|
Insight of the Day
Quite often we feel down, disappointed, stressed or disillusioned about one or more aspects of our lives...be it family, friends, work, new challenges, etc. By offering readers a variety of insights, Modern Opportunity hopes to offer inspiration,solace and insight into the problem. Best of luck in your endeavors.
ReadBALANCE YOUR WORKLOAD WITH A GENEROUS NUMBER OF MINI-VACATIONS FOR MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY by Denis Waitley
Read The Day I Ran Out of Bananas...A Powerful Recipe for a Powerful Life by Dr. Freddy Davis
BALANCE YOUR WORKLOAD WITH A GENEROUS NUMBER OF MINI-VACATIONS FOR MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY
by Denis Waitley
By re-energizing and renewing yourself frequently, you will avoid burnout and become much more motivated and productive. Don't keep your nose to the grindstone for years and wait for retirement to travel. Balance and consistency are the keys. Enjoy the process, not just the result. Don't fight the passing of time. Don't fear it, squander it, or try to hide from it under a superficial cosmetic veil of fads and indulgences. Life and time go together. Do enjoy each phase of life. Do make the most of each day, and draw maximum joy from each moment.
Many people today are concerned with quality time - time generally defined in part as that spent on recreation, personal pursuits, time with children, spouses and friends. While I certainly believe quality time is important, I believe two other aspects of time are equally important.
First, one must also spend quantity time. The average father spends less than 30 minutes each week in direct one-on-one communication with each of his children. How can we possibly expect good family relationships with so little communication?
Second, one must spend regular time. Many supervisors and company presidents go for weeks, even months, without seeing many of their employees. There's no substitute for regular meetings and open forums in which managers and team members can share ideas.
Time has a dual structure. On one hand, we live our daily routines meeting present contingencies as they arise. On the other hand, our most ambitious goals and desires need time so that they can be assembled and cemented. A long-term goal connects pieces of time into one block. These blocks can be imagined and projected into the future as we do when we set goals for ourselves. Or, these blocks of time can be created in retrospect as we do when we look back at what we've accomplished.
It's not in the image of our big dreams that we run the risk of losing our focus and motivation. It's the drudgery and routine of our daily lives that present the greatest danger to our hopes for achievement. Good time management means that you maximize the daily return on the energy and mental effort you expend.
Ways to maximize your time productivity:
" Write down in one place all the important contacts you have and all of your goals and priorities. Make a back up copy, preferably on CD, DVD or Zip disc. Write down every commitment you make at the time you make it.
" Stop wasting the first hour of your workday. Having the chat and first cup of coffee, reading the paper, and socializing are the three costliest opening exercises that lower productivity.
" Do one thing well at a time. It takes time to start and stop work on each activity. Stay with a task until it is completed.
" Don't open unimportant mail. More than a fourth of the mail you receive can be tossed before you open or read it, and that includes e-mail.
" Handle each piece of paper only once and never more than twice. Don't set aside anything without taking action. Carry work, reading material, audiotapes and your laptop computer with you everywhere you go. Convert down time into uplink time.
" Spend twenty minutes at the beginning of each week and ten minutes at the beginning of each day planning your to do list.
" Set aside personal relaxation time during the day. Don't work during lunch. It's neither noble nor nutritional to skip important energy input and stress-relieving time. Throughout the day, ask yourself, "What's the best use of my time right now?" As the day grows short, focus on projects you can least afford to leave undone.
" And as we said at the beginning of this message, take vacations often, mini-vacations of two or three days, and leave your work at home. The harder you work, the more you need to balance your exercise and leisure time.
Action Idea: Plan a relaxing 3-day vacation within the next three months without taking any business work with you. Reserve it on your calendar this week.
