Finding Your Rhythm In Business & Life
Finding Your Rhythm? Is This About Dancing?
Actually, it sort of is, since dance is about balance and form. The essential key to getting a handle on your business success, let alone success in life, is this:
It’s not about better “time-management”— it’s about better “me-management”
Sure, there are lots of resources out there to help you with time-management or, better and more realistic, priority-management. Really, we all get the same 168 hours in a week. But clearly, some people get way more done in those 168 hours than others. They often wind up as entrepreneurs. That’s great and all. But it is still a challenge for even many of them to find their rhythm.
Rhythm is found in simplicity…
Embrace the basics—really embrace them—to find your rhythm. As you read the list of six steps below, you might feel annoyed with me. How could I state things so plain and obvious? Because we all tend to over-complicate things. We look for gimmicks. Seek the latest technique. Purchase the newest gizmo. Even though we know, deep down, we’re deferring to someone else to help us conquer…us.
So put your judgment on a shelf for a moment and see if these steps for finding your rhythm don’t resonate as simple, true…and challenging.
Rhythm’s Form in Six Steps:
- Wake-Up Water! Our bodies are made up of roughly 60% water. When we sleep we’re effectively in a desert for 6, 7, 8 hours. That’s why it’s imperative to drink 16 ounces of water when we get up. And that’s just to get you started well. If you wait to drink until you are thirsty, you waited too long. Drink more water. Your body will thank you and you will be more productive. So will your mind. Much more productive.
- Beat Back Your Inner Zombie! Most of us are sleep-deprived. We wander around like zombies in the morning—or all day! It will take time to discover your optimal sleep period. Two things that will immediately help you are turning down the lights in your house an hour before bed and turning off all screens, too. Do not sleep with your phone.
- Eat Less, Often! Take your typical 3 meals and break them into smaller amounts, for five or six food breaks per day. Strive for fresh. Reduce the wrappers.
- More Mood Food! Increase your mental calorie intake: read (books, magazines), listen (podcasts, webinars) and engage (mastermind groups, affiliation network). Check our recommended resources for a sampler of books. A great magazine is SUCCESS, which includes an awesome bonus audio CD (2 sources of mood food in one place!).
- Time-Block! Focus on one thing. Multitasking actually makes you stupid. In fact, more stupid than if you were smoking marijuana! So, it is an illusion–a closely-held-by-too-many-people-illusion–that you can seamlessly move from one interruption to another, while simultaneously making significant progress toward your primary goals for the day. A tool that I find extremely useful is the FocusBooster. It’s free and brilliant at helping me stay on task, while also making sure I take enough breaks throughout the day to remain fresh.
- Cast Out Time-Demons! The worst time-demon: email. My recommendation: limit your email time-blocks to first thing in the morning and the end of the day. Next? Interruptions. Limit them as much as you can. Close the door, if you can. Limit your access. You really can’t afford not to.
These six steps will help you get better at your own personal “me-management” rhythm. I know, because they work for me and the people I currently work with, and those I have helped in the past. While the steps on the list are pretty simple, even obvious, they are not easy. Changing habits takes time. That’s OK. It’s worth every bit of effort at finding your rhythm. Don’t forget:
Every day, in every way, you’re getting better and better...at finding your rhythm.
Engage here. Do you find any of the six steps more difficult than the others? How have you, or are you, overcoming it? Who else could benefit from reviewing these steps? Invite them over.
photo credit: Matthew Fang via photopin cc