Effort on your part is always part of the success equation. Some of the effort may feel “hard” while other parts feel “effortless”. I love the analogy of driving a convertible – you may be sitting in traffic smelling the exhaust or you may be flying down the highway with the wind in your hair … regardless of your season – know that it is more fun going fast!
Quickly refers to the power of pace.
This is an invitation to choose self discipline with focused time blocks. We are each given 24 hours in a day and it is the only resource that we can’t ever get back – once it is gone, it is gone. The move from available to memory is a permanent thing. All of the billions of dollars in the world will never ever be able to buy the opportunity to relive yesterday.
Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. When you give yourself a week for a 2 hour task – the task builds in complexity to fill the time. And don’t forget to include the emotional investment and mind space that it occupies. I can be quite guilty of this. Let’s keep it easy since we all want to live in a clean house. I used to have 2 hours allotted every week to clean our under 900 sq ft condo, and it took the full time and possibly then some every week. Then something happened to shift my perspective – over breakfast, my inlaws announced an unexpected visit with a 35ish minute arrival.
Yes, that changed my motivation and my speed. My basic home blessing was completed 28 minutes after they called. I even had time to be still to mentally prepare for the visit – lol. Did the tasks change? no. Did the quality of my effort change? no. Did the end result change? maybe a little in my eyes but not to anyone else! That 30 minute window turned my schedule upside down and inside out!
It’s time to focus your genius on what needs to be done at what level! At our house we play games and turn it into a competition!
Set clear intentional goals: know what you ultimately want to accomplish and then break it into bite sized manageable pieces. Break it down to the daily activities that need to happen! And EVERY goal breaks down into daily actions!
Determine your done enough: how often do we add fluff to make something pretty? think about what you are holding onto or what scares you about finishing!
Use timers: we really do not have any idea of how long tasks take. Take any task and create a deadline for yourself – I manage my life in 15 minute increments as my electronic calendar doesn’t like smaller time blocks. Stay focused and keep moving. My weekly home blessing is now scheduled for 45 minutes. I got back an hour and 15 minutes a week on that one simple change that is now on autopilot!
Challenge yourself: I was encouraged to set my timer for half of the time I had alloted. Sometimes it took was less and other times I wasn’t even close to done enough. And that is OK! This is a learning process. I learned how long certain activities take and I also learned how to break big tasks into smaller chunks! I got the idea by inviting others in for perspective.
Build in rewards: I am building the life of my dreams in the nooks and crannies of my day and the extra time I have renews my energy. There are daily activities to complete to build my Plexus business, to run my household, to take care of my hubby, to invest in friendships. And they all happen one minute at a time. I take my rewards weekly as time for renewal – choose your activity – reading, napping, sewing, hammock time just staring off … it works!
Set your goals. Stay focused. Act quickly. Accomplish. Finish. Renew. Repeat!
