Tips & Insights for Top Performance

Now is a great time to assess your environment for maximum productivity.  An exercise that is great for cleaning up your environment is to visit your tolerations. 

What are you tolerating? Take steps today to start to remove those nagging annoyances that subconsciously suck energy from you. Really, it is amazing how much they absorb. You will know exactly how much after you complete this exercise; history shows it is amazing!

First, make a list of 30 things that you are tolerating in your life – this is a brain dump. Any things that nag you, annoy you, and cause you to think, “I really need to get that fixed” or “I really need to do something about __________.” Put anything from the little things to the enormous. i.e. make a brochure, send out promotional mailing, get website, sort a stack of unfilled papers, deal with a chip in the windshield, a broken appliance, a messy car, a bag that is ripped, dust on the side of your stairs, dust, cutter, full e-mail box, squeaky door, etc. These items are the tolerations we hold internally that take up a ton of our energy. Do not stop until you have 30 things.

Once done, pick a few things you are going to get off the list this week. Each week peel more things off. It will go quickly at first as you take care of the 10 minute jobs and then become slower as you take care of the more monumental jobs – but just keep working at a minimum of two things each week. When you are done, the feeling of freedom and space will be an incredible reward!

With everything you touch, decide at that moment is this something I need to DO, FILE or TOSS? If it is ‘to do’, put it where it goes to do it. If it is to file, file it. If it is to toss, definitely toss it. Sort your mail by the garbage can. Why pick something up twice. It does not seem like it takes that much time, but it does! Do this to de-clutter, to organize, to “unbury” yourself and to maintain order in your office, home, car and everywhere (purse, wallet, etc.). It is the art of making a decision and moving on. Indecision is the quickest way to accumulate clutter; you get overwhelmed and inundated with so many things you soon cannot focus. Do yourself a favor and JUST DO IT!

In their new book, “Now, Discover Your Strengths,” authors Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton suggest that we tend to focus on what needs to be “fixed” with ourselves. Then, they demonstrate how fluid and successful life is when we set aside our shortcomings and truly leverage our own strengths. The book illustrates how knowing your personal strengths, and recognizing the strengths of those around you, can help you build a dynamic and successful organization, network, or team.

An even bigger BONUS is that you get a personal code for an online survey that identifies YOUR “top- five inborn talents”! This benefit is worth every penny you spend on the book! Identifying your top 5 strengths will change the way you look at life. This assessment is unique from the many other assessments out there (i.e. Myers-Briggs, DISC, etc.). With the “strengths” information in hand, you will be able to apply the theories presented in the book on a day-to-day basis.

I HIGHLY recommend this book: it is a refreshing concept that moves you forward by focusing on the positive and teaching you how to maximize your full potential!

Do you have high-priority activities that are not happening? Do you care about them getting done, but can’t seem to find the time? How you design your space will help to implement these tasks. Unfortunately, “important” activities for our business and life productivity are often those that require personal discipline, things like: reading, studying, research, administration, follow-up, writing, sorting, filing, billing, etc. While these activities are important, they often do not get attended to until they are urgent. When we find ourselves operating in the urgent quadrant, we usually get less done and feel stressed, pressured, and overwhelmed. Operating from this place causes LOW productivity. With so many demands, how can you be more productive?

Productivity happens when we do what is important in a focused and efficient manner. In my Bible study group, we discussed having a “sacred” place for our daily quiet time. While this is something I HAVE done for my business and life, I had NOT done this for my personal Bible study time. It had been an old intention that never happened. It compelled me to do this for myself and also review the importance that designed ENVIRONMENTS make. Designed spaces will improve your productivity.

What activity, when done regularly, will increase your overall productivity and results? Pick one that is IMPORTANT for you to accomplish but seems to get half-done, put off, never gotten to, or simply forgotten? Follow these four steps to design a productive environment to make it a reality.

Pick an activity that is the same and reoccurs: Reading; making phone calls; studying. Pick something that is important to do regularly and create a space that will be meaningful and beneficial.

