The Productivity Secret That Will Change Your Life

One of the things I’m constantly struggling with: my plate is incredibly full. I just have way TOO many things on that proverbial plate and it’s constantly weighing me down.

I’m a Marketing Implementer, I help people get things done, and here I am, revealing to you my own challenges with getting things done.  Well, I’ve actually invested good money with experts to help me “organize” my office, my computer, and my life, as well as I got a new desk, bookshelves, and on an on. The interesting thing is after that expert gave me this “system” it wasn’t mine. So I had great difficulty in trying to use it and came across all sorts of obstacles that just reared their ugly heads a few weeks ago.

Before I tell you what happened, I actually would liken it to someone who’s trying to lose weight and just puts the weight back on—it’s because they’re not aligned somewhere with the process, or something just isn’t right.

Well that’s what I felt like, something with my new system just wasn’t jelling with me, it just wasn’t right. And unfortunately I didn’t really see that until the crap hit the fan last week and a few balls I was juggling just crashed—yikes—how did that happen?!

The cool thing is that I did ultimately find a solution, albeit painful to have to do soooo much learning—As Alex Mandossian has taught me—“You’re either winning or you’re learning!” No such thing as losing or making mistakes—my new lingo is “I’m learning.”

After the balls crashed last week, my wonderful client and mentor Alex Mandossian, pulled me aside and saw that I was obviously have some trouble and he got to the root of it very quickly and explained to me about “The Ivy Lee 6.”

In the early 1900’s consultant Ivy Lee approached Charles Schwab, President of Bethlehem Steel (not the investment company) and asked what it’d be worth to him if he could raise the productivity of his managers by at least 20%. Schwab didn’t have an answer but was definitely interested. This is where the “Ivy Lee 6” comes into play.  Ivy Lee taught him and his managers this proven technique.

Here’s THE productivity secret that will change your life:

Before you leave your office for the night, write down the 6 most important things to be done the next day and number them in order of importance. Prioritize.

Do the tasks from the most important to least important. I write these on index cards with the date at the top.  So have the card on your desk for the next day, and once you’ve finished one, take a highlighter (I like green) and highlight through it so that’s your sign it’s complete. Any unfinished tasks are rolled over to the next day.

It may sound incredibly simple, yet for me it was amazingly effective.  After my first week was done—oh my gosh, I had a stack of cards on my desks with lots of green on them. Just being able to visibly “see” what I’d done that week was psychologically empowering. I left my office Friday on a huge high…

The key is picking the 6 that will give you the most results for the day, and write them down very clearly. For example— Don’t say— “Call several people to connect with them about our product launch.”  This is better— “Call Susie to tell her about our product launch” or “Call 3 key people who will promote our product launch…”

Using the “Ivy Lee 6” also utilizes the power of prioritization and requires you to number your tasks in order of importance with your most important tasks done first.

Don’t wait, try this now— I know you will be amazed at how this works and leave me a comment and let me know how I can support you to be more productive!

THE Way To Turn Your Annual Income Into Your Monthly Income!

Being addicted to learning is sometimes a hard road, especially when you’re an entrepreneur like me who LOVES to go after those shiny objects.  I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of travel over the past year, attending a ton of events and feeding my learning machine addiction.

Yet the one thing that’s eluding me after 6 years of being in my own business is “HOW” do I push my business past the 6 figure mark?  I’ve been incredibly successful over the past 6 years, yet I still want more for my business. I want to reach that 7 figure mark and I want to do within the next 3 years—is that even humanely possible?

Well I’ve had the incredible pleasure and delight of working with Alex Mandossian over the past year and I’m here to tell you with a resounding— YES, it’s totally possible. In fact, my work with him has really been focusing on growing his different businesses the past year and its been an incredibly fun ride. Now after a year, we’ve had several conversations about growing his business even bigger and he in turn is helping me grow mine!

Alex recently spent a bunch of time with me explaining the EXACT steps of how he was able to take his annual income and turn it into his MONTHLY income in less than 3 years.  This is a totally true story and it’s what he calls—THE MANIFESTATION BLUEPRINT.  And he gave me the green light to be able to share this with you—so here goes…

Here’s all you need to do this—

–  Flip chart Paper (or you could use 6 ½ x 11 paper— you will need at least 6 sheets

–  Markers for the flip cart paper (or a Sharpie for your smaller paper size)

–  What your annual income was last year

–  Open mind

–  Sheer determination

–  Consistency

Take your flip chart paper and write out the months of the year for 2012—turning it on it’s side—horizontal Landscape— works best. I was able to fit Jan/Feb/March/April/May/June on one flip chart and July/Aug/Sept/Oct/Nov/Dec on the other flip chart.   Then do the same for 2013, and for 2014, hence you need 6 pieces of flip chart paper.  If you do this on smaller paper, it will still work. Just know when Alex did this exercise; he did it on bigger paper so he then put it on the wall in his office.

