Get what you want out of life

Get what you want out of life. You can have it or not, based on your activity choices.

A key part of choosing activities is refusing activities. Good choosers are also good refusers. They know how to say no. One of the first steps to overwhelm is the inability to say no to activities that distract from value-added activities. Put another way, overcoming overwhelm is all about saying no.

Most people think saying no involves only saying no to others. The real gist of saying no is being able to say no to your self. There is always the temptation to say yes to activities that are fast, activities that are fun, activities that are familiar, activities that are easy and instantly rewarding. It’s so much easier to clean the kitchen sink than to balance the checkbook. We sometimes even welcome interruptions as an excuse for procrastinating on activities we really don’t want to do.

Learn to deal with interruptions.

Arrange Your Plate

The old way of thinking has been to place emphasis on the linear nature of time. Digital clocks blink away our life from the past to the present to the future. Often we find ourselves racing against time lines. It reminds us of the old saying, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”

What if we think of time as space? Time is the space in which we live. Just as a box is a space we fill with goods, an hour is a “time box” we fill with activities. Looking at time as space makes it easier to manage.

When we begin to look at an hour as a space in which we will execute activities, we are forced to be more realistic when we plan. A box—whether it’s cardboard or time—can only hold so much.

We think most people intuitively recognize time as space. They refer to their day as a plate, which is limiting and they have too much on it. Furthermore, they don’t seem to know what to do about it. Yet, each day a new miracle occurs—we are given a fresh plate consisting of twenty-four spaces of time called hours, into which we can pack any activities we choose.

So, what activities are on your plate today? Did you take some time to arrange your plate? Or do you let others come along and throw their stuff on your plate? The too-much-on-my-plate challenge cannot be resolved without developing a simple and very enjoyable ritual. That ritual is to make a daily appointment with yourself to arrange your activities for the day.

Call it planning if you like, but we prefer the term arranging.

I sometimes ask people if they plan their day. Often they will respond by saying, “Sure, here’s my list.” But, making a list isn’t planning. Everyone is running around with lists. We agree with the British humorist who said, “The only important question in life is: what will I do next?”

Arrange your day and focus on your high priorities in life first.

This is an excerpt from our book Attack Your Day.

Pre-determine and Anticipate

The process to use to avoid spinning your wheels is quite simple. First, you need to pre-determine outcomes; next, anticipate the activities required to produce the outcomes. The most important step is to then decide which activities need to be done today and do them.

Humans are wired to follow this exact process. Think about it. Either consciously or sub-consciously, we say to ourselves all day long, “What will I do next?” We then choose a desired outcome followed by the execution of activities that will make it occur. Much has been written about this simple process. It’s called goal setting.

What’s the best way to stop wheel spinning and get in gear? First, take time to create clarity of purpose or a clear understanding of your desired results. Define very specifically the results you want. Clarity is the mother of decisiveness, and is the reason for the activities you choose and execute.

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Avoid Spinning Your Wheels

The process to use to avoid spinning your wheels is quite simple. First, you need to pre-determine outcomes; next, anticipate the activities required to produce the outcomes. The most important step is to then decide which activities need to be done today and do them!

Humans are wired to follow this exact process. Think about it. Either consciously or sub-consciously, we say to ourselves all day long, “What will I do next?” We then choose a desired outcome followed by the execution of activities that will make it occur. Much has been written about this simple process. It’s called goal setting.

Goal setting actually intimidates some people, but it shouldn’t. We are, by nature, designed to:

• Create a mental picture of what we want.
• Make a plan of the activities required to get those results. (This is what we refer to as building an activity path.)
• Do the activities we’ve planned.

What we are saying is that it is impossible to be a good activity chooser without first glancing into the future and visualizing the results you want.

Once you put this process in motion, you will not be like people who spin their wheels at work. People who do spin their wheels at work are on the slippery slope of indecisiveness, and indecisiveness is the enemy of getting started. Similar to a car in neutral, one which can’t go anywhere until it’s in gear, indecisiveness puts you in neutral time.

What’s the best way to stop wheel spinning and get in gear? First, take time to create clarity of purpose or a clear understanding of your desired results. Define very specifically the results you want. Clarity is the mother of decisiveness, and is the reason for the activities you choose and execute. The skill of making effectual choices starts with this process.

