by James Duvall | Oct 19, 2018 | Productivity, Self Leadership
The headline of a 2017 article of Forbes magazine referenced a study that stated time as “the most valuable commodity.” Unlike money, where there are unlimited opportunities to make more, time is a non-renewable commodity. Once time is used, it’s gone.
One of my favorite quotes about time is by AW Tozer. He said, “Time is a resource that is nonrenewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it up, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day – when it’s lost it’s unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.”
It will not surprise you, we each get the same amount of time, twenty-four hours in a day, one hundred and sixty-eight hours a week. There’s not a select group of people or location on the planet that gets more or less. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor, educated or uneducated…we all have the same amount……no more no less.
That’s why author Kevin Kruse, in his book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management: The Productivity Habits of 7 Billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 Straight-A Students, and 239 Entrepreneurs says, “Time is unique because it’s the one true equalizer.”
The big differentiator between the “time wealthy” and the “time poor” is not the amount of time but what’s done with the time one has.
When I was a kid, every time I earned a couple of dollars, I would want to go to the store and spend it as quickly as possible. My dad would always say, the money was “burning a hole in my pocket.” I was not a good manager of money. The same could be said of many people. They blow through time, not realizing the value of it.
The truth is time cannot be managed. However, you can control what you do with the time you have. Here are three practices that, if done regularly, will keep time from “burning a hole in your pocket.”
PRIORITIZE YOUR TIME
Jason Selk in the book Organize Tomorrow Today writes, “The most successful people don’t get everything done. They get the most important things done.” But how do you determine the most important things?
Here is a framework that I have found helpful to dial in priorities.
MUST DO, SHOULD DO, COULD DO, SHOULD NOT DO
I base this framework on the Eisenhower matrix, made famous by author Stephen Covey in the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. On a sheet of paper create a box with four quadrants. Label the top left MUST DO. Namethe bottom left, COULD DO. The top right quadrant, label SHOULD DO. Finally, name the bottom right quadrant SHOULD NOT DO.
Now, make a list of all the things you are responsible for and the way you use your time include projects you are working on, regular tasks and assignments, activities that you do on a regular basis, and goals that you want to accomplish. All items that are urgent AND important write down in the MUST DO quadrant. These activities should take first priority. They are activities that need to be dealt with immediately. The goal would be to reduce the number of items that land in this quadrant. You can cut these through prevention and preparation.
Now do move to the COULD DO quadrant. Place activities that are both urgent and NOT important. The items in this quadrant are often the result of someone else’s sense of urgency based on their priorities. Living out of this quadrant, you may feel rushed to get things done as well as a lack of satisfaction when they’re completed. Many times the tasks in this quadrant are distractions!
In the SHOULD DO quadrant write down all the things that are not urgent BUT important. The activities in this quadrant need to be your focus. These are the activities you should begin to prioritize. Too often this quadrant is pushed aside to the tyranny of the urgent. However, you can only push aside the things that matter most like relationships, health, and learning before time runs out.
Finally, put all the things are NOT urgent and NOT important in the SHOULD NOT DO quadrant. Activities in this quadrant are merely time wasters. Strive to minimize the amount of time you spend on activities falling in this quadrant.
There will be times when your priorities compete with one another; times when there simply is not enough time to accomplish the things you must do and the things you should do This is where the lens of “significance” can be helpful.
Significance takes into account the impact of the priority. To use a business concept, which priority will produce the highest ROI (Return on Investment)? One priority may have an immediate impact and seem like the thing to do. However, another activity could have a longer lasting impact and needs to take precedence.
Here’s the benefit of prioritizing your time. When you know your priorities, it gives clarity on what you say YES to and to what you say NO.
The most powerful word in your vocabulary is NO! Every time you say YES to something, you are saying NO to something else.
“YES lives in the land of NO!”
PROTECT YOUR TIME
Protecting your time is such an important practice. If you don’t protect your time, it is vulnerable to be stolen by something or someone else. You have to control what goes on your calendar and in your schedule. An excellent process for this is time (calendar) blocking.
