Focused Business Action

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Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

Back in December (it seems like months ago), I wrote about acting out your dreams and values and living a life of few regrets. I’d like to share a few more thoughts with you.

Be an Actor.
Here’s an example of someone who has made the choice to act. He is one of my coaching clients, and his big dream is to be an act or in his life. No, like me he doesn’t want to be a stage actor. He wants to be taking act ion on his intentions and desires. Going for it is his game. Having a life of few regrets. How does that sit with you?

Are you making a mess?

I want to acknowledge that sometimes we do find ourselves regretting a decision. That’s perfectly fine as long as it is for a brief period of time. Then, it’s up to you to get over it. Stop should ing on yourself. (Otherwise, it will make a big stinkin’ mess.) After all, the experience is over with, and life is moving on with or without you (I feel a U2 song coming on).

I’ve got a secret.

I’ve got a secret to share with you. I had a couple opportunities to do karaoke when I was on the cruise I mentioned here …

And, I didn’t do it. I thought about it (more than once). We watched other people do it.

I never got up the courage to get up there on stage. And, I regret not saying yes to it. I now realize that I really enjoy being on stage. Since I just took a voice teleclass with Karen Lyu, and got a chance to have fun improving my singing and speaking with her, I feel ready to go for it!

So, next cruise I’m taking my own advice, making a different choice, and I’m doing karaoke. You heard it here.

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

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.

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

A month ago I wrote about looking back to what was great in 2008 . Now, it’s time to look ahead to making 2009 a year that’s oh, so fine. (I know that’s a little hokey. I guess I’m in a joyful mood because it’s New Year’s Eve.)

It’s that time of year when many of us focus on making New Year’s resolutions. Often these resolutions don’t stick because we forget why we made them in the first place. It becomes a task we are striving for, rather than a thrilling activity that fulfills a deep desire and brings us personal satisfaction.

To deepen my commitment, at the end of each year I write a letter to myself describing what I want to do and be during the upcoming year.  I’d like to share this Success Letter with you. Your reading it will help make this vision even more palpable and support me in creating a 2009 that fulfills my values of freedom, contribution, and connection.

Here’s a link to my 2009 Success Letter , and the instructions are below for those of you who want to write your own . Feel free to email me your Success Letter and I’ll respond with some helpful hints to guide you in creating a divine 2009.

Success Letter Instructions

The success letter is dated one year from today and begins with the words, "Dear (your name), I am successful today because…" In this letter you will describe in as much vivid detail as you can, the story of what happened to you in the last year that is in line with your success. This letter describes what you will be taking on during the next year, a letter of what you are to become.

How long should this letter be? Any length will do, as long as it is not a short novel. How long should you work on it? You are to work on this letter only as long as you are enjoying writing it and not a second longer.

In writing this letter, you are to place yourself in the future, looking back, and to report on all the insights you acquired and milestones you attained during the year as if those accomplishments were already in the past. Everything is to be written in the past tense. Phrases such as "I will", "I hope", or "I intend" will not appear. You may, if you wish, mention specific goals you reached. Please also mention how you brilliantly and compassionately overcame what got in your way or what hindered you from moving forward.

What is especially important is to write about the person you will have become by the next year. Include the attitude, feelings, and worldview of that person who will have done all she wished to do or become everything he wanted to be. I want you to fall passionately in love with the person you are describing in your letter because that person is you, the person you will become over the next year.

How’s that for powerful?!?

Reading time: 2 – 2 minutes

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  ~ Mark Twain

Would you agree that we more often regret the decisions we have made not to do something than the decisions we made to do something? Think about it. What decisions have you made not to do something that would have been a memorable moment?

Here’s an example:

I occasionally go to an acting class here in Tucson. I’m not all that interested in being a professional actor, but it’s fun and helps me to be more present when I lead workshops. One week we were doing our usual warm-up exercises when a group of young teens walked through our space who were coming back from a hike. We invited them to join us, but only one of them agreed. The rest stood at the side of the class and watched. The kid that did participate had a grand time and left with a big smile on his face. I couldn’t help but wonder whether the rest of them would later think about their choice not to participate and regret it. Would they have made a different choice had they known how they would feel afterwards?

What decisions are you contemplating right now? Are you basing that decision in your own values and dreams, and making a conscious choice of yes or no ?