One of the most useful planning techniques I like to use on a regular basis is something I call ‘Jigsaw Analysis’. 

Imagine for a moment that you have just purchased a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and opened it for the first time. When you look into the box, all you can see is the jumbled chaos of a thousand pieces that need to be sorted out and put into place.

The first step to completing your puzzle is to carefully examine the picture on the front of the box so that you get a clear idea of what it is that you are trying to create.

As you analyse the picture, you’ll begin to notice specific areas of detail that have a readily identifiable characteristic. For example, there may be some red flowers in one area of the picture.

Once you have identified a specific focus within your picture, you can then dive into the detail and identify the puzzle pieces that you need to complete the specific area you are focusing on.

When you have identifed the appropriate pieces and completed a small section of the puzzle, you can then return to the picture on the box to identify another area to focus on.

This cycle of ‘Reviewing the big picture’ and then ‘Diving into the detail’ is a process that you can apply to many complex goals.

Here’s an example to show you how Jigsaw Analysis works in the real world:

After becoming frustrated at her 9 to 5 job, Stephanie decided to investigate the possibility of starting a music studio from home. She sat down with her husband Brian and together they sketched out a picture of what her business could look like when it was finished. Here is what they drew:

This big picture diagram became Stephanie’s visual business plan. At the beginning of each week, she would check the picture and decide which area of her business she was going to focus on, then she would dive into the detail and get to work.

Over time, she continued to apply the technique of Jigsaw Analysis and gradually built up a successful music studio and home business.

Today I’d like to encourage you to make use of Jigsaw Analysis to move towards achieving your own goals.

Begin by selecting a goal and draw up a ‘Big Picture’ diagram of what you are trying to achieve. Then select a specific area of your goal to focus on and dive into the detail to transform a small part of your visual plan into reality.

This cycle of reviewing the big picture and then focusing on a specific area of detail is not only a good way to complete a jigsaw puzzle, but also a great way to accelerate your progress towards achieving your life goals.

Until next time,

Dare to Dream!

Anthony

When I was 9 years old, one of my favourite meals was sausages and mash potato. The only problem with this meal was that it usually came with…brocolli.

Each time I was faced with this meal, I would enjoy my sausages and mash potato and then toy with my brocolli in the hope that it would eventually get cold and I wouldn’t have to finish it. This approach transformed dinner into a long and drawn out process.

Then one day, my best friend whose name was Sean Sullivan came over to my house for the day to play. When it came time for dinner, Mum made us sausages, mash potato and… brocolli.

As I stated eating my sausages and mash potato, my friend Sean did something that completely amazed me:

– He ate all his brocolli first without touching his sausages or mash potato.

I couldn’t believe it!

I thought he was crazy until I got to the point where I was toying with my brocolli and realised that he was now enjoying his sausages and mash potato.

On that day I learnt a lesson that I have never forgotten and that I still use every day. The lesson was this:

When faced with a list of things to do, always do the hardest task first.

Here’s what this means in the real world:

Each morning when you check your daily To Do list, you will notice that some of the items on your list will be easy to do but will only have a relatively small impact on achieving your goals. Other items which are usually more difficult to do will have a much bigger impact on moving you forward.

One of the most effective ways to increase your overall productivity is to start your day by working on the difficult tasks that will make a real difference to your progress.

To do this, you must resist the temptation to "Just do the easy things first " because often this means that you keep putting off the high impact tasks that will really make a difference to achieving your goals.

Another advantage of ‘eating your brocolli first’ is that when you are feeling less productive at the end of the day, you are often still able to complete the easy tasks on your To Do list.

So today, I’d like to encourage you to prioritise your To Do list based on the impact each item will have on achieving your goals and follow the example of my 9 year old friend and learn to eat your brocolli first.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “Pay yourself first” – It usually relates to the idea of saving a percentage of your paycheck as soon as you receive it and then living on the remainder. This is a much more effective approach than trying to save whatever is left over at the end of the month because we all know that there’s rarely anything ‘left over’.

What many people don’t realise is that this same principle applies not only to money but also to time and energy.

When you’re working full time and/or raising a family, you may find that at the end of the day you just don’t have enough time or energy left to work on achieving your personal goals and dreams.

