Focus on Success, not Failure

In his book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths", Donald Clifton talks about the importance of spending your time and energies developing your strengths rather than trying to overcome your weaknesses. Focusing on your strengths defines success, focusing on your weaknesses defines failure. Doesn't it make more sense to focus on success?

Is "Task" a Four-Letter Word?

For many of us, the word "task" is a four-letter word... a dirty word that makes us cringe deep inside and makes us want to run screaming back to bed, pull the covers up over our head, and try to forget it all.

Well, if that's you, then I won't try to redeem the word for you - it's not really important to do. What IS important is that you focus on what ... um... "tasks" mean and get them done.

A quick look at the thesaurus gives us a plethora of replacement words that you can easily substitute for that dirty, four-letter word. You just might find one these words to be a suitable replacement, and if so, I encourage you to replace away! The goal here is to achieve what we can do with the tool, not what we name it.

So, here are some options:

Action, Allocation, Assignment, Charge, Choice, Commission, Could Do, Designation, Duty, Effort, Engagement, Enterprise, Errand, Exercise, Function, Function, Get Done, Goal, Like To Do, Responsibility, Selection, To Do, Undertaking, Want To Do

So find the word or phrase that works for you. Don't be afraid to try on different words until you find what motivates you!

Upcoming Seminar

Part 2 of the "IT'S ABOUT TIME" seminar is this coming Saturday, 19 March 2011, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Location is 224 Waverly Place, New York, NY (the Parish Hall of St. John's in the Village).

Space is limited, so contact me at apjones.nyc@gmail.com to reserve your spot.

In this seminar, you will:

• Understand the Core Principles and Core Values of Time Management
• Discover what is, and is not, working for you
• Explore the roles you play and the people and commitments you have
• Recognize and avoid burnout
• Learn effective "lessons learned" techniques.

Out of the Dust

This is the beginning of Lent. It is one of those times of year, like New Years and, for some, Advent - perhaps the odd birthday or two as well - when we try our best to set a goal and stick to it.

In Lent we traditionally give something up - something that is both dear to us and something we feel we can live without, such as chocolate, or coffee, or meat. A more recent development in the Lenten tradition is to take on something new as a spiritual exercise such as setting aside a specific time to read or meditate, or to do some specific charitable act.

Whatever your spiritual background, be it Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Jainism... whatever it may be, I'm sure you've found yourself at this very common cross-road of setting some task for yourself such as letting go of something or taking on something. You said to yourself, "This is good. I can do this."

But what happens a week or so into the practice? Well, if you're like me, you find that you skipped one... then two... then... well, the practice sorta fell by the wayside and that chocolate bar just magically was in your hand and all was gone, save the wrapper!

The same holds true of our time management practices. We start our really well those first few days, doing our morning planning, our evening review, keeping up with our continuous monitoring. Then that morning the alarm went off late, or our best friend came into town and we left work a little early and hung out with them until the wee hours - no planning or review that day. Then it was a quick slide down that slippery slope.

How do I know this, you ask? Easy! It happens to me! Yep. I'm just like you. It happens; we start out, we slip. So what do we do?

I went to a quiet day retreat this weekend and the Rev'd Barbara Crafton was the speaker and this very topic was part of her focus. I relearned some very interesting points I'd like to share with you.

1) Little by little our disciplines trickle into dust. We tend to really beat ourselves up over this, but it is very much the nature of things. There are certainly things that can help us stay on track, but chances are you start out gang-busters, and then little by little that discipline just fades away.

I want to tell you something about this... IT'S OK! It happens. So what do you do? Easy. You pick it up and start it again... no harm, no foul.

2) Failing at something doesn't mean you are a failure. Just because you failed at doing your planning doesn't mean you are a failure - or that you are a failure at time management itself. Failing at something isn't a bad thing; quite the contrary, it's an opportunity to learn.

