Archive for 2009

We are in the middle of a Fanatical Focus 40 Challenge – 40 days of fanatical focus to uplevel your business and your life.

And today felt carries with it, for me, such a strong “get’er done” energy. You should see me crossing items off my to do list, handling calls, delegating tasks to my team, deliverables are ready ahead of time. I’m on fire!

Then I get a very subtle tap on the shoulder. You know the type. The inner knowing that you’re forgetting something…

In the midst of working, and finding myself completely absorbed in those responsibilities today, I get an inkling to stop… and just take a brief five-minute meditation-relaxation period. Just to come back to inner self in order to align work with identity. Integrity happens when what you do matches who you are, and vice versa (this is the root of all self-sabotage patterns – more on that on another post).

A funny thing happened – a familiar reminder: When I make the time to reflect on my work, why I’m doing what I’m doing when I’m doing it, the reflection infuses those tasks with a greater sense of purpose and strengthens the connection between my working life and my spiritual self.

While working, we sometimes get so caught up in what we do that it can become an obsession that may lead us to forsake everything else in our lives that is also important to us—family, friends, spirit. Taking a break from what we are doing during the day to consciously think about how our duties fit into the complete scheme of our lives, however, allows us to think about the ways in which our work fills our lives with spiritual meaning.

I encourage you to do the same: By becoming aware of the connection between your work and your spirit today, you will cultivate deeper levels of integration between your higher self and the other aspects of your life.

How you do anything is how you do everything. You are not a compartmentalized being, so you don’t live a compartmentalized life. Bring it into wholeness by balancing the outer-doingness with the inner-beingness.

When you do, you might be surprised at how easy life flows and how magical work becomes.

One of the most glorified lies of the 21st century is the ability to multitask well in order to get a maximum productivity.

It doesn’t work.

Research shows that, once interrupted, it takes the average human brain anywhere from 5-20 minutes to get back into the flow of whatever task you were engaged in before the interruption. Now imagine that happening 6-7 times a day.

No wonder the day is gone and you wonder where the heck it went!

One of the best ways I know to boost my productivity on workdays is to utilize a countdown timer during my focus time. I define Focus Time as my personal productivity time without any interruptions.  It’s that sacred time of my workday that gives me the freedom to focus on the critical activities that only I can do.

A focus segment for me is 50 minutes in duration.   I turn off my phone, shut down my email and lock my office door to prevent all disruptions.

I set my countdown timer to 50 minutes and then I get busy.

Here are some of the activities I recommend you focus on if you decide to set aside prime time hours for yourself:

• Strategic planning
• Batching phone calls in one sitting
• Contract evaluation
• Email/web copywriting
• Critical thinking
• Mind mapping
• Curriculum design
• Audio/Video production
  

Putting aside 50 uninterrupted minutes a day, five days a week, adds up to about 188 hours a year of pure productivity.  Try it for 3 weeks and you’ll be stunned at how much more productive you become.

If you’re like most entrepreneurs, your stress levels will decrease and your income will increase!

What To Do Now: Click here to get free instant access to my favorite online countdown timer.  Then set aside 5 prime time fifty-minute segments next week.  Report your progress by commenting on this blog post.

You may have heard it said times before, “The only problem you have is to think you have problems.” Those inconveniences, obstacles, and challenges that come your way, in life, and in business, can truly be an opportunity to reveal to yourself not only your own character, but to also stimulate you to use your resourcefulness and creativity. This is usually the way you discover a part of you that you never you had.

Sometimes the only way to know how far you can go is to go too far.

Here is an extraordinary example of a man who chooses to view his “problems” as gifts, and a resource to show the world that there are no limitations to what we can do.

I hope you will be inspired.