Future Goals

This is an activity we run during the Skillkick time management training courses, but it is something you can do alone or with a group of colleagues.

Very few of us take the time out to reflect and think about the future and what we clearly want. This fun activity is a great way to think about the future. What do you want to be doing in a year’s time or five or ten year’s time? This activity helps you determine your priorities.

Take coloured pens and coloured squares of card

Jot down on slips of card or paper all your ideas for the future and put them into a hat.

This is a variation on drawing names out of a hat; if you have’t got a hat, then any container will do – buckets, boxes, cereal boxes etc. Then one by one you and your colleagues draw them out and decide quickly which of three piles you will put it in:

the URGENT MUST DO pile – these speak for themselves!

the TO DO SHOULD DO pile – these are pretty important and need returning to. They require more of a detailed analysis and you need to check who is saying your should – you, some one else in your family etc? You can then decide whether shoulds turn into urgent must dos or discarded.

the FILE WOULD LIKE TO DO pile

Once you have your categories, you need to turn your urgent pile into a list of goals that you will actively pursue! Remember you would never eat a chocolate elephant whole… so chunk your goals down into smaller tasks.

Why not plan an afternoon with colleagues to let your mind flow freely and explore the future of your company / sector / unit.

Think of key words, phrases and trigger ideas associated with the images you have in your mind about the future.

Use colours throughout the activity. Colour is attractive to the eye and aids memory. It will reinforce your ideas in your mind.

Improve Your Memory

Few would disagree that improving our memories can enrich our lives in countless little ways – from ensuring that we remember birthdays, anniversaries and appointments to having impressive facts and figures always at our fingertips; and from recalling names and faces to being able to speak in public without notes.

Skillkick have published a book called ”Improve Your Memory” which provides a repertoire of ways to enhance memory – by training it to be more effective, and by following various tried and tested practical techniques and systems to combat forgetfulness; with visualizations, tips and practical instruction: a concise, fact-packed introduction to memory improvement.

The book covers the following key topics:-
Memory Exercise
Tips and habits for memory improvement
25 memory improvement tips and habits
How to improve long term memory
Goals, commitment and practice

”Improve Your Memory” is for all those people who believe they have a poor memory. The contents of this book will completely change your perspective on memory.

The book is available in Large Print and Braille. Please contact Skillkick direct for cost & postage.

If this subject is of interest, you may wish to attend Skillkick's Improve Your Memory training course.

Time Management Pie Charts

One exercise that is very popular in Skillkick's Time Management Training is the 24 hour pie-charts for time management.

It is a really useful exercise to look at how you spend each hour of your day. It doesn't take long to discover there is little slack and you migth find that you get bogged down from time to time.

Firstly, take some coloured pencils, crayons or felt tips.

Draw a circle and divide into 24 segments, representing 24 hours of the day. You can list the hours if you wish or draw a table.


Monitor how you spend 24 hours of a day and colour in the segements accordingly. Pick a colour to represent an activity.

Don’t forget to draw your key to show what each colour represents ; then repeat the process to design your ideal. How would you ideally like to be spending your work day and the rest of the hours that make up your day?

Compare the two and start to make some small changes to change the way you spend your time to be more like your ideal. You could get up early during the week to gain 1 hour every morning, plus 1-2 hours every evening by cutting down on watching TV. If you have children, perhaps you could take turns to take your children out for a half day at the weekend to get a 4-hour block of time for doing whatever you like. Could you share babysitting with a friend so that alternate weeks gives you a free day?

Review your time chart and think about how you can make changes. I make time charts on a regular basis, to monitor how my time is being spent and make changes accordingly. Sometimes, I find myself drifting into spending too much time on one thing and not on another and it helps me find balance. I find it a really useful exercise.

Time Management Training

Skillkick carried out some time management training today for a group of students at a college.

As part of the session, the students made time management to-do wrist bands, prioritising their immediate tasks.