The Power of Focus
May 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment
-Must Have Focus Daniel-San "Mr. Miyagi" in the movie Karate Kid.
The power of focus is a force that dictates our day to day thoughts, feelings and actions. In the movie, Karate Kid, when Mister Miyagi told Daniel to "must have focus", he specifically meant the focus on what he was trying to accomplish. I think we all learn lessons from things we watch and movies do have lessons in them. When you are trying to accomplish something such as your personal goals, do you focus on them or do you wander in your thoughts? What we chose to focus on, is also an important factor in the end result of our actions. If we focus on the negative, what do you think will come about that?
Having focus in the things we do and the goals we have will give us the power to accomplish them successfully if we focus on what it will take to meet them. If you let our focus drift to other things, then our focus is lost. Even though we have many things that we must focus on in our daily lives, when we spend time doing something, we must focus on the task at hand and narrow them down to the core actions and thoughts needed to accomplish them. In doing so, the actions you take will lead you closer to your goals. Focusing on the positive will also give you the power to explore opportunities but it is also important to focus on the negatives, but not to dwell in them only. Balance is key to the power of focus. What I do is focus in on my goal and what it takes to get there. In doing so, I see every angle and what it would take to get there. The negative thoughts can be turned into positives by finding out solutions for them and to prepare yourself for the worst. I then use this focus to devise an action plan or map out what needs to be done to reach that goal.
For example, if your goal is to be financially independent, what must you focus on to accomplish this goal? Lets start by focusing on what you have coming in and what you have going out. Set your goals by what it means to be financially independent. Is it free of debt? Having $30K in the bank? Whatever it is, the focus should be based upon those goals and to focus on what it would take to get there. If you spend time thinking about all the credit card debt you have and you will never be able to get past that, then the focus you have is just on the negative. This negative can be turned around into a positive by recognizing that this negative thought is something you must overcome to achieve your goal of financial independence. It might be the thing that is holding you back from reaching your goal. The power of focus then sets you in a path of actions that you must take to get past your debt, but it takes consistent focus as well as action on your part to make it happen. Our focus might overlap over one another, but that is ok because sometimes we must focus on other things to accomplish our main goal. For example, our main goal is to be debt free, so we focus on that, but to get there the many different actions will be needed to do so. We can focus on finding ways to cut our expenses and money flowing out, a budget, another temporary job...etc. the focus is changing but the core goal is still there. If you only focus on the budget, and forget about the main goal, then we are just heading on a corse that leads to possibly nowhere, because our budget decisions could be made with other intentions other than for saving more money to pay off our debt.
Time management is also important for us to harness the power of focus, because we only set amounts of time in a day to accomplish a number of things. If we take on too much, our focus will be all over the place and we will not put enough focus and attention to a number of important projects or goals that we have. In the Karate Kid, Daniel needed to learn to fight and to fight well, so his focus was to learn. He could have focused on getting out of Reseda, a higher paying job, a different girl, ignore the bullies etc., but he chose to focus on learning how to defend himself and that lesson is ongoing for all of us.
photo by:
frank weusterfeld
How to Save More Time
April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Is it possible to actually ask, "how to save time" since time is always moving forward? We are all given the same 24 hours per day to do what we need to do, yet some get much more done than others. Some people let days, weeks, months and years pass without anything being accomplished because they didn't learn the basics of saving more time.
What I mean by saving time is that the day to day activities you do and the thoughts and actions you take all takes time. You can save time by being more productive with your time and how you choose to use the 24hrs given to you. Here are some tips to help save you some time.
