Productivity | Get Lasting Results with Mike

FOCUS to Improve Productivity

Get Results: FOCUS follow one course until successful — Get Results: FOCUS

FOCUS has a couple of dimensions which should be considered, one is focusing on DOING what’s important, when there are a multitude of alternatives available, and doing it without distraction. You shouldn’t keep yourself busy doing unimportant tasks, that aren’t going to move you closer to your goal.

The second dimension relates to time. It’s important to be PRESENT, focused on DOING in the moment, rather than stuck mindfully in the future or past. Nothing gets done in the future, only by your interaction with the present moment are you able to shape what comes next.

Concentrating your focus will inevitably increase your productivity. Like a laser beam that packs incredible energy in a narrow field of light, or the sun being concentrated through a magnifying glass. Your focus is key to increasing your effectiveness in search of fulfilling your goal.

If you dilute your energy across many activities, your power is shared out and becomes less effective for each activity you’re involved with.

Below are a number of quotes that will help you focus on the one important thing you should be doing.

“What’s the one thing you can do now such by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary.” – The one thing.

Get Results: What's the one thing you can do now such by doing it, everything else will be easier or unneccessary — Get Results: What’s the one thing…

“What you do in this moment shapes all your tomorrows” – getresults.org.uk

“Focus on the one most effective thing in pursuit of your goal.”

Get Results: focus on the one most effective thing in pursuit of your goal — Get Results: Focus on the one most effective thing in pursuit of your goal

“Do something today that your future self will thank you for.” -unknown

Get Results: Do something for your future self

“The decisions you make and the actions you take shape all your tomorrows.” -getresults.org.uk

Get Results:actions have consequences — Get Results:Actions have consequences

“Focus on one thing at a time – multi tasking is an illusion.”

Get Results: focus on one thing at a time - multi tasking is an illussion — Get Results: Focus on one thing at a time – multi tasking is an illussion

“FOCUS – Follow One Course Until Successful.”

Get Results: Focus on one thing at a time - multi tasking is an illussionfollow one course until successful — Get Results: Focus on one thing at a time – multi tasking is an illussionfollow one course until successful

“Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.”

Get Results: Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow

“Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow, so today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live.” – Dalai Lama

Get Results: Nothing can be done at any time other than today

“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry – all forms of fear – are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.” – Eckhart Tolle

Get Results: Presence is the only time that really exists

“The future is a concept, it doesn’t exist. There is no such thing as tomorrow. There never will be, because time is always now. That’s one of the things we discover when we stop talking to ourselves and stop thinking. We find there is only present, only an eternal now.”

“If you are unable to find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”

“Don’t let a mad world tell you that success is anything other than a successful present moment.” – Eckhart Tolle

More Quotes

“What the future holds for you depends on your state of consciousness now.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now, and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?” ― Eckhart Tolle

“When you want to arrive at your goal more than you want to be doing what you are doing, you become stressed.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“You are never fully here because you are always busy trying to get elsewhere.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“Nothing is going to make us free because only the present moment can make us free. That realization is the awakening.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“The present moment is the field on which the game of life happens. It cannot happen anywhere else.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“The most important, the primordial relationship in your life is your relationship with the Now, or rather with whatever form the Now takes, that is to say, what is or what happens.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“The past has no power to stop you from being present now. Only your grievance about the past can do that. And what is a grievance? The baggage of old thought and emotion.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“Awareness means Presence, and only Presence can dissolve the unconscious past in you.” ― Eckhart Tolle

“So when you look to the future for salvation, you are unconsciously looking to your own mind for salvation.” ― Eckhart Tolle

Plan Less Do More

Sometimes it pays to spend less time planning and more time doing.

Much of the popular advice about undertaking a new project advocates doing lots of planning. It’s important to ensure you align any new project with your life goal, so you know you’re undertaking it for the right reasons. You don’t want to get to the end and discover you feel empty and unfulfilled, having just successful completed your project.

Having said that, I have always found greater effectiveness comes from the actual “doing stage”, the experimenting bit, if you like. Getting your hands dirty, testing things out, failing and learning from that failure, tweaking and testing again. I find this way of working far more interesting and insightful.

Don’t get me wrong, having an outline plan is fine, a general direction to aim for, making sure you have an end goal that you truly want and believe in. The finishing line is important otherwise you’re like a rudderless boat floating around aimlessly and without any purpose and as a result little desire, or motivation to do anything constructively. Not having a sense of purpose takes the fun out of life. Human nature is inspired by ambition and striving, and as long as it’s done positively and without desiring power over others, or knocking others down, it’s a good thing. “A rising tide lifts all boats”.

Some years ago organisers did an interesting experiment where they pitched kindergarten children against MBA Harvard graduates and asked both groups to build the tallest structure they could within a time limit, using sticks, tape, and string, placing a marshmallow on top. The graduates took the task seriously, taking a highly analytical approach, debating how best to use the string, tape and sticks to achieve maximum altitude. For all the planning and construction, they ran out of time and were unsuccessful. The kindergarten children on the other hand, just got on with building, if it didn’t work they quickly tried something else, they got to give it a lot more tries than the graduates. They learned from their mistakes as they went along, instead of trying to figure out everything in advance. They won! They were more efficient in using the time they had available to them.

When it comes to making progress with a difficult task in uncertain conditions, there is no substitute for quickly trying things out to see what works. As soon as you think of a possible combination, try it to see how it will work.

In a rapidly changing world we must become better experimenters. Coming up with ideas, building and testing those ideas. With technological advancement it is often less expensive to try out your ideas than to figure out if you should try them out.

Productivity: Getting things DONE

Are you feeling bogged down with an ever-growing list of things to do on your “to do list”?

“What should I start with?” you may ask. We can often feel overwhelmed to such a degree we do nothing. We procrastinate, bury our heads in the sand, we’re filled with indecision, even suffer anxiety.

We worry about, the doing, more than we, do the doing. What’s next on my list? Without a clear plan you’ll find you fill your time on non-important tasks, effectively paper shuffling your way to nowhere. The problem with “to do lists” are they are filled with activities and tasks that don’t really matter. How many of the tasks on your to-do list actually move you closer to your goal(s)? Ok some of the things we have to do day to day, like paying the bills, and buying groceries, have to be done, but where possible try to make these automated so you don’t have to waste time doing them yourself.

If you have goals you want to achieve you have to spend more time doing things that move you closer to those goals. We all have goals even if we don’t officially acknowledge them or write them down. In reality, the clearer your goals are in your conscious, and the more focused they are (not too many goals at once, diluting your time) the easier it will be to plot your route to achieving them.

It’s important to be knowledgeable about how to achieve your goals, what steps you need to take to get you from start to finish. It can often be easier to work backwards from goal completion to where you are now, asking yourself “what would I have to have done previously, to be at this point of my progress?. If you don’t know what needs doing in-between the start and finishing line, you have some research to do (that’s your next step). Once you have a clear picture of the steps/stages from start to finish, it will be much easier to know your next move as you progress towards your goal.