Good Morning Faithful Readers!
Chapter Seven: Initiate to Shape the Future
Whatever you’ll be proud of in a decade from now will not be anything that was result of simply responding. Rather, it will be from what you initiate today – such as striking up a conversation that leads to a new dynamic friendship, the sharing of an idea at work that turns into a new product or offering, or investing in another’s personal growth and watching them succeed and thrive over the next years. Bottom Line: If you want to create a positive charge for others, your ability to do so will be almost directly proportional to the amount of time you can spend initiating instead of responding. Manage your communications online and offline, instead of letting them run your life. If you don’t, you will inadvertently spend a majority of your time responding to other people’s needs instead of creating anything that lasts.
Put Purpose Before Busyness
We all get caught in the trap of mistaking activity for real progress; as well as confusing busyness with meaningful progress. However, the result of trying to be busy is a poorly managed life. Instead, aim for a daily routine that allows you enough time to do what you want, work on projects that make a difference, and spend time with people who matter to you. I have started forcing myself to substitute thinking “I’m too busy” with “I need to do a better job managing my time.” That’s a little mental trick that helps me prioritize. Work smarter, not harder.
Focus on Less to Do More
A study of 150,000 cellphone users found that these devices are unlocked 110 times per day on the average. A Harvard study found people reported their minds were wandering about 47 percent of their working time. What’s even more disturbing is that this is not pleasant mind wandering; instead, the distractedness tends to make them less happy. Harvard’s Killingsworth and Gilbert wrote concluding, “A human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” Trying to do a little bit of everything leads to doing nothing of substance. In most cases, the human mind simply functions better when it is highly focused. Saying no to distractions is something you must do in order to focus and complete the things that matter most, that energize you and give you a positive charge and influence.
Silence Pavlov’s Bell
Today’s endless notifications have turned into the electronic equivalent of Ivan Pavlov’s bell noted earlier to make a dog salivate. Nearly a quarter of workers sit around watching there inboxes and another 43 percent admit checking for messages more than needed, which means more than 2/3’s of people could be letting electronic communications run their lives, causing undue anxiety, as dubbed by researchers as “tele-pressure,” or feeling the need to respond immediately. When experienced, it is associated with a decrease in sleep quality, more sick days, and the likelihood of mental and physical burnout. Acknowledging the magnitude of this problem, smartphones have a “do not disturb” setting that prevents all (non-emergency) calls, messages, and notifications from interrupting you.
Bottom Line: Take a moment today to tweak your routine to minimize interruption. Set specific times to catch up on news, emails, and social networking sites. Keep distractions from buzzing, dinging, vibrating, and flying through visual field when you need to focus on important work or pay attention to other people. Reduce the constant clutter.
Discussion Questions:
What percentage of your time do you spend responding to emails, texts, and phone calls in a typical day?
How can you work smarter instead of working harder?
RECAP: Instead of responding to every ringing bell/ding, focus on less to do more.
If you could focus on only a few meaningful questions this morning, what would they be? How can you spend less time responding? How can you use technology to help minimize distractions instead of allowing them to disrupt you?
NEXT UP: Relationship Key: Interactions preferable- Refrain from ignoring