GETTING THINGS DONE
We all have "things" we need to do, both big and small on a daily basis. We can save more time by planning these things out and setting a schedule for the routine things. What I do is keep a "to do list" as well as a calendar that synchronizes with my smart phone. I usually put the big important items on my calendar and break them up with different steps so that I work toward accomplishing them as well as set a date for completion. The smaller less important items, I put in my to do list. This is a way to manage your action items into manageable pieces versus having a few scattered unmanaged projects flying around. Having a system to manage your projects helps to get things done and saves time by reducing the time you need to always think about what you need to do. It will work if you make it a habit to enter in items when the need comes up. If it is a recurring item, then make it so on your calendar. If you spend hours thinking of what you need to get accomplished, that hour has been wasted each time you use up that time, have it managed and set from the beginning and you can free up your mind to get more done and have that extra time.
PROCRASTINATION
The P word that we all have dealt with in one way or another. Most people simply say, "just do it" but to defeat procrastination which is basically a time killer, you MUST make it habit to start upon what you set out to do. What I usually do is that after I plan out my projects, I take on the smaller easier tasks that leads to a completed project. In doing this, I create momentum and once you get started and going on something, the great MO sets into place and you usually complete a lot more than if you didn't start at all. Finding ways to overcome procrastination will help you save time by doing things when they need to be done versus wasting the time doing something else, even though eventually you need to do the initial item.
DO THINGS RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
We sometimes try to find the easy route around doing things or give a quick fix to something. Yes, sometimes a quick fix is the best solution but if everything you do is just a quick fix, something is gonna give. If you do things right the first time, you don't have to go back and redo it again, thus wasting time.
GETTING WHAT YOU TRULY WANT
If you have your heart settled on something and you settle for the second or third choice, you will not be as happy as if you went the first route. You usually end up wasting more time by revisiting your initial thoughts, thus wasting time and possibly money because you will go with what your initial intentions tell you. Get what you truly want the first time, and don't settle. If money is an issue, set in place a savings plan to purchase what you truly want versus settling for another alternative. Alternatives sometimes can be great, but if we have our heart set on something, it is then important enough to budget for. Time will come, and time will pass. If you truly value something that you want, then give it time to come and plan accordingly.
BALANCE
Balance in life is everything. If you do not balance your life, you are placing things that need to be done on the back-burner, yet they will eventually need to be done. Time is wasted because without balance you have less control of your time and your life.
GET ORGANIZED
Having a disorganized life filled with clutter can complicate things and waste lots of time to get to what you need to do. For example, if you have to pay your bills on a monthly basis, if you have bills scattered everywhere around the house versus having it at a central location, you will waste a lot more time just putting everything you need together. Being organized and having set places for you to get things done will help save you lots of valuable time.
INNOVATE
You must innovate the way you do things and improve upon the process. The example I gave earlier about paying bills can also be enhanced and made a lot more efficient if you schedule automatic payments, thus saving you time. If you get organized and then set automated processes into place, you can incrementally save time, which adds up to more free time for yourself, your family and friends.
Benefits of Waking Up Early Series: #1 Motivation & Control
March 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
All throughout college and the beginning of my post college career, I have been a night owl. I got used to staying up late and waking up late, I should say my body got used to staying up late. As time went by, I realized that by staying up late and getting up just in time, the day was not as productive and things seem to be much more out of control. I think this is the fact for many of us as we seek to improve our lives, we realize that we should get up early.
We honestly give it a try, but the nights we do try, we end up lying in bed forcing ourselves to get to sleep. As the morning alarm or maybe multiple alarms go off, we have the conversation in our head that we need to get more sleep since the night before, we were unsuccessful at falling asleep. Sounds like you so far? Well, keep reading...
I feel that we need the proper motivation and desire to want to wake up early for us to be successful. It is also important to understand the benefits, get motivated, set a plan, learn how and then implement our plan and then reassess our changes and review the benefits and how it applies to us. Sounds good, of course... but doing it is the hard part. If you are ready to take the steps, I will begin by sharing some of the many benefits of waking up early and being an early riser. The motivation series is a way to motivate you and have you understand what is in it for you. I have read numerous articles and advice on waking early, but without the proper motivation and solid planning, we usually just fall back into our normal routine.
