Right after the New Year, I suggested you test the “One Thing” approach and ask yourself the focusing question:
” What is the ONE THING I can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
I followed my own advice and focused on my one most important initiative for the beginning of the year. This initiative has consumed most of my time and energy throughout January and February.
So consuming, in fact, that I put aside other tasks and projects to ensure I could invest the time and energy required to get a good result. Things such as weekly updates to my blog…board director meetings…other writing projects…and in some cases, even my own training and qigong practice.
Don’t worry, I didn’t go completely AWOL. Obviously there were certain responsibilities, including my teaching and consultations, that I continued to do. But it felt liberating to take some of the pressure off and give myself the freedom to focus.
My multi-tasking, juggling multiple projects and responsibilities, always wanting to start on the next idea self just got schooled…in a new way to approach life. One of my catch phrases or mantras is “ABL: Always Be Learning”. And I learned a lot from this experiment.
So, count me in to the “One Thing” approach and working on a smaller but more more focused set of projects and initiatives within any given time period.
A Simple Approach to Help You Focus This Year
Deciding on the top one, two or three things to focus on can difficult for many of us. Most of us fill multiple roles in our lives, each with its own sets of aspirations, goals, responsibilities, tasks, and commitments.
To help you ponder, analyze, and decide on your most critical priorities for the year, I’d like to share a framework I picked up from Jim Collins, the author of “Good to Great”, “Built to Last”, and other highly regarded, impactful business books.
I heard this in a podcast interview during which Jim discussed his personal approach to planning for and organizing his year. It’s simple yet powerful. Sit down with a piece of paper and write down the following:
(1) Top 3 Achievements: Decide on the top three achievements, goals, or objectives you want to accomplish this year. These are the Big Rocks of your year. Really take your time with this, as these top three will be (should be) the things you work on most this coming year.
(2) Top 3 Supporting Objectives: Then determine the most important objectives that will support achieving your Top 3.
(3) Top 3 Things to Reduce or Eliminate: What do you need to reduce or do less of? What can you let go? This may leap out at you…or you may have to dig into your heart and ponder for a bit.
In my Qigong classes, we start each session with some initial breathing exercises, then we move right into a set of purging exercises. We must first purge any negative energy, stagnation, tightness, aches and pains, or emotional content, so we can make room for the good energy and emotions that we cultivate during the heart of our practice.
The other way to think about this is “clearing the decks”. Think about what you can clear out to reduce the clutter and constant (even if subconscious) mental and emotional tugs and demands. It could be a responsibility, such as a board you’ve been on – OR your tendency to say Yes to more community involvement and volunteer work. It could be a pattern of behavior, such as excessive worrying or procrastination. It could be something you give up for Lent, and just continue on for the rest of the year.
Then write down thr top three things to reduce or stop.
(4) Top 3 Fun: Finally, come up with the top three fun activities or things you would like to do – or do more of – this year. This could be a fun trip you’d like to take, or an experience you’d like to share with your family. It could be simple things, like giving yourself permission to read more or to get a massage once a month. It could be hiking more often, or going to more movies. Go with activities or events that really resonate with you, that give you joy, that will shake up the routine, that will rejuvenate you.
Don’t Let Perfection Be the Enemy of GETTING STARTED
Now, you can spend a lot of time with this exercise. And I do recommend you put some thought into it. But don’t take too long.
Put pen (or pencil) to paper and write down what comes to you for each of the above categories. As you write them down, also consider what focusing on these “Top 3’s” will actually mean to you this year.
Picture yourself actually achieving your Top 3. How wonderful will you feel if, at the end of the year, you achieved even one of these? Or two? Or all three?
See yourself organizing your time, schedule, and energy around your Top 3 and their supporting objectives. Feel yourself enjoying the freedom as you cut out the clutter of pointless, harmful, and unfulfilling activities or behaviors so you can FOCUS and get shit done. And bask in the enjoyment, renewal and JOY as you give yourself permission to have MORE FUN this year.
OK, enough said. Get going!
You Can Do It!
Dr. Karen