In order to make your goals a reality, you must make two important decisions:

(1) Decide that your goals are important and make them a priority in your life.

(2) Decide to work on YOUR dreams before you work for other people.

Now you might be thinking. “Anthony – that sounds good in theory, but what does it mean in the real world?” – Good question…Let’s have a look at an example:

Here is a typical work day for most people:

The most practical and effective system for making your dreams a reality is this:

Step 1: Go to sleep an hour earlier than usual

Step 2: Wake up an hour earlier than usual

Step 3: Spend the first hour of your day working on your personal goals and dreams

By following this system, you make your goals a priority and  “Pay Your Dreams First”

Let’s look at a revised timetable:

Although it might initially be difficult to make these lifestyle changes, if you can adopt this as your new morning routine, you’ll find yourself on the fast track to creating the life you really desire. Each and every day you’ll be gaining momentum and moving steadily towards achieving your goals.

You really can change your life one hour at a time. Always remember:

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

One of the best ways to accelerate your progress towards achieving your most important goals is to understand the difference between being busy and being productive.

These days everyone is busy. We’re busy with work commitments, family commitments, community commitments and study commitments just to name a few. We all seem to start each day with a long and demanding ‘To Do’ list.

The big question is – Are the items on your ‘To Do’ list leading you towards achieving your most important goals?

Being truly productive does not involve simply getting a lot of tasks done. It involves identifying and completing the specific tasks that will lead you where you really want to go.

A great question to ask yourself at the end of each day is:

"Am I a step closer to achieving my goals than I was this morning?"

If the answer to this question is "Yes" then you’ve had a productive day. If the answer is "No" then chances are you’ve been very busy but not really productive.

The best way to make the transition from being busy to being productive is to follow these steps:

Step 1: Identify your most important current goals

Step 2: Determine the specific tasks that will move you a step closer to achieving each of your goals

Step 3: Schedule these tasks early in your day when you’re fresh and alert

For example, when I was a computer consultant, I was working up to 70 hours a week but deep down I knew that my actions were not taking me any closer to achieving my goals. I felt like a duck swimming against a fast flowing river. I was paddling as hard as I could but I just wasn’t getting anywhere.

Finally I realized what the problem was – I was always busy but never productive.

To break this pattern I set aside one hour a day as ‘My Time’ to work on my own business. This wasn’t always easy to find but I loved the feeling that came from knowing I was doing something productive each day to achieve my goals.

Eventually those one hour blocks of time led to the creation of PianoIsFun.com which in turn helped me to walk away from the corporate world.

So I encourage you today to make the transition from being busy to being productive by following the three steps above. When you know what your goals are and you commit to taking a productive step towards achieving them each day, your success really is just a matter of time.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

Every year millions of people make New Year’s resolutions and then fail to follow through on them. Here’s a simple tip that will help you break this cycle and make your New Year’s resolutions a reality.

One of the main reasons people fail to follow through on their New Year’s resolutions is that a year is simply too long a time frame to work with.

For example, if you set a New Year’s resolution to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year, it is very easy to think,

"I’ve got all year to make this happen"

As soon as you start thinking like this, your resolution loses its appeal and you have no compelling reason to get started. All too often your resolution ends up in the ’someday basket’.

The secret to making your New Year’s resolution a reality is to transform it into a ‘6 month resolution’ and a ‘3 month resolution’. 

To do this, first take your end of year resolution and divide it in half. 

For example: ’I will lose 20 pounds by the end of the year’ becomes…

I will lose 10 pounds by the end of June.

Next divide this in half again to create your 3 month resolution…

I will lose 5 pounds by the end of March.

You now have a goal that is only 90 days away which is much more compelling than a goal that you don’t have to think about for twelve whole months.

This simple process is also a great way to check whether your New Year’s resolutions are realistic. When you work out your 3 month resolution, you should feel that this is something you can achieve if you work hard for the next 90 days.

If on the other hand you discover that your 3 month resolution is completely impossible from where you are today, it is likely that your end of year goal is somewhat unrealistic. In this case, you should revise your goals until they feel achieveable. Remember your goals should inspire and motivate you to take action – they shouldn’t scare or intimidate you!

