3 Magic Words – $5K – Counterbalance Forklift

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Are you ready to kick off 2022, put your plan in action and meet this year’s goals? I’m Marty T Hawkins with Warehouse and Operations as a Career and over the next 52 weeks that is what I’m going to be doing. I was super excited to hear from so many of you that had accomplished your goals for last year. Those advancements and promotions kept coming, and the personal accomplishments, wow is all I can say. I missed a couple of mine but that’s ok, I am going to achieve them this year!

Today, among other things I wanted to briefly talk about 3 things I feel will ensure our success in 2022. Goal Setting, Confidence & Mindfulness. You can earn an additional, and at a very minimum of 5K additional dollars this year if you do just a little planning. I also want to share a thought, probably more of an opinion, well, no, I’m going to state it as fact. Anyway, we’ll be discussing the counterbalance forklift today as well.

So, Confidence. I feel this is a great word!

:a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something – Merriam Webster

I shore up my confidence Using To-Do Lists. A we enter into this new year, you’re likely reflecting on how to live a better life. Whether you seek convenience, effectiveness, or success with goals, consider using To-Do lists. Even if you have a great memory, your mind can always use a little help holding onto everything you need to do. If you use To-Do lists, you’ll feel confident that nothing will fall through the cracks. Also, not trying to recall every single thing will help reduce your stress. Putting things down on paper means you don’t have to expend your precious energy trying to recall scads of small details and tasks to do. Instead, you can confidently accomplish projects and daily goals with very little effort. This way, you save your energy for the big things, the ones that really matter. Over time, as you use To-Do lists for daily accomplishments, you’ll notice a boost in your confidence. It makes sense that if you achieve more in a day, you’ll feel better about yourself. Try this simple, effective system: 1.Buy a spiral notebook. Write “To-Do List” on the front of it in big letters. Utilize this notebook only for this purpose. Get the size of notebook that will be most convenient for you. If you like a full size 8 ½ x 11 inch notebook, go for it! If you prefer one that fits in a purse or front pocket, that’s good, too. 2.Make a commitment to yourself. Always use your notebook as your To-Do list. Avoid writing your lists on scraps of paper here and there. Put your name on the notebook. 1 Your To-Do list is your key to experiencing more success in everything you do. Nothing builds confidence like knowing you’ll eventually achieve every single goal. All you’ve got to do is write down tasks to be completed and goals to be met. Then do them! 3. Start using your To-Do list right now, today. Open the notebook and on the first page, start listing all the tasks you want to complete. Don’t worry about big projects versus small tasks. It doesn’t matter how many pages it takes to think of every project/task/errand you want to finish. 4.Celebrate completing tasks. When you finish a task, cross it off the list. As you learn to depend on your To-Do list, you’ll find you worry less about whether you’ll complete tasks. Your confidence will grow as you learn that when it’s on the list, it’ll get done. Plus, putting a line through completed tasks will build feelings of success. 5. Tear out old pages. Eventually, you’ll start to have pages where every task has been completed and crossed out. It’s an amazing feeling to realize you’re getting things done every single day. Sure, some days you’ll get more done than other days, but still, you’re doing something to be proud of. Who would’ve thought you’d feel so confident, just tearing out a page from a spiral notebook? A simple to-do list will bolster your confidence in many different ways. You’ll be proud that you planned ahead and followed through with your tasks. Plus, finishing each job and getting rid of a whole page of completed tasks will boost your confidence enormously. Writing down what you want to accomplish in a day can be an integral part of an organized, effective and self-assured life. Start living today and every day with more optimism and confidence by making use of To-Do lists. Seriously, doing this one thing daily will prepare you for success this year!

Next I wanted to say something about career goal setting. Goal setting is a powerful method for creating your ideal future and taking control of your life. A clear vision of a future that excites you will give you purpose in life. You will jump out of bed in the morning, motivated to take action because you know exactly why you’re doing it. There are several benefits to setting goals including:  Control over your life  Motivation to take action  Goals bring clarity, purpose, direction & focus to your life  Goals challenge you to grow into the type of person capable of achieving them  Decision making becomes easier. If something helps you move towards your goals, you do it, if not then you avoid it.  Improved self-confidence every time you achieve a goal.

