People often talk about putting things into the too hard basket, rarely do you hear of anyone who dives into it, fishes out one of the things they know needs doing - and completes the task.
Believe it or not, we've all got a too hard basket. We use this phrase to denote anything and everything we don't know how to deal with at a particular moment in time - or more appropriately - don't want to deal with. Whilst there are some people who are quite happy to stuff theirs until it's overflowing and never move beyond the fact they can't be bothered most of the time, we are not talking about those kinds of people.
To my way of thinking, the too hard basket is just another way to describe "structured procrastination". We know what needs doing and we know what we should be doing, we just decide some things are a little too hard today so we will deliberately do other things. Tomorrow of course, we may quite easily complete today's delayed task - not because it's any easier, but because there are other things we don't want to have to deal with. In other words we swap what's in the too hard basket.
The trick is of course knowing you are doing it.
Today I would like you to find your too hard basket - or if you have more than one, I need you to find them all. Get yourself a nice space where you can spread everything out and grab a notebook and pen, or computer task list, or diary - or whatever I don't care. What I do care about though is this. I need you to be honest with what you are putting off. Write down every task, every goal you started but didn't complete, everything - then you need to work out why. If you do have a visual - as in you have a filing tray filled with things you have not worked through - bills you haven't paid, letters you haven't written etc, then start with the oldest and sort it out. Once you have done that I need you to take a walk around your home and your place of work - again make a note of everything you need to do and haven't dealt with. It may be the leaky sink or the button that fell off your jacket. It may be a project that got stalled because one of the team members was away or had other priorities at the time. Re-visit them all.
And we won't stop there.
Your personal goals also need to be looked at - why are they in your too hard basket?
Work out what you need to do to move things on, it may be a meeting, or a telephone call. It may mean re-allocating money or discarding something that will never work but thought it was a good idea at the time.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
It's a marathon not a sprint
There is one thing of which I am totally convinced....
There is no such thing as an "overnight success"
What we may see as "an overnight success" is in fact months if not years of dedicated work and practice to get to a point where someone notices you and what you are doing.
The author who has labored over a manuscript, been turned down by a dozen publishers and still they write, still they send out proposals - until one day - someone takes notice. J K Rowling and Stephen King are 2 examples of that kind of overnight success that took years.
The person who dreams of paying off their mortgage and diligently deposits money week after week to do so....
The person who thinks about setting up a website to promote their business....the business has been running for years, but because it can't be found until the website has been created....
The person who wants to create a new business, it may have taken months if not years of thought and preparation before the doors finally opened for business....
Google - yes THE search engine we know and love so much today started off as a research thesis for 2 doctoral students .... did you know it started off life as "Backrub"? doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it.... overnight success? I don't think so.
Every goal you have in front of you is likely to be a marathon not a sprint. Yes there will be spurts of inspiration and energy that will take you further than perhaps you had ever dreamed possible, but I do know that mostly it is a slog, not always a hard slog, but a slog nontheless. Getting up day after day to do something that will mean the goal is achieved.
- The person who gets up at 5am to go for a walk because it is the only time they have to themselves and when they can do some exercise.
- The writer who needs peace and quiet will wait until the kids have gone to bed before getting out the manuscript.
- The people who decide to give their diet just one more day.
- The would be business person who reads just one more article, then starts to lay the foundations
- The teenager who wants to save a million dollars by the time they are 40 decides to forgo the party one the weekend to stick the money into a savings account
- The student who decides to spend just a little more time studying than their fellow undergrads so they can get the first and the best job in town
And what do we hear - Oh they were lucky, they ....
Yes they created their own luck by working hard for it.
There is no such thing as an "overnight success"
What we may see as "an overnight success" is in fact months if not years of dedicated work and practice to get to a point where someone notices you and what you are doing.
The author who has labored over a manuscript, been turned down by a dozen publishers and still they write, still they send out proposals - until one day - someone takes notice. J K Rowling and Stephen King are 2 examples of that kind of overnight success that took years.
The person who dreams of paying off their mortgage and diligently deposits money week after week to do so....
The person who thinks about setting up a website to promote their business....the business has been running for years, but because it can't be found until the website has been created....
The person who wants to create a new business, it may have taken months if not years of thought and preparation before the doors finally opened for business....
Google - yes THE search engine we know and love so much today started off as a research thesis for 2 doctoral students .... did you know it started off life as "Backrub"? doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it.... overnight success? I don't think so.
Every goal you have in front of you is likely to be a marathon not a sprint. Yes there will be spurts of inspiration and energy that will take you further than perhaps you had ever dreamed possible, but I do know that mostly it is a slog, not always a hard slog, but a slog nontheless. Getting up day after day to do something that will mean the goal is achieved.
- The person who gets up at 5am to go for a walk because it is the only time they have to themselves and when they can do some exercise.
- The writer who needs peace and quiet will wait until the kids have gone to bed before getting out the manuscript.
- The people who decide to give their diet just one more day.
- The would be business person who reads just one more article, then starts to lay the foundations
- The teenager who wants to save a million dollars by the time they are 40 decides to forgo the party one the weekend to stick the money into a savings account
- The student who decides to spend just a little more time studying than their fellow undergrads so they can get the first and the best job in town
And what do we hear - Oh they were lucky, they ....
Yes they created their own luck by working hard for it.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Motivation
If not you - then who?
---------------------------
If it wasn't for people like you there would be no:
* Breakthroughs in science and medicine
* Amazing photographs taken or books written
* New ways to teach the children
* Reason for other amazing people to entertain you
* Companies
* Entrepreneurs
Or anything else done either come to think of it. Imagine if there had been no-one to grow crops or raise livestock, fishermen or boat builders. What would have happened if "they" had decided not to use their talents?
So why do I hear "I'm just a ......" which is usually accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders in embarrassment, a roll of the eyes and a change of subject
In my world there is no such thing as "I'm just a ..... "
You have been given unique talents, unfortunately most people
a) don't think they know what they are, or
b) ignore them - even if they do know what they are
So - what are you good at?
and
Are you sharing those talents yet?
Remember the caveat - there is no "well I'm just a ...." if that is what you are doing, and you are good at what you do - then - FANTASTIC - just remember one thing though, you might have more than one talent to share with the world and those people around you. Don't neglect ALL of who you are.
---------------------------
If it wasn't for people like you there would be no:
* Breakthroughs in science and medicine
* Amazing photographs taken or books written
* New ways to teach the children
* Reason for other amazing people to entertain you
* Companies
* Entrepreneurs
Or anything else done either come to think of it. Imagine if there had been no-one to grow crops or raise livestock, fishermen or boat builders. What would have happened if "they" had decided not to use their talents?
So why do I hear "I'm just a ......" which is usually accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders in embarrassment, a roll of the eyes and a change of subject
In my world there is no such thing as "I'm just a ..... "
You have been given unique talents, unfortunately most people
a) don't think they know what they are, or
b) ignore them - even if they do know what they are
So - what are you good at?
and
Are you sharing those talents yet?
Remember the caveat - there is no "well I'm just a ...." if that is what you are doing, and you are good at what you do - then - FANTASTIC - just remember one thing though, you might have more than one talent to share with the world and those people around you. Don't neglect ALL of who you are.
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