To give you some encouragement, I want you to know that it is possible for even the most night owls of us all can change our sleeping habits and be an early riser. I WAS that night owl, and I convinced myself that my mind worked better at night. Since I changed to waking early, I must admit, my life is much more organized and I am in much more control. My mind actually works just as well once I got in the pattern of sleeping earlier and waking earlier by switching my habits of staying up late to do things, versus in the morning. Balance in life is also another main benefit of rising early, but for this article, I am focusing on Motivation and Control.
Motivation
I hope that the previous paragraph sparked some kind of motivation in you to want to change your pattern of sleep and waking cycle. Without motivation, all the best advice in the world is just nice to hear, but unless you truly feel the motivation within yourself and within your mind... you will not want to go through the tough changes that is required to break years of training your body and sleep cycle. I could begin this series with telling you how I did it, but first, you must be motivated.
Let me ask you, or better yet, ask yourself, why do you want to wake up early? Maybe you have thought about a few benefits here and there and gave it a try... but failed and went back to the same routine. I want to ask you to explore the many benefits that is important to you, get excited about the changes and truly want the change. I suggest writing down on a single sheet of paper why you think it is better to wake up. This will be the source of your "game plan" to waking early. Write down the negative reasons why waking up early is bad as well. Then write down in a few words what you hope to accomplish by waking up early. This way, you have it on paper.... keep this paper to remind you when you fall off track. Keep this in a folder labeled with your name and keep this as a reminder for yourself. I will continue to explore motivation more in future posts, but this is a good start for now.
Control
One of the main benefits I find about waking up early is that you control your day versus having the day control you. Do you wake up feeling late, rushed and find yourself swearing and wishing you had a few extra minutes? You probably skip breakfast, exercise is out of the question and you still feel tired because you probably went to bed late and didn't get enough sleep. Is this a good way to start the day? You begin the day out of control and the day sets the pace for you as you chase the clock without the energy or control.
Waking up early allows you to control the day versus the day controlling you. What I mean by this is that you can spend some time having a healthy breakfast, plan out your day and commitments. Take your time and get dressed and walk (not dash) out of your house and into your car as your state of mind is in control. If you want to exercise, doing this in the morning usually gives you more control because, sometimes plans change throughout the day and you are much more likely to skip working out if you do it later in the day. If you are motivated to get into the habit of exercising in the morning, you are in full control of your day and eventually your life.
Another great benefit is the peace and control of your mind. You are in a state of relaxed motion and conrol versus the craziness of feeling late brings. You will be on time for your appointments and get things done so that you can enjoy the end of the day when our body begins to tire a bit due to the productive day. When you rise early, you will have more time later in the day to spend with family and friends, since you do your tasks in the morning or plan them for the next morning, you have time to relax and prepare for a good nights sleep.
Motivation and control are just a few benefits of waking early. If you are interested in exploring more, revisit this site as I go through the series.
Being Productive While Waiting Around
March 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Everywhere I go I see people staring aimlessly into space as precious time passes by while they are waiting around for an appointment, standing in line, waiting for their car to get fixed etc. I think it was maybe you that I saw last and I must admit, I used to do this mindless waste of of time activity myself.
Let me ask you a question, what do you do while you are waiting around? I am sure you are either thinking about what you need to do next, maybe backtracking and thinking if you have any other appointments that you need to keep or you pick up a magazine that happened to be sitting next to you and the most common is watching the bad reception television show that is on at the time. What a waste of time. We all complain about not having enough time to accomplish things we want in life but if you actually track the idle time you have throughout the week, you will be amazed at how much "extra" time you have. Below is a short list of daily things we do that is considered "idle" time.
- Driving
- Using the restroom (#2)
- Waiting for an appointment
- Waiting for someone
- Standing in line
- Time on the treadmill
- and the list goes on....
