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How To Be More Productive

4/25/2017

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Do you wish that you could be more productive? That you could work through your day with more ease, more focus, more energy and feel a sense of accomplishment? I've been practicing some techniques that I want to share with you on how to better manage our brain and stress.

The information that I'm sharing comes from a number of sources, but mainly from a wonderful resource that I've tapped into called the Global Stress Summit. Leaders in the fields of neuroscience, behavioral science, stress and performance management came together to share the latest research, ideas and techniques for how to optimally manage your time, stress and brain power to maximize your performance. There is so much amazing and impactful information that it will take multiple posts to share it all effectively with you!

So, where do we start? There are 3 main concepts that I want to share with you in this post. The first 2 are higher level and center around our beliefs and discipline. The 3rd one gets into the nitty gritty detail of how to manage our daily tasks for optimal brain efficiency.

Our thoughts and beliefs matter
​Highly effective people believe that they have enough time every day, every week, and every month to get all of the critical, important and urgent things done.

I believe that this boils down to a few key ideas. One is the rice experiment...our thoughts, feelings and beliefs matter. What we put our attention and energy to appreciates. If we believe we don't have enough time then guess what? We probably won't have enough time. If we believe that we will have enough time then we are more likely to have enough time. 

It also boils down to faith and what I call knowingness. Knowingness is the belief that I've had days or moments like this before and I've been able to work through it and now/today is no different. I'll be able to work my way through it in this moment in time as well.

If I keep my mind open to having faith and a sense of knowingness then my brain is able to be more productive and creative and calm and chances are I'll get what I need to done. 

Everyone is 
disciplined
John Assaraf, CEO of NeuroGym and a brain researcher says, "Everyone is disciplined. You are 100% disciplined to the habits that you've become  accustomed to. The question is, are you disciplined to the right things?" I love this. It's not that I lack discipline, I'm just not disciplined to the right things. That's a mind shift for me. 

Now I can take a look at the things that I am disciplined to and make intentional shifts and changes to more optimal habits. More on this in a future post.

The Why and How of Task Management

Do you have endless tasks and to do lists floating around in your head? Your brain has limitations as to how much it can process in any given point in time. You also have a limited amount of working memory. Your conscious working memory can only hold about 3 to 4 items at any given time and then it gets overloaded.

The key is to take all of the tasks that are floating around in your head that you want to accomplish and get them down on paper and out of your head. Write it down, organize it and prioritize it. From that list take the top 2 to 3 that have to get done. That you MUST get done. Focus on the critical few versus the trivial many. The less you burn your brain's working memory by trying to juggle a bunch of things/ideas the more you're going to be able to use it for thinking.

Another thing to be aware of is that our brains don't process how long tasks are going to take very well. When you think of how long a task is going to take, your brain will automatically think of one shining example of where everything went right and use that as the example of how long a task will take. The reality is that you should double the length of time that your brain thinks it needs to complete a task. You are more likely to stay motivated if you have realistic goals that you can achieve. Keep this in mind as you decide the 2 to 3 tasks that you will accomplish each day.

Increase your productivity by, believing, being disciplined to the right things, and writing down and choosing 2 to 3 tasks each day to accomplish. 



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Choose Your Words Wisely

4/18/2017

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Lately I have been compelled to give even more consideration to the energy and the intention behind my thoughts, words and beliefs. Remember the rice experiment (January 27, 2015 blog post)? Our thoughts, words and beliefs have an energetic impact on us and on the world around us.

Words are important. They not only hold meaning, but vibration and energy. It's not only in how they are spoken, or how they are written, it’s also in how we give them to one another. Words carry energy. The intention behind the word conveys the vibration. The energy you put behind a word will carry the meaning more deeply. Words are important to choose wisely. 

I’ve been hearing a lot of words used that I believe people are intending to put out there as a way to bring more peace into the world, more love, light and good into the world. Words such as fight are being used. Daily I hear people choosing to view and think and speak about the “fight”. They're intending it to be the "good fight”, however stop for a moment if you would and consider the energy that the word fight is putting out into the universe. What vibration do you think the word fight carries?

I invite you to consider pausing and contemplating a different word choice. It may be subtle, but for me it is in important distinction. Not only is there potentially a different energy and vibration going out with a different word choice, I also believe that it conjures up a different visual and intention. Can we use the word activate or activation? A calling to action.  Activate for peace, activate for love, activate for freedom, activate for good. Do you feel the difference? Fight feels negative to me and activate feels positive. 

