Prioritize to Get It Right

Goal setting smoal setting.  You can set all the goals you want, but if you don't get your mind wrangled around the right priorities, you may as well forget about it.

In David Rock's book Your Brain at Work, Dave talks about the pre-frontal cortex and how easily that tiny little stage gets overwhelmed.  The secret to keeping yourself on track is to calm down, slow down and set priorities so that you can actually make progress on the things you really want.

Imagine this scene: you are all hyped about your new goal to stay focused on finishing that _________.
But when you have the time to do something with it, you decide you better check your email just in case...and suddenly that little window of time to get the ________done gets dissipated by drivel.

It's part of what all of us have to deal with in the age of information.  So what to do about it?

1.  Take a moment to remember what your goals are.
2.  Look at the things you need to do.
3.  Prioritize them into the ones that are going to require the most brain power first.
4.  When you have finished doing that priority one first, go check your email : -)

In my world, I'm all about rewards. You want to mess around on the guitar? Draw a picture? Get that client's drawing down first, then you can go do whatever you want.  Before prioritizing, if I got behind on projects, I'd have to claw my way back from distractions to do one small thing.  After prioritzing, I had more time for all the fun things and I didn't feel so weighed down by worry.

Next time you feel overwhelmed, try this.  Make a list of all the things you need to do.  Then figure out which takes the most brain power, put that in the number one spot.  Then go through the rest of the list to see where else in your schedule you can do a few other high priority brain items.  Between sets take time to go running, call someone, or do something different. Taking a short break allows your brain to recharge.

Goal set, go ahead!  But be sure to remember to prioritize so you can get what you really want!

Up your Creative Genius

After 10 years of working with my fantastic partners, Chris Chopyak and Lois Todd in our company Alchemy: The Art of Transforming Business, I have decided to do something different. (Not that I don't always do something different, but this time I wanted to do something REALLY different.)

I have turned over the reins for Alchemy to them and launched a new venture, Up your Creative Genius.

What most of you have been asking me is "How can I be more creative in my life, with my teams and in my company? How can I do that?"

Up your Creative Genius is my answer.  Since I'm all about sending links or tips on how you can get what you want, here's a few to start you thinking about how you can Up your Creative Genius today:

1. Pay attention to what parts of your world are in a state of status quo and when (and why) you choose to let them remain there.
2. Step out of your comfort zone every single day.
3. Push yourself beyond what feels easy to do. (If you are a runner, sprint 3x in your workouts. If you are in IT, learn to paint. If you are a creative, balance your checkbook.)
4. Play as much as you can - if you need to use your kids as an excuse, play games, sports, and silly childish games that make you laugh with them often.
5. Draw your ideas on a whiteboard or napkin or on the back of your hand.

And when you find yourself getting stuck, give a call. Up your Creative Genius has tons of ideas for how you can accelerate what you are doing right now to take it up a notch into the stratosphere of your choosing.

ReWiring Your Brain

This year more than ever, my clients have been complaining about feeling distracted by a multitude of issues.  The news, the political shifts, organizational cut backs, restructuring, lay-offs have taken up a lot of their time and energy in our "new economy".  Did you know that you can change your response to these shifts in your environment?

According to Dr. Ellen Weber, you can tweak your amygdala (that tiny sac of neurons responsible for reactions) and make it work for you.  "Simply act deliberately in the opposite direction of any negative or moody feelings,"  she suggests.  She also encourages you to disagree with the brain in mind which rewires your brain.

You can also change your brain by using a visual image of that which you want versus don't want.   What do you want to experience?  Calm?  Clarity?  Control?  (yeah, right!)  How about creativity?  Shift your brain by imagining what it would be like to be completely feeling that feeling, no matter what your outer experience is like.  Get into it, that's right, crawl inside.

Now let's add a visual to accelerate bringing what you do want to you.  Imagine yourself using this quality effortlessly in your world.  Hold that image as long as you can until you actually relax into it and begin to "daydream" about other ways of using it.   Let's turn up the heat in that daydream by adding a symbol that will help keep you on track in your daily life, when you are not daydreaming. 

Imagine that someone you know and trust enters the scene in your mind carrying a gift box in their hands.  Hear them say, "Inside this box is a symbol that represents what you most want right now in your life for you to use as a tool in your outside world."  Take the box from them, open it up and see what is inside.

When you keep your critic, judge, paternal adult out of the room of your imagination, you will actually see something in that box.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  Do this exercise until you do see something.  If you are not successful after a day or two, ask for something to stand out in your everyday life to let you know that IT is your symbol.  Each time you see that symbol, it will remind you to refocus on that quality, thing or goal that you want.

Your mind is a powerful tool.  It needs you to refocus it on what is most important.  With all of the flurry of change that is now a constant state, it is up to you to take the helm of your mind and  rewire it, and in every moment, you can.