by Helena Escalante | Goals, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Opportunity, Planning, Productivity, Resources, Time, Tools, Willpower
Links to other parts of this miniseries:
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 1
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 3
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 4
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 5
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 6
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 13 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 2
— From Learning to Lead: Bringing Out the Best in People by Fred Smith (1915-2007)
In yesterday’s Part 1 of this miniseries, we learned what the basis must be to declare a time emergency, and roughly how long we can make it last without affecting our work or relationships. We also learned how to announce going into monk mode to the people that surround us in order to get their help and support. So far so good.
Today, we will start unpacking Fred Smith’s 20-point checklist in Learning to Lead. The goal is to help you find five extra hours per week, despite being completely swamped. There’s no time to lose, so let’s get started!
1. Clean off the desk. “To start the battle, sweep away everything you won’t be using in the next six weeks. When I diet I don’t leave food lying around the house to tantalize me. Unfinished work tempts me, makes me want to look at it, pick it up, finish it. I feel guilty about it. So the first step is to clean off my desk.” If cleaning your desk becomes a tremendous chore in and of itself, then grab a box and put all the stuff in there that you won’t need for the next few weeks. Once your emergency plan is over and you are back to normal, you can take the contents of the box, examine them and clean them up. For now, they’ll be fine in a box: out of sight, out of mind.
2. Stop reading the newspaper. “I can pick up three and one-half hours a week right there, and if I only need five hours, that’s a pretty good start,” says the author. If you’re hesitant to do this out of fear someone will ask something and you might appear uninformed, it’s easier to reply, “No, I didn’t see that. What did it say?” The person can tell you in a few minutes. Smith asks himself, What am I getting out of the newspaper that’s worth making my life frantic? In this post, I talk about lifestyle design guru, Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, who decided not to read or watch any news based on four factors. The same goes for TV: “Break the habit of turning on the set without first checking the listings. Make TV watching a planned occurrence,” says Fred Smith. His book was written when there was no easy way to record a TV show, yet nowadays you can record or stream your shows at will, so there’s no excuse for binge-watching when you can do this at a later time.
3. Get up 15 minutes earlier. Smith says, “Our wills may support getting up 15 minutes earlier, but they won’t support getting up an hour earlier. We say, ‘But I should be able to.’ That’s fantasy. We’ve got to be objective about what kind of resolution we have. Fifteen minutes each morning gives me an added hour and three quarters a week. Add that to the previous three and one-half hours and the goal of five extra hours is already reached.”
4. Delay unnecessary reading. Smith recommends, “I would postpone all reading that does not directly contribute to what I am doing during this emergency period.”
5. Read only parts of books. The author says, “I’m surprised at how many people feel they have to read a book cover to cover. If I’m in a hurry, I skim the table of contents, find the subjects I need to know immediately, and read those chapters.” Smith points out that we can still get plenty of ideas that way. Further, nowadays, you can subscribe to online summaries that do a good job of providing the core information in a book. Or I know of a daily blog called EntreGurus that I highly recommend… 😉
Come back tomorrow to check out the next few steps in Smith’s emergency time plan. You’ll learn why it’s important to avoid what he calls the wood-hay-and-stubble activities during a time crunch.
ACTION
TODAY: Get started today. Clean your desk and work area so that you can focus on catching up and working on what you need to get done over the next few weeks. Put your newspaper subscription(s) on hold, as if you were going on vacation. Set your alarm clock for tomorrow 15 minutes earlier than normal.
FUTURE: Keep a box by your desk where you will put the unnecessary reading during this period of time. Once your emergency period is over, you can come back to this pile of reading and determine whether you really want to do it or if it was necessary at all. Sometimes we read materials out of the habit and eagerness to keep up with as much as possible, and also due to FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), but nothing happens if we let this batch of accumulated reading material go and, going forward, we just pick up from here.