1) WHY? Know why this is important to you and make it a routine (habit). Create a structure your body will instinctually remember and return to. When you pass the “spot” you will think, “Oh, I have to …” When you sit there, you will move into autopilot and start performing the task. Your body posture can help your mind get and stay focused. If you sit down to return phone calls in a pile of papers, in front of your e-mails, looking at the dust on your desk, you will be hard pressed to stay focused on the IMPORTANT task you have sent out to do.

>2) WHERE? Pick a place that you will go each time you do this. Think about what kind of space you need to focus and accomplish the task. Do you need a writing surface; do you want to feel comfortable (sit in a couch or comfy spot); do you want to feel energized (sit by light or fresh air); do you need a phone or computer? Determine the best location for you to do this task where you can minimize distraction and stay focused.

3) WHAT? Gather your tools. What do you need to do this task? What will inspire you? What will you do? What props or prompts do you need? Things like a clock, coaster for your drink, motivation quote or photo, notebook (jot notes or list things that come into our mind as you are focusing), pen, books, phone, plant, etc. Put all your tools for this activity in this one place, so you don’t waste time gathering them or getting distracted on your way to do this. Leave the tools there so you can do the activity quickly, easily, and effortlessly whenever you go to this place.

4) WHEN? Pick a consistent time to be in this place. If it is professional reading or study time, maybe it is at 7AM each morning. Decide how long you will do it. Set a timer to keep yourself on track. You stay there until the beeper goes off. It may be hard at first, but discipline yourself to honor this time for your important task and it will become a habit and reality.

When you have a routine, a place, time, and system for this “productivity” activity it is more likely to get accomplished. Other demands, crises and urgencies of the day will get in your way. A system that includes all aspects of your environment will guide, inspire, and guard you from making it a desire and intention that never gets implemented. Take 10 minutes and set yours up today! Write me about your place, where, what, when and how you designed it and I will post it on my Web site as an example and inspiration to others.

After being a advocate and supporter of many of the concepts in the movie/book “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne and team, I have decided to more intentionally dive into writings on the LAW OF ATTRACTION.  I have found the concepts to be incredibly powerful, but find understanding and integrating them into life to be a process. I find people who would greatly benefit from this law but are skeptical of it because of their religious views or a simple lack of understanding of what it is.  I find people who want to understand it but wrestle with how to apply it. In my work with clients and others in my life I am in the process  growing in my comprehension and ability to live this law in my life and business and support others in applying it to theirs.

In short my encouragement for you today is to realize that we become what we think about and therefore attract it in our lives. If you are focused on the bad economy, lack of business, fear of the future, etc. You will begin to attract this. How we think influences our actions and our actions directly impact what happens in our life. This is logical, not even taking into account the principle of the Law of Attraction teaches what you think is a magnetic attractor of reality.   Meaning, if you feel that business is slow and worried about cash flow, you are not going to do the things you once did in marketing, networking and development. The slow down of these activities alone, will impact and become self-fulfilling.

Challenge yourself to redirect your thoughts to:

• What is possible?
• What can you do?
• What do you have?

Focus on the positive and stay in action by taking steps to move forward to the future you WANT (not don’t want). Recognize every time you think something that thinks about what you don’t want, you are attracting that. We have powerful minds, use it wisely!

Here is a great way to start the shift: watch this short visualization video to focus on the good in your life

In the book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, a new paradigm for time management is presented. The premise focuses on encouraging people to leverage their energy rather than time. We have all known for years, you cannot get more time, no matter what you do you only get 24 hours a day. Loehr says, “The ultimate measure of our lives is not how much time we spend on the planet, but rather how much energy we invest in the time we have.” Focusing on the concept of harnessing your energy to be in FULL ENGAGEMENT will help you to empty your plate and get what you need to accomplish done. A few tips the book emphasizes are:

1) Manage your energy, not your time

What this means is start paying attention to your body. If you notice that you are tired in the afternoon, consider what is contributing to that. Diet? Little sleep? When you are trying to ‘push through’ things when your energy is low, you are ineffective. It takes much longer to accomplish tasks when your focus is off, when you are thinking is not sharp and your energy is dwindling. So, instead of trying to figure out how to get more into your time, notice you energy.

