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How Do You Want Your Morning To Feel?

by EvieBurke, posted in attitude, Default Setting, engaged, Happiness, motivation

Portrait_Of_Pensive_WomanIt’s the beginning of your workday and you’re already frustrated and tired. You pull yourself away from your email and think about everything that has to be done today. You should make a to-do list, but quite frankly, you just don’t have time for that.

So, you mentally go through the list kept in your head and pick the most urgent task. 30-minutes in you remember that you promised to email something to someone you met networking yesterday. That should be a quick 5 minute task, so you start doing that. It takes a bit longer then expected to pull that information together and 20 minutes and a Facebook check later you’re trying to remember what you were working on at the beginning of the morning.

You get frustrated because you don’t have time to sit around trying to remember what you were doing! You suddenly think of something else that needs to get done and 15 minutes into that task you remember what you were working on earlier.

You’ve only been working for a couple hours and you’re already exhausted and frustrated and you have this nagging feeling that you’re forgetting a really important task. Annoyed, you get up and go to the kitchen to make yourself a cup of coffee, maybe that will jog your memory.

But really, wouldn’t it be nice if your morning looked like this:

It’s the beginning of your workday and you’re calm, collected and a bit excited to get started! You look at the to-do list you created for yourself last night. There’s a couple high priority tasks that you want to do and some phone calls and emails to send.

Good thing you have systems in place for these things.The highest priority task is for a presentation late next week that you almost forgot about and some of your phone calls are to reconnect with people you talked to a few months ago – you would have totally forgot!

You smile thinking about the possible opportunities that will present themselves today and start with your highest priority task, thinking about the people that will benefit from your presentation next week as you work.

After a couple hours (and a quick break for water) you’re done with the first draft of your presentation. You put it away and head to the kitchen for a snack and a break. You’re feeling happy and looking forward to the rest of your day.

Which scenario most looks like your morning right now? Which one do you want it to be?

There’s more going on here than one person took the time to plan their day and the other didn’t. That’s more a symptom than the cause of the exhaustion and frustration.

And it’s not that one person is just more driven than the other, more committed to success (although some people might disagree with me).

The energy between the two mornings is completely different. The first morning is stressful, scattered and tiring, while the second morning is calm, confident and focused.

So, if the planning and to-do lists are just a symptom or side effect, what are they a symptom of?

Take a look at the difference in language between the two. The first morning is full of have to‘s and should‘s, with feelings of worry and stress. The second morning is want to‘s and opportunities, with feelings of excitement and focus.

Again, the language is a symptom, but it get’s us closer. Your language can give you insights to your thoughts and beliefs that might not immediately be obvious. The first morning’s thoughts and beliefs are around not having enough time. While the second morning’s thoughts and beliefs are about opportunities and effortless focus. It doesn’t even occur to her that there’s not enough time.

So, what can you do? One small change you can make is to update your language. When you hear yourself say “I have to” or “I need to” change it to “I want to.” If that seems impossible, ask what would need to happen to be able to change that to an “I want to”?

And of course there are other things you can do too. In the Productivity Insight Process I go deep with you into these topics. We identify exactly where you are and I give you a personalized suggestions for how to shift from the stressful day you’re currently having to the calm, opportunity filled one that you want.

Share with me below what your morning looks like, or what you’re going to change.

Image courtesy of iconmac / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What Do You Want Done?

by EvieBurke, posted in attitude, Responsibility, Today

ChecklistIf you could only get one thing done today what would it be? Would it be something for your business? family? personal?

Would you start that project you’ve been thinking about? Or maybe you’d finish that project you’ve been trying NOT to think about?

Would you take that book that you want to finish and curl up on the couch or head to a park and spend the afternoon reading?

Maybe you’d treat yourself to some pampering or call up a friend and catch up or go out to dinner.

Would you take your kids out for ice cream or a movie, just because?

Would you pick up your significant other early from work and spend some much needed alone time with them? Or maybe plan an impromptu date night?

What would you really like to be doing? What’s stopping you?

Are you too busy? Can’t find a babysitter? Can’t afford it? Admit it, those are just excuses.

How can you still have that experience that you want and work with the constraints you might have?

Too busy? What’s your real priority? How can you free up some time?

Can’t find a babysitter? When is the babysitter available? Work with her/his schedule. Alternatively, can you include your kids in the experience?

Can’t afford it? Can you have a similar experience from home or a park?

Now, these questions might be helpful for what you want to get done today or the reasons (or excuses) that it’s not getting done. Hopefully, these questions provide a starting point.

So, if you only got one thing done today, what would it be? Share in the comments below!

Image courtesy of Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Successful Projects and The Project Management Triangle

by EvieBurke, posted in Goals, intention, planning, Time

Project Management Triangle1Have 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!

And Sometimes The Answers Are Simple

by EvieBurke, posted in Quote

Figure Sitting In Question MarkOver the summer, I was in a program that had a monthly group question and answer time. Basically we all get on the conference line and then electronically lined up to ask our coach questions.

Well, the phone conference company was doing maintenance when one of our calls was scheduled and my coach wasn’t going to be able to have conversations with us. So, she changed things up. She asked us to write up our questions for her and email them to her team the day before the call. She’d go through and answer them during our normal Q&A time.

The interesting thing was the theme that developed to the questions she didn’t answer. You see, many people wrote in that they answered their own question while writing down their question in a way that was concise and clear. And some of them continued with a question that was hiding just under the surface.

I experienced the same thing when I wrote in my own question for her that day. And I experienced it again this week as I prepared for a call with a friend from a program I’m in currently. As I thought about the questions I wanted to ask, I arrived at a couple of answers before I even picked up the phone!

Sometimes the answer appears later. It might be in a book or article I’m reading, in something someone says, or in something I’m listening to.

Somehow, when you’re able to articulate the question clearly, you open yourself up to receive the answer.

It reminds me of a quote I shared on Facebook last week:

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. – Dr. Seuss

So, my question for you: What are your questions? What are you struggling with that you could ask a question about? Write out the question that you want answered. I’d love if you’d share it with me in the comments below!

Image courtesy of Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Progress Vs. Significant Progress

by EvieBurke, posted in balance, planning

Lego man spinning platesLet’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