Know someone who could use an additional 5 hours per week during a time emergency? Please share this post with that person. Thank you! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Opportunity, Planning, Productivity, Resources, Time, Tools, Willpower
Links to other parts of this miniseries:
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 2
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 3
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 4
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 5
How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 6
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 44 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: How to find 5 extra hours per week – Part 1
— From Learning to Lead: Bringing Out the Best in People by Fred Smith (1915-2007)
How do you spend time? “Most people spend time like they do money,” says leadership guru Fred Smith in his book Learning to Lead. “They spend until suddenly they run short; then they seek a way to compensate.”
Most books and philosophies teach a disciplined approach to time and money as the best path to prevent either one from slipping away. Yet sometimes life happens and we find ourselves in a crunch trying to find time desperately to complete whatever project we’ve (over)committed to… In Smith’s experience, when he asks his worn-out coachees how much time it would take for them to catch up they say, “If I only had five more hours a week!”
What to do?!
Smith put together a checklist to conduct an emergency plan “as a way to pick up five [or more] hours from any week you choose. It provides immediate and effective relief for those who are swamped.” However, he warns, “This is for emergency use only. As in dieting or spending money, the long-range answer is a better lifestyle that doesn’t require temporary bailouts.” He goes on to say that “this is a battle plan, not a war plan. You shouldn’t continue this emergency plan for longer than, say, four to six weeks.”
Smith suggests announcing our emergency plan to the people around us with a statement of this sort: “Folks, you are not going to see as much of me for the next six weeks as you have. I’ve gotten behind in some very important things I should be doing, because I’ve been doing other things that were needful. I’m going to need your understanding for the next month while I catch up.”
You can also announce it to the world via email with an autoresponder, just as Greg McKeown did when he went into monk mode to write his wonderful book Essentialism: “Dear Friends, I am currently working on a new book which has put enormous burdens on my time. Unfortunately, I am unable to respond in the manner I would like. For this, I apologize.”
People are generally understanding and cooperative. Just make sure that you are indeed working on what you need to accomplish, as opposed to playing golf for hours on end. Smith says, “When you declare an emergency, it’s got to be legitimate.”
“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn
Come back tomorrow, as we’ll get started with Smith’s 20-point checklist for finding a minimum of 5 extra hours per week.
ACTION
TODAY: Are you in a time crunch and could use a period of four to six weeks to catch up? If so, block off the time in your calendar so that, as of tomorrow, you will start implementing the techniques that Fred Smith shares in his checklist to put in place an emergency plan.
FUTURE: As you go through the next six weeks implementing the points we are going to see in this miniseries, jot down the lessons learned as you come across them. You will find many ways to improve your time management and effectiveness so that you don’t fall into emergency mode again.
Know someone who could use an additional 5 hours per week to catch up? Please share this post. Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 53 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Welcome adversity in your own style
— From No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity by John C. Maxwell
Bummer. Just hit a snag. So what now?
It’s our choice. We can focus on finding a solution or an alternative to the initial plan, or focus on our bad luck, moan, and complain.
Totally our choice, but sometimes it’s not all that easy. In No Limits, leadership guru John C. Maxwell says, “You can’t moan and lead at the same time.” And the same goes for success, “You can’t complain and get ahead at the same time. Moaning about your troubles and moving in the right direction rarely happen together.”
One way of moving forward and avoid feeling sorry for yourself is to personalize the way you see and face adversity and annoyances. Make your point of view about this as unique as you are.
What exactly does this mean?
Maxwell tells the story of how PGA pro golfer Richard Lee handles adversity on the course. When prompted by Maxwell to share the best advice he had ever received, Lee answered, “Welcome the ball.”