Next week, I will be tracking the amount of "idle" time I have throughout the day and reveal the time that I have at the end of the week. The topic of this article is to prepare yourself to be productive during these moments throughout the day or when an idle moment is upon you.
First off, if you have a working time management schedule and a to-do list, you will not have to try to spend time trying to remember and think of all the appointments or commitments you need to do. I am currently writing another article on this very subject so subscribe if you want to learn some time management tips. Another suggestion I have is to have and carry around a little pocket sized notebook to jot down ideas, to-do items or anything that you need to remember for later. Nowadays with everyone having smartphones and gadgets to jot down notes electronically, we have no reason not to record information wherever and whenever we need to. I personally use my smartphone, some apps, and I also carry around a small pocket notebook and pen.
So how can you be more productive while you are waiting around? Well, first you have to prepare yourself and arm yourself with your "weapons" of choice. What I mean by this is that depending on what you want to do during your waiting around time, you should have the proper tools to fill the time productively. Let me give a few examples of what I do during my idle time:
Drive Time
I drive quite a bit for my work and I think I have gained quite a bit of knowledge by using that time to not only listen to the news and to the talk radio or to music. I mix things ups and listen to audiobooks. Audiobooks are wonderful to have, especially if you don't have time to devour as many books as you want in your busy life. Think about how much time you spend in traffic driving to work, instead you can use this time to listen to something about history, learn a new language, listen to some personal development information or anything that you find interesting to know more about during your drive time. The other alternative you have is to waste your time with road rage, or just waste the time with mindless thinking. Use this time to fill your mind with the things you have always wanted to learn or have interest in learning more about. Get your Drive Time Degree.... Take a look at some Self Help Audiobooks
Restroom Time
Ok, maybe you enjoy staring at the back of the restroom door, look at your thumbs or enjoy your aroma during #2. How much time do you spend sitting on the throne doing nothing but pushing? Some people at least pick up a magazine, but magazines are OK... you can spend this time reading something that can improve yourself or inspire you. Get one of those word of the day books and expand your vocabulary as you donate your waste back to mother earth. Get inspired by reading short inspiring stories. For me I read books like, How to Become a Rainmaker
Waiting for an Appointment or for Someone- Running on Treadmill
If you are sitting around, refrain yourself from being brain dead for 45-60 minutes, make that time productive. With the variety of tech gadgets available for us I am sure you can save up or afford an mp3 player or even a CD player. I am sure you can afford a book or get one for free. The question is, do you have these handy for times of waste, such as waiting around. Don't be caught without your productivity tools. Have these tools in your car or better yet, make a little bag that has one or all of your productive time tools ready to pull out when idle time hits. You can spend this time listening to audiobooks on mp3 players, podcasts that you download from the internet, learn a language, read a book... anything but stare into space and hope your name is called next. You will be surprised as how much faster time will pass when you have your productivity kit ready to go.
Here are some more useful things you could do during idle time:
- Review your to-do list: Check your to-do list, add to them, manage what you have done and what you need to do. Look over your reminders, shopping lists and get your day to day activities in order.
- Review your Calendar: I use Microsoft Outlook on my smartphone that automatically syncs with my computer, but you can view upcoming events or appointments and prepare for those.
- Review your eMails: If you have internet access on your phone or if you have a laptop handy, go through and delete your ever piling mountain of emails. Now is the best time to do this activity versus doing this during time where you should be doing more productive work.
- Follow up: Now is not the time to chatter about mindless talk , gossip or rumors- Pick up the phone and return calls, set appointments, follow up on previous meetings.
- Work on hobbies: If you picked up a hobby such as crafts, make sure to keep these things nearby and get into making your creations.
- Relax: Maybe sometimes you just need some mindless time to just be blank and relax, but make sure that is not all you are doing all the time. Make time for relaxation, but make time to be productive as well.
I hope these tips will help fill your wasted time with productive learning activities that will help you develop your mind, knowledge, productivity and self.