The New Year is a great time to create plans and make a fresh start. So today I’d like to encourage you to use this simple technique to set specific and achieveable New Year’s resolutions for 2008.

This Week’s Action Steps

(1) Divide your end of year resolution in two to create your 6 month resolution

(2) Divide your 6 month resolution in two to create your 3 month resolution

(3) Assess your 3 month resolution to see if it is something you can achieve within 90 days

(4) Revise your goals accordingly

(5) Get started and – Make It Happen!

Until Next Time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

With Christmas over and the New Year just around the corner, now is the perfect time to complete a simple but powerful exercise that will help you start the New Year on the right track.

The exercise is called ‘Reflect and Correct’.

Here’s how it works:

The first step is to look at each area of your life eg. health, relationships, finances etc. and reflect on the last twelve months to identify what worked well and also what didn’t work so well.

Once you have identified the strategies that worked well for you over the last year, the next step is to come up with ideas that will help you to do more of what works in the year ahead.

Similarly, once you have identified the strategies that didn’t work well for you last year, you can come up with ideas that will help you do less of what doesn’t work.

The simple formula behind this technique is:

More of what works + Less of what doesn’t work = Major Improvement

The best way to work through this exercise is to download the free ‘Reflect and Correct’ worksheet:

Click Here to download your ‘Reflect and Correct’ worksheet

If you take the time to do this simple exercise, I’m sure you’ll discover several powerful ideas for improving your health, your relationships and your finances. It doesn’t matter whether you are just starting out or you have already achieved significant success – Every single one of us can always improve!

This Week’s Action Steps:

(1) Download the free Reflect and Correct worksheet

(2) Set aside some time to fill in the worksheet

(3) Start the New Year with confidence knowing that you are learning from the past and making major improvements in every area of your life.

Until Next Time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

Persistence is often described as the ultimate key to success, but what most people don’t realise is that there are three different types of persistence.

The three types of persistence are:

(1) Blind Persistence

(2) Random Persistence

(3) Planned Persistence

Imagine for a moment that you are standing in front of a safe containing 10 million dollars. The safe has a 4 digit combination lock and if you can find the right combination within 24 hours, you can claim the 10 million dollars as your own.

Blind Persistence

The blind persistence approach is to decide that you know for a fact that the combination is ‘7318′ and to spend the next 24 hours entering this same combination and trying to open the door.

Random Persistence

The random persistence approach is to try different combinations at random and hope that you get lucky. The problem with this approach is that after a few attempts, you won’t remember which combinations you’ve tried and which you haven’t.

Planned Persistence

The planned persistence approach is to start with ‘0000′ and then try ‘0001′, ‘0002′, ‘0003′…until you reach the right combination. If you enter one combination every 8 seconds, it will take you just over 22 hours to try every combination possible. This approach therefore guarantees you success.

As you can see, blind persistence and random persistence rarely lead to success. The key to achieving your most important life goals is to learn to use planned persistence.

Here’s a real world example to show you what I mean.

Rob is trying to attract more customers to his automotive repair business.

Blind Persistence

He decides to put an ‘A’ frame sign in front of his shop and waits for the customers to come through the door. Nothing happens… He waits for three long weeks before realising that his approach isn’t working.

Random Persistence

His next approach is to try as many random marketing techniques as he can think of. He drops flyers into mail boxes, puts an ad in the newspaper and has a glossy brochure printed. He gets a few more customers but doesn’t know where they’re coming from.

Planned Persistence

Finally, Rob decides to sit down and think things through. He decides to run another ad in the newspaper and to monitor his results by asking every new customer how they found him. After three weeks, his results show that only one customer came from his newspaper ad while 12 customers came in as a result of his mail box flyers. He therefore decides not to advertise in the newspaper and puts the money he saves into expanding his mail box flyer campaign.

Rob is now using planned persistence and is on his way to achieving his goal of building a profitable business.

This Week’s Action Steps

(1) Decide on your goal and stick with it.

(2) Understand that to achieve your goal you need to use ‘planned persistence’ which involves carefully planned experimentation.

(3) Create a written plan of action of things to try.

(4) Try different techniques and monitor your results carefully.

(5) Discard what doesn’t work and move on to your next experiment until you find the combination that unlocks your dreams.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

When you face a difficult task, it can sometimes feel like you’re trying to move a mountain.

