In this issue, you will find an excerpt from my newest book (available in e-book for now), a single scoop of ice cream. I hope you pick up the half gallon to take with you over the holidays or for your next long flight. Happy Thanksgiving.
Have you ever heard someone say, It's about time? When things get bad enough in our life, we are motivated to change. I like to call it INSPIRATIONAL DISSATISFACTION! This little project is something I HAD to write. These are lessons I needed to learn and then relearn. In sharing this with you, I am reminding myself that IF I practice what I preach on these pages, I will get the results I seek in a fraction of the time and effort expended. First-person experience has proven this time and time again. Like me, if you have ever spent an extended period of time disorganized, frantic, going 200 mph and ultimately not getting the critical things done, you will appreciate what these simple (not easy) ideas can do for your life. You will experience joy, balance, peace of mind, and a sense of control and effectiveness that is truly life altering. Once you have mastered some of these principles, teach them to two people you care about. It will help them and cement the learning, so you might attain mastery of your time and talent. It's called "dual-plane learning."
Think of this book as a buffet. On your first visit, take a few things and put them on your plate. Taste them. How are they? Do you want seconds? On your next trip through the line, try something else. Taste it. Good huh? Have some more. Life is like that: trial and error. It's also governed by the greatest law in the universe, the Law of Cause and Effect. We reap what we sow.
Okay, let's get started...
What is time? American Heritage Dictionary defines it as a non-spatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession, which isn't very helpful. One mentor of mine called it event control. I prefer Ben Franklin's simple description, Time is the stuff of which life is made.
We have all the time there is. No one has any more or less of it: 24 hours in a day, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds. Ever hear someone say "Do you have a second?" That usually means an hour. Why don't we say no? The truth is we don't manage time very well. We are not mindful. We manage activities in relation to the sands of time, dropping through our own personal hourglass.
No time? That's a myth. Here are some other myths about time. I call them Rational-Lies. See if you are guilty of using one or more of these excuses. I know I have.
1. I am waiting until I have more time.
2. It (planning) doesn't work for me.
3. I always lose my list.
4. I already took a time management course
(or read the book).
5. You just can't get organized around here.
6. But there is nothing I can do.
7. People keep interrupting me.
8. Time Management is boring.
9. Isn't there a danger you will get so organized
you can't get anything done?
10. I need someone to motivate me.
Is it time to be honest? Are you operating on a small fraction of your potential? Would you like to learn how to get twice as much done in half the time? If you answered yes, read on...
My mother passed away two years ago. Her sand was all gone. She was one of the best time managers I ever knew. We finally sold her house. As we divided up her lifetime of possessions, I was struck by how incredibly organized she was in every aspect of her life: finances, closets, book shelf, scrapbooks and pictures, even her kitchen. She labeled everything! It was clear much of what she owned reflected how proud she was of her history, British history, family history, the things she loved and cared about. Her home was a shrine to a life well lived and traveled. Some of those treasured belongings ended up in my house. Now I had nine pounds of coffee in a five pound can. What to do? I had INSPIRATIONAL DISSATISFACTION.
I sat down and mind-mapped this massive reorganization project. I decided to go through every room, closet, nook, cranny, and shelf to purge, sort, toss, and clean. In reorganizing my bookshelf, I created a shelf just for books on time management and organization. I went back and reread some classics on the subject, choosing the best of the twenty-five books on the subject. It was a reminder of the things I used to do, but got out of the habit of doing. Good habits are hard to form, but easy to live with.
You might be reminded of some great habits that will once again change your life. The experts offer affirmations (you will see them in "Quotes").
Here is my list of the very best books on subject of effectiveness. They are classic books.
Dorothea Brande, in her classic 1936 best-selling book, Wake Up and Live, said it very simply, Act as if it were impossible to fail.
Everything I want is just outside my comfort zone. What got me HERE, won't take me THERE! If I practice stretching my comfort zones in the little things, when the need arises to do so in big things, I will be prepared and not feel so overwhelmed.
Here are some comfort-zone stretching exercises to prepare you for bigger changes. They work.
Drive a different way home one day.
