Bringing Balance to Life: Focus Your Activities

The 80/20 rule comes from Pareto, an Italian economist, who found that:

• 80% of the wealth is held by 20% of the people.
• 80% of the sales are made by 20% of the sales force.
• 80% of the purchases are made by 20% of the customers.
• 80% of books borrowed from libraries are borrowed by 20% of the people.
• 80% of the work completed will be done by 20% of the people.

Focus eighty percent of your energy on 20% of the people and activities that pay big dividends.

Bringing Balance to Life: Defeating Procrastination

As a teenager our son, Brad, a notorious procrastinator, purchased a book, Overcoming Procrastination. He never read it. Later his college studies and two jobs forced him to abandon procrastination in the Lake of Sloth from where it never raised its ugly head again. 

Unfortunately some of us don't jettison procrastination allowing low-priority tasks to rise above high priority activities dissipating valuable time. We tend to do the least important things first because they are easier. We put off the most important things because they are hardier. When we work on the unimportant, we worry about the crucial tasks that aren't getting done. We get tension headaches. Ulcers. High blood pressure.  Psychiatrists get wealthy, but we still haven't done what's most important. 

Four major defects explain most reasons for procrastination:

1. Laziness

To defeat laziness, begin. Once moving, you'll tend to keep going. For example, if you're writing a screen play, put something on paper. Forget about sharpening pencils, arranging paper, reading one more script for inspiration. Write. Writers write.

2. The Quest for Perfection

Nobody is perfect. Expecting perfection never gets anything accomplished. Be kind to yourself. Allow yourself to make mistakes and you'll find that your family and friends will love you anyway; indeed they'll love you more because you're not so uptight. Learn to do your best and accept the results. To continue with the writing analogy, get that first draft done. Forget semicolons, active verbs, dangling participles, mixed metaphors. Just get something down on  paper. You can revise and rewrite the screenplay later.

3. Indecisiveness

To overcome indecisiveness, use the ready, fire, aim approach. Fire it up there. Then aim it. Make some mistakes. Learn. Adjust. Move on.

4. Difficult Tasks

Break down a difficult task into easy steps. Take the swiss cheese approach: take a bite out a little at a the time. You write a screenplay or a book one page at a time. Write one page a day and at the end of a year you will have written 365 pages.

Bringing Balance to Life: Time for Priorities

Those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things.

-- LaRochefoucauld

Many of us complain that we don't have enough time. False! All of us have the time. Instead, most of us waste the time we have. We spend all our time on insignificant things and have no time left for the noteworthy activities. We're too busy making a living to develop a lifestyle. 

A well-used time management rule says, Success depends on what you neglect. To get something important accomplished, neglect the time wasters, devote time to the significant.

Always follow the cardinal rule of time manage­ment: First things first. Early each morning make a list of those things to be accomplished that day. Review your goals. Next number your activities in the order of their impor­tance based on how those activities will help you accomplish your goals. Complete the first item first. The second, second.  The third, third. If you don't get to number four, no big deal. Avoid criticizing yourself if you fail to achieve everything on your list. Remember, you did the most important things first.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mQMmDFvkDU

Bringing Balance to Life: Setting Goals to Achieve Your Dreams

Goals aren't for everyone:

• Goals are only for those who want to budget their time and balance their lives.
• Goals are only for those who want time for their family and themselves while advancing their career as far as their talents will take them. 
• Goals are only for retirees who want to have a balanced life so that they can enjoy the fruits of their labors. 
• Goals are only for those who take the time to prioritize so that they can save time.

To achieve your goals they much be SMART: 

• Specific--I am going to spend more time with Brad should be changed to I will spend 15 minutes with Brad each day.
• Measurable--I am going to buy my first car should be changed to I am going to get a second job and save all that money until I can pay cash for my car. 
• Achievable--I am going to be CEO of my company should be changed to I am going to be promoted by December 31, 2015.
• Realistic--I am going to buy a $2M second home in the mountains should be changed to I am going to pay off my first mortgage by doubling my monthly payments.
• Time focused--I am going to have the grandkids visit as soon as I clean this house should be changed to I will wash the dishes, sweep the floor, and change the sheets today so the grandkids can mess up the house when they visit tomorrow.

