Today was a weird day. It started out with me being wide awake for most of the night, thoughts dancing through my head, trying to convince me that something was seriously wrong. Sort of like the tail wagging the dog, my brain had control of my emotions and random thoughts turned into full blown stories about the things I am most afraid of.
Um, not so helpful.
With very little sleep and early morning meetings coming up, I got myself ready and guess what?!? EVERY meeting I had went south, people were upset, random weird things kept happening and communication went haywire. And I take full responsibility for what happened, because my own mind filters created the chaos (and stories in my head).
So why am I telling you this? Simple. The very thing that will cause you to make the money you want, have the peace and tranquility you seek, the productivity you need and the powerful relationships you desire has absolutely NOTHING to do with anything but your behavior. And your behavior, lucky for you, is totally under your control.
It is your behavior that wastes time, energy and money. Period.
Sure you need tactical skills like how to manage your website, how to do Quickbooks and a myriad of other business skills. Those are simple, really. It’s the emotional you that wastes time – in procrastination, overwhelm, overload and frustration and worry.
I know you don’t always have a clear vision for your future. And frankly, that’s okay. It’s one of the things that causes you to waste time wondering “how” you’re going to do something when you don’t even know “what” that something is. So here are five things you can consider to help you reclaim time:
1. Set your targets first. Decide how much money you will make in a month and by when. For example, if in 90 days you want to double your income, then start with your income on the 90 day mark and work backwards. What target do you need to hit in 60 days? 30 days? 2 weeks? This Friday? Then break it down even further to the tasks you have to do to hit those targets. Not rocket science, but a hugely left out piece for most.
2. Check in with your emotions. Your emotional body can wreak havoc on the best-laid plans, and stop you from reaching your goals in a timely (and stress free) fashion. You do NOT have to live in overwhelm, frustration, fear, worry, about, greed, anger or a host of other negative emotions. Here’s the thing: YOU created the emotion by your thoughts. Therefore, you can undo the emotion by alternative thoughts. For example, let’s say you’re worried about money and your thoughts are “I’m going to go broke”. Yikes! That’s not a great idea to plant in your subconscious mind, is it? The brain will go to work and literally make it happen, as it will be tricked into thinking that’s what you really want. Ask yourself, “do I really want to go broke?” If the answer is no (and I assume it will be) then ask yourself to let go of that desire. You will feel a shift back to the now.
3. Set aside focus time daily. Focus time (uninterrupted time) is imperative for your productivity. Even if the fires are blazing all around you and there’s tons of “stuff to do”, a few minutes of focus time to achieve a task will create momentum in your brain and in your body, which will help you to be more confident and more focused. Even if you set aside 30 minutes to clean up a pile of papers, the idea here is to actually accomplish something, so you can feel little bits of success.
4. Be still. Quiet time is a fundamentally lacking element in most people’s lives. We run from one thing to the next, gotta run, don’t have time in this crazy world. Stop it. Right now. Seriously. Your brain cannot do the work you have asked it to do if your conscious mind is in the way all of the time. You cannot be creative, get new solutions to problems you are working to solve, or develop your intuition or gut instinct.
5. Lose the To-Do list. I have all my projects up on a big whiteboard in mindmap format. Everything I need to do for those projects are visible to me all the time. Each day, I pick a few things and put them on my TODAY list. I get the things done I need to get done but fiercely protecting my focus time. (Well, sometimes I make an appointment during focus time, but hey, we’re all human!) Getting stuff done isn’t about the quantity – it’s about the quality. You need a today list that is no more than 6 items long. These are your promises to yourself of things you WILL get done. And they don’t have to be big huge things together. Today I changed the beneficiary on my life insurance. Small thing but it was really nagging at me, causing me to waste time thinking about it. So I did it and now I’ve reclaimed power in my mind.
Many gurus will tell you that reclaiming time is all about your calendar and your schedule and grouping tasks. Sure, that’s part of it but it’s your internal behaviors that will make or break your commitment to time – and to your dreams.
More happiness!!!