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 Take back your time and your energy; set the intention to control your time, rather than it controlling you. I have the opposite problem from many people out there: I LOVE my work. I love it almost too much. I love everything that has to do with coaching and personal development. It could consume my day from the wee hours until the clock strikes midnight. Obviously, there’s a flip side to the love. I can sit working at my computer, or talking on the phone with a colleague, for hours at a time without moving anything except my fingers across the keyboard. And despite being consumed with busy-ness all day, I find many days that I’ve not gotten as much done as I wanted to. I haven’t been efficient or effective, and while I’ve enjoyed every second, I feel like I’m sometimes crawling towards my goals rather than jogging at a healthy, steady pace. Sharing this challenge with Karen, my cousin-in-law, brought a new idea: she had read that our ability to focus on a task diminishes greatly after 45 minutes. Therefore, the author proposed that an effective way to structure the work day is to break it into 45-minute blocks, with a 15-minute break every hour during which I get up, move away from the computer/phone/desk and do something completely different. It’s not time to mindlessly browse the web and see what’s hot on YouTube, Hulu or Yahoo; it’s time to stop whatever I’m doing – mid-sentence or mid-thought if necessary – and take a break. Today was my first day testing the structure, and I felt immediate results. I wasn’t able to successfully do it all day (although, an ironically timed technology glitch in a 90-minute teleclass led to a 10-minute break right in the middle!). However, during the hours I was successful, I not only got some creative, focused work done, I also folded some laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, started the dishwasher, spent time with the cats and did some plant care and sweeping in my office. Pretty cool! If you work in an office environment and can’t use your 15 minutes to put in some laundry, here are some ideas for you: take a walk around the block; visit co-workers with whom you need to connect face-to-face (assuming it’s mutually convenient!); find a quiet spot for breathing or meditation; read an article in an industry journal, or better yet, spend time with Far Side cartoons or one of “The Onion” compilations. A little laughter can go a long way in lightening your daily load! My next step is to add my tried-and-true “priorities list” habit back into my routine. That will ensure that my 45 minutes is even more focused and efficient. It’s hard to step away from the computer with a word hanging in mid-air… but it’s even harder to get back my energy after it’s been zapped by too much scattered screen time.
But I’m done venting, really. I was experiencing such loss of serenity, my husband starting playing coach with me and asking, “What’s really going on with your frustration? How can you turn this into an affirmation?” I glared. Don’t turn the tables on me! Not allowed! Yet I sit here with a sticker on the back of my laptop that declares “I’m a Personal Coach. Curious? Ask me!” I did it as a way to be approachable at coffee shops or other places I hang out, in the event someone really wanted to ask me what I do. More importantly, I put the sticker there for myself; to remind myself that every where I show up, I do so as coach and with a coaching presence. For me, that means I’m open, listening, curious, non-judgmental and calm. All the things I feel I’m NOT exemplifying right now! So my husband has a point. I believe that as a coach, I want to walk my own talk. That includes forgiving myself and having compassion for myself when I veer off the path of serenity. And as I tell my clients, it’s expected that we occasionally take a “wrong” turn away from our desired and natural state of calm and optimism. We’re human. It happens. The difference is how we respond to the situation when it happens. I’ve been practicing “noticing” when things don’t feel good, when I take a wrong turn into self-doubt and start whooping it up at my own little pity party. Poor little me, waiting at the airport when I really want to regain the freedom of the road and get to the summer cabin and the water. Such a sad scene, really. The truth is, I can handle this. We will get there eventually. Part of travel is going with the flow. I’m obviously not the only one inconvenienced. So I have a choice. I can pout and complain and generally decide to get my stomach in knots over things I can’t control. Or I can use the time to write a blog post (check), have a snack (check) and people watch (the crazy shoes women wear to travel – OY!). When we were flying into Chicago, I couldn’t wait to get off the plane. Now that I’m on the ground, I can’t wait to get back in the air. Lose/Lose, never content in the moment. Since I have a choice, I choose win/win. I choose to make the most of my time, stretch my legs, enjoy my magazine. I choose to be thankful for my comfortable sneakers and patient husband, who reminds me of my core essence, lovingly and ironically, when I lose touch with it myself. One of my favorite verses comes from Dawna Markova, an author and editor in Utah. It stands without commentary. I hope you find inspiration from it.