The longer you stare up at the mountain, the more overwhelming your task seems. In this situation, it’s very easy to start procrastinating by finding other things to do.

Procrastination is one of the major obstacles that you need to overcome in order to make your dreams a reality.

The secret to overcoming procrastination is to stop looking up at the mountain and start looking down at your wheel barrow.

Let me explain…

When you look at a complex task in its entirety, it is very easy to become paralysed by the sheer amount of work that you need to do. Your mind starts telling you that ‘it’s impossible’ and you spiral downward into a sea of negativity.

The way to overcome this paralysis is to change your focus and stop thinking about the overall task you need to complete. Instead, just concentrate on something you know you can achieve.

Let’s look at an example to see how this works in the real world.

Peter is facing the ‘mountain’ of writing a PhD thesis. When he thinks about writing a 500 page document, it just seems too overwhelming and so day-after-day he procrastinates and avoids getting started.

Each morning, Peter asks himself, “Can I write a 500 page document?” and his internal answer is “NO WAY!” so he procrastinates and looks around for other things to do – He takes his kids to school, goes to the gym, does the shopping. Anything to avoid the mountain that is sitting in his study.

Finally, Peter realises that the best way to overcome procrastination is to stop looking up at the mountain and start looking down at his wheelbarrow.

Instead of asking himself, “Can I write a 500 page document?” he begins his day by asking, “Can I work on my PhD without being distracted for 1 hour?” – his internal answer to this question is “Yes – I can easily do 1 hour”

Peter blocks out all distractions and works on his PhD for 1 hour. At the end of the hour he feels like he has made a small amount of progress. He asks himself again, “Can I work on my PhD without being distracted for 1 hour?” – Since he has already done this, he knows the answer is ‘Yes’ so he does it again.

By the end of the day, Peter has completed four hours of effective work on his PhD. He is tempted to look up at the mountain but he knows it is much better if he just focuses on moving his wheelbarrow one hour at a time.

After a month of following this routine, Peter takes a look at his mountain and sees that his 1 hour blocks of action have made a dramatic impact. This gives him even more confidence and momentum to keep moving forward.

Step-by-step, one hour at a time, Peter moves his mountain.

If you are currently trying to move a mountain in your life, here are the steps you need to take in order to overcome procrastination and get the job done!

This Weeks Action Steps

(1) Stop thinking about the overall task you need to complete.

(2) Instead, focus on a small component of the task that you know you can achieve.

(3) Ask yourself, “Can I work on this task without being distracted for 1 hour?”

(4) Forget about everything else other than working hard for 1 hour.

(5) At the end of the hour, ask yourself the same question again.

(6) Move your mountain one hour at a time.

(7) Enjoy the amazing sense of achievement that comes from completing a difficult task.

Until next time,

Dare to dream!

Anthony

It is very easy to overlook the last half-hour of the day, but it is actually one of the most important windows of opportunity for making your dreams a reality.

While you sleep, your subconcious mind goes to work and processes the information that you fill it with just before you go to bed.

Many people spend the final half-hour of their day watching TV in an attempt to relax. Unfortunately, most television executives seem to think that the best thing we can watch just before we sleep are graphic images of violence and murder.

The question is, do you want your subconcious mind to be processing these disturbing images all night long?

The last half-hour of the day is an opportunity to give your subconcious mind ‘homework’ to complete while you are asleep.

The best way to use this opportunity is to find a quiet spot and and spend a few minutes reviewing your written goals. Next, plan the following day and write down what you need to do in your diary or planner.

This will also help you get to sleep because once you’ve written it down, you can just let it go and stop thinking about things. Finally spend a few minutes reading or listening to something inspirational.

When you finish your day in this way, you will find that you often wake up with new ideas and insights that your subconcious mind discovers while you are sleeping.

This Week’s Action Steps:

(1) Set aside the last half-hour of each day to program your subconcious mind for success

(2) Review and visualise your goals

(3) Plan the following day in your diary

(4) Read a few pages of an inspirational book

Until next time,

Dare to Dream!

Anthony

When you are working towards your major goals, it is easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of things you need to do in order to achieve your objectives.

