diminish or it will be lost forever.

This was a quick overview of what’s needed to establish and maintain strategic relationships to achieve your goals.  Stay tuned for an e-book to provide you with more details.

Dru Ealons is the founder and CEO of The Ealons Group.