* When do you have the most energy? Do you hardest projects then.

* When do you have the least?  Take a break. Schedule a power nap, workout time, filing, or other activities that do not require hard focus.

* Consider what is zapping your energy? Are you doing things that are not in line with your values? Are you procrastinating? Are you not taking breaks? Identify the times that you have energy and times that you don’t. What are you doing differently?

2)  Downtime is key for your success

While it would be great to run at 110% all the time, our bodies were not made like that. We require food, rest and relaxation. In today’s society, relaxation is becoming harder for people to really do. Even on vacations, we are checking e-mail and voice mail, we take work along, etc. We really do not allow our working minds to be shut off. In order to relax, we need to shut off for a period of time, this is what Loehr and Schwartz are talking about when they say ‘downtime’. Several highly successful people recommend one day a week that you do NO WORK and have downtime. If you do this, you will have more energy for the other 6 days of the week and will be more productive, then if you keep running all 7 days of the week. You will be less productive on all days and the impact is a haze of feeling not quite as productive as you could be, but unable to figure out where you could possible squeeze another minute of time. Take a day off, no work, no e-mails, no voice mails. Don’t Cheat, it undermines the rest of the week and your ability to charge up energy. Think of it like charging a battery, if you keep unplugging it and using it, you will continually drain what was just charged, therefore after all day of charging with a few interruptions, you will still not be fully charged. Also, when it takes  3x as long to charge something once it is dead then to keep it charged (besides the risk that you might run out of juice mid task), so don’t wait until you are dead, charge yourself weekly with downtime.

3) Rituals help to maintain focus

Have you ever heard of “open brain circuits”? It is the concept explaining how our brains work and how we get overwhelmed. When we are overwhelmed or overloaded, we do not operate effectively or efficiently and therefore are no using time to our advantage and inevitably need more time. It is like a computer, when you have to many programs running, you computer starts to slow down. It takes longer to do anything. It is the same with your brain, when you have a lot of open tasks, thoughts and to do’s in your head, all the circuits are open and you just start to ‘run’ slower. This is why Loehr and Schwartz recommend RITUALS for optimizing your energy (and thus your time). When you have rituals, you set up a reoccurring time and pattern for tasks and behavior that need to be done.  A common program many coaches use is establishing 10 daily habits. These are daily rituals that support what you have to do anyway, however by linking them together in a set time and pattern, you do not forget them or need to think about them, rather you become on autopilot and can accomplish them quickly and easily. Daily habits or rituals are things you should do daily, take a short amount of time and add to your productivity. Examples might be: make a to-do list, confirm daily appointment, stock forms in car file box, turn on music, pay bills, check mail, clear desk, file client folders, return phone calls, check e-mail, check traffic on web, send updates, drink water, eat fruit, light a candle, feed fish, excreta.

4) Purpose fuels performance

Know what you are doing what you are doing. Often we get caught up in doing tasks because we always have, think we need to or just should. First of all ’shoulds’ are a performance killer. They are things we have on the list to do, but they never quite reach priority status. So, identify why you are doing the task or activity. Why is it important? Why do you care that it gets done? If you have to think about the consequence of what will happen if it doesn’t get done, that is still a purpose. When we just do things without a reason, it is hard to keep those as priorities. Things that we approach in a lackadaisical manner take longer to accomplish, stand to be interrupted, put off, and left ½ done or completed with loose ends. When you work with purpose, you can complete things quickly, staying focused and generating momentum as you go. This will allow you to finish the current objective in less time and actually go on to get other things done in the time you would still be working on a purposeless project.