Intrigued, Maxwell asked him to explain. “I play golf for a living,” Lee said. “Every shot is important to me. Any shot can either make me or break me in a tournament. Early in my career, my mother-in-law could see how, when I had a bad shot, I would get really disappointed and my negative emotions would start to fill my mind and hurt my play. One day she said to me: ‘Richard, you will always have days when you make bad shots, every golfer does. As you walk toward your ball you will have a decision to make: will I dread seeing the lie of my ball and begin filling my mind with negative thoughts and my body with negative emotions? Or will I welcome the ball and be glad I am a golfer, and realize that I have an opportunity to make a great recovery shot? If you always welcome the ball, regardless of your lie, you will more often make good recovery shots.’ ”
And ever since, wherever Lee’s ball lies, he walks up to it and welcomes the ball, thus making a great difference in his game.
This is a fantastic way of thinking about adversity in terms of making a recovery shot.
How can you personalize the way you see adversity in a way that resonates with you? How can you turn it into something that you welcome and look towards a recovery shot afterward?
“Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records.” – William Arthur Ward
ACTION
TODAY: Take some time to ponder whether you welcome the ball or you get all bent out of shape about annoyances when they happen. How can you welcome the ball?
FUTURE: Murphy’s Law says that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” We’ve all lived through it. O’Toole said that Murphy was an optimist… and O’Malley’s law crowns them all: “If it can’t possibly go wrong, it will.” This is not meant to be pessimistic but to share a bit of Irish popular humor to give you a good laugh. 😉 The reason why I bring this up is because, in a future, when faced with a challenge, you can ask yourself, “What’s the worse that can happen?” and then move forward. If the outcome is as bad as what you thought, you can deal with it as you had anticipated; if it’s not as bad, then all the better!
Know someone who needs to snap out of a funk? Please share this post! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Opportunity, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 42 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Pick Yourself
— From The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin
In yesterday’s post, the closing quote by author James Altucher was, “Rejection and the fear of rejection is the biggest impediment we face to choosing ourselves.” It reminded me of the importance of dancing with fear and picking ourselves, because no one else will.
We seem to spend an inordinate amount of time waiting to be picked, but the moment we pick ourselves is when we start creating, achieving, and moving forward. Because of this, I wanted to share with you a wonderful passage from the book The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin. Here it is, verbatim:
* * *
Pick Yourself
Pick Yourself by Hugh MacLeod @gapingvoid (click to enlarge)
Authority?
You want the authority to create, to be noticed, and to make a difference? You’re waiting for permission to stand up and speak up and ship?
Sorry, there’s no authority left.
Oprah has left the building. She can’t choose you to be on her show because her show is gone.
YouTube wants you to have your own show now, but they’re not going to call you.
Dick Clark has left the building. He’s not going to be able to get you a record deal or a TV gig because he and his show are long gone. iTunes and a hundred other outlets want you to have your own gig, but they’re not going to call you, either.
Neither is Rodney Dangerfield or the head of programming at Comedy Central. Louis C. K. has famously proven that he doesn’t need the tyranny of the booker—he booked himself. Marc Maron didn’t wait to be cast on Saturday Night Live—he started his own podcast and earned a million listeners.
Our cultural instinct is to wait to get picked. To seek out the permission, authority, and safety that come from a publisher or a talk-show host or even a blogger who says “I pick you.”
Once you reject that impulse and realize that no one is going to select you—that Prince Charming has chosen another house in his search for Cinderella—then you can actually get to work.
The myth that the CEO is going to discover you and nurture you and ask you to join her for lunch is just that, a Hollywood myth.
Once you understand that there are problems waiting to be solved, once you realize that you have all the tools and all the permission you need, then opportunities to contribute abound. The opportunity is not to have your résumé picked from the pile but to lead.
When we take responsibility and eagerly give credit, doors open. When we grab a microphone and speak up, we’re a step closer to doing the work we’re able to do.
Most of all, when we buckle down, confront the lizard brain, and ship our best work, we’re becoming the artists we’re capable of becoming.
No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself.
* * *
Click to enlarge.
Beautifully said. And so true. I am lucky to have one of the printouts of this passage that Seth Godin gave me. It’s a treasure that hangs on the wall of my office. It inspires me every day and motivates me to pick myself, and I want to share it with you in hopes that it will do the same for you. Click on the image on the left to enlarge and print.
