planning – Page 9 – One Insight Closer

Want to Focus? Prepare, Relax, Do

October 10, 2013October 8, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in habits, motivation, planning

You have a lot of things to do today, as usual, and your mind is running at 100 mph. When you start working on something, five other things that you could be doing pop into your head and break your focus.

How is it possible to focus on just one task on days like this? By Preparing, Relaxing and Doing!

Prepare

Write down the task you’re going to work on and put it in front of you.
Have another piece of paper handy to write down any other tasks that pop into your head while you’re working.

Relax

Pay attention to your surroundings – close your eyes and listen. Notice what you hear, just listen to the sounds around you.
Take a deep breath – breathe deeply and slowly.
Feel your body – be present to it, notice where any tension is and imagine it melting away with each breath.
Repeat as necessary.

Work on the task you wrote down.
Anytime you think of something else that needs to be done, write it down and then return to your original task.

Why is Prepare, Relax, Do important?

When you look at your to-do list (or if you don’t have it written down, when you think about it), how do you feel? If you’re like many people I work with, you feel stressed and overwhelmed.

When you Prepare, Relax and Do:

you know what you’re doing right now, what your focus is.
you’re intentionally leaving the stress behind and allowing yourself to relax (this allows you to get more done and be more focused!).
you’re capturing the other things that need to be done when you think of them allowing you to:
- not worry about forgetting that they need to be done
- give yourself permission to do them later

Try it today and let me know how it goes for you in the comments below!

Also, repeat the Relax step any time you start to feel stressed or anxious. And if you want some personalized help with this and think working with me might be for you, just let me know by scheduling your own complimentary 30-minute Productivity Breakthrough Session here (this conversation takes place over the phone).

Successful Projects and The Project Management Triangle

September 5, 2013September 10, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in Goals, intention, planning, Time

Have you ever heard of the Project Management Triangle?

You can see it in the image on the right.

But what does it mean?

It means that every project (or goal) is a combination of time, cost and scope.

Broken down further:

Time – How long will this project take and when do you expect to complete it?
Cost – How much money do you have to complete the project? Or to invest in it?
Scope – What is everything that needs to be completed to mark this as a successful project?

For a successful project, you need to have each side of the triangle well defined. And if one edge of the triangle needs to be lengthened or shortened, at least one other side will be affected.

For example, if you need something competed faster you’ll need to decrease the scope or increase the cost. And if you need something done with less cost you’ll need to decrease the scope or increase the time. And if you want more done (increase the scope) you need to increase the time or the cost.

You might be wondering what the heck this has to do with you! You’re a business owner and entrepreneur, not a project manager!

Well, I’d argue you are a project manager. Every goal you have, every strategy you’re using to reach that goal and every to-do list you have is a project or part of a project that you’re managing.

While you don’t need to think about everything in terms of the triangle above, it does help to consider it.

Why? Because it gives your projects (goals, strategies and to-do list) a grounded frame of reference. And generally, one side of the triangle is fixed.

For example, let’s say you want to update your website. You need to start with the fixed side of the triangle. What do you already know about the project? The finish date? The amount you have to invest? The work you want done?

If you know that you want your website completely redone (the “fixed” side is scope), that’s going to be a larger investment in time and money. However, if you have a specific budget to work with (the “fixed” side is cost), that will help determine what will get done now (scope) and the amount of time it will take.

The other great thing about this is the triangle will point out when you don’t have a well-defined project.

Let’s pick a New Year’s favorite of eating healthy. For many people, that’s all there is to their goal (and we know how successful most of them are). If they went through and asked themselves about the cost, time and scope, then they’d have a defined plan.

This is also a good example of how the edges of the triangle move.

Let’s say you want to quickly learn how to eat healthy. Maybe you’re not even sure what the scope of that is, but you know someone who’s a health coach and specializes in this. If you invest your money and a little time in working with her you’ll know exactly what the scope is and have help creating a solid plan.

However, if you don’t have money to invest, you will invest a lot more of your time in determining the scope of the project and create a plan for yourself with more trial and error.

Have you used the Project Management Triangle before, maybe without realizing it? How might you use it in the future? Share in the comments below!

