by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 20 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: How should you focus your time and energy?
— From The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow by John C. Maxwell
Why do lion tamers hold a stool with the legs extended towards the face of the animal? Because the lion tries to keep up with all four legs of the stool at once and, unsure on what leg to focus, it loses concentration and freezes. “Divided focus always works against you,” says John C. Maxwell, leadership guru.
In The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader, Maxwell states that priorities and concentration are the keys to having the focus required to be a truly effective leader. “A leader who knows his priorities but lacks concentration knows what to do but never gets it done. If he has concentration but no priorities, he has excellence without progress. But when he harnesses both, he has the potential to achieve great things.”
Maxwell sets out a few guidelines to focus our time and energy for maximum results:
Focus 70 percent on strengths. “To be successful, focus on your strengths and develop them. That’s where you should pour your time, energy and resources.” And he quotes Peter Drucker, management guru, as saying, “Nobody ever commented, for example, that the great violinist Jascha Heifetz probably couldn’t play the trumpet very well.”
Focus 25 percent on new things. “Growth equals change. If you want to get better, you have to keep changing and improving… If you dedicate time to new things related to areas of strength, then you’ll grow as a leader.”
Focus 5 percent on areas of weakness. “Nobody can entirely avoid working in areas of weakness. The key is to minimize it as much as possible, and leaders can do it by delegating” …or outsourcing, or finding a way for someone else to do it faster and better than they could.
These guidelines are great if all is well and you have your priorities clear. But what happens when you’ve lost focus and minor things are consuming your time? To get back on track, Maxwell suggests doing the following:
- Work on yourself. You are your greatest asset or detriment.
- Work at your priorities. You will have to fight for them.
- Work in your strengths. You can reach your potential.
- Work with your contemporaries. You can’t be effective alone.
“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” – Anonymous
ACTION
TODAY: Make a list of three of your strengths and three of your weaknesses. How much time do you devote to them? Are you in alignment with the 70-25-5 guidelines above?
FUTURE: Plan to divide your working time as close as possible to the 70-25-5 guidelines above. Give it a try. Test and test some more to see what works for you.
Know someone who could use help to align his priorities and concentration? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Goals, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 58 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: Taking care of yourself is part of your job
— From: Habit Changers: 81 Game-Changing Mantras to Mindfully Realize Your Goals by M. J. Ryan
M. J. Ryan, leading expert on change and human fulfillment, says that she’s lost count of the number of her high-achieving clients who recognize that self-care is something that they keep putting off. She recalls a specific story of a female executive who said, “I’ve got my life really nailed… The kids are great, my work is going well. The only thing is that I’m not taking very good care of myself. Exercise has gone out the window, I’m eating lots of junk, and my sleep isn’t so great either.”
We all know that we should take care of ourselves, so why do we put it off for a later time that never comes? The reasons are as varied as each individual, and we simply chalk it off to being busy. Ultra busy. And we make work and others’ needs our priorities, while putting ourselves last (usually in the if-there-is-a-25th-hour-in-the-day-category-I’ll-get-to-it…category).
This reminds me of a quote by Deepak Chopra that says, “If you don’t take care of your health today, you will be forced to take care of your illness tomorrow.”
While the quote jolted me the first time I heard it because of its ominous nature, I think there is much truth in it. Yet I prefer Ryan’s response to this problem, “No one ever told you, but taking care of yourself is part of your job. It’s not optional. Because to succeed at work, you need high ongoing mental, emotional, and physical energy to do your best. If you keep ignoring self-care, eventually you’ll perform at a subpar level. […] When you understand that taking care of yourself is really part of your job, you see it as the business priority it is. So make a schedule of self-care and stick to it.”
I love this approach since it’s a very logical way to see and practice self-care. As Ryan further says, this method is designed it to “give high-achieving folks like you permission to take the time to focus on themselves.”
ACTION
TODAY: Do one thing about self-care that you’ve been putting off.
FUTURE: Schedule in your calendar the times that you will use for self-care. Stick to them!
Know someone who needs to take care of his or herself? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Productivity, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 27 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: 5 kinds of restorative breaks
— From WHEN: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Dan Pink
One of my favorite authors is Dan Pink (Drive, To Sell is Human, A Whole New Mind, and other books), so I was ecstatic when I heard that he was going to be in New York (he lives in Washington, D.C.). I went to an event organized by Grand Central Tech and had the joy of meeting Pink and hearing him talk about his latest book, WHEN: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.
In his very charming style, Pink regaled us with the many stories, insights and research findings included in his book. Needless to say I got a copy, which I immediately started reading!
One of the things that he said during his talk is that we need to take more breaks. It specifically struck me the way he stated it: “professionals take breaks, amateurs don’t.” What he meant was that all of us who think that taking a break during the day is going to slow us down (I’m the first one here and so guilty of this—you can find me many times eating lunch at my desk to try to respond to a few more emails …) are not accomplishing as much as the professionals who have tested and proven to themselves that breaks are restorative to our mood and performance, replenish our energy and make us more productive.
