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The FranklinCovey System

• Posted by Theresa on July 17th, 2006 filed in Excellence

My employer, FranklinCovey, sent me to a one day Focus Seminar right after I started. I love workshops and seminars because I love getting new ideas. But I was a little worried about this one because the full title was: FOCUS: Achieving Your Highest Priorities. I wasn’t sure if It would fit in with my new Goal-Free Living sort of life.

But it did. Before when I have tackled the system I have gone overboard with goals and things I want to accomplish. But this workshop presented real-life focus: have an idea of where you want to go and what you want to be (mission statement), know your priorities (your values), know who you are in relation to others (your roles), and then make one or two goals for the year.

The trainer was very practical and down to earth. It wasn’t as hard core as I imagined it might be - lofty ideals and a you can do/be anything if you use our system. One of the things he pointed out was most people make too many goals and then get discouraged. He said pick one or two and when they are done pick another one or two. The purpose is to accomplish a thing or two, not to change your whole life in one year.

The workshop focused more on time management, planning (weekly and daily) so your time is used for the things that really matter, reducing stress by eliminating the things that don’t matter, and balancing work and life priorities.

The workshop leader asked us to commit to three weeks of weekly planning and daily planning. I am enjoying it and it is helping me to keep focused. Each week I look at my roles (wife, friend, family member, employee, manager, Toastmaster, Area Governor, blogger and me) and pick out something meaningful to do for each one during the course of the week. These are the important things in my life that often get neglected due to all of the other things that come up. Without a plan of action, they get put on the back burner to dry up and get hard.

It’s been a refreshing process and one that will be easy to keep up because there is no pressure for performance, it is just a tool for keeping track of the important things, the things that matter to me.

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