Focused Business Action

Hi and welcome to my blog. You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Or, receive an email when a new blog entry is posted by filling in the form to the right. Thanks for visiting!

Reading time: 1 – 2 minutes

Tomorrow I will be offering a conference call on Online Time Management Strategies. I’m so excited to share the strategies I use to stay on task while online. Many of my clients are now more productive because of these tips allowing them to stay on task and grow their business.

Here’s a bonus tip just like the ones I’ll be sharing on the call: First, set a timer to go off in a half hour. Then, put a post-it note on your monitor with what you want to get done. When the timer goes off, check that you completed what’s on the note and either write a new note or re-commit for the next half hour.

I’ll be sharing more details about using this strategy on the call.

For those who want to stop wasting their time when they are on the Internet, get more information about the call and sign up at this page.

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

Since it’s a holiday weekend and for your reading pleasure, I would like to share with you a humorous, yet poignant story.

An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "Only a little while."

The American then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.

The American then asked, “But, what do you do with the rest of your time??”

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, señor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats; eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But señor, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then, señor?"

The American laughed and said “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions.”

"Millions, señor? Then, what?"

The American said, "Then, you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

I’d love to hear your reactions to this story in the comments section.

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

Do you often forget where you put things down?

Do you then waste lots of time looking for them?

For many of us life is full and can be one big blur.

• You’re not aware of where you put your keys down on the way in the door to your home or office.
• On your way out the door, you’re thinking more about where you’re going for lunch then where you laid down that important contract .
• At the end of the day you’re tired and have no desire to think any more about work. You leave without writing down where you left off, and as a result, the next morning have no idea what to start off with.

Here’s a simple strategy I picked up as part of the wedding of my first marriage. Even though the marriage wasn’t so successful, I did learn a ton. One of my favorite lessons I found in The Groom’s Survival Manual.

The whole wedding thing has a way of getting out of hand, and the book really helps a groom to…well, survive the whole hoopla. I just gave a copy to my brother who is getting married in June. Anyway, I digress. The book suggests that you take a mental snapshot of the moments you want to remember during your wedding and the accompanying hoopla. Otherwise, the whole weekend goes by in a blur and that’s how you remember it.

What does this have to do with absent-mindedly laying down important items?

Everything.

Go back to the examples above. What if you took a mental snapshot in those situations and brought clarity and focus to the moment?

The next time you want to remember where you put something, take a mental snapshot of it. Blink your eyes (like Samantha from Bewitched) and take a “mindshot”. You’ll be amazed at how well the image sticks in your memory allowing you to remember where you left the important item.

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

For many of us entrepreneurial folks, our minds are usually moving at a mile a minute. I call this "busy brain" and it is both a gift and a challenge. It actually contributes to your creativity. It can also get in the way because you’re so busy coming up with wonderful ideas that you never take the time to implement any of them. Here’s a strategy you can use to manage your ideas and connect them with action items. And, you don’t have to slow your busy brain down to a snail’s pace.

Mindmapping is widely recommended to help explore creativity and problem-solve. This is brainstorming with a twist. To begin you only need a piece of paper and something to write with. In a box in the center of your paper, write one or two words which capture the essence of the problem you want to solve or the project you want to implement. Then, as ideas start to pour out related to the topic, write down key words of those thoughts and connect them to the focus with lines. It is critical that you use just key words, because you want to capture your thoughts quickly-just enough to stimulate your memory when you go back later to review.

As each idea is generated which relates to one of the branches, write the key word(s) and associate it to the branch with a line. Allow yourself to put down everything that comes to your mind. The longer you keep information in play, the more opportunity that information has to make new connections, to bounce off other ideas and information and to score new ideas.

Mindmapping takes advantage of the tendency of the mind to work in short, intense bursts by allowing you to "dump" your ideas and thoughts onto paper in just a few minutes. This process allows information to flow freely out of your busy brain and it is organized into clusters as it flows from your mind to the page.

In the book, Mindmapping: Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving , by Joyce Wycoff, I found seven ways you can make use of mindmapping in your business.

• Business writing – Whether you are organizing material for a report or exploring an idea for a new business venture, mindmapping will help you bring depth and richness to your writing.
• Project Management – Mindmapping is an excellent way to begin "chunking" down a project.
• Managing Meetings – Much of our work time is spent in meetings. Mindmapping gives you a way to make this time more productive.
• To Do Lists – If standard "to do" lists don’t work for you, try this method.
• Presentations – Mindmapping gives you an easy way to prepare for speeches; it helps your audience understand and remember more of what you are presenting.
• Note-taking – This visually interesting method of note taking allows you to organize information as you receive it, add connections, and increase retention.
• Personal growth – Mindmapping taps into your deepest thoughts and provides an effective method of discovering our inner selves.

How might you use mindmapping in your business. Let us know by leaving a comment.