After you get the months on there, then you will need to draw lines which will enable you to create 3 rows below each month.  Then on the first row you will put all the way across on EVERY sheet of paper for 2012-2013-2014; you will write down your annual income in each box under each month.  Then the next row you will write down what you made for that particular month.  Then the 3^rd and final row you will write down the difference between row 1 and 2. In the beginning this will be a negative number, and in fact it may go up and down.  This is ok—keep doing it.

Here’s and example that I just created using made up figures on what the first page of 6 months should look like.

So the key is to put this up on your wall. I’ve done it and have the first 6 months on my wall, that’s because that’s all I can fit. Then I have the other sheets of paper waiting in the wings. Ideally, having all of it on your wall is best.  When Alex did this, it enabled him to make his annual income his monthly income into a total reality and he did it before 3 years had passed.

I would love you to do this along with me and let me know how you’re doing.  I can already totally see how having this on my wall is really motivating me, along with my sign saying “Take Action! Nothing happens until something moves! Is this going to make me money?”  So every time I’m doing a task—I think is it busy work or is it genuinely going to help me make money.

If you like this PROVEN concept, then you’re sure to like so much more on this new site that Alex, myself and the team are creating—    Check out this site and sign up for the early bird— it will so be worth it.

As always, would love your comments!

Seek Out New Opportunities

Last week, I explained how overcoming setbacks is as an easy as A.B.C.
A-Ambiguity       B- Build      C-Commit
This week I am going to show you how easy seeking out opportunities is. It is as easy as N.O.W.

stands for “Never-as in “Never Giving Up!”  By making, a daily mantra of “I will never give up” means there is not a minute, an hour, or a month that you are not seeking out new opportunities.  New opportunities are the only way to completely come out of a setback.  The only way to find new opportunities is give it all you have every day!

stands for “Opportunistic”.  Before you see that word and think “I have to chase down every opportunity that comes my way”,-wait.  Have the spirit of being opportunistic but make sure it’s the right fit for you.  By going out of the box and chasing after something “just because” is not the smart way to do it.  Instead, figure out your niche and be opportunistic within that realm.  By being patient and not settling, you will find out it pays off in the long road.

stands for “Weigh-as in Weigh it all out”  When you do find those opportunities that fit your niche, do not jump in right away.  If time permits, make a list of pros and cons and see if this opportunity is truly right for you.  Sometimes people are so excited about that first job opportunity that they do not weigh out the pros and cons.  Six months later after the “Newlywed” feeling wears off, they find they are regretting their decision.

So that’s it…last week I gave the A.B.C’s of how to deal with setbacks and this week I showed you how N.O.W. will help you seek out new opportunities.

Avoid Focusing on Set-backs and Seek out New Opportunities

In my last blog, the third and last point was labeled:

Avoid Focusing on Setbacks and Seek Out New Opportunities.

When I was writing this last point, it inspired me for my future blogs because I think these points are so important.  Hopefully you too will be inspired and continue to be successful in 2012.   So this week, I am going to talk about…

Avoid Focusing on Setbacks

There comes a time in one’s personal and business life, where a setback comes in and rears its ugly head.  When it does come, because we know at some point it will, a person has two choices. They can either sit there or focus on all the negativity that comes with it.  Or they can come to terms with the reality of the set back  and push forward. 

It is as easy as A.B.C. 

 stands for Ambiguity.   A trait that is tied to most entrepreneurs which holds the meaning: The possibility of interpreting an expression in two or more distinct ways. When facing a setback, especially one that leaves a person in a negative situation, the best thing to do is look at in an ambiguous way.  Instead of focusing on how negative this setback is, look at it in a positive way.  And turn a problem into an opportunity. Real Life Application:  Make a list of 10 to 20 positives you can gleam from this particular setback.   “I am not sure where I’m going but I still prepare myself diligently for the journey every day” ~Peter Baskerville

 

stands for Build.   A setback requires a person to start over or build from the bottom up.  Take the list that you made of 10 to 20 positives and use them to make a game plan.  Part of making this game plan will help you build confidence not only in yourself but also in keeping a positive outlook on this setback.  “Whatever good things we build end up building us.”
~Jim Rohn

 

stands for Commitment.   In this time where your environment as well as situation is unstable, you have to be committed.  More importantly, you have to be committed to yourself foremost.  Now that you have made a list, a game plan, write up a commitment contract where you outline what you are committing to.  “There’s a difference between interest and commitment.  When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit.  When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results. ”  ~Tom Robbins

Stay tuned because next week, I am going to explain the second half of this blog’s title: Seek Out New Opportunities.