Tips & Insights for Top Performance

Your environment can either support your endeavors or drain your energy. One part of your environment is all of the “stuff” that is around you and this is the book that will help you get a handle on that “stuff!” If you are a hoarder, this book, Time Management for the Creative Person, will help you determine both why you like to have clutter around and how to deal with it. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to streamline their environment and free up energy for the more important aspects of life.

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

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 done what you need to accomplish.

A few tips the book emphasizes are:

• Manage your energy, not your time
• Downtime is key for your success
• Rituals help to maintain focus
• Purpose fuels performance
• Work in sprints (small bursts of focused energy)

This is a great book that can be read in one sitting and then re-read over the course of 8 days or 8 weeks. Phenomenal MUST read. It includes 8 easy to digest mentoring sessions that one of the authors, David Cottrell, had sitting at the feet of a business master. Each chapter/session includes great reminders for every business person to remember and integrate into how they work personally and with others. Whether through work, volunteerism, family or elsewhere, these timeless tips are motivational and applicable for every person. He talks about many things we have shared before and also has some new tips. In the sessions on time management, one key statement I found motivational and true was from p. 63: “I’ve never found anyone who had two or three hours a day they could save by doing one thing better. But, I have seen many people find an hour or two a day they could use better by doing a few things differently.” If you want to make better use of your time, you need to be looking for the small increments of time… a minute here, five minutes there, etc. Add them all up and you’ll create more time for you to use.” There is much more. Get the book for your library!

Many people feel so busy they think they just don’t have time for a day off. They keep working hard, day after day. Motivational speaker, Brian Tracy, encourages people to take a FULL day off where they do not think about work at all. The benefit of this allows your brain to rest and recharge. After time off you will be more productive than if you keep trying to push it. If you do not take a break, your brain will move slower and not be efficient. This slow time and mistakes will eat up relaxation time you could have enjoyed.

Do not only take a day off, but engage in a fun hobby or downtime activity. When people take time to do their hobbies, they are even more energized, fulfilled and motivated to work hard. There is a new energy and life when people are doing things that they are passionate about and love. They seem to work faster in the job so they can be rewarded with a little spare time for a prized hobby. Has it been so long since you had a hobby, you don’t feel like you have one?

Action:

• Decide what day you can take off 100%. (This will not be perfect, but aim for this).
• Clear your calendar; tell people you are booked (appointment with yourself or family) and only put personal things on that day.
• Determine a hobby that you would like to do that you really enjoy. Often this is something that you have not done in years (play instrument, woodworking, etc.) Dust off the old tools and use that skill.
• Make time to do this hobby at least 2 hours a week.
• Watch how your energy is renewed.