Supercoach - Michael Neill [48]
For example, how often do you miss a flight when you’re going on vacation? Do you think you would turn up late to a meeting with your child’s doctor about their mystery illness? When’s the last time you missed out on great sex because “something came up”?
The reason why there are certain things in your life that you can always find time for is because you hold them in a different way in your brain. Instead of thinking of them as things you’ll do “if possible” or “circumstances permitting,” you look upon them as things you’ll get done “or die trying.”
And while there’s no point in running yourself ragged trying to live up to the countless expectations people attempt to dump on you throughout a typical day, isn’t it nice to know that if the commitment you’ve made is to your own success, happiness, and well-being, you’re more than capable of keeping it?
What If It Really Isn’t Up to Me?
Are there circumstances that really do make it impossible to follow through on your priorities on any given day? Sometimes.
No matter how much you want to get to work on time, if your car explodes, the buses aren’t running, the roads are closed, and there are armed police officers in the streets picking off the cyclists and joggers, it might be worth waiting around for a few hours until things get a little less frantic. But in all honesty, when was the last time you really found yourself in that situation?
In my book You Can Have What You Want, I offer what I call the “million-dollar question”: If you knew that you were going to be paid a million dollars (or whatever would be exciting and inspirational for you) for the successful achievement of whatever it is you say you want in your life, what would you do differently to go about getting it?
If you can answer this question, you know that the problem isn’t outside you, it lies in a lack of clarity about what there is to be done, a lack of structure to support you in doing it, or a lack of boldness to follow through on what matters most to you.
And, fortunately for all of us, clarity, structure, and boldness are never more than a thought and an action away.
I promised that I would share my favorite time-management technique with you before the end of our session. This is another Steve Chandler special. Here’s all you need to do:
The Ultimate Time-Management System
1. Get two pieces of paper. (I like to use the top two pages of a Post-it pad, but it really doesn’t matter!)
2. On the first page, write the words “The only thing I have to do today is . . .”
3. On the second page, make a fairly comprehensive to-do list—anything you can think of that you want to get done in the next week or so.
4. When it’s time to begin working through your list, choose one item to work on first. Rewrite it on the first page. For example:
The only thing I have to do today is . . .
finish reading this journal article.
5. Actually do whatever you’ve written down as if it’s the only thing you have to do today.
6. When you complete that item, cross it off on both lists and repeat Steps 4 to 6.
In a nutshell:
• Being overwhelmed is just a thought.
• No matter what seems to be going on in your life, you don’t have to do anything.
• Everything you do (or don’t do) is a choice.
• When in doubt, slow down.
• Clarity, structure, and boldness underpin every time-management system in the world.
You may find that over the course of a day you do a bit less and take a bit longer than usual, but paradoxically you’ll get more done and have more fun doing it.
Have fun, learn heaps, and when the only thing you have to do today is move on to the next session, I’ll see you there!
SESSION SEVEN
Listening