So just how do I set goals you may ask! I always start off the year working on the major goals you have for your life that make up your ultimate vision. You can achieve unimaginable things with a clear focus and consistent action over a long period of time. Here are a few steps you may find helpful in forming your long-term goals. 1. Take a sheet of paper and list everything you would like to Achieve, Become, Have, and Experience over the next 1 to 10 years 2. I Let my imagination run wild here. Don’t try and be detailed, all that will come later. 3. Write as many things as you can think of! 4. Select up to FOUR GOALS from the list that are most important to you and that you would like to make progress with over the next 6 months. 5. For each goal, write a detailed description of what you want and the reason you want to achieve the goal. Your reason WHY you want to achieve a goal is very important as it will help to pull you through the challenges you may face along the way. Now that you have decided what your long-term goals are, it’s time to create our short-term goals related to each one. Short term goals should be S.M.A.R.T. goals:

S – Specific: Your goal should be clearly defined and specific. Don’t be vague here. E.g. “I will increase my case per hour number to 200 CPH” rather than “Have better productivity” M – Measurable: There should be some type of metric on your goal so you can track your progress along the way. “I want to earn $5k more this year” instead of “Have more money” A – Achievable: Your goal should be realistic and achievable. It should stretch your abilities but still be possible. You can dream big when it comes to long-term goals, but your short-term goals are where you set yourself up to win. These small wins will add up and help you reach your long term goals. “I will attain 2 promotions this year” rather than “I will become the CEO” R – Relevant: Goals must be relevant to you and the life you aspire to live. T – Time: Your goals should have a deadline which will create a sense of urgency and allow you to plan effectively. People tend to tap into their potential most when facing a deadline.

I know all this sounds complicated and time consuming but it’s not. Take an hour, go to a quiet place and put some thought into what you’re really wanting. We all started this year with 8,760 hours. Give a few hours to yourself this year!

Let’s do one more word real quick. I’ll post all three of these sheets on the website, these are three words or exercises you may like to revisit each quarter, I know I’ll be using them!

Procrastinate – delay or postpone action; put off doing something

How often do you find yourself putting off tasks and activities that you want or need to complete? Although you might say that you really want to accomplish those things, the reality is that you’ve left them unfinished for this long while you’ve worked on other tasks instead. Procrastination can be tough to overcome, but it can be done.

Follow these suggestions to put an end to procrastination once and for all:

Keep a running list of important tasks.

If you have a concrete list of tasks in front of you, you’re more likely to complete them. Set reasonable goals like, “I will complete one task a week from my list.” Then, follow through with your goal and check off the tasks as you complete them. A written list serves as a reminder of the things you want to accomplish.

First, complete the tasks that will have the most impact.

For example, things like your daily Roster, BOS, attendance sheets etc… Show yourself that you can make time and meet those deadlines.

Share your list with your #2 or friend.

When you talk about what you want to do, those close to you might provide you with just the push you require to complete them. Explain how important it is for you to accomplish the things on your list. Talking about your plan will help you achieve it!

And there you have it my friends. 3 things that will make you more successful than you were last year! I have completed these three exercises for, well, quite a few years, and have increased my earnings every year. I think I said it last week, You control your success! There are no short cuts. You’ve got this. You have the confidence, set your goals and stay away from procrastination. Do all that and success will land in your lap.

Ok, speaking of short cuts. Already this year I am getting calls for forklift certifications. When I ask about the candidate’s experiences on the lift, like the model, type and the environments they’ve worked in I’m hearing something like oh, I don’t have any experience, I want the training and my card so I can make more money. That’s just not how it works ladies and gentlemen. The card they are referring to is of course the OSHA Powered Industrial Truck operator’s card. Your employer will give you that training for free. Please do not pay someone for that class.

Think about it like this. Just because you show a prospective employer your PIT card does not mean that you have the experience needed. And that is the first question you’re going to be asked. They cannot put you on a sit-down forklift that, in many instances, weighs more than your vehicle, and turn you lose in a building full of racking, shelving and product.

Now, operating a lift is easy, once you’ve been trained, but it takes experience and time in the seat to do it safely. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes with being an equipment operator.

I hate how these companies are popping up, showing you a film, taking you out into a warehouse and demonstrating how to operate the lift and telling you your trained, and then charging you X number of dollars for that card. That card alone is not going to get you a forklift position.

Target a company you’d like to work with, accept any get your foot in the door job, and then be that employee that’s always wanting more, show your boss, talk with him or her, make sure they know that you want to be an equipment operator and don’t quit reminding them until you get the position! Kind of another way of saying confidence, setting a goal and not procrastinating right!

We’ll there’s the first episode of 2022. I hope you’ll be back for the next 51 this year. Until next week lets work on our career confidence, our 2022 goals and let’s plan around procrastination!

Be safe this week, we have people at home waiting on us to get back!