Today I felt run down, but rather than work in a nap, I had a cup of coffee (mistake 1).  I felt awake, but uncomfortably jittery (I’m not a regular coffee consumer).  I’m in Mammoth with my husband for business and I’m working in the hotel room.  We have to stay another night but that hotel was booked, so I moved us down the street to another one.  Dragging the luggage to the new room and unpacking us again while my husband went off to his meeting, it occurred to me I’d left something behind.

I had left my underwear at the first hotel (mistake 2).  So, rather than taking my time to get there (was I worried the housekeeper would toss my undies?), I hurried to back my car out of the parking garage and banged into a cement pillar (mistake 3 and the wake up call).

I got out of the car and noticed my first obvious scrape just above and on the bumper area of my newer car.  Not a pleasant sight, but fairly minor.  Yet I was so thankful that it wasn’t worse and I didn’t hit anyone, that I began consciously refocusing and moving at a slower pace.

After picking up my undies in my previous hotel room (which were of course in the drawer where I’d left them), I got a nice salad and smoothie at a local restaurant and returned to the comfort of my hotel room to eat and then and write this blog. 

I am reminding myself that not every life lesson has to be learned by the jump-off-a-cliff-to-learn-what-it’s-like-to-hit-the-bottom approach.  Next time I vow to pay attention to any fear I’m giving myself over to, especially related to trivial matters, and put my focus where it’s needed.  This invariably slows anyone down and helps minimize the possibility of things going awry.

Where’s Your Focus When “Bad” Things Wake You Up?

If you’ve ever been to a conference you know the break times are short and it’s only then you can check your office messages, make phone calls, and meet with others.  At a recent coach conference I shared a room and Internet line with an associate.  This was tricky and caused me to have to get even more strategic with how I did my outside communicating. 

If you have something you want to say to someone, but little time in which to do it, here’s a few pointers you may find helpful:

1.  Be sure the recipient of your communication is open and available to hear what you have to say.   If not, your words are falling on deaf ears and your efforts are in vain.  If they are able to listen, great.  If not, use this time to make an appointment for a better time to talk.

2.  Give some thought to your message on your way to delivering it (and more time if you’re not short of it).  Formulate a brief outline of the main points you want to cover (even if the outline is in your head), and what you hope the outcome to be.   This will save you time when you’re finally able to talk.

3.  Deliver your message in a confident, stable voice, rather than sounding hurried – or worse, impatient.  Be concise and on target with what you have to say.  (Note:  if you’re on the phone with someone, walking while talking isn’t a good approach.  One reason is that moving locations while on a cell can not only make you sound winded, but the line can become staticy or even disconnect, which isn’t the best impression and it wastes time reconnecting.) 

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Early this morning I woke myself up, knowing I had an appointment to get to.  While showering (my favorite spot for reflection), I thought back over my last dream before waking…

My client had shown up and was circling my office looking for me.  My gardener pointed him to the front door.  My husband was home and I heard their voices when he opened the door.  I was frantically getting ready and a part of me was chiding myself for having overslept. 

Thankfully, it was just a dream, but also a wakeup call for me.  Was it caused because I was overtired and wanted to sleep more?  Was it a foretelling that my client would call and reschedule with me?  (It could also be a connection with recently seeing the movie, Alice-in-Wonderland or maybe reading Sunday’s L.A. Times article, “Breaking Into Dreams” about the dream thriller film, Inception.  Or maybe it was my recent comments added to the Women Entrepreneurs group on Linkedin around this question, “How do you balance work and life?”). 

But more than likely it’s my own unresolved concerns about how I manage my time. 

It’s a personal value of mine to find joy in all I’m doing and not wait till I have time off or less things scheduled on a certain day to enjoy life.  Even so, it was refreshing not to have a busy weekend for a change, a rarity for my husband and I, since we spend much of our time with our families.  There will be busier days than others and I recognize it’s more about how I am being with those events at the time that is the real “time effectiveness” component. 

Life balance and time management are completely within our individual control.  For example, you don’t have to take on that extra project or work somewhere that expects you to put in 12 hour days – it’s your choice.  But if you do have to do those things on occasion, it’s about finding grace with it and working as fluidly with it as you can.  Not resisting it or plodding painfully through it.  And as my dream response reminds me, “leave the chiding aside.”  Some helpful tips: 

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If you’re looking to change careers there are several things that can get in the way of a smooth transition.  You want to be sure you address these areas, while not getting stuck or slowed down by poor preparation.   True, economics can play a role in available opportunities, but by your using a more focused and strategic approach, you’ll get faster and lasting results, beating out the competition.  Here’s a few key areas to assist you:

DO’S
1.  Update and make relevant for the job you seek, your resume, appearance, attitude, contacts list for possible introductions, personal and professional assessments, learning and training.

2.  Fully research what you would be doing in the new job, confident you are the right fit for it, and learn all you can about your customer, competitors, best marketing practices, the economic industry ranking and financial expectations, networking strategies and your most effective business development channels.

3.  Set up your support team.  Who will help mentor you?  Who will help position you?  Who will coach you?  Navigate into new territories with a select boat full of your best advisors and confidantes.

DON’TS
1.  Avoid unnecessary or excessive research of jobs sites, newspaper ads or job boards.  Cover the basics, but don’t overlook step one which is develop  a list of potential supporters, conveying your short blurb on your chosen career area and your top 3 qualifications for it.  Request specific support for introductions and ideas from them.

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Every woman knows that getting rid of junk always feels good after the fact–that is, after the work has been done. It’s not always easy to set the time aside to clear out unnecessary items from your home or office, but these 5 reasons might give you career-development incentives to take the time to declutter, especially if you have been procrastinating in doing it:

1. Increases energy.  Any new change or improvement requires your energy, time and focus while launching new ideas or projects require your creative input to plan without forgetting any missing pieces.  Whenever you walk past that pile of unattended papers or sort through clothes in your wardrobe that don’t fit or are too tired looking, your brain tires. You can’t afford that drain when you’re looking to progress. Set aside a weekend morning or two evenings to plow through and discard as needed. It’s true it takes an initial output of energy, but your accomplished feeling will increase your energy when it’s done much like exercising initally is somewhat tiring, but then gives you an added boost of energy. 

2. Boosts confidence.  Piles of unfinished work are constant reminders of your stopping and starting, yet not finishing. When you’re trying to make a change, you need all the confidence votes you can muster to remind you of your ability to follow through and complete your objective.  The Fly Lady has a 15-minute at a time, step-by-step method to help you get started.  The Unclutterer also offers you a method to purge stuff.  If it’s clothing or other personal items you’ve not used in more than a year, think of those less fortunate who can use them more and donate them. 

3. Lightens your workload, minimizes distractions.  Don’t fool yourself by straightening and organizing piles, creating new email folders in your inbox to dump emails you think you’ll read later, or spreading out reading materials in different rooms so they don’t feel so overwhelming.  This creates twice the work because you haven’t distinguished de-cluttering from organizing and you’re revisiting information more often than you should.  Give books or magazines to your library.  Make one rule never to add a possession to your wardrobe or even your abode without discarding one item in it’s place.  Make a second rule to go through mail, newspapers and magazines a maximum of twice.  You will save time and alleviate distraction from your bigger goals.

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