How To Turn Your Ideas Into Reality
June 30, 2008
Are you brimming with exciting new ideas for your business, but short on implementation? Are you frustrated by projects you’d like to get off the ground but they still seem stuck? Ideas that stay in your head won’t ever generate income - it’s IMPLEMENTATION that counts. So how do you make sure that you follow through and act on your ideas? Here are my top 6 tips for getting things done.
Keep a list.
Henriette Anne Klauser author of ‘Write it down, make it happen‘ says that by articulating your desires, you set in motion the wheels that will take you to your goals. I’m regularly amazed at how things on my ‘to do’ list get handled - even before I’ve had a chance to get started on them. (Doesn’t happen as often as I would like, but it DOES happen!)
Determine the Next Action.
There’s a good chance that your list is a mixture of specific actions e.g. ‘reconcile bank statement’ and projects that are actually dependent upon a series of actions e.g. ’sort out the website’. Until you determine the next action for each project, they will stay on your list as a guilt-inducing immovable block. You’ll get a yucky feeling every time you think of it and 4 weeks from now you’ll be no further forward. Determine what the next action is for each project, then do it!
Don’t try to do it all at once.
Different actions on your list may require different levels of energy or mental concentration. You’ll get more done if you plan activities around YOUR best hours. For example, I like to schedule calls with my team early in the day when my concentration is higher. In the late afternoon my creativity dips, so I try to schedule routine tasks and activities that require little creative energy for that time of the day.
Experiment to discover your best hours and plan accordingly.
Delegate.
You DON’T have to do it all yourself. Somewhere in the world there is someone who loves the jobs you hate! Thanks to the power of the internet and sites like Elance.com and Guru.com, there’s never been a better time to hook up with the perfect help - at great prices.
Determine which tasks you can’t do or don’t want to do, then find someone to do them.
Hire a coach or mentor.
There’s nothing like reporting to a third party for keeping you accountable. The first time I worked with a coach I was amazed at how my productivity soared. Can’t afford a coach? Why not ‘buddy up’ with a friend for weekly accountability meetings?
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Control Your Mental Attitude!
June 20, 2008
Mental attitude is a two-way gate across the path of life which can be swung one way into the path that leads to success and the other way into the road that leads to failure. What a profound thought it is to recognize that the one thing which can bring us success or failure, bless us with peace of mind or curse us with misery all the days of our lives, is simply the privilege of taking possession of our own minds and guiding them to whatever ends we choose, through our mental attitude!
Your mental attitude is the major factor which attracts people to you in a friendly spirit of cooperation, or repels them, according to whether your attitude is positive or negative; and you are the only person who can determine which it shall be.
Your mental attitude is an important factor in the maintenance of sound health. All doctors know that a patient’s mental attitude is vitally important in the cure of physical ailments.
Mental attitude is the warp and the woof of all salesmanship, regardless of what one is selling - merchandise, personal services, sermons, or any other idea or commodity. A person with a negative mind can sell nothing. He may take an order from someone who buys something from him, but no selling was done. Perhaps you have seen this truth demonstrated in many retail stores where the minds of the “sales people” clearly were not directed toward pleasing the customers.
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Don’t Ever Want, Wish or Hope for Anything
June 13, 2008
Ok, I have a 2.5 year old baby girl and a 6.5 year old son. They are constantly telling me what they want. “I want this, daddy! I want that, daddy!” What they don’t realize is that wanting, hoping and wishing for things, just don’t work. It would seem that most adults don’t realize this either, so it inspired this blog post.
When you want, wish or hope for anything, what happens is the universe listens… and you receive the feeling of “wanting, wishing or hoping”… you DON’T actually GET what you are wishing, wanting and hoping for. Instead you get the feeling and experience of wanting.
“So, Travis”, you say… “How are we to manifest our desires then?”
Well, this is tricky… Instead of wanting, wishing and hoping… you DECIDE in advance the outcome you desire. You CHOOSE for things to be. When you focus on your decision and your choices, then the universe and God work in a different way. It combines effort with your subconscious mind to help you FIND the way to make your desire occur.
It is better to give your mind decisions and choices, as it can work FOR you, instead of AGAINST you as it does when you are wanting, wishing and hoping.
Does this make sense?
This is truly “The Secret” to making things happen for you in this life. Decide in advance. Create the pathway and then walk down the pathway you created. Everything starts in the mind as a thought. When we then desire something, instead of wanting, wishing and hoping… you MUST DECIDE IN ADVANCE YOUR OUTCOME. If you remember this, you will be successful beyond your expectations. No Wanting. No Wishing. No Hoping. Just deciding.
It’s that simple. Now all I need to do is to get my kids to understand this principle.
Successfully,
Travis Wright
24 Daily Habits to Make the Most of this Life
June 9, 2008
We first make our habits, and then our habits make us - John Dryden
I have previously written about how the habit of Exercising Every Day has helped me tremendously. Doing something every day is such a powerful way to form a habit that I thought I would make a list of 24 habits that are worth doing on a daily basis. Note: I have divided these into morning, day and night although some could obviously be under different headings.
The Morning
1. Wake Early: I am a big fan of waking at 5am and spending time working on myself before going to work. I have written more about this habit here.
2. Exercise: when I had the goal of exercising 4 times a week I found it was very easy to tell myself I will exercise tomorrow instead. Setting the expectation of daily exercise removed this as a potential excuse and I have since reaped the benefits of this daily habit.
3. Review or (even better) Rewrite Your Goals: each day I try to get closer to achieving my short, medium and long term goals. Starting the day by reviewing or rewriting my goals means that I have better awareness of them throughout the day. As Robin Sharma says:
With better awareness you can make better choices and when you make better choices, you will see better results.
4. Read and/ or Listen to Motivational Material: in the morning a whole day of endless possibilities lies ahead. I motivate myself to play my best game by reading and listening to inspirational books/ audiobooks.
5. Visualise the Day Ahead: I like to take a few minutes to shut my eyes and visualise what I want happen in the coming day. It’s amazing how often my desires become reality when I do this.
6. Write a “To Do” list: I like to write out a list in my diary of the important tasks I need to do that day. As they are completed I put a line through them. So simple, yet so effective.
7. Check the News Headlines: I think it’s important to have an idea of what is happening in our community and the world. Also if don’t at least check the main stories, I find it is easy to feel left out of conversations throughout the day.
8. Take a Multivitamin: I try to eat a well balanced diet, but taking a multivitamin daily reassures me that I obtaining the proper amount of vitamins and minerals that I need (**Update: see comments).
9. Tidy Up: a cluttered house can lead to a cluttered mind and fuzzy thinking. I find it’s best to stay on top of things by tidying up each day.
10. Take Time to Look Good: it’s a reality of life that people judge us by our appearance. I take a few minutes each morning to ensure I go out into the world looking the best I can.
The Day
11. Put First Things First: Many people have their day controlled by tasks that are urgent , but not necessarily important. Examples include interruptions, some email and some phone calls. The habit of putting first things first is about organising and executing your life around your deepest priorities.
12. Connect with Nature: I find spending time outdoors in nature is great for my sense of wellbeing. I have written about this here.
13. Blog: blogging makes me think and write - two things that I can’t get enough of each day. I have written more about the benefits of blogging here.