With over 10 million audio programs sold in 14 languages, Denis Waitley's CD album, "The Psychology of Winning," is still the all-time best selling program on self-mastery. To order this Best-Seller or his newest release, The Platinum Collection and save 30%, go to http://deniswaitley.jimrohn.com or call 800-929-0434. Denis was also one of our special guests at the recent Jim Rohn Weekend Leadership Event held in Anaheim, CA. To order the special New Release Offer of The Jim Rohn 2004 Weekend Event with Special Guests Denis Waitley, Brian Tracy and more - 24 hours on DVD, 24 CDs and 283-page comprehensive workbook; Plus receive 90 Days to Life Change as a bonus, go to http://3day.jimrohn.com or call 800-929-0434.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Day I Ran Out of Bananas A Powerful Recipe for a Powerful Life by Dr. Freddy Davis
I am not a health fanatic in the sense that diet and exercise are my whole life. That being said, I do put a premium on trying to stay healthy. I exercise regularly and work diligently on my eating habits to stay trim and give my body great nutrition.
Several years ago I started a habit that I continue today. I don't normally give out recipes, but you might like this. For breakfast I fix myself a fruit concoction. Concoction may not sound too appetizing, but it fits. This is not some sugar enhanced milk enriched something. We're talking about a natural born, pure, 100% fruit drink that is thick and smooth like a milkshake. It provides a no fat, high fiber, delicious, "stick to your ribs" start to my day.
Here's the recipe. Pour one cup of apple juice into a blender. Make sure that you have a really good blender that can liquefy. I have one of those high-powered jobs that can even liquefy eggshells. Peel three ripe bananas and put them in a blender. Core one apple, cut it into sections and drop it in. Finally, put in about a cup of one other fruit that has a strong flavor. I alternate between frozen strawberries, blackberries, mixed fruit and frozen raspberries. During peach season I sometimes use a fresh peach. Put the top on and let the blender do its work. When you are done. Pour up the drink and swig it down. If that quantity it is too much for you, divide it with someone or cut down the recipe.
As I mentioned, I have this every day. One thing, though, I have to stay on top of buying the fruit. One day I got up to fix my drink, went to the refrigerator and realized that I had run out of bananas. The thought of having something else for breakfast did not appeal to me at all, so I did the only thing I could do. I jumped into the car, went to the store and bought some bananas.
There is a point to all of this - besides giving you a recipe and reminding you to get bananas. The point has to do with how you live your life. Just as in a food recipe, if you want to come to a successful result in the various areas of your life, you have to have the right ingredients to pull it off. When it comes to creating your recipe for success in life (work, school, sports, relationships...), there are four categories of ingredients that you must include. Leave out even one and you are dooming your effort to ultimate failure. The four areas are the emotional, physical, mental and spiritual. All four of the areas must be worked on all the time.
The emotional part of us relates to how we feel. There are certainly a lot of things outside of our control that affect emotions, but it is possible to get control over them and be their master rather than being mastered by them.
Our physical part relates to health. In order to progress in life, we must have the strength and stamina to do it. An athlete may have the natural ability to become a professional, but unless he develops the physical attributes to compete at that level, it will not happen. Your physical conditioning will affect other things, too - your job, schooling, social life and so on.
The mental part relates to your ability to know how to do daily tasks. It is not just a matter of learning content, though that is important. It also includes mental skills which allow you to become more aware, alert, mentally flexible and smart.
The final skill area is the spiritual. Religion and the supernatural fit into this category, but that is not the bottom line. We are talking, here, about the essence of our being - the essential self. The arena where this plays out is in relationships.
If your life recipe is leaving out any of these four areas, you, unfortunately, cannot just run to the store and pick them up like you can bananas. You have to take the time to work on them daily. But if you do, you will find a life that is even more satisfying than the fruit concoction I have for breakfast. And that is saying a lot.
Dr. Freddy Davis is the owner of TSM Enterprises and conducts conferences, seminars and organizational training for executives, managers and sales professionals to help develop greater effectiveness and productivity. He is the author of the book Supercharged! as well as the "Nutshell" Series of books for strengthening business. Sign up, free, for Freddy's twice-monthly e-letter, Nutshell Notes, at http://www.tsmenterprises.com. You can contact Freddy directly at 888-883-0656 or by e-mail at info@tsmenterprises.com.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*The publisher of Modern Opportunity has the final decision regarding which insights to use.
| 
