Now THERE's a novel concept. Work on the thing that you WANT to work on!
A friend of mine has been sharing with me, lately that she wants to shift gears in her career. She's tired of doing what she's doing. It isn't scale-able, and it doesn't pay well or steady enough. The months have gone on with the same complaint, essentially. Then last week she had a revelation. She told me that she realized, that she wanted to see things change, but she hadn't done anything differently. Now she is going to build into her day, a list of tasks aimed at taking her in this new direction.
Think about that. If you want your life to change in some way, you have to do something new and different.
This translates directly into how you manage your daily tasks and to do's.
Organize your tasks around what you WANT to do, instead of what you HAVE to do. Of course this has to be balanced with keeping your commitments, but make sure you include some of the things that you really want to do. Watch what happens. As time goes on you will fill up your schedule with more of those things, and fewer of the things you don't want to do.
A couple of years ago, I studied (not read) a book called "The One Minute Millionaire" by Mark Victor Hansen. The book is written to help us understand how millionaires think differently than we do. They have highly structured schedules, and their time is managed, much like their money - very carefully.
Based on what the book suggested, I broke my life into six major areas:
- Body
- Mind
- Spirit
- Time
- People
- Money
Next I did an exercise. I laid out these six items in a spreadsheet, and indicated the number of hours, next to each, that I would like to spend daily.
I quickly realized that I couldn't possibly spend that kind of time in a single day. So I spread it out over a week. The picture of what I wanted my life to look like, in terms of how I spent my time, started to come together.
Finally I want onto my calendar. I went as far out as I needed to so that I didn't have to upset any appointments I may have had. I plotted my days out according to these six areas and how I wanted to spend my time. Mon, Wed, & Fri I put a two hour appointment at the gym (for my body). One hour for the actual workout, and the other for getting there, and back and showering etc... On Saturdays I often go for a hike.
Reading, or learning time is how I treat my mind. I have two hours per day figured in for that, Mon-Fri. This part can also be spiritual for me, because I am relaxed, when I am reading and learning - especially when that learning is pro-active, and not under duress, such as when I have to learn something to get my job done. Do you see the difference?
I also use an app called Calm.com to meditate. I don't always do it, but the goal is to spend 25 minutes per day, in the morning and again in the evening (before I go to sleep).
I spend a certain amount of time organizing my time. I plan my days, and I plan my weeks. I live by my calendar. On Friday nights, lately, another way I treat my spirit, is by meeting with a good friend, and mentor. We have dinner and see a movie, right here where I live, in downtown, Burbank, CA. That activity treats areas, 3, and 5. The downtime treats my spirit, and then I spend that time with someone (people) who is important to me.
The last part, money has a way of taking care of itself, when the former five areas are treated. As far as time goes, we live in a society where we work 8 hours per day. Most of us as entrepreneurs work much more. My goal is to keep it from 8 am - 4 pm. Most days I stick to this, and here's what I've learned from direct experience. When I follow this structure, I get much more done in much less time, because I am well balanced and 1,000 x more focused.