One of the best ways to avoid becoming overwhelmed is to start each day by reviewing your goals and asking this simple but powerful question:

For each of your goals, the answer to this question must be a single action step. W herever you are in the process of achieving a particular goal, the next step is the only one that really matters.

For example, imagine that your three major goals were:

(1) Lose 20 lbs
(2) Get a Promotion
(3) Find your life partner

When you consider each of these goals you can probably come up with a long list of things you would need to do to achieve each goal. For example:

When all of these ‘To Do’ items are swimming around in your head at the same time it is easy to become stressed and overwhelmed.

If on the other hand, you review your goals and ask, "What is the Next Step?" you will come up with a single action point for each of your goals. For example:

You can then combine these ‘Next Steps’ to create your daily to do list:

In this way you will be progressively working towards achieving your most important life goals without becoming overwhelmed.

This Week’s Action Steps:

(1) Review your goals.

(2) For each of your goals, ask yourself the question, "What is the Next Step?"

(3) Stop trying to mentally juggle everything you need to get done and focus entirely on your ‘next steps’ until they are complete.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

One of the most effective ways to accelerate your progress towards achieving an important goal is to identify your key metric.

Your key metric is the single activity that has the biggest impact on moving you towards achieving your goal.

For example, one of my main goals this year is to complete my PhD. When I recently reviewed this goal, I realised that the single activity that has the biggest impact on moving me towards achieving this goal is, ’sitting at my computer and typing my thesis’. My key metric for this goal therefore became ‘Number of hours a day spent typing thesis’.

Here’s another example. Imagine your goal was to make it to the next level of your network marketing business. In this case, your key metric might be, ‘Number of hours a week spent presenting your business opportunity to new prospects’.

And one more example – If your goal was to lose 15kg, your key metric might be, ‘Number of hours a week spent at the gym doing weight training and cardiovascular exercise’

In each of these examples, the most important thing about the key metric is that it is specific.

Sometimes it is very easy to do the easier activities that are related to our goals instead of the specific (and often difficult) tasks that will really move us towards our objectives.

For example, it is easier for me to, ‘do some more reading’ for my PhD instead of sitting down and actually typing.

It is easier to attend meetings and conventions rather than presenting your business opportunity and facing the risk of rejection.

It is easier to read fitness magazines and watch weight loss related TV programs rather than actually facing the treadmill at the gym.

Identifying your key metric is therefore a way to focus your efforts where they will have the most impact – on the single activity that will move you towards achieving your goal.

The more you improve your key metric, the faster you will achieve your goal.

This Weeks Action Steps

1. For each of your current goals, identify your key metric. To do this, ask yourself the question, "What is the single activity that has the biggest impact on achieving my goal?"

2. Start recording your key metric to find out how many hours a week you are currently spending on this central activity.

3. By increasing the time you spend on this central activity, you will improve your key metric and accelerate your progress towards success.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

There is a big difference between solving a problem and eliminating a problem. This week I’d like to share with you a powerful strategy that will help you eliminate your problems for good.

Let me explain using a real world example.

Last week I visited my parents and found that my mum was looking for a phone bill that she needed to pay. She was frustrated because she couldn’t find the bill anywhere. My dad and I joined in and soon we were all busy looking in drawers, cupboards, and old telephone books. Eventually, Mum found the bill in her handbag! – Problem solved right?

Well sort of…

It was true that the immediate problem had been solved, but I knew from experience that this was likely to happen again so I tried to think of a way to eliminate the problem for good.

In the case of lost bills, the system I set up for my parents was simple but effective. It consisted of a red folder, a green folder and a hole punch.

System To Eliminate The Problem Of Searching For Lost Bills

(1) When a new bill arrives in the post, it immediately gets placed in the red ‘Unpaid Bills’ folder.

(2) When a bill gets paid it gets transferred to the green ‘Paid Bills’ folder

(3) At the end of the month, all the bills in the green folder get archived to a cupboard.

Now, I know this is a very simple example but it illustrates an extremely powerful concept.

Whenever you encounter a problem, instead of focusing on just solving the problem try and put in place a system that will eliminate the problem in the future.

Every time you put in place a new system to eliminate a problem you make yourself more efficient and more productive.

Now you may be thinking, "I don’t really like having systems", but the reality is we all have systems in place whether we recognise them as systems or not.