What about the lizard at the end?? That’s a reminder of quieting and ignoring your lizard brain as you pick yourself and move in the direction of your dreams. Unless you are in true danger, think of your lizard brain the same way you would of a worrywart aunt: thank her for sharing her (doom and gloom) point of view, and don’t pay attention to it.
“How much responsibility are you willing to take before it’s given to you? – Seth Godin
ACTION
TODAY: Pick yourself! The world needs your gifts. And you’ve been wanting to share them for a long time… Start today.
FUTURE: Create the habit of picking yourself. It’s not a one-and-done thing, it’s a recurrent mindset and attitude to be developed. For those of us who struggle thinking that picking ourselves is arrogant or presumptuous, let me turn it around in the same way it helped me: it’s not selfishness, it’s responsibility, because it’s what will enable you to help yourself and others achieve goals and dreams.
Love this post as much as I do? Please help me spread the love by sharing it with other people so that they can pick themselves! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Mindset, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 11 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The 2 categories of fear that prevent you from succeeding
— From What If It Does Work Out?: How a Side Hustle Can Change Your Life by Susie Moore
Susie Moore is a life coach and stress management guru in New York. She is the author of What if it does work out?, a great, friendly book that helps readers put their passions and hobbies to work in order to generate multiple streams of income (above and beyond their 9 to 5 job).
In her book, Moore debunks myths and tears apart fears and hesitations with common-sensical advice and examples that leave the reader at ease and eager to try.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was learning where our fears come from and what they are really about. Once I understood this, I had the clarity to see how they can prevent us from achieving our goals and reaching the success we seek. On the other hand, the good news is that once you identify the origin of the fears, they seem to dissipate instantly, as you can see them for what they truly are: unfounded.
Moore cites Dan Baker, Ph.D. and Cameron Stauth, authors of What Happy People Know. According to their research, if we leave aside all fear that is not the protective kind (e.g., the fear that stops you from hitching a ride with a stranger), all other fears belong to the belief in one of the following two categories:
- I am not enough, or
- I do not have enough.
“As humans,” Moore says, “we have not evolved to take into account our new modern surroundings. Back in the day of the caveman these fears were real and the result of their being actualized was certain death. If you were not fit, healthy, and strong, the tribe would leave you behind in order to survive. And if you did not have enough—meaning if you did not collect food every day and have the materials to give you shelter and warmth—you would perish.”
But we’ve come a long way. Why are we still thinking the same?
Moore explains that while our circumstances have changed, our reptilian brain remains the same and simply has learned to adapt said fears. Thus, “being ‘enough’ in today’s world means being educated, connected, charming, smart, good-looking, thin, interesting . . . the list is endless, especially when you are busy comparing yourself to your peers. Having ‘enough’ in our society means possessing the luxuries that we see touted as equaling success but that can also trap us: a large home, fancy car, great wardrobe. It requires dropping cash we may not even have on stuff we don’t need to try and keep up with our friends.”
“Observe any fear that is strong or subtle in your life and you will be able to attribute it to one of these two [fears].” The author shares a few examples of these two categories of fears and the way they manifest themselves in our lives. See if you can identify with any of them.
Fear of “I am not enough”:
- “I can’t tell that person I like them; he or she won’t possibly be attracted to me!”
- “I can’t ask for more money at work. It’s not like I’m perfect at my job.”
- “Who am I to start a business?”
- “I can’t start a blog— no one wants to hear what I have to say.”
- “I don’t want to go to that party. I’m not good with new people.”
Fear of “I do not have enough”:
- “Money is hard to come by.”
- “John comes from a better family than I do . . . I’m kinda embarrassed to introduce him to my parents.”
- “Better to stick to the career I know than take a risk doing what I really would love to do and go broke.”
- “Tom makes a lot more money than I do and always has nice things. I feel like he’s better than me.”