Sit back and think about why you may have failed. Maybe you're trying to force it at a time that's not right for you (if you're not a "morning person" then setting that alarm clock a half hour earlier just probably was recipe for disaster anyway.)

This practice - the practice of good time management - is a gift, not a job. Let yourself enjoy it; do it at a time that is good for you. If you do that, then you will begin to see more and more how your life is continuing to grow toward betterment.

TGI Weekend?

"Everybody's ready for the weekend!" Come on, everybody, sing with me!

YAY! You made it to the weekend! Whew! Great Job!

But wait a minute... what's this? It's noon and you haven't done you morning planning? "Eh", you think. "I'll skip it just for today. No one will notice."

Wrong! The most important person will notice... YOU!

Yes, it's the weekend, and if you're like most people, your schedule changes dramatically for these two days. Your priorities and duties shift considerably today and tomorrow and so your routine is going to be quite different as well.

And that's OK. Let's take a look at how we can adapt. First off, it's OK that things are different - just don't let that difference derail you. Instead, let you planning routine shift - or modify - to adapt to this newness. If you're use to doing your planning first thing when you get to the office and now you're not IN the office, well, shift it to sitting at your dining room table with a cup of coffee before everyone wakes up. And tonight, instead of doing it at your desk at 5:50 just before you walk out the door to catch the subway, curl up in your cumfy chair with a cup of hot chocolate at 4:30 and do your review then.

It's perfectly alright to let your practice shift along with your weekend schedule. Hey, you're gonna have to do this when you're on vacation too, and that's a REAL shift, so you might as well start practicing for that now, right?

The key is to do it. In the directions: "do it every day" and "do it at the set time every day", the most important one is "DO IT EVERY DAY". By letting this practice shift a bit on the weekend it moves from being a chore back to something that is enjoyable and empowering. Think of it as rolling with the tide.

Now... if it happens to be noon and you're just now reading this? OK... grab your planning materials, walk to Starbucks, grab that coffee, sit down at a table and do it now. It truly IS better late than never.

And if you're just now reading this on Monday morning and you're feeling REALLY guilty that you didn't do your planning and review at all this weekend and your thinking, "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted." Today is a new day! Start NOW. As we all know, it's one day at a time!

Happy Planning and Happy Weekend!

Doomed to Repeat?

It was the philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist, George Santayana, who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." And this is nowhere more evident than in our planning and time management. Proper time stewardship requires us to establish moments of review and reflection in order to keep track of our goals and move forward.

There's a great article in Lifehacker that focuses on this aspect and is well worth your read. Check it out at: http://lifehac.kr/g2FHK6

Keep Up The Good Work

It has been my experience that day three is about the time we start to slip a little... we wake up a little late, there was no hot water in the building, the gym was crowded and took extra time, the boss had put a note on our desk that we had to respond to 1st thing... Lot's of little things have a habit of conspiring against us to convince us that, well, just for today we can skip that morning planning, or that tonight we can do that meeting or class and not do the evening review.

I'm here to tell ya folks, that's a slippery slope (and yes, that's the voice of experience talking!)

Make the time to do it. Remember, you're building a habit and consistency is key. Renew your efforts; carve out the time (even if it's to sneak of to the bathroom for 10 minutes to do you planning or review there!) These early weeks are vital.

Keep up the good work, my friends! And let me know if you have any questions or need help.

Off To A Great Start

My thanks to all the participants who attended my free Time Management seminar this past Saturday. The class was great and your participation was fantastic. As I read through your surveys and reflected on the conversations I've had with you since then I know you all got a great deal out of it and have eagerly started putting into practice what you learned.

Your feedback has been immensely helpful in fine tuning this product and making it better. Your insights and ideas on how to focus it for various audiences has me really psyched and eager to get the marketing machine rolling.

As for myself, I learned that the seminar is right on target! This is definitely a very timely topic (pun intended!). I've taken your comments to heart and will be presenting a part two seminar on March 19 - "Time After Time" where we will have a chance to explore even deeper.