Exploring The Reality Of Applied Efficiency
The other night I was startled out of my chair by an amazing clap of thunder from the recent storms rolling through our lovely Sonoma County Wine Country.
The rain poured down, creating quick rivers through what I hope will still be my half-finished Bocce Court come 
spring.
The water found the easiest path, letting gravity do the hard work of finding a place to go.
Keep that in mind and consider this.
I am not the only one who, after staring at a piece of paper for a few seconds realizes they are staring and kicks back to reality.
Have you ever held a note over several piles for sorting and had a complete brain-freeze?
Why can’t it be as simple as rain water –
I head in the direction of my goal and all my actions just flow toward it.
About this time in my internal mind talk I realize a piece of my puzzle is missing.
Efficiency.
I am a self-admitted busy work person. I don’t mind the piles on my desk. I know where to find things. So whats missing?
No one else knows whats on my desk. Delegating is almost impossible . . . I can’t pass off what I can’t define or find.
So how do you build efficiency into your life?
The new lesson I’m learning is to schedule it. (check out an example in the featured motivational video this week on 8 Women Dream.)
Stop laughing now.
No really.
Put it on your calendar and block out the time. If you need to, pretend its something REALLY important that can’t be moved no matter what.
You’d be amazed how many emergencies are downgraded to “call me when you can” if interruption is not an option.
Why do I keep bringing these big-picture, get-your-ducks-in-a-row topics to the table?
If I am attempting to manage 6 sources of income, I better be ready to manage them right!
For a quick shot in the arm boost of enthusiasm, I’ll let Jack Canfield tell you his ideas on what daily actions can do.
The best laid plans of women and business . . . get done.
Have a productive day – Heather
(Heather’s dream is to have multiple streams of income, starting with launching an e-commerce website that showcases her one-of-a-kind designer jewelry, which are crafted by her. Heather’s post day is Thursday and her newly launched sites are couture jewelry available through For Your Adornment, and Twitter background design on Twitter And Beyond)
DREAM GOAL: $25,000 A MONTH FROM 6 SOURCES OF INCOME BY NOVEMBER 01, 2010
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Comments (6)
Heather, I love this: “Why can’t it be as simple as rain water – I head in the direction of my goal and all my actions just flow toward it.”
Love that as a way to live!
And also am inspired by how you are looking at work-processes and flow, and what is getting in the way… Examining that for myself right now too. For example, when I start my day by checking email and/or Facebook, vs. diving into my prioritized list, time can melt away… and before I know it, hours have passed and I’m not further along on my important tasks. So, am looking to “schedule” that email/FB catch-up time vs. allowing it to seep into my day…
Also know that my days work best when I start them with meditation, affirmations, intentions and a prioritized to-do list – and then go for it! Learning more about myself and what works best as I go… I think we *all* have our challenges and need to find our best more efficient working styles to truly be our most successful.
Anyways thanks for an inspiring post, and you go girl!
Hugs,
Lis
one of my favorite phrases has always been “don’t confuse activity with progress” or something like that.
I have had to sit for 10 minutes near the end of the day (4:00 EVERYDAY) and assess what i”ve done and what goes to tomorrow. I meet with myself every morning for 5 minutes and map out the day so that what Lisa describes above, and I call the relentless pursuit of bright shiny objects, stays minimal. Does it always work? No. But its better than 8 hours of brain freeze without ice cream being the cause. Cause who doesn’t like lce cream? I have some other tools that I’ve given my clients over the years I’d be happy to share them with you if you’d like. have a great productive day! Rem
The sun is shining today, so time to think about walking too!!
I love the “don’t confuse activity with progress”! And those “bright shiny objects” get in my way all the time!! Remy – I’d love to hear some of your other tools that you’ve given to clients. I was doing good putting off my FB and e-mail time until after I got something productive done but that has kind of faded away. Time to get back to it!
This was a great post and got me to thinking. As an artist with two studios or three if you count my classroom where I teach, I have tons chaos and piles to sort daily. I am one of those people when cleaning have to constantly remind myself to stay and focus on one area.
On a positive note this chaos and flexibility allows me freedom of creativity and I can teach a class of thirty 3rd graders with tissue paper and glue swirling around a room.
It allows me to be fearless when taking on a new subject in art.
Though on the business side that efficiency part is imperative. I need to schedule it in.
It’s hard to be efficient all the time, otherwise we’d be robots! But it’s a great goal to try to achieve at least most of the time.