Five Times The Outcome When You Plan

Depending on the nature of your tasks, some will require more than 30 minutes to plan. Maybe that makes you even more nervous about setting aside sufficient time to plan. Consider this old axiom, “For every minute you plan/arrange, you get three times the execution.” In our opinion, that’s very conservative. We believe that for every minute we plan, we can actually get five times the execution. You can too.

There is nothing more crucial in activity management than taking 30 minutes each day for arranging the order for accomplishing activities. It pays huge dividends.

Sadly, for many, it never happens because of the big lie some people tell themselves. The one that goes like this: “I don’t have time to plan/arrange today!” Isn’t that the very reason they need to plan? Everybody has time to plan. If they don’t plan/arrange, then “lack of planning” or “lack of arranging” becomes their plan. This is a negative, hazardous habit. It is hazardous to your health because, without a plan, stress is increased. It is hazardous to your work-life balance because, without careful planning and purposeful arranging, personal life and family life suffer. It is hazardous to your career because without planning/arranging you operate less efficiently than you could. All of these hazards make time management tough instead of ridiculously easy.

Don’t cheat yourself. This is the fastest way to get attacked.  Set aside sufficient time daily for you and attack your day. Yes, YOU. It is time for you to slow the pace; time for you to be isolated from chaos; time for you to activate a friend and partner called your subconscious and to engage your heart.

Attack Your 2012 Goals

Now is the time of year we begin to think about all those 2011 goals we fell short on. Goals like, “spend more time with family and friends, losing weight, exercising, enjoy life more, quitting smoking, getting out of debt, getting a new job, or mending a broken relationship.”

It’s not that we didn’t try, we just ran out of time, LIFE got in the way? Truth is, where your time goes, there are your true priorities. Time flows toward what people feel is important not what they say is important. It’s an uncomfortable reality to recognize that what we do with our time validates what we want from our time.

When we say something or someone is important, but it isn’t matched with proportional time, the message is clear. When we say something is NOT IMPORTANT, but it’s getting a lot of our time, the message is also clear. We show the world every day what is truly important to us by what activities we choose to do.

We can re-direct the course of our life at any point by re-focusing on our most important life activities based what we value most. When we do this, stress, anxiety and overwhelm will naturally decrease.

As we come to the close of 2011 and embark on the journey of a NEW year, now is the time to begin to plan for 2012. The count down has started. Don’t leave 2012 to chance, I challenge you to plan for your future!

Attack Your Goals at www.attackyourday.com/2012.html

Planning your day made easy

If you want time management to be easy, you need to “take-it-easy” for 30 minutes by yourself every day.  Be a “lone arranger” and let your mind, your subconscious, and your heart guide you. Let’s discuss the process of arranging the day. It’s not only an enjoyable experience, but it can increase your effectiveness exponentially. You’ll also discover it can help you reduce stress. The resources you’ll need to arrange your day are:

• A place to be alone
• Thirty minutes
• A best time
• Your time management tools

Let’s begin with resource number one, a place where you can be alone to plan. This place needs to be away from any noise or distractions that apply to you. It also needs to be a place where you can sit, think, and write. These criteria eliminate your shower because, while a shower is a great place to think, it is a lousy place to write. The criteria also eliminate your car while you are driving, or riding with somebody else.

A final word about your special alone place is that you’ll find it works best if you use it consistently as the place where you plan/arrange. Think of this as your space-place. It’s great to have some space in a place you can be alone for a while.

Resource number two is 30 minutes each day reserved for arranging time. Why 30 minutes? A planning/arranging advantage seldom talked about is this important concept—when planning is not rushed, your subconscious mind and your heart have a chance to engage and assist you with the planning process. Your subconscious mind will feed to you considerations you might otherwise overlook. It will give you a chance to evaluate with your heart the plans you’ve made for the day.

Five Times the Outcome

Depending on the nature of your tasks, some will require more than 30 minutes to plan. Maybe that makes you even more nervous about setting aside sufficient time to plan. Consider this old axiom, “For every minute you plan/arrange, you get three times the execution.” In our opinion, that’s very conservative. We believe that for every minute we plan, we can actually get five times the execution. You can too.

There is nothing more crucial in activity management than taking 30 minutes each day for arranging the order for accomplishing activities. It pays huge dividends.

