Can your password motivate you? The hack that gets you back on track
If you are like me – CEO of your business and COO of your home and family – how do you keep your newly minted 2017 goals and intentions fresh on day 283 of the year? I have a hack for that!
January 2017 – and anything EVERYTHING is possible!
Like many small business owners, I took time out over the Christmas break to re-evaluate and re-set my plans for 2017. Some friends attended webinars. Others found a quiet spot in a coffee shop. I attended the EMPOWER seminar in Atlanta and returned re-invigorated!
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- I had a plan.
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- I set goals.
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- And I was excited!
Maintaining the momentum
There are some simple ways to stay on track:
- Take yourself out on a date: Make a monthly appointment with yourself on your calendar to review your actuals vs your plan.
- Course-correct if need be. Tweak either your end date or adjust your goal to respond to the changing market conditions.
- Get an accountability partner. Could be someone who holds your feet to the fire, or a friend to just remind you to check on your commitments.
But sometimes it isn’t the business that gets in the way. Life just happens. Little stuff. Car trouble or vacations. PA, exams and snow days. Little things that throw you off the rhythm of your week. And suddenly, it is the end of the month, and you wonder how you got off track. And then, one day, it is the middle of October – and you are now scrambling to make your Year End numbers.
Well, I created a little hack to help manage that problem!
Use your password as your goal and motivator
Simple idea. A regular reminder. Change one of your many passwords to reference a particular goal.
- Sign up one new client? GoalFEb+1client
- Increase sales by 10%: Sales+10%
- Increase revenue: Earn$5&&
And this could work for your personal goals too!
- Re-connect with one friend this month: CallAllison!
- Did you walk enough today? 10000steps?
- Patio reminder: Plant~Vines
By forcing yourself to type in your goal on a regular basis, you are bringing the commitment back to top-of-mind, essentially reviving it. And if you are creative enough with your choice of characters, you may be able to actually remind yourself of the emotions that accompanied your goal – increasing your chances of succeeding.
Practice safe digital hygiene
Don’t make it easy to get hacked
While we may each disagree on whether hacking was involved in the outcome of the US elections. we can all agree that it is happening more often. And the easiest way in for a hacker is via your password.
Now, I suggest we want to make a hacker’s life as difficult as possible.
So please, please, please:
– be creative and relatively obtuse!
Read the dashlane article below to see if your current password is on the Top 50 list!
Create a challenging password:
- Use at least 8 characters
- DO NOT use your name, your address, your birthdate, the birthdate of family members.
- Best to use a combination of UPPER and lowercase characters, and throw in a few numb3r5 for good measure
- DO NOT use familiar phrases in sequence:
iloveYOU - uP m!x phras3 y0ur sequence – so that the autobots have a tougher time finding the 8+ character sequence
- Add in @&&**! for good measure!
These are a few ideas I picked up from the internet. There are more in the articles linked below, and of course on Google. (And you can always use a random password generator)
Stay on track, stay motivated!
15 minutes up. Hitting Publish. 🙂
Here is my first every FaceBook Live video! Thank you for all the support:
‘} … {*
} .. I would love to know if this hack works for you – so please consider sharing!
} .. Did you have a motivation hack that works like a charm?
HOPE FOR THE BEST, PLAN FOR THE REST
Whether it is time management, money matters or career ideas, Karena works with her community of clients to make life simpler and more efficient by bringing an uncommon perspective to what is common.
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INSPIRATION, RESEARCH, AND REFERENCES
The inspiration was all mine. But the idea for the password hack came from:
Motivation – finding material for my first FaceBook Live video post for the Video Making Mastermind Challenge (Thank you for pushing my boundaries, Brad Powell, Awesome Videomakers)
How memory works:
Create safe passwords:
- http://lifehacker.com/four-methods-to-create-a-secure-password-youll-actually-1601854240
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/memory-trick-increases-password-security/
- https://blog.dashlane.com/can-you-remember-all-of-your-passwords/
Photo credits: Either my own or from Slidebot (use this link for special pricing)
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