Do you ever get stuck?

Getting Unstuck

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of a whirlwind? What about finding yourself in the middle of a long dry spell where nothing seems to be happening?

I think it is two sides of the same coin.

Recently I was feeling a little stuck in my own business. I have this great plan, and can see it all mapped out. And yet, I wasn’t taking some of the action that was there to take, and in other areas I didn’t even know what actions to take.

We have all heard the quote about the definition of insanity: doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. Well, that’s where I was.

Here’s just one example: I have been told to send out press releases about different things in my business and I haven’t done any of that. As a child I was told that I shouldn’t brag.

What do they have to do with each other? Well, if you have grown up believing that bragging isn’t good, then sending out press releases becomes impossible.

Have to send out press releases – that’s good for business. But the 5 year old thinks it is bragging – and that’s bad.

Such a trap! There is no way out of that one. Until…

Until I can recognize that I am not the 5 year old, and I am not bragging. The context is decisive! Once I saw that, really saw that, I was freed up to take the actions on my plan. Not only that, but there is a flood of new actions that weren’t there before.

Where are you being stopped by your 5 year old self?

Shameless plug: I am re-running my Productivity Basics teleclasses in August. There will be two session on developing a schedule that works, one session on planning, and one session on taking control of your email. Details are available at www.timetriage.com/events.asp.

In the meantime, have a great summer – but remember – you are calling the shots – not the 5 year old!

(c) 2010, Terry Monaghan

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Consultant, coach, speaker, trainer and entrepreneur, Terry Monaghan, publishes Now What, a free weekly ezine for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to double their productivity, improve their performance, and have a life! If you’re ready to jump start your performance and your results, then get your free tips now at www.TimeTriage.com.

Change of perspective is a great thing

I just got back from a week in beautiful, sunny, SW FLorida. And, of course, it snowed within 12 hours of my return. Now, if it had snowed before I left, I probably would have been grumbling about the inconvenience of it all.

The interesting thing is, after a week of studying, writing, walking and thinking – I could completely enjoy and appreciate the beauty of the snow. Perspective is amazing!

Where in your work/life are you feeling trapped? Could you just be a little too close to the situation to see what is really possible?

Step back, take a wider view. That may be all it takes to change the outcome.

What do you think you can’t do?

At a workshop last week, a participant challenged something I said with “Yes, but, with budget cuts the work still has to get done! How on earth am I supposed to get it all done?” And, there was a lot of agreement in the room for what he was saying. (Full disclosure – this was at one of my favorite parts of the exercise – where I expect people to begin challenging my assertions!)

He was challenging an assertion I had made that he (and everyone else in the room) had total control over where he put his time and effort. And, that the best place to put that time and effort was into the fulfillment of his goals (whatever they may be).

Yes, but – this paperwork has to be done. Yes, but – this other thing has to be done. Yes, but – how am I supposed to get all of this done? Yes, but – I have a family, another job, a mother-in-law, groceries to buy, a house to clean, bills to pay, filing to do, calls to make, appointments to keep…

You get the picture?

Then, another person said “maybe we need to start spelling TIME as TEAM!”

Brilliant! Exactly!

Why on earth would you want to do it all yourself?

And don’t tell me you can’t afford to build a team! There are resources you can’t even see when you are thinking that way.

Start asking yourself “How can I …?” and see what happens…

Is Balance Even Possible?

There is an awful lot of talk about work-life balance these days. Everybody is trying to attain balance. And mostly, everybody is failing making themselves wrong for that.

But what is balance really? And how do we get there?

I read an interesting message today from Bob Proctor:

It’s possible to focus so much on one thing that your life becomes imbalanced.

How can you avoid this? Through an attainable goal … which occurs when you pay attention to all areas of life and neglect none.

To create … a fulfilling life with riches in every category – let’s think of life in 5 key areas:

1. financial;
2. relational;
3. mental (including intellect and emotions);
4. physical; and
5. spiritual

Visualize these as pillars. If you weaken any of them, you start falling apart, either all at once or by bits and pieces. And you can’t strengthen the structure by reinforcing the strong pillars; instead, you must attend to the weak ones – areas of neglect.

Your pillars will never be equally strong all of the time. This is what some people call “balance,” but it’s misleading. You can’t establish absolute strength for all five areas and then keep your life in that pose for an easy and unchanging live. (Thank God!) Life would be uneventful – and incredibly boring.

Think about this: In perfect balance, nothing happens – nothing!

Creating [balance] starts with realizing that all areas must have some attention all the time – not that all areas demand all your attention all the time.

The key is to plan for finite periods of focus and defocus – but never total neglect.

Finite periods of focus and defocus – in other words, things will go out of balance from time to time. It is a dance of correct and adjust, correct and adjust, correct and adjust.