The beach was lit by Sky Lanterns (a.k.a. Chinese Wish Lanterns) as fireworks illuminated the cloudy sky on New Year’s Eve. For the Mexicans, these are wishes for a better year ahead.
While it does look beautiful, this is a useless exercise that will only pollute the ocean and possibly cause harm to ocean life.
Like Kevin Rose, I don’t believe in New Years Resolutions. In his opinion, they are just a “happiness list” in disguise. If only you check off everything on that list, you will be happier and better off. When you don’t accomplish things on your list, you feel guilty and beat yourself up about it.
TIP: You can sign up to Kevin Rose’s Journal here: http://www.thejournal.email
Instead of creating a list of things you wish for, or setting a balloon aflame and hope for the best, there are 3 easy things you can do daily in 2017 that will impact your company.
15 Minutes of Oxygen
This very small hack was a game changer for me. I’m not a morning person, but I started waking up 15 minutes earlier than normal. This 15 minutes is where I put the oxygen mask on myself, before helping others, taken from the analogy of the Oxygen Mask on a plane.
I’ve come to love that first 15 minutes of my day, along with a healty dose of caffeine. I make sure I don’t check emails, text messages or phone messages because once I do, my focus and time is sucked in by the needs of clients, staff and work.
For the most part, I chip away at a book that will help my business. I might watch a TED Talk which is about 15 minutes long. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it will help your personal growth.
For 2017, I’m taking on the new Tim Ferriss book: Tools of Titans.
Why it works? Just like feeding your body, feeding your mind every morning allows me to grow in knowledge, wisdom and gain clarity.
TOP 6 after 6
Called the Ivy Lee Method, this simple nightly ritual will ensure you focus on what is important. It was in 1918 as the story goes, Charles R. Schwab, the wealthiest man in the world at that time, asked Lee to help make his team more efficient.
Lee told Schwab that he would not accept payment, unless it works, and Schwab could send him a check at the end of 3 months for whatever he felt it was worth.
Lee met with each executive for 15 minutes and explained his method:
- At the end of each workday, write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. Do not write down more than six.
- Prioritize the list in the order of true importance.
- The next day, concentrate ONLY on the first task until it is done. Only when it is done do you move onto the second task.
- Continue in this manner with the rest of the list. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six.
- Repeat each day.
At the end of three months, Schwab was so happy with the results, he wrote Lee a check for $25,000, the equivalent of $430,000 today.
Why it works: It’s too easy to let others hijack our day with myriads of tasks and make us loose focus. Make sure to accomplish at least 1 thing in your day to move forward.
We are in 2017 and we somehow seem to have less time. A great app I found that merges both your ToDo list with accountability partners is: https://www.committo3.com
It’s very simple. You put down the top 3 things you need to do today, share with 2 others and it’s free if you use the Web Interface, a small yearly fee if you use a smart-phone app.
Whether you choose a top 3 or the classic top 6, the important thing to remember is to completely finish the one task before moving to the next one. Multitasking, or what I like to call Business ADD, is a problem I have, working on several tasks at once. Concentrating on one thing was another game changer for me.
TIP: What helps for me is to listen to Spotify, specifically the FOCUS section under “Genres & Moods.”
Source Article: Fast Company
Find Your Superpower
Three years ago, a fellow member of my Mastermind Group asked me two questions that would change the course of my career and life:
If money were no object, what would you do?
What do you do where you completely lose track of time?
The answer to these questions started me on my path to find my superpower. These two questions skimmed the surface, but once I took a few profile tests, I could pinpoint my strengths. Everyone has a superpower, but few identify it, even less optimize their day to operate in a state of flow where you are doing what you do best. Some of the most popular ones are the Myers & Briggs Test, DISC Profile Test and my favorite: Wealth Dynamics.
For Wealth Dynamics, I’m a Creator Profile. The report shows my strengths and more importantly my weaknesses. If I can operate in a task that takes advantage of my strengths and surround myself with those whose strengths counter my weaknesses, it’s a no brainer that I will succeed.
So I started building a team choosing and placing them where they could all operate based on their strengths and allow me to operate where I naturally am in a state of flow.
Why it works: When you find your superpower and operate where your strengths are, you waste less time on tasks you can easily delegate.
For me, 2017 will be to continue to take my 15 minutes of oxygen, identify my top 3 tasks and work on each until they are done and continue to fit my team where they can unleash their superpower.
What will you do in 2017 to ensure success?