February 9, 2010

Wow!  It's beautiful outside and I just came off a weekend and I really, really don't feel like working... so what do I do?  Has anyone else felt like this?  Living in Colorado, especially Fort Collins, this happens to many, many people.  Why?  Well this is in the top 10 places to play, bike, rock-climb, hike, raft, retire, work-out, start a business, and...work!  That's why.  But regardless of where you live, this phenomenon can (and does) affect many of us.  It is known is Half A** Disease... or HAD for short.  You catch yourself 1/2 working and 1/2 thinking about playing... then you play and catch yourself 1/2 thinking about work.... geez... what gives!?
It's hard not to get caught up in spending all of our time 1/2 way doing everything we do.  We give all of our committments 1/2 our energy, focus, time, and effort.  As a result, in the end, we realize we did a halfway job at everything!  This includes our work, finances, family time, worship, play, volunteering, etc.   Is this how we want to be known?  Is FTC on the 1/2 list for anything?  NO!
Try this the next time you experience HAD disease.  Commit to doing the thing you're doing, and do it all out!  Sounds easy enough right?  Wrong.  The reason why it's not easy is that we're not focusing on what's REALLY important... our top 5 goals (or have we only given them 1/2 thought...).
Once we've actually come up with our top 5 goals, we can then break those down into daily activities.  Then break it down further into a timeblocked schedule that works with YOU in mind.  Put your personal time in first.  This is CRUCIAL for proper work/life balance.  Then add your most important business activities.  And put them in a time slot that compliments how you like to work.  You're in charge.  You get to choose.  If you like doing "office" work (emails, bookkeeping, phone calls, etc) first thing in the morning, then put it in your schedule in that spot and plan your other activities around it.  If you find that it is much better for you to get right out and do your sales calls in the morning and finish up your "office" work in the afternoons, then plan it that way.  Schedule your tasks with your personality in mind.  You're much more likely to be able to focus and work 100% if you know that you have all your activities scheduled.  You don't have to be worrying about when you'll find time to make calls, or when you'll find time to have a date with your significant other.  It's in the schedule.  No more distractions.
By thinking through goals, chunking them down into daily activities, and timeblocking you can then focus ALL your energy into each activity.  By doing this, you can really start to get your HAD in check and it becomes the exception rather than the rule.  You are free to 100% work AND 100% play!
Now, I know that life happens and you can't ALWAYS keep to a schedule.  The great thing is that if you are focused most of the time and keep to task through your timeblocking, when you do have those HAD moments and you want to go do something fun, you can.  Knock yourself out and go do it.  But DO IT all out! 
Still not getting it?  That's it, I've HAD it... I'm outta here!  :)