Did you start your New Year with a bang or a hangover?
Most party on New Year’s Eve then wake up late with a hangover. If you partied last night till early morning you are like most people and you are excused. But do not let the day pass without some serious revisit of your goals for 2019.
Even if you have articulated your goals for 2019 earlier, you need to revisit these goals daily to imprint in your mind, heart, body, and soul!
People say I know all this stuff. However, it is not what you know that counts; it is what you do! Doing requires reminders, focus, and accountability!
Make 2019 a year of execution, not excuses! Happy New Year!
Wowing your client at the time when they are struggling is a powerful way of building long-term trust and relationships. There is a time to give and a time to receive. The more you spend time giving – value, insights, guidance – the more you will receive.
Just like you are generous in giving, so too be generous in receiving. For if you do not receive then you deprive others of giving.
As Khalil Gibran said: ;
“And you receivers – and you are all receivers – assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.”
Yes, there are many imperfections in the world and in your world.
However, if you are alive and breathing and chances are for most of us (not all) there are at least three things to be grateful for. It could be for:
– food, clothing, shelter
– good health
– family
– friends
– job
– respect
By starting your day with gratitude one builds on the concept of perfection in imperfection. Like Melody Beattie, the American writer says, ” Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
As “Me”, I am weaker. As “Us”, I feel stronger. An ocean (a symbol of “Us”) is mightier than a drop (symbol of Me).
What stops us from going from Me to Us? A judgment of others based on our paradigm.
Everybody is doing their best the way they know it. Each one of us is fighting a battle of some sort, trying to overcome one challenge or another.
Whether it’s doing a homework assignment; meeting work targets; hitting the mark in a new job; looking for employment; going through a challenging divorce or overcoming loneliness in old age. Our job is not to judge people and get frustrated by their behavior. Instead, we need to appreciate that everyone is fighting a battle, and to do all we can to make people’s lives easier – not more difficult!
Now, if our focus is too much on “me” then being frustrated and judging others will be the outcome. However, if our focus is on “us” instead, then we will play our part in making a positive difference – not only to others but also to ourselves!
As Ralph Waldo Emerson says:
“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”
We cannot change what we did yesterday. However, we can certainly be better today. So, be a little kinder, gentler, and accepting today, and watch it bring you calm and joy!
Do I plan and use my most productive time to do the most productive work?
Our life is made up of the time we have. It is our most precious commodity – once gone it’s never to return. Time cannot be banked – once Apr 26, 2018, is gone, it is gone forever!
How do we best manage this most precious commodity?
The first step is to have clarity about your purpose, goal, and role. Next, commit to spending time on your most important activities that achieve your purpose and goals. The more you involve yourself in activities that carry the greatest meaning and value, the greater your chances of experiencing real growth. This may mean giving up some things you are habitually involved in. By doing fewer nonessential activities, you free up more time for the essentials. You can thus increasingly focus on areas that are consistent with your goals, objectives, and purpose.
If you have too many priorities, you have no priorities!
Here are some practical tips to inspire you to manage your time well:
• Do your most important work first thing in the morning – as the first hour goes, so goes the day!
• Don’t shuffle papers; make quick decisions. Some people look at the same sheet several times because they are not decisive.
• Avoid too many interruptions. Some interruptions are necessary for business, but you also need to carve out some uninterrupted time to get important work done.
• Delegate effectively. And be clear in your instructions upon delegating.
• Use deadlines to achieve results. By establishing timelines, you can increase your productivity levels.
• Do just one thing at a time. Finish the first item before you move to the next (as much as possible). Jumping from task to task makes you lose momentum and focus.
• Be decisive. “Sit, walk or run. Just don’t wobble.” Goes an old Zen saying. That’s another way of saying. “Don’t waffle; be decisive.”
• Break large tasks into smaller steps. Breaking big tasks into smaller chunks makes the task more manageable and allows you to get going. Remember, you chew an apple one bite at a time.
• Make waiting-time more productive. A lot of time during the day gets wasted in ‘pause’. Make good use of waiting time by spending it planning or reading the important material.
• Write down your goals every morning. Writing brings clarity, and clarity helps focus. By writing your goals each morning you become very clear about where your focus should be.
• Eliminate clutter. Too much clutter results in a lot of wasted time looking for things. A clean desk with a good filing system, not only saves time but increases effectiveness.
• Emphasize results, not activities. Just because you are busy does not mean you are effective. It is not how much time you put in, but what you achieve that matters.
•Prepare a time spending budget. Keep track of where your time goes. This will not only help you understand your habits but most importantly, help you manage your time allocation.
‘Kairos’ means the right or auspicious moment. Ancient Greece had two words for time, ‘chronos’, meaning chronological time and ‘kairos’, meaning the auspicious moment or moment of truth – the moment when you can change the course of the game; the moment of pivotal action.
But while we can agree that we all experience Kairos, we assume that such moments are few and far apart and moreover we will be lucky to experience them, if at all, on a daily basis.
What if I told you that you can have this moment whenever you want it?
Yes, you are surrounded by Kairos. Of course in our lives, we address it by a different name. We call it the present moment.
Come to think of it, you don’t even have to look for it. You are living it, right this very moment. In fact, the entire cosmos is contained in the present moment, in the now. The past is no more and the future is not here yet.
There is nothing else, except the present moment.
However, we seldom pay importance to the present moment. We acknowledge its presence only when we see it as a result of our past or as a means to the future. Nevertheless, the present moment is where all the meaning lies, where all future possibility rests. To deny this moment is to deny life itself.
The Sufis say that if you can grasp the present moment, you can grasp eternity itself. So live this moment intensely, passionately, fully, for it will meet you but once. Make it the primary focus of your life. Plunge headlong into it.
Agreed, it might not always be pleasant but it’s the only thing there is. Everything else is either your memory or your imagination. Once you live this moment to the best of your ability, you will see that the rest of your life starts falling into place as well. After all, your future too is born out of your present moment.
When your body, mind, and spirit are in harmony, you express the totality of your being and experience your peak moment, the moment when you are primed to give your best. And when you are able to be your best in that moment, and yet possess the lightheartedness to let go of worry about the outcome, you open up your reservoir of intuitive faculties and are ready to explore life’s infinite possibilities.
Some of the greatest inventions and scientific discoveries were made when their discoverers were relaxing in silence, in tune with themselves and nature.
And there is no other time for you to be total, except this moment. Hence pay close attention to this moment, for it’s the beginning of the rest of your life.
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