My mom loves to cut out articles from magazines and newspapers that she knows may be of interest to me. She’s done it for decades. This week she gave me one about taking things off your to-do list. Of course, it immediately drew me in because I’m a huge advocate of having only a few things on your task list, so you’ll be more productive!
It seems counter intuitive to have no more than six things a day on your list, for both your business and personal life, but trust me on this one. It’ll change your life by having a narrow focus each month, week and day. You’ll stop rushing to simply get things checked off the list and you’ll do each item with excellence. Things will get done faster, in most cases, because you’ll be totally present rather thinking about what’s next on the list.
All this talk about to-do lists got me thinking about an exercise I learned back at The Coaches Training Institute. In their balance course, they ask you to make a list of things you’re saying “YES” to and “NO” to. I’ve always found that creating a list of things you’ll be saying “NO” to is a transformational exercise if you follow through and truly say no.
Here are some examples of things to let go of and reap huge rewards:
• Conversing with people who always talk about what is going wrong
• Paying bills late
• Checking email several times within an hour
• Stressing about money
• Spending more than you make
• Not planning ahead
• Making decisions while in a place of reaction or disconnection
• Doing everything yourself in your business
• Clients who aren’t ideal
• Being late
• Breaking your own set of boundaries
• Not returning phone calls
• Saying yes to every opportunity before checking in to see if it serves your goals, schedule and bank account
• Thinking you may fail
• Feeling obligated or guilty
The flip side of this exercise is to decide what you will do instead. There are trade-offs to every decision you make. You always are saying yes to one thing and no to another. Be more deliberate about those choices and you’ll receive huge pay-offs.
Jeanna Gabellini, is a Master Business Coach who assists high achieving entrepreneurs, corporate leaders & their teams to leverage fun, systems and intentionality for high-octane results. Jeanna co-authored Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction with Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Eva Gregory. A Gift For You! Please accept a special audio recording of Jeanna interviewing Joe “Mr. Fire” Vitale, one of “The Secret” teachers, on The 5 Steps for Creating Wealth From the Inside Out: http://www.MasterPeaceCoaching.com/ezine