By Tony Rubleski, MindCapture Group
We live in an interesting age. We have more information and resources available than at any other time in history, yet most people feel overwhelmed or flat out lost as to how to use it to their advantage. Humans at their core absolutely dislike and rebel at change. There is another way. Those that thrive on change in this age of information and media overload have developed powerful new thought patterns and beliefs to make information a tool of opportunity and abundance, not a handicap.
I’d like to share with you three incredibly powerful and liberating ways to get more done, achieve productivity breakthroughs and free up more time in your personal and business life. Yes, a tall order indeed, but let’s get started.
The Enemy of the Entrepreneur is Distraction!
Time blocking is a great way to achieve bursts of productivity and get the truly key projects and goals knocked out with pure, and focused attention. In the age of information overload distraction and interruption are lurking at every corner. The good news: you do have a choice in relation to defending your time and your mind. Far too many people allow the Internet, cell phones, emails, blogs and other forms of ‘instant messaging’ to control, distract and totally run their lives for them.
I’m often asked by others, “Tony, how in the world do you get all of your writing projects done for clients, your business, for magazine deadlines, podcasts, eletters and blogs with all of your other commitments including family and intense travel?” The answer is simple. I block out actual appointments on my calendar for getting deadline driven projects done. The article you’re now reading was written bright and early at 6:15AM on a recent Wednesday morning based on an appointment I made in my calendar the week prior to insure it made deadline and into this issue.
The Power of Habit Force
The second strategy to liberate your mind is the power of positive habit force. In his powerful book The Success Principles, Jack Canfield* discusses how habits, good or bad, shape our destiny along with proven ways to set and create positive new one’s for ourselves. If you have key items within your business that are mission critical – such as reading and listening to every issue of this newsletter as soon as you get it – your goal or aim should be to make them a habit each day if possible. For example, reviewing my top 10 one-year goals each morning is a non-negotiable habit before I begin the day. It’s now engrained as a powerful habit in my life.
If They Can’t Find You, They Can’t Distract You
The third and final idea regarding getting more done is what I call the black out strategy. This is simply the ability to shut off ALL forms of media or distraction during a certain period of time when you need to focus or do not want to be interrupted. I employ this strategy Monday through Friday when I review goals and write each morning at the crack of dawn with no one around to call, email or distract me. Yes, I even shut off my cell phone on many days – much to my wife’s chagrin - to avoid temptation and insure I get these two vital habits in motion and done. Unless it’s a scheduled call, family emergency, or I’m running through an airport at an early hour these two habits are never missed.
I hope these three productivity strategies serve you well. They’ve positively impacted my life and the hundreds of other high achievers and business associates I know directly who use them on a daily basis to improve their own life and the lives of countless others they serve and influence. Unlike other life forms on planet Earth, driven by instinct or necessity, we humans are incredibly blessed to have free will and the power of choice to govern how we proceed and use each day. In the age of information overload and digital distraction, this should give each of us peace of mind and a sense that we are in control of our own dreams and destiny!