But what kind of break should we take? In his book, Pink offers five kinds of restorative breaks:
- Micro-breaks. “A replenishing break need not be lengthy. Even breaks that last a minute or less—what researchers call micro-breaks—can pay dividends.” You might want to consider giving your eyes a break from the computer screen every 20 min and focusing on something 20 feet away for 20 seconds (this is called the 20-20-20 rule). Or consider getting a very small water battle so that when it runs out frequently you can get up to refill it and that way you move, hydrate and take a micro-break. Or you can stand up and shake arms and legs, rotate your core and then sit down again.
- Moving breaks. Since our lifestyle/work is quite sedentary, “build more movement into your breaks.” You can take a 5-min walk every hour, do office yoga poses at your desk, or sneak in a few push-ups.
- Nature breaks. “Study after study has shown the replenishing effects of nature. What’s more, people consistently underestimate how much better nature makes them feel.” Walk in nature (say, a park) if you can, or simply go outside (if your place of work has a little green space with trees or lawn and a bench, “sit there instead of inside.” Remember the quote by Ramon Inmon: if you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk.”
- Social breaks. “Don’t go it alone. At least not always. Social breaks are effective, especially when you decide the who and how.” Pink suggests calling someone and catching up for five or ten minutes, plan to walk regularly with some colleagues that you like, or don’t schedule it at all if your calendar won’t allow for it. “Buy someone a coffee one day this week. Bring it to her. Sit and talk about something other than work for five minutes.”
- Mental gear-shifting breaks. “Our brains suffer fatigue just as much as our bodies do.” Pink recommends giving our brain a break by trying meditation (doesn’t have to be long, 3 minutes will do), controlled breathing (45 seconds) or lighten up by watching a funny video or listening to a funny podcast, etc.
ACTION
TODAY: Stop reading this now and go take a restorative break! 🙂
FUTURE: Build breaks into your schedule. As you saw, they don’t have to be lengthy, they just need to be powerful enough to take your mind off from what you are doing. Breaks also provide the bridge between a finished task and the beginning of the next. Build the habit of incorporating breaks into your schedule and soon you’ll be working like a pro!
Know someone who needs to take a break?Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Goals, Growth, Habits, Mindset, Planning, Productivity, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 48 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: The Hour of Power
— From The Art Of Less Doing: One Entrepreneur’s Formula for a Beautiful Life by Ari Meisel (read 2 chapters for free)
Ari Meisel, is an entrepreneur, author, CEO, real estate developer, green building consultant, and productivity expert according to Wikipedia. But he is much more than that: he is a driven, solution-finder, and goal-achieving entrepreneur extraordinaire who turned his life and his health around, and overcame the insurmountable (here’s his TED Talk). He managed to cure himself from Crohn’s disease—which is deemed incurable—and he turned the lessons he learned, especially in areas of mindset and productivity, into a replicable process that anyone can follow. When he was very sick, there were days in which he could not work for more than one hour, so he had to find a way to get things done in an ultra efficient way.
In The Art of Less Doing, he talks about the hour of power: “every day, each one of us has roughly a ninety-minute period of peak productivity. This peak period is when you are able to produce your best work, but it is also the time frame within which you can most easily get into a work mode. […] If you identify that time, respect it and use it effectively to focus, you should be able to be two hundred times more effective than during any other time of the day.”
The hour of power is different for each one of us. For some may be at 4 am and for others 4 pm; or it may come at 10 am or 8 pm. Regardless of when your hour of power is, schedule it and keep it distraction-free so that you can fully immerse in it and achieve flow. (Flow: definition, TED Talk.)
But what about when it’s not your peak time?
“Just as we all have an hour of power in our days, we also all have a brain-dead part of the day.” Meisel quotes David Allen, the author of the famous productivity book Getting Things Done who has a “brain-dead” list of activities that you can accomplish when you’ve exhausted your mental capacity to function at a high level.” Chores that don’t require too much brainpower, such as doing laundry, folding clothes washing dishes, and a myriad of other personal and professional things can be achieved even when we’re not at our best. The important thing is to acknowledge that none of us are on all the time, but that we can still make the most out of every period of time, whether it’s a peak or a valley.
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” – Benjamin Franklin
ACTION
TODAY: Look at the way in which you work today and how your mind and body feel: are you easily distracted or are you in flow? This is a great start for finding out when your hour of power is.
FUTURE: Continue to monitor your mind and body at regular intervals throughout a week. This will help you further pinpoint your hour of power as well as your “brain-dead” times. Schedule your hour of power accordingly and honor it fully. You’ll be glad you did once you start seeing the results of your newly added productivity streaks.