Time blocking is a productivity practice for scheduling your time around your priorities. It does what it says; it blocks other people’s agendas that are not your priorities from getting on your calendar. Time blocking encourages discipline around your priorities. By creating a proactive schedule, you can pace your progress toward your deadlines. Time blocking gives guardrails for saying “No.”
Numerous blog posts teach the specifics of time blocking. However, let me give you a quick overview of how you can begin time-blocking your calendar.
Start with a blank calendar app or paper calendar. One of the features of most app-based calendars is the ability to mark BUSY and OUT OF OFFICE for each of your blocks, an easy “NO” without the need to say no.
Now, begin by putting your priorities (commonly referred to as “Big Rocks”) on your calendar. Include your standing appointments, items from your “should do” quadrant, family vacations or personal trips, etc. Block out the time or the day(s) needed for each.
“Spending your time on paper before the week begins makes all the difference in how your weekends!” — Teresa McCloy
Next, fill in the blanks. These are your “must do’s” and “could do’s.” Teresa McCloy, A friend of mine, teaches four P’S for Time Blocking; project, process (preparation), people, and presence (Mindfulness) blocks. I like to add a fifth “p,” play blocks (you can’t be productive 24/7).
You can personalize your time blocking system in ways that work for you. I like to use color coding, labeling and adding travel time to activities or events.
Here is a statement you should remember and take to heart. If it doesn’t make it on your calendar, it probably won’t make it in your life.
MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME
The third way to move from time poor to time wealthy is to practice mastering your time, which is about thinking in smaller units of time. One of the characteristics of highly productive and successful people is that they focus on minutes where most people focus on hours.
There is a principle called “Parkinson’s Law” that says work expands to fill the time available for its completion definition. If yourself 3 hours to accomplish a task, it will take you the entire 3 hours to complete. However, if you give yourself 30 minutes to finish the same project, you will get it done in 30 minutes.
Here are two things you can start doing immediately to maximize your time.
COMPRESS TO PROGRESS
Our default is to think in a half-hour or hour chunks of time. What would happen if you began to reduce your default thinking to smaller segments of time? Imagine what you could accomplish. An easy way to start compressing time is by changing the defaults. Instead of scheduling a meeting for one hour, compress it to 45 minutes. In the same way, shorten a 30minute meeting to 20 minutes. Put Parkinson’s Law into practice with any project, assignment or task.
BE PREPARED
There are always unexpected, unscheduled chunks of time that pop up during the day. What do you do with that time? A lot of people take the opportunity to exhale, spend a few minutes chatting with co-workers, surf the web, or check out their Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram feed.
Don’t be like other people. Be prepared to maximize those soft spots in your schedule with something productive. Determine the minimum amount of time needed to accomplish something on your task list. It could be as few as 2 minutes. If a meeting ends early and you have 15-minutes of freed up time, or something gets canceled last minute on your calendar go to your list of tasks find the most important things you can knock out in that freed up window and just like that, you have won back time by being prepared.
My favorite tool for being prepared is Nozbe. Where ever I am, I have my current task and project list with me on my phone. I can see what priorities I need to accomplish, the amount of time I have projected each task to take, and the resources I need to complete them. So, if I find myself with unexpected time, I can see the tasks that I can accomplish in the amount of time I have, in the place I am, with the resources (phone, computer, etc.) I have.
I once heard it said that if you master your minutes, you can master your life. Kevin Kruse reminds us that each of us only gets 1440 minutes each day. By applying the three strategies of prioritizing, protecting and maximizing your time you can avoid losing time and use the time given to you effectively.
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by James Duvall | Sep 17, 2018 | Personal Development, Self Leadership
When I was a kid, my family had a large garden down on my uncle Bob’s property. We would go there on a regular basis to tend to the garden. My most vivid memories are of the times we would go to gather or reap the harvest, picking the ripe vegetables off the vines, digging up the potatoes from the earth and, one of my favorites, breaking off and eating stalks of rhubarb.
What I don’t remember as well is going to the garden to till the soil, plant the seeds or fertilize the crop. However, even though I can’t recall it, it still happened. My mom and dad planted green beans, and green beans grew. They planted tomatoes, and tomatoes grew. The proof of what was sown into the ground was the fruit of what was reaped from the garden.