For example, my old ‘car key system’  was:

(1) Come home

(2) Drop car keys in a random spot

(3) Waste five or ten minutes looking for keys before leaving home in the morning

We have systems for every aspect of our lives. The key to improving your efficiency is to replace systems that don’t work with systems that do work (for example, having a regular spot to put my car keys when I get home!)

This Week’s Action Steps

Identify areas in your life that are inefficient. A good way to do this is to take note of any situation in which you feel frustrated. Instead of just solving your problems, take action to eliminate them forever by improving your systems.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

I’m sure you’ve heard about compound interest – the phenomenon in which small amounts of money invested on a regular basis grow exponentially over time. But have you ever heard of compound time?

Compound time works in a similar way to compound interest – small amounts of  time invested on a regular basis can have an incredible impact on making your dreams a reality.

Let me give you a quick example, to explain how this works,

I am using the concept of compound time at the moment to learn to touch type. For someone who has worked with computers for many years and who now writes for a living, it is a bit embarrassing to admit that I don’t touch type!

Last week I decided that it was time to do something about this. So I purchased a touch typing program and I’m now spending 15 min each morning before starting work to complete one lesson. I know that if I keep this routine up over the next few weeks, I will become a proficient touch typist.

Find An Anchor

A great way to make sure you follow through on your goal is to link your new activity to something you already do every day. For example, with my typing – I do my lesson straight after checking my email which is something I already do every day.

It’s all about momentum and remember that like the effects of compound interest, the effects of compound time are exponential.

Things always start slowly but then gain more and more momentum. Initially it can sometimes seem like you’re not making much progress, but always remember:

This idea of compound time works with just about any goal, from learning a musical instrument, to writing a book, to growing a business. Just invest a small amount of time on a regular basis and you will be amazed by what you will achieve.

This Weeks Action Steps:

Review your goals and investigate how you can utilise the concept of compound time to make them a reality.  Schedule a small amount of time each day or week to devote to your goal and enjoy the journey. Remember to use an anchor by finding an activity that you already do regularly to act as a trigger for your new activity.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

The word ‘routine’ often has negative connotations associated with repetition and boredom, but this does not have to be the case!

In fact, ‘routine’ can be a highly effective secret weapon for achieving your most important goals.

Whenever you set a major goal, you should ask yourself this important question:

Let me explain how this works using a real world example:

This year, my partner and I have decided to learn to salsa dance. We both have a dancing background so our goal is to perform a dance routine together on stage before the end of the year.

Although our goal has a target date of the 31st December, we know that in order to achieve our goal we have to act NOW and make changes to our routine to include a weekly dance class.

As soon as you make changes to your routine and schedule in the activities necessary to achieve your future goals, you essentially put your goals on ‘autopilot’.

This Week’s Action Steps:

1. Review your goals and ask yourself, "How can I change my routine today in order to achieve my future goals?"

2. Take action and make the changes to your current routine to set your goals on autopilot.

3. Commit to following your routine, knowing that it is leading you to your goals one day at a time

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a successful person and an
unsuccessful person?

One of the main differences between successful people and unsuccessful people is that successful people take ACTION!

When they have a good idea, they immediately take action and put their idea into practice.

One of the most important lessons for success in any area of life is this:

Here’s a simple but very effective way to become a person of action:

Whenever you hear yourself say the words, "I should ………………." simply add the 5 power words "and I’ll do it now"

For example: Instead of saying

"I should join the gym"

say,

"I should join the gym and I’ll do it now"

Then pick up the phone and take action immediately.

If you make this a habit, you’ll quickly find that you become the type of person that continually puts good ideas into practice and the results will follow.

This Week’s Action Steps:

Listen to what you’re saying to yourself and to others and whenever you hear yourself say the words "I should …………" add the 5 power words "and I’ll do it now" and then take action!

Until next time,

Dare to dream!

Anthony

This week I’d like to share with you a simple but incredibly effective strategy that can instantly double your productivity and help you achieve your goals as quickly as possible.

Does the following scenario sound familiar?

It’s 9.00am and you have a lot of work to do so you get started with the best of intentions. After you’ve been working for about 10 minutes, a little envelope appears on your computer screen. You open your email program just to check if it’s anything important. It’s an email from your best friend.

