Focused Business Action

One way that we manage our time poorly is by allowing ourselves to have limiting habits. You might have heard of limiting beliefs, and I’ll cover that when we get to Personal Management, the third section of Focused Business Action. However, here I am talking about limiting habits, which are those actions you do on a consistent basis that move you away, rather than towards your goals. Some examples of limiting habits include not keeping to your schedule and checking your email constantly. Just like with limiting beliefs, you can replace those pesky limiting habits. Here are three easy tips to get you started in creating healthy habits.

Daily Check-in

Start your work day with a 5-10 minute check-in to review your schedule for that day. Create a checklist with 5-10 questions to ask yourself during the check-in. Your checklist might look like this:

• What is most important to accomplish today?
• What is urgent that must be completed today?
• Have I given myself time for meals and two 15 minute breaks?

Think of this checklist as a work in progress. When you become aware of a limiting habit, add a new question to the list to support you in creating a new healthy habit.

On Task Alerts

During your work day set a computer alert to go off every 15 or 30 minutes when you will ask yourself "Am I on track with what I had planned for this time?" or "What is most important right now?" Pick a question that is inspiring to you. I like to keep the question in my face by writing it on a post-it note and putting it on the frame of my computer monitor. If you find you are ignoring the alert, use an alarm clock (the more obnoxious the better) that doesn’t shut off by itself and put it across the room from you.

Put Stuff Away Time

At the end of your work day, schedule a 1/2 hour for "PSA time" to put stuff away. (Actually I use a different word for the S. Use your imagination) Everything that you’ve taken out during the day (files, notes, etc.) gets put away in its place.

Here’s your homework : pick one of the strategies above and implement it today. If you need any help or have a strategy you’d like to share, feel free to leave a comment. In the meantime, get focused and grow your business.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 by Scott Lewis and is filed under FBA Program, Internal Action. You can follow the comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment or trackback from your own site.