5) Work in sprints (small bursts of focused energy)

Reality we are all busy. Life is full of interruptions and constant urgent tasks that need to be attended to that we did not plan for. This is reality. So, how to you keep yourself and your whole day from falling victim to a reactionary cycle where you just run from one urgent thing to the next, praying for a minute to last longer? Schedule sprint times where you are 100% focused on one thing. You sprint to accomplish it. In coaching I usually recommend sprints be 30 minute or 50 minute time blocks. You close the door, shut off the phone, have a full drink, e-mail shut off and any other distractions cleared for your sprint time. Know exactly what you want to accomplish in that time, and work only on that. You will be amazed at how much you can get done. Again it creates momentum and the focus lends itself to natural energy that builds. You will get more done in this period often then what you can get done in a whole day of random interruptions and urgent demands. Usually this is a great time to plan to work on what is important (writing, billing, customer service, excreta. Things that if they don’t get done will not kill us now, but will need serious time and attention if neglected).

What is important that you need to do?
What will you plan and to doing right now, that will allow you to harness your energy and gain more time?

PERSONALIED – VISION – MOTIVATION – FOCUS – CLARITY – ENERGY – SPEED – PRODUCTIVITY – RESULTS – SUCCESS – and more.. What could you do with this?

PERSONALIZED. Every person has unique strengths, gifts and talents. Every person things and operates in their own special way that works for them. It is great to read books, listen to audios and be mentors by others that have gone before us. We can learn from these resources, AND they do not always for work us. Coaching allows a dynamic conversation to happen to meet you where you are at that day and personally customize and adapt what you want with strategies and tactics that are in line with how you naturally function. Coaching takes a holistic view at your short term goals and places them in line with your long term goals not only for the area of focus but also your whole life. This is unique and critical as many things “happen” in life that can distract, lure and pull us off the course. Coaching looks to understand you, your goals and your path in a way that is customized to work with the way you think, act and function in life.

VISION. You will have a clear idea of where you want to go and how to get there. Often we know the end result, but do not see what it takes to get there. This is critical for your success. You cannot do what you cannot see first. Coaching will ask you questions to make sure your vision is strong.

MOTIVATION. You will know what you really want and understand your unique values and motives to keep you moving forward. Stop procrastinating, delaying and putting off because of fears, perfectionism and doubts.

FOCUS. You will be able to operate with clear priorities, doing what is most important things which will allow you to excel in the midst of ‘urgent’ demands and busy chaotic schedules and lives.

CLARITY. Each coaching session deepens your learning about how you work and think. Coaching also prepares you for action and supports you in getting crystal clear on the steps to take. By work with a coach, you will get a helicopter perspective so that you can return to your business and navigate quickly because you have taken time to assess where you are going. You will be able to see what is right in front of you and developed a plan to forge ahead.

ENERGY. You will find yourself working at your optimum potential. Why? When you are operating in line with your values, life just simply comes together in an easy way. Coaching will give you with the encouragement, momentum, and natural dynamics to operate more efficiently and effectively. You cannot get more hours in the day, but if you have more energy, you will get more done and feel great!

SPEED. You will be more effective. Through planning and strategizing, you will be able to eliminate ineffective methods and enhance those methods that are most natural to supporting you in reaching your goals quicker.

PRODUCTIVITY. You will simply get more done. Coaching will keep your goals clear and in line with your vision. Next, it ensures that what you are doing is important to furthering the bottom line, not just want is urgent, easy or obvious. Then, the regular accountability provides a structure that will keep you moving forward, so you can really get it all done.

RESULTS. Through regular coaching and consistent follow-up, you will increase your bottom-line results. Profits. Clients. Personal Passions. Weight Lose. Whatever your objective is, coaching is a strategic partnership to support you in getting what you want as quickly as possible. If you are ready and motivated, you can actually double what you accomplish in a period of time.

SUCCESS. You will be more successful. Through keeping focused on what you want, the goals and the plan, coaching helps you keep the big picture in mind while you implement the small steps. While focusing on the goals, coaching monitors the balance in your whole life, so you are not distracted with life pulls but have all the elements of your life complimenting your actions. Before you know it, your goal is complete!