Source of quote: www.inspirationpeak.com/inspirational-quotes.html In redoing my home office, I began looking for images for the walls that would inspire and motivate me. This needed to be more than pretty pictures of flowers and landscapes. One day I was in Border’s and started sifting through a bin of art prints. Voila! There it was: a series of images of the construction of the Eiffel Tower [learn more at the tower's official site]. I’d never had any real interest in the Eiffel Tower and didn’t know much beyond that it was built for the World’s Fair. Yet, the image spoke to me, and I couldn’t wait to get it home and hang it up.
It’s really an image to contemplate. For me, it symbolizes the journey and stages of becoming tall, strong and even iconic. I see powerful connections between the Eiffel Tower and process: The Eiffel Tower didn’t spring fully formed out of the ground and instantly become a classic symbol of a city. Sometimes, when I’m feeling discouraged or overwhelmed, I forget that everyone started somewhere. It’s easy to think that certain people were just born with their PhD and expert status, in demand on several continents. In reality, they started from the ground and built up. There are no “overnight” successes. The most important growth period happens when it appears that there is little outside progress. In the case of the Eiffel Tower, the time between the third and fourth frames in this image took the longest (4 months), yet exhibit the least amount of change. From the photos, it looks as though that’s when critical infrastructure was added that created stability and strength for the remaining upward build. I see this same process with clients. In their work with me, they are doing a lot of internal building of self-esteem and positive self-talk “infrastructure.” They are making huge shifts and changes, ones that form the solid foundation for all future growth. And what this poster image doesn’t show us: the year of work that preceded the first image, when it probably looked like very little was happening at all, and what it would become was still mysterious to the average observer! It takes a village to build something that lasts. The Eiffel Tower had 300+ people involved in its construction. It also has 2.5 million rivets holding it together! Just as the tower needed people who believed in it and solid reinforcements to keep it standing, so do we as individuals on our personal journeys. It’s not just about networking; it’s about forming relationships of mutual support and trust that will stand the test of time. Just as there’s no “overnight success,” there are no “self-made millionaires” either. Every successful person has a team of supporters, friends, colleagues and mentors. And when one prospers, they all prosper. People didn’t like the Eiffel Tower at first; they may not like you either. Harsh, I know. Consider this, from the Eiffel Tower entry on Wikipedia:
Today, of course, we cannot imagine the Parisian skyline without the Eiffel Tower. Attitudes shifted, and its aesthetic and practical significance (as a communication tower) saved it from the plan to demolish it after 20 years. Paris is now celebrating the tower’s 120th birthday. People who succeed in any endeavor often have to persevere through naysayers and wet blankets. They may not like you or your idea. Does that matter? NO. There is plenty of room in your process for people to offer constructive criticism and feedback if it supports your growth. There is no room for those who want to keep you small or who feel threatened. Surround yourself with people who will build you up, not tear you down. Those who built the tower had to withstand insult and injury. They stood by their vision, and c’est magnifique!
 Have you been detoured off your path by perfectionitis? Time to get back on the path to passion! Several weeks ago, a friend of mine typed “Just hit ’send’!” in her Facebook status update. She was ready to send her a doctoral paper off to her advisor. That got me thinking about how much energy we expend on perfection and how it can become a justifiable or even noble procrastination tool. Last week, I published an article on Biznik that expanded on the idea of perfection and ways to keep it at bay. Based on the response to the article, this is a challenge shared by many! My definition of “perfect” translates into a state of being close, careful, precious, invulnerable. And perfect is subjective; my perfect may not be your perfect, and so all of the energy I spend on making things “just so” most likely is not energy well-spent. I’d rather acknowledge that life is messy, spontaneous and influenced by countless factors. The bright side is that those factors include things I can control, such as my thoughts and my willingness to be vulnerable and human. I have a choice to intentionally choose the big voice of my passion over the more carefully scripted voice of perfection. Some of the comments to my article from Biznik readers:
Does any of that sound familiar!? If you find you are frozen in analysis paralysis or stuck tweaking and refining and constantly editing until it’s “perfect,” ease up!
Here’s to better done than perfect!
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