I also hear the word resist used quite frequently in regard to this so-called "fight ". The phrase “keep resisting”. I would also like you to consider the vibration and energy associated with the word resist. Sit with it for a minute, how does it make you feel? It’s my understanding that the word resist and resistance would be lower vibrating words. What we resist, exists/persists.

Our words contain power. Let's not forget the power that they carry and be purposeful, intentional and wise in our choice. Other word choices we might want to consider include…freedom, inspire, persistence, spirit, resourcefulness, harmony, action. 

It feels like people are also putting a lot of time and energy into hating this or hating that. I hear words like hopeless and powerless being used. These are fear-based words, these are low vibrational words. I don’t believe that these words are going to positively affect or inspire the kind of change that the people using them are desiring that they will.

Words that signify spiritual qualities carry a high vibration. Words like love, peace, life, joy, patience, health, wealth and truth. Words that oppose these qualities hold lower vibrations. These would include fear, discord, sad, depression, hate, anger, pain, poverty, blame, shame and distrust. Low vibrational words are words that carry with it fear or anger or both. High vibrational energy feels good. Lower vibrations feel bad.

How do you feel if you quietly or silently recite a word to yourself? Try it for a minute or two and see how it feels. Give yourself time to tune in and sense its subtle energy. 

Consider asking yourself, "What do I want?” Whatever you think about, put energy toward, will expand. If you want to see love and peace in the world, then intend love and peace for everyone and everything. You can't pick who gets the love and peace and not offer it to everyone. I invite you to focus your attention and energy on what you do want and not on what you don't want. 

This concept applies to all areas of our life. What result are you wanting to manifest? Is it a fight or is it peace?

​What do you think, does our choice of words matter? I would love to hear your feedback on this post. Please drop me a comment or send me an email. 


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45 Life Lessons

4/11/2017

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This week's post was sent to me by a dear friend of mine. I enjoyed reading it, so I thought that you might too. Some of these I find to be truer than others, but I love them all. It's always great to have these little reminders, little pearls of wisdom, little bits of golden nuggets. We all can use a reminder now and then to help us keep life in perspective. Enjoy!

Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written."

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short, enjoy it.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the future.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye, but don't worry, God never blinks.
16.. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19.. It's never too late to be happy. But it's all up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative of dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have, not what you need
42. The best is yet to come...
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."


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Serenity, Hope, Faith

4/4/2017

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The words serenity, hope and faith keep coming to me over and over again lately. Even last night while I was sleeping and dreaming over and over again...serenity, hope, faith. So, today I decided to examine what this all means. First, let's look at their basic definitions. 

Serenity...the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.


Hope...to want something to happen or be true and think that it could happen or be true. Hope is a feeling of optimism that something will change. Embedded in hope is faith. 

Faith...b
elief, trust, and loyalty to a person or thing.

The word serenity for a lot of us brings to mind the serenity prayer. I decided to look up the serenity prayer and to examine it more closely and it's meaning to me. 

The Serenity Prayer is one of the most widely known prayers. It was written and published by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in 1951.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. 
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You
Forever in the next.

Amen.

Be calm...Grant me peace and calm to accept the things I cannot change. To be grateful, to let go and to surrender. 

Be courageous...The courage to change the things I can. Living with courage, being brave versus living with fear and being fearful. Being brave enough to be me, to be vulnerable, to step into the arena of life and dare to be great. Having hope and faith.

Be still...Wisdom to know the difference. How do we know the difference? By being still. By praying and asking and then being still to hear the answer. By paying attention to the signs. By listening to your intuition. So often we seek, but we do not stop to be still or to pay attention. 

Be present...Living one day at a time. Being present with the here and now. Not ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. Enjoying one moment at a time. Cherishing the present, so as to not miss out on life. Being mindful of today and of this moment with hope and faith. 

Be aware...Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Seeing the hardships and the challenges as learning and growing opportunities. Opportunities to explore who I am, to see my shadow and to determine what I desire to embody. Having hope and faith. 

Be faith...Having belief, trust and loyalty in a greater plan. Having hope and faith.


And so be it...Amen means “so be it”. Every time you say “amen” at the end of your prayers you are saying “so be it”. Another way I like to end my prayers is with the words "and so it is". Amen is truth. Amen is a solemn affirmation. When we say, “Amen” we are saying, "Yes before God I agree with that; I believe that to be true; I want that to be so". When you end your prayer with amen, mean what you say because you are asking God to let things be done that you have prayed for.

​I'm going to start praying the Serenity Prayer as part of my daily prayer and meditation time. It embodies a lot of practices that I believe to be important. Peace, courage, stillness, awareness, presence, faith...Serenity, Hope, Faith.

​I hope this served you too!
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