Sadly, for many, it never happens because of the big lie some people tell themselves. The one that goes like this: “I don’t have time to plan/arrange today!” Isn’t that the very reason they need to plan? Everybody has time to plan. If they don’t plan/arrange, then “lack of planning” or “lack of arranging” becomes their plan. This is a negative, hazardous habit. It is hazardous to your health because, without a plan, stress is increased. It is hazardous to your work-life balance because, without careful planning and purposeful arranging, personal life and family life suffer. It is hazardous to your career because without planning/arranging you operate less efficiently than you could. All of these hazards make time management tough instead of ridiculously easy.

Don’t cheat yourself. This is the fastest way to get attacked.  Set aside sufficient time daily for you and attack your day. Yes, YOU. It is time for you to slow the pace; time for you to be isolated from chaos; time for you to activate a friend and partner called your subconscious and to engage your heart.

Resource number three is a best time for you to arrange your day. What do we mean by a best time? Some of us are morning people and others of us are night people. If you are a morning person, then set aside time in the morning to plan/arrange. If evening would be a better time for you to plan the upcoming day, then that’s when you should do it.

Just remember, the best time to plan is connected to when your best place is available. As we’ve already mentioned, this place is a place of solitude, totally free of interruptions and distractions. At first, some people think such a place does not exist. With some creativity and a desire to find such a place, almost everyone can.

Resource number four is your time management tool(s) of choice. The specifics of those tools were discussed in Chapter two, where you were advised to use the tool or combinations of tools that serve you best. As a reminder, the resources you’ll need to arrange your day are:

• A place to plan in solitude
• Thirty minutes reserved for planning/arranging time
• A best time of day for you to plan
• Your time management tools

You are now ready to arrange your day and it’s as easy as one, two, three!

Spinning Your Wheels At Work?

The process to use to avoid spinning your wheels is quite simple. First, you need to pre-determine outcomes; next, anticipate the activities required to produce the outcomes. The most important step is to then decide which activities need to be done today and do them.

Humans are wired to follow this exact process. Think about it. Either consciously or sub-consciously, we say to ourselves all day long, “What will I do next?” We then choose a desired outcome followed by the execution of activities that will make it occur. Much has been written about this simple process. It’s called goal setting.

Goal setting actually intimidates some people, but it shouldn’t. We are, by nature, designed to:

• Create a mental picture of what we want.
• Make a plan of the activities required to get those results. (This is what we refer to as building an activity path.)
• Do the activities we’ve planned.

What we are saying is that it is impossible to be a good time managers without first glancing into the future and visualizing the results you want.

Once you put this process in motion, you will not be like people who spin their wheels at work. People who do spin their wheels at work are on the slippery slope of indecisiveness, and indecisiveness is the enemy of getting started. Similar to a car in neutral, one which can’t go anywhere until it’s in gear, indecisiveness puts you in neutral time.

What’s the best way to stop wheel spinning and get in gear? First, take time to create clarity of purpose or a clear understanding of your desired results. Define very specifically the results you want. Clarity is the mother of decisiveness, and is the reason for the activities you choose and execute.

The skill of making effectual choices starts with this process. Here is a simple, real-life example:

The mental picture of the desired result is:

• Playing tennis with my friend Todd at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning at the Fairmont Park Courts.

The activities required to make this happen include:

• Pick up the phone and make the date with Todd.
• Call and reserve court time.
• Buy tennis balls.
• Leave for the courts at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Isn’t that easy? You are wired to think and act this way by nature. You couldn’t get anything done without this process. It’s ridiculously easy.

Can you flexicute?

Okay, so we  invented a word, but I can’t think of a better way to describe this skill. Events are so fluid in today’s work environment that we have to change, adapt and shift our focus all day long.

Flexicuting involves the ability to:

• Be as willing to leave your action list when priorities shift as you are to stick with it.
• Be able to turn on a dime in the middle of the day when an opportunity presents itself.
• Be wired 24/7/365 without letting it be a source of frustration.

Would you like to become better at flexicuting? Here’s how! Recognize it as a survival skill by changing your mind-set and practicing the foregoing skills daily. It’s actually quite fun!

Meeting Yourself Face to Face

We demonstrate what is truly important to us by how we actually spend our time. When there is a disconnection between what we say is important and what we do with our time, we need to take a reality check. The reality may be uncomfortable, but it is true. We vote on what is honestly important to us with our time.

We invite you to look at your calendar and appointment schedule for the last three months. What does the record say about your priorities? If you are not pleased with the story it tells, make the necessary adjustments and align your time with what really matters to you.