After reading the email and sending a quick reply, you get back to work. Five minutes later, you realize that you’re thirsty so you get a drink and bump into a friend at the drink fountain.

As you get back to your desk the phone rings and you take the call. The caller asks you to email him a report, so you send off the report and notice that your friend has replied to your previous mail. You quickly type a reply to keep the conversation going.

Then your mobile phone beeps to indicate an incoming SMS. It’s a reminder from your husband about dinner at his parent’s place. You text him a quick reply to assure him you haven’t forgotten.

By this time, all that water you drank has kicked in and you need to take a quick bathroom break. When you get back to your desk you notice a small group of people gathered around the adjoining cubicle looking at photos of your colleague’s recent trip to Maui.

When you finally get back to your computer, you realize that somehow an hour has passed and you’ve only spent 15 minutes of that time working on your main task.

As time continues to tick by, your deadline approaches and your stress levels start to rise…

While the details may be different, I’m sure many of you can relate to this story. These day’s there is no end to the distractions that can and do take us away from completing our most important tasks.

So what’s the answer?

The answer is something I call the ‘Power Hour’. Here’s how it works:

Whenever you need to get an important task done, simply make the decision to have a ‘Power Hour’ and decide that you will not be distracted by anything during this hour.

• Switch your mobile phone to silent
• Divert landline calls to message bank
• Turn off your email notification
• Make sure that you don’t need to eat, drink, or go to the bathroom
• Let people know that you are not to be disturbed for the next hour

Then, get started and give your total undivided attention to the task at hand. Do not pause to check out what people around you are doing or saying.

Just do what you have to do.

To help you with this process you can either take note of your start time on your watch, or if you get into the practice of scheduling regular Power Hours, you can use a digital egg timer.

The best part about this strategy is that by working efficiently you complete the work that you need to do in the shortest possible time and minimize the need to work long hours. This in turn allows you to spend more time with the people you love doing the things you really want to do.

Action Steps:

This week, try out the ‘Power Hour’ time management strategy for yourself. You’ll be amazed by what you get done!

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony

One of the most common complaints in the hectic world we live in is being "Too Busy!"
Often people are simply too busy dealing with day-to-day life to find the time to pursue their dreams.

When asked how things are going they reply, "Things are OK, we’re just plodding along…"
The danger of ‘just plodding along’ is that you may never find the time to pursue your dreams.

The most precious asset we have is not money or real estate…It is time.

Time is also the one thing in the world that is truly equitable. No matter how rich or poor we are, we each get 86400 seconds each day. It’s how we spend this time that makes all the difference.

In today’s edition of Dare To Dream, I’d like to share with you a useful exercise that can help you find the time you need to make your dreams a reality.

At the end of this article, you’ll find a link to download a worksheet that will help you complete this exercise. Find a quiet spot where you won’t be disturbed and follow these steps carefully.

Step 1:

Using the worksheet below, identify all the activities you currently spend your time on. To do this, cast your mind back over the last week and write down all the things you spent time doing.

For example:

Step 2:

Write down the key goals you are working towards at the moment. (If you worked through last week’s ‘Blueprint For Success’ report, you should already have a written list of your most important goals.)

For Example:

Step 3:

With your goals in hand, go through your activity list and place either a tick or a cross next to each item. Use a tick if the activity is taking you closer to achieving one of your goals. Use a cross if the activity is not directly taking you closer to achieving any of your goals.

For example:

Step 4:

For each item that received a cross, ask yourself these 2 important questions:

(1) Can I modify this activity so that it will take me closer to achieving my goals?

(2) Can I replace this activity with something that will take me closer to achieving my goals?

For example, a person with the above goals and activities could modify their ‘Catch train to city’ activity to become ‘Listen to language CDs on the train’.

They could also replace their second ‘Watch TV’ activity with ‘Family time with the kids’

By making these changes they would then be moving closer to achieving their goals of learning to speak French and spending time with their kids.

Action Steps:

Take the time to read and work through the ‘Time Finder’ worksheet.

Click here to download your Time Finder Worksheet

I hope this simple exercise will help you find that elusive time you need to make your dreams a reality.

Until next time,

Dare To Dream!

Anthony