Know someone who needs help to find their hour of power? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 48 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: Running ahead of the pack
— From Common Sense Leadership: A Handbook for Success as a Leader by Roger Fulton
Leadership guru John C. Maxwell says that if you think you are leading but nobody follows, you’re just out for a walk. So true. Leaders owe their title and position to their followers. Despite leaders being at the front of the line, they should never forget that there are followers right behind.
In Common Sense Leadership, Roger Fulton has this to say about running ahead of the pack:
Leaders are a little more progressive.
A little more innovative.
A little more creative.
They take that extra step.
Spend a little more effort.
Get a little more accomplished.
Get a few more results.
They get promoted a little sooner.
However, they can’t run too far ahead of the pack.
They need support from others to be successful. If they’re too far ahead, others can’t keep up. If others can’t keep up, they can’t help their leaders if they encounter trouble.
So, unless you want to go it completely alone, keep ahead, but not too far ahead.
Perhaps we need to reconsider the phrase and, instead, run with the pack. I’ll leave you with this African proverb as food for thought: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
ACTION
TODAY: Think of the many instances in your life where you lead, both professionally and personally. Where are you going way too fast? Where do you need to slow down and catch up with those that you are leading? Conversely, where are you going too slow? What are the changes that you need to make?
FUTURE: As you embark on new leadership projects, think of your followers and the community that you want to build around each project. What are the expectations among the people you will lead? How about you: what are your expectations? Are both sets of expectations compatible? What are the constraints? What are the opportunities? Where do you want to take the project and in what timeframe? Make sure you are all on the same page so that you can be successful together. Remember that you, as a leader make all the difference!
Know someone who is running too far ahead of the pack? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Goals, Growth, Mindset, Planning, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 18 seconds. 
TODAY’S IDEA: Find your unique genius
— From The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business: Make Great Money. Work the Way You Like. Have the Life You Want. by Elaine Pofeldt
Elaine Pofeldt writes about one-person businesses that break the seven-figure revenue mark for Forbes.com. In her recent book, The Million-Dollar One-Person Business she shares the insights from her research, as well as lots of stories from entrepreneurs who have achieved this goal. The book is a great crash course on how to make it happen, with plenty of advice and resources, and she leaves no stone unturned.
One of the concepts that I liked very much—because it can apply to all walks of (business) life—is that of finding your genius or your unique marketable skill. Many people believe that “they can succeed only in marketing expertise that is tied to what they studied in school or do for a living. Those avenues can offer you exciting possibilities, but there may be many more options available to you.” Whether you are starting a business or a new job, or you just want an additional stream of income, or you don’t aspire to any of this, Pofeldt offers a set of questions designed to help figure out what matters to you and how you can go about finding your genius.
- “What niche areas of your work do you have a special passion for—and a deep knowledge about?”
- “What hobbies and personal interests do you read and learn about constantly, because you genuinely enjoy them?”
- “Which of your endeavors generate the most curiosity among the people you meet? These may be activities like home-schooling, urban farming, teaching abroad, or other pursuits the average person may not have had a chance to try.”
- “What challenges and problems have you addressed successfully in your own unique way after doing thorough research? These may be ‘good’ problems like decorating a small house on a budget, or serious ones, like addressing a child’s illness through alternative healing modalities.”
- “What roles do you play in your personal life—parent, caregiver, coach, neighbor, mentor, volunteer—that have given you unique knowledge that might benefit others?”
- “What situations have you been unwittingly thrust into that gave you a fresh perspective on an issue people care about?”
- “What trends do you know abut that other people have yet to discover?”
As you can see, all these questions help us figure out what we’re good at, above and beyond our most visible expertise and experience (college, business). This will open up possibilities for you and will enable you to see yourself in a more positive light.
“The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” — Thomas Berger
NOTE: If you happen to be in New York this Thursday, May 3, 2018, I’m organizing an event with Elaine at the Business Library. She will moderate a panel with some of the entrepreneurs featured in her book. It’s free. Find out more and register here. If you are not in NY but want to watch it online, it will be livestreamed via Facebook.com/NYPLBiz from 6-7:30 PM (U.S. Eastern Time) or you can always catch it later on the video section of that page.
ACTION
TODAY: Go through the set of questions above. What new things did you discover about yourself? What had you forgotten? What did your memory bring up that you had not considered a skill or an asset before? This is such a worthy exercise, especially because we sometimes take our gifts for granted. We don’t dismiss them on purpose, but we don’t necessarily acknowledge them as gifts because they come to us so easily that we think they’re normal and that everyone else is the same. That is your unique genius.
FUTURE: Whenever you are contemplating a new project in your life, go through the questions above. They will help you reflect on your strengths and gifts, and also on how you can bring your unique genius to the project for maximum success.
Know someone who needs to find their unique genius? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