Most goal setters breakdown their desires into three categories: 

1. Family, Spiritual, and Personal Goals
2. Career (or Retirement) Goals
3. Self-improvement Goals

Suggestion for Family, Spiritual, and Personal Goals:

• How much time do you want to spend with your family?
• How do you want to spend your time with your family?
• How do you want to spend your leisure time?
• How many hours do you want to spend relaxing?
• How do you want to spend your time in spiritual pursuits?

Suggestions for Career (Retirement) goals:

• How far do you want to advance your career in 12 months? 5 years?
• What specific goals do you have for advancing your career?
• How do want to enjoy your retirement?
• What countries do you want to visit?

Suggestions for Self-improvement Goals (to retard Alzheimer's for retirees):

• Read books that improve your attitude and people skills at bedtime to inculcate ideas into the unconscious and to dilute the negative in your life
• Learn a foreign language
• Learn to play a musical instrument
• Work mind stretching puzzles
• Exercise 30 minutes six days a week
• Join Toastmaster to set your words and your career on fire 

Goal setting is one of the best ways to balance your life and find more time than you knew you had.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKP4cfU28vM

Bringing Balance to Life: The Bigger the Dream, The More the Time

Who stole the American dream? Who snatched our aspiration to be in charge of our lives? Who hampered our desire to go as far and as high as our spirit and character could take us? The govern­ment? Corporate America? Our boss? Our friends? Our family? Television? Laziness? Procrastination? Disorganization? Low self-esteem?

Whatever the cause---social or psychological---a meager number of people know how to dream big. That's sad, because we limit our potential when we won't allow our­selves to dream. No matter who or what caused us to relinquish our dreams, we--each of us---can decide to dream again. 

Prodigious dreamers are fulfilled. Productive. Enthusiastic. Their desire determines their destiny. Visionaries are motivated to plan and organize their lives to fulfill their dreams. 

We can start to dream with a vision statement---a phrase or sentence that tells what you are about. Here's an example of a vision statement: "I live a life that brings encouragement, optimism and hope to all I meet." Note that the statement is in the first person, present tense indicating that the future begins now.

As you consider your vision statement, be certain you're using your own measuring stick---not your mother's, or father's, or your wife's, or your husband's, or your friend's. What do you want out of life? What's important to you? What are you about? To help define your vision statement write down the answers to these questions:

• What three activities are most important to you?
• What three activities give you the most enjoyment?
• What three things do you want written on your tombstone?
• What three things do you want to do for others?
• What three things would you change about your life?
• How would you like to be described?
• What three qualities would you most like to see associated with your reputation?

Now study everything you have written so far.  Sum up, in one or two sentences, a concise description of who you want to be. Write your vision statement in the first person, present tense.

Formulating a vision statement and writing down those things you desire helps you focus on your plea­sures, your talents, and your bliss. Once you've expand­ed your vision, your expectations will direct you toward fulfilling your dreams. See yourself becoming your dream and living the life you want to live.

When you dream extraordinary dreams, some peo­ple---perhaps a family member, friend, co-worker, or even your boss---may try to take your vision from you. They will worry about you. They will try to steal your dream: "Don't get so excited, this might not work out." "You've got a good job; why do you want to change to something so uncertain?" "I know someone who tried that and they failed miserably."

Unfulfilled people are like crabs. Put crabs in a bucket and watch. If one crab attempts to crawl out of a bucket, the others pull the adventurer back down. People are like that. If you have a dream, they'll try to destroy it.

When someone or some event in your life begins to steal your dream, don't despair. Stand firm against the cold and penetrating wind of dissension and difficulty. Press on toward your dream.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgzXwpePTTU