What counts is focused effort in the service of a meaningful purpose. Get that, and you’re really getting somewhere.

Just being busy is not going to make you successful. Instead of merely using up time, find a way to create real, desirable value with the time you have available.

Don’t comfort yourself with being aimlessly busy. Challenge yourself to get meaningful results from your time and effort.

Outstanding achievement and disappointing mediocrity are both built from the same twenty-four hours in each day. The difference is not one of time or even effort, but of focus and authentic purpose.

As long as you’re making the effort, as long as you’re using up resources, as long as you’re spending the time, make it all count. Make a habit of doing what really matters, and you’ll enjoy a life that’s really great.”

Ralph Marston

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

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!

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer, Minneapolis, MN

Are you focused on the problems, the distractions, the frustrations, the excuses, the shortcomings and the annoyances in your world? Or, are you focused on your dreams, your greatest possibilities, your positive passions, and on the things that you value most?

You can choose your focus in every moment, and by doing so you can choose the reality of your life. Though it may seem that circumstances conspire to steal your focus, they can only do so with your cooperation.

Yes, there are plenty of things that will pull your focus in a negative, destructive direction. And yet, you have the strength and the ability to persistently pull your focus back in line with your most positive and empowering intentions.

It’s not that difficult to maintain your focus. It’s just a matter of overriding some negative habits you may have developed.

Focusing on what’s positive and productive and empowering is actually a lot of fun, and the more you do it, the more you’ll like it. Focus on the best you can imagine, and watch all those good things grow more abundant in your life.”

Ralph Marston

Christy Geiger, Executive Business Coach & Trainer,  Minneapolis, MN

Here are some tips to make sure you set up, if you want to get the most of your time:
(if you don’t do these, you may find yourself saying, “it doesn’t really help”. If you say that, check and see if you are doing one of these pitfalls).
— Arrange to have this time set aside first and last in day (block and designate the power hour time)
— Plan to do it the same time everyday (otherwise you run out of time and have to jump into day)
— Have a routine for the time (otherwise you just sort things and fill gap and not be productive)
— Write things down to help clear your mind and not forget (don’t be argent and think “that is little I can remember that” )
— Understand this is BIG PICTURE time planning time not TO DO LIST time (it is not to be used to get things done from your to do list) (DO NOT DO TASKS NOW – if one comes to your mind, just write it down)
— The Power Hour needs to happen before my “work day” starts (home, office, etc.) – if you want to start working at 7:00AM, then this needs to happen before that (otherwise you will get interrupted and distracted)
— Needs to be just you (mute phone, shut down cell phone, eliminate interruptions, no talking to others…) (otherwise you get of track and all of the sudden it is 10:30)
— Believe it will work for you and will give you success (vs. fighting that this is wasting time or thinking I don’t have time to do this)

These are just a few tips to avoid some common pitfalls of ineffective power hours. The really are powerful. Experince it today!

What is the #1 project that you need to get done, but have been putting off? Every day you try to get to it, but other things just seem to catch your attention first, like answering e-mails  returning phone calls, cleaning, taking care of little to do’s on post it notes… tasks that suck you in and captivate you until you have no time left to work on what you’ve deemed important.

These IMPORTANT things are necessary to do at some point but are not critical or urgent to do right now. IMPORTANT tasks usually involve something a bit more tedious and time consuming, like filing, billing, writing, making follow-up calls, planning, marketing, ect.  Since there is no immediate pressure to get them done, they remain in our mind and on our to-do lists as things we SHOULD do sometime. They absorb our energy as we begrudge the thought of starting the project and they actually eat our time as we subconsciously procrastinate, doing other little things that feel more rewarding first.

What to do?
1) Realize what your procrastination strategies are. What do you do when you have an IMPORTANT project to accomplish? What distracts you from working on it? What things usually get on the to-do list before it? Subconscious procrastination strategies are little and insignificant tasks that take up our time and energy, so we never get to what is really important. Although it feels good to check off 10 little things from the list, the result is that now there is not enough time for that big IMPORTANT project, so it waits another day. This waiting creates stress and the act of procrastination makes us ineffective with our time. Below are links to 50+ ways people distract themselves from what is IMPORTANT.  What are your pet procrastination strategies? When you become aware of your favorite methods you are more likely to recognize them when you start doing them and STOP so you can really focus on and accomplish the IMPORTANT project.

2) “Eat your frog” first. Brian Tracey has a great book, Eat That Frog, which illustrates the basic concept of prioritizing. Tracy describes the most IMPORTANT task as your “FROG”. He supposes if the worse thing you have to do all day is eat a frog, the rest of the day will be much better. Likewise, if you do the thing you dislike and avoid first, the rest of your day will be great. You will find that you have more energy because you feel charged that you already got “IT” off your plate. You will have more time; because you are encouraged by your success and are motivated to do more important things that really matter. You are more efficient, because you have a clear mind without nagging toleration’s of things you SHOULD be doing.

How do you “eat your frog”?

A) Identify what is IMPORTANT. Important things are items that need to be done, but will not kill you if they are not done immediately. Note: this is in contrast to urgent.  Urgent are things that MUST BE DONE immediately.  Often people get in a cycle of making everything urgent.  If everything is urgent in your life one of two things has happened: you are mislabeling, or (more commonly): you have let the IMPORTANT projects go too long until they’ve become urgent.  The problem with always working in urgent mode is this quadrant does not maximize productivity or give long term solutions, just short term fixes. It might feel good and seem productive as you run around putting out fires, but internally it causes you to feel stressed confused, frustrated and overwhelmed. In contrast, when you stay on top of the IMPORTANT projects, you will amazingly have more energy, more time and be more efficient in dealing with everything else that comes up. Really, I challenge you to try it out.

B) Do it FIRST. Before you go to bed, pick your frog for the next day (or do it the last thing before you go to bed, so you already have a head start on your next day, if you are a night owl!). Then when you get up, before you do anything else on your to-do list (including urgent things – unless it is a real emergency), eat your frog. Block time in your schedule for uninterrupted focused time. No phone calls, e-mails or talking, until your frog is eaten. Know how much time your frog will take to eat, so you can consume it before interruptions are unavoidable.  By creating an hour of “no interruption” time, you will be most focused, productive, and effective in eating your frog.

Actions:

* Make a “to do” list nightly

* Prioritize your “to dos”

* Item #1 is your frog. Complete it before you do any other projects.

* Plan for FIRST THING, uninterrupted time.

* Know and be aware of your personal, subconscious procrastination strategies

* Make it your goal to complete the next 5 top priorities before moving on to other things on the list.

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!

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