CAREER
Stop Working and Get More Done!
By Dan Miller
48days.com
CBN.com
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Yes, I know the obvious disconnect in this title. We all believe that if we just work more, we’ll get more done. But I’ve found that’s not necessarily true. My best productivity comes from having a mix of work and regular breaks.
Where are you and what are you doing when you get your best ideas? Over the last twenty years I’ve asked this of hundreds of clients and friends. The most frequent answers are “when I was in the shower,” “when I was walking on the beach,” “when I was reading a book,” “when I was on the treadmill,” or “when I was relaxing in the bathtub.” Seldom does anyone claim to get their best ideas when they are fully immersed in their work.
What happens when you lay down to rest, when you put on some great music, or when you take a walk in the woods on a beautiful fall day? Most people find their breakthrough ideas when they are relaxed and doing something unconnected with their daily work. When Leonardo Da Vinci was working on The Last Supper, he would spend days painting from dawn until dusk; then without warning, he would take a break for a day or two. The duke who contracted his services was not amused, preferring that Leonardo would “never lay down his brush.” But Leonardo persuaded him that “the greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more when they work less.”
Look for small breaks in your daily routine. Don’t think you can work non-stop for 50 weeks and then do all your relaxing in a two-week vacation. Don’t think that the only productive thing you can do in a 10-minute break is to answer 5 more emails or squeeze in one more report. I heard recently that the average businessperson now experiences 170 interactions per day (phone calls, emails, face-to-face conversations) and has a backlog of 200 to 300 hours of uncompleted work. But sometimes the best thing to do with 10 minutes is to watch a hummingbird or to water your plants.
Here are things I often do in 5-10 minutes:
- Fill my bird feeders.
- Walk down our long lane to get the mail.
- Read an article in one of my favorite magazines.
- Relax with a cup of tea.
- Play a game of Quiddler with Joanne.
Here are some 1-hour breaks I enjoy:
- Meeting with the Eagles Group on Wednesday morning.
- A massage from 4-5:00 on Friday afternoons.
- Ballroom dance lessons on Wednesday evenings with Joanne.
- Meeting a friend for lunch.
- Go for a leisurely ride in the country with Joanne in the middle of the day.
Don’t let the unending list of work to be done keep you from your own version of these healthy and necessary insertions of relaxation and creativity. You might be surprised at the increase in your overall productivity.
Here’s a fun 24-hour clock that deducts each activity as you list the time required. See you day evaporate with nothing but work and other responsibilities – if you don’t plan in your own relaxation and creative rests.
Swiss Watch or Doorstop?
I read somewhere that a plain pound of steel as it is mined is worth about $5.00. It might make a good doorstop. If you take that same pound of steel and make shoes for thoroughbred horses, it’s now worth $50.00. Take the steel and make needles for medicine and it has a $500.00 value. But make the finely tuned springs needed in a Swiss watch and that pound of steel becomes worth $5000.00.
The difference is in what was done with the raw material. What have you done with the raw material God gave you? I see people continuously change jobs, houses, spouses, churches, and friends – looking for the perfect life – but they never think about changing themselves. What could you do to make more of the raw material you have available?
It amazes me to see a physical hand grab a gun for a convenience store robbery and an identically formed hand hold a scalpel for a complicated heart surgery that will save a life. A brick can be used to smash a window or to become a part of a beautiful cathedral.
Are you “seeing” the complete potential you have been given? What could you do in the next 48 Days to unwrap and engage more of your capacity to make the world a better place? Do you need training, coaching, encouragement, inspiration or hope? Make the decision to be a Swiss watch -- not a doorstop.
Where are the best opportunities?
This is a slippery question. I really can’t predict where the best opportunities will be. But please be aware that this is what my kids would call a backward question. It’s a definite example of getting the cart before the horse. The issue is not to look outward and find the best opportunities, but to look inward and find what you truly enjoy. It is from that approach that you are likely to find the best opportunity.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that we will have approximately 50 million new jobs in the next 6 years – unfortunately, they can’t tell us what 50% of those jobs will be. Things are changing too quickly to be able to realistically predict what the jobs will be. Changes in transportation, communications, medical knowledge, and technology will open up new and exciting opportunities that we can’t even describe or imagine at this point.
But, the best opportunity for you is to do what you most enjoy – and that will survive recessions and economic cycles like nothing else. Keep in mind that 85% of the process of having the confidence of proper direction is to look inward – what is unique about you. From that you can create a direction or an entire work model – and be confident of the “security” that most people dream of.
Humor: Corporate Management
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A small rabbit saw the crow and asked him: "Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?" The crow answered: "Sure, why not." So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Q: What can we learn from this?
A: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.
Quotes -- Swiss Watch Thinking
"It only takes one person to change your life today -- you." -- Dan Miller
“The changes in our life must come from the impossibility to live otherwise than according to the demands of our conscience.” -- Leo Tolstoy
“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.” -- Wolfgang Von Goethe
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- -- Margaret Mead
"The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wants me to do . . . to find the idea for which I can live and die." -- Soren Kierkegaard
48 Days Coaching Connection
If you have any desire to move into your own business – this is the best opportunity you’ll find anywhere. We are providing an instant website, with your own blog and product or service information. Here’s a quick look at the growing list of people who are committed to having the best year of their lives in 2007: 48 Days Coaches
What are your plans to make 2007 different than 2006?
Follow this link if you want to be the leader and businessperson you’ve been dreaming about.
48 Days Coach
Dan Miller is the bestselling author of 48 Days To The Work You Love and a renowned Life Coach specializing in career fulfillment. His weekly newsletter reaches 70,000 subscribers. Dan’s articles are featured here at CBN every Tuesday, and you can find out more about Dan at www.48days.com.
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