Mark S. Brown

What do you need to be doing right now? I ask you this question from two perspectives. First, do you know what you need to be doing? Second, if you know, why are you not doing it?

David Allen in his productivity models (Getting Things Done), uses an analogy of altitude to better define the things you need to do. At ground level, there are the actions that you have already defined, it is your to do list.

At the 10,000 foot level, it is your projects. These are things you are committed to do, but will require multiple actions. At the 20,000 foot level, it is the view of your area of responsibilities. This can be home, work, community, etc.

At the 30,000 foot level, you define your 1 to 2 year goals. This is the list of things you want to accomplish within this time frame. At the 40,000 foot level, you may view your 3 to 5 year vision. In broader terms, why are you working on the projects you have in front of you.

Finally at the 50,000 foot level, you view your life. This is a definition of your life long dreams and aspirations. It is the legacy that you want to achieve.

When I ask you if you are doing what you need to do right now, it would be difficult to answer properly without a view of all these different levels. Finding alignment from top to bottom will allow you to achieve your targets. If your to do list is cluttered with actions that are not related to your projects, or your 3 to 5 year vision, then your dreams may remain just dreams.

We want to make our dreams a reality, and a coach can help you define these levels. Sometimes we need a guide to help define the actions we need to take right now.

 

If you are not scared about what tomorrow will bring, then you are not living up to your potential. That’s right. If you feel cozy, comfortable and content then you are not achieving all that you could do.

Some of you are probably shaken up by that thought, and most of you are thinking too small. If you could be best in the world at one thing, what would you choose? I hope none of you answered “television watcher”, because even if you were the best, no one would notice.

So whatever you did choose, are you working towards it? Are you aspiring to be the best you can be at the one thing you would like to be the best at? Are you sacrificing to make your dream come true?

John Maxwell explains in The Law of Sacrifice, that you must give up to go up. Success is not gained without a price. Only you can decide the cost you are willing to pay for your dream.

It is 2014, and it is time to:

1. Follow your passion
2. Think big
3. Do it scared
4. Learn from your mistakes as you go
5. Carry on relentlessly
6. Live up to your potential

It is okay to be scared. If you are going to achieve your dream, you will need to go into the unknown where it is uncomfortable. Great! Now that we have that settled, let’s get started.

There are days when I feel overwhelmed with my “to do list”. Many business owners and business professionals have shared similar experiences with me. All of us would like to be more effective during our day and with the time we have available.

Recently I took some time to develop actions to help myself become more effective, and I think some will apply to each of us. So here is my list of six areas I am working to improve:

1. Become more organized. Most of my organization struggles is with information. I process a lot of information in many forms such as emails, books, magazines, web pages, photos, videos, and my own notes. I have become adept at storing and recalling certain types of information, but I have many opportunities for improvement. Being organized takes effort and time. The goal is to offset the time spent organizing with time saved in finding information when you need it. I also think organization is a process that never stops. Every time I can’t find something, I know I need to work on this area.

2. Improve daily routines. Everyone has daily routines. The most visible are the motions we go through after we wake up in the morning and prepare ourselves for the day. These actions are efficient because we have practiced them every day. We may have different routines for different days of the week, or different routines based on the time we have available. Strive to make minor improvements in your daily habits and routines, and include the actions you want to improve on a daily basis.

3. Know your current priority. Getting and keeping focus on your priority will add tremendously to your effectiveness. There are so many distractions that interfere with our normal day, that sometimes distractions become the norm. Every day know your priority for the day. Stay focused on that priority until it is complete. Handle interruptions by putting them aside until your primary task is complete. Each day can become highly productive in this manner.

4. Use all your available resources. We tend to keep our tasks to ourselves, when we could achieve more by proper delegation. If someone else can do a job eighty percent as well as you, delegate it and help them become better at that task. When evaluating resources that you can use, include family members, friends, co-workers, organizations, and service providers. Write a list of your common tasks using two columns. The first includes things that only you could or should do. The other list are the tasks that others could do. Then see how many of the second list you can recruit others to help with.

5. Evaluate what you will give up. This is a tough concept to consider. To do more of something, you need to do less of something else. That is how it works. You have no ability to create time. From time to time, I evaluate my list of projects. I keep two lists: current projects, and someday projects. If I have too many current projects, then I am not effective. So I keep the someday list of things I wish to do, but are not a priority. This is similar to a bucket list. During these reviews I sometimes have to give up some projects, because there are better options. The second benefit of these reviews is that I discover projects that I have been maintaining as part of my regular schedule that I should not be doing anymore. Things that I can stop. Things that I can give up. Those decisions allow me to tackle new projects.

6. Relax, enjoy, and have fun. This is the best part of becoming effective. I admire people that find their strength zone, and align their life to work within it. They become experts at what they do, and they enjoy doing it. Even if you don’t have perfect alignment, you should be very aware of how you can spend time in the activities you enjoy. Saving part of each day for these activities will keep you motivated and refreshed which will help you maintain your effectiveness.

Thomas Jefferson said, “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.”

It is hard to measure your effectiveness. But it is usually easy to tell when you are not being effective. Benjamin Franklin said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” The best use of time has been a challenge for all of mankind, and we will always struggle to improve.

 

Most people don’t write, especially if you exclude Facebook posts, short emails, and text messages. Yet there is a great power associated with putting your thoughts into words. Writing is an exercise in thinking.

There are many weeks I have written about the benefit of reflection and writing a journal, but there are very few of us that have the discipline to follow through and take advantage of the opportunity.

There are many excuses not to write. You don’t have time. You don’t know what to write. You are not creative. You don’t want to put your thoughts where people can read them.

There are two very good reasons to write:

1. Learn from today. Don’t just gloss over today’s activities, but think about what you should learn from today’s actions, results, interactions, failures, and victories. Write down what you have learned.

2. Plan a better tomorrow. Take what you have learned and become responsible for your improvement. Each tomorrow can be a fraction better than yesterday. Imagine how that improvement will add up in a few years.

If you are thinking about your new year’s resolution list, don’t overlook this simple investment in yourself. We all want to be more successful. Reflection thinking and journal writing can be applied to the area of your life where you want improvement. As Christina Baldwin has said, “Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.”

If you decide you are not going to write, then consider this. You are writing your story day by day through your actions. Whether you physically write about it in a book, or not. You are writing the story of your life.