Progress Vs. Significant Progress

August 22, 2013April 10, 2018 by EvieBurke, posted in balance, planning

Let’s talk about your progress. What kind of progress are you making in your business?

Progress or significant progress?

I’m guessing you’d like to be making significant progress, right?

Over the weekend I heard someone describe the difference as trying to move 12 projects forward at once versus trying to move two projects forward at once.

When you’re working on 12 projects you maybe take a step or two forward in each project every week, progress is pretty slow.

However, when you’re focusing on just two projects you can move them forward much faster, now you take a step or two forward in each project every day.

The picture I had in my mind was of spinning plates in the air. When you have a dozen plates spinning you’re adding momentum to one plate and keeping an eye on the ones that are starting to wobble so you can run over and take care of those next.

It quickly gets really tiring! You’re never able to fully focus on one plate at a time because you need to keep an eye on which ones are about to come crashing down.

However, when you have just two plates spinning, you can add momentum to one and not worry about the other one for a bit. You’re able to fully focus on one plate.

When you’re able to have that full focus on one thing, you start making significant progress.

What would your business look like if you made significant progress?

Would you be making more money? Helping more people? Have more free time? Spending more time with your family?

Tell me, what would significant progress look like in your business and what gets in the way?

photo credit: Jameson42 via photopin cc

Finding Time for Your Big Projects

August 8, 2013August 8, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in planning, Time

Are you someone who knows exactly what’s on your plate? The things that need to get done daily and weekly or even monthly get done. You keep up with current clients, bills are get paid and all those other things that you regularly do in your business get done.

And you’re frustrated. Why?

Because even though you’re staying on top of all the details, you don’t have time for your bigger goals, the bigger projects that will move you into the next phase of your business.

You don’t want to stop doing the things that currently pay the bills. But you also want to find time for those other projects.

So, what do you do?

How do you add time to your week so you have time for those projects?

You take a step back and review:

Time leaks – How are you currently spending your time?
Are you spending too much time checking email? Facebook? Twitter? YouTube? Where are you spending too much time online?

When do you tend to spend too much time on those sites? Is it triggered by something? What can you do to spend less time on that site?
What tasks take you a long time to complete?

Why do those tasks take so long (be kind with yourself!)? Are they tasks that you don’t like doing or are not in your skill set?
Systems
What are the things you do every week or every month? Is there a system you can create around them?

Maybe you have a series of steps that you take each new client through. Do you have those steps documented, emails drafted and attachments all in one spot so you can quickly (and warmly) welcome them?

Where can you add systems in your business?
Hire it out
There are some tasks that you certainly can do, but aren’t in your skill set. These could be some of the tasks you identified in “Time Leaks.” You can do them, but if you paid someone else to do it they’d do it faster and maybe even better.
Or these tasks might be in your skill set, but your clients don’t pay you for that work.
For example, I’m very comfortable with technology, I used to be a programmer. When it was time to put together my website I could have spent time to learn the ins and outs of WordPress and done it myself. However, I decided my time was better spent elsewhere and paid someone else to do it for me. That saved me hours of work.
What are those things in your business?

An alternative to all of these things is to spend more time at work. While occasionally this is a necessity, it’s probably not something you want to regularly be doing.

So, what will you do to that will free up time in your work week?
Share in the comments below!

Meaningful Breaks

July 18, 2013 by EvieBurke, posted in habits, planning

Meaningful breaks.

What does that mean?

And why are they important?

Meaningful breaks are when you get up from wherever you’re doing your work and you go and do something else. Something not related to work.

This does not mean you watch TV or check your email.

This is not the time to return that business call you’ve been meaning to get to.

This could be sitting down for a bit with a good book (outside, generally my preference, or somewhere inside and comfy).

It could be playing with your kids.

Going for a walk around the neighborhood.

Walking or playing with your pets.

Playing some of your favorite songs and dancing.

Heck, it could even be taking a really quick nap.

The point of the meaningful break is to give your brain a break from your work. Letting it focus on something completely different for a bit.

Give yourself a couple of 10 to 30 minute meaningful breaks each day. I bet you’ll be even more productive when you return to your work.

Share your meaningful break in the comments below!

Category: planning