- “I won’t buy those boots/that laptop/a gym membership—I hate parting with money.”
While not all these examples will instill fear in everyone, think of your own fears and examine what motivates them. “If your soul is stirred with a reason for not doing something that feels right and fair, great. If not—if your decisions leave you feeling insecure, small, and unsatisfied—fear has got you wrapped around its little finger,” says Moore.
She goes on to quote best-selling author James Altucher: “Rejection and the fear of rejection is the biggest impediment we face to choosing ourselves.” Remember to choose yourself today and every day.
ACTION
TODAY: Think of a fear that you are facing today. What category does it belong to? Once you identify it, look back at the fear and you’ll see how it dissolves. You’ll then be able to move forward.
FUTURE: When you are facing a non-protective fear, think back to these two categories and examine what you are feeling. Once you are able to pinpoint the category to which the fear belongs, it will be easy to get rid of it and continue moving forward.
Know someone who is being held back by fear? Please share this post! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
by Helena Escalante | Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Time
Links to other parts of the miniseries:
Leadership: Debunking 5 myths
Leadership: Developing influence one step at a time: Position
Leadership: Developing influence one step at a time: Permission & Production
Leadership: Developing influence one step at a time: People Development and Personhood
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 10 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Leadership: Climbing the steps
— From Leadership 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
Well, I thought I had finished the miniseries on Leadership from Leadership 101, but I couldn’t resist writing a coda. After debunking the myths and examining the levels of leadership, John C. Maxwell gives some quick, additional insights into the process of climbing the steps of leadership. I thought you might be interested, as they are very short, to the point, and further help solidify the ideas we’ve seen over the past few days.
Here are Maxwell’s thoughts, verbatim:
The higher you go, the longer it takes. “Each time there is a change in your job or you join a new circle of friends, you start on the lowest level and begin to work yourself up the steps.”
The higher you go, the higher the level of commitment. “This increase in commitment is a two-way street. Greater commitment is demanded not only from you, but from the other individuals involved. When either the leader or the follower is unwilling to make the sacrifices a new level demands, influence will begin to decrease.”
The higher you go, the easier it is to lead. “Notice the progression from level two through level four. The focus goes from liking you to liking what you do for the common interest of all concerned (to liking what you do for them personally). Each level climbed by the leader and the follower adds another reason why people want to follow.”
The higher you go, the greater the growth. “Growth can only occur when effective change takes place. Change will become easier as you climb the levels of leadership. As you rise, other people will allow and even assist you in making the needed changes.”
You never leave the base level. “Each level stands upon the previous one and will crumble if the lower level is neglected. For example, if you move from a permission (relationships) level to a production (results) level and stop caring for the people who are following you and helping you produce, they might begin to develop a feeling of being used. As you move up in the levels, the deeper and more solid your leadership will be with a person or group of people.”
If you are leading a group of people, you will not be on the same level with everyone. “Not every person will respond the same way to your leadership.”
For your leadership to remain effective, it is essential that you take the other influencers within the group with you to higher levels. “The collective influence of you and the other leaders will bring the rest along. If this does not happen, divided interest and loyalty will occur within the group.”
You must know what lever you are on at this moment. “Since you will be on different levels with different people, you need to know which people are on which level. If the biggest influencers within the organization are on the highest levels and are supportive of you, then your success in leading others will be attainable. If the best influencers are on the highest levels and not supportive, then problems will soon arise.”
“Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.” – John C. Maxwell
ACTION
TODAY: Take some time to ponder at what level of leadership you are today with the various people with whom you’ll interact. Figure out what you can do so that you both grow (even if it’s just one, tiny, baby step) and your joint project progresses from your collaboration on this day.
FUTURE: Always remember that you never leave the base level. It’s important to nurture and give time to every relationship that you want to see flourish.
Know someone who wants to learn more about leadership? Please share this post and the upcoming ones in this miniseries, thank you! Email, Facebook or Twitter.