Our proverb teaches this same principle. If you and I don’t make efforts to acquire knowledge, then we can not expect to have it, and if we don’t put the knowledge we have to use, we shouldn’t expect to gain anything from it. We have to till, plant and fertilize the garden of knowledge to experience the fruit of it in our lives. And like the garden of my childhood, this is a continual process of tilling, planting, fertilizing, and reaping.
It is widely taught that the discipline of learning separates great leaders from the rest. In Disrupt You!: Master Personal Transformation, Seize Opportunity and Thrive in the Era of Endless Innovation, author Jay Samit proposes that in the 21st century, lifelong learning is no longer a luxury but a necessity for employment. Being a life-long learner does not happen by chance. It takes great determination to stay teachable. Dr. John Maxwell, in his book, Sometimes You Win-Sometimes You Learn, says, “Teachability [is] the intentional attitude and behavior to keep learning and growing throughout life.” Cultivating knowledge through continual learning adds so many benefits to one’s life. Here are a few to consider.
Leaning keeps your mind young:
The brain is a muscle and learning exercises the muscle to keep it growing and vibrant. There have been studies that show reading keeps your mind active, preventing it from becoming weak and unhealthy. Mental stimulation (through learning) can affect the onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. As John Maxwell says, “You are too old only when you stop learning and improving.”
One of the secrets to staying young is always to do things you don’t know how to do, to keep learning. ~ Ruth Reichl
Learning increases creativity:
Creativity at its core is problem-solving. Creativity requires regular feeding. Bernhard Schroeder in his book Simply Brilliant: Powerful Techniques to Unlock Your Creativity and Spark New Ideas says, “To be creative, you have to consciously believe you are creative. You have to have a growth mind set, one that is in a continual state of learning or acquiring more knowledge and open to new ideas.” Aggressively looking for new insights, experiences and creative expressions will increase creative output and problem-solving.
Learning keeps you ready for the future:
Let’s face it, the skills and training that are needed in the years to come are most certainly going to be different than what is required today. David Russell Schilling, in a 2013 article references the “Knowledge Doubling Curve” which shows that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II, knowledge was doubling every 25 years. He states that as of 2013, on average human knowledge was doubling every 13 months. With the advancement of the internet and globalization, it could lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours. What you know today will not be enough tomorrow.
One of the things that limit our learning is our belief that we already know something. ~ L. David Marquet
So we have established that being a life-long learner is the way to cultivate the garden of knowledge. We can see that leaders who deliberately pursue learning, separate themselves from the average. And, we have looked at three of the benefits of being a life-long learner. So how do you do it? How do you consistently and strategically put yourself in a place of learning? I am convinced that learning opportunities are abundantly accessible. Here are three opportunities to fertilize your learning.
Learning through Experiences (Failure)
Everything we experience, the highs and lows, the win and losses, successes and failures are opportunities to learn and grow. When you keep this mindset, you can treat failure as a learning experience. Thomas Edison did not fail over 10,000 times at creating the light bulb, he “just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Tim Irwin, Ph.D. in his book Run With the Bulls Without Getting Trampled: The Qualities — You Need to Stay Out of Harm’s Way and Thrive at Work (I highly recommend) teaches that one the Critical Success Factors is the Ability to Learn. Irwin presents three principles of learning from experience: One, examine past situations to determine what worked and what did not. Two, identify the causes for why specific strategies worked or did not. Three, determine whether or not the lessons may apply to an audience broader than just oneself.
Remember, everyone makes mistakes, even the most successful. The key is not making the same mistake twice, learning and growing and becoming a better person because of them. If you don’t honestly evaluate your mistakes, you risk repeating the same mistakes and not learning from them.
The worst thing that could happen to you today could lead to the best thing that happens tomorrow. ~ John Maxwell
Learning Through Self-Awareness
Scottish poet Robert Buchanan wrote, “O would some power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as others see us.” Simply translated, “If only we had the power to see ourselves in the same way that others see us.” Aristotle taught, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” If you want to develop and grow as a leader, then there needs to be a passionate pursuit of understanding yourself; the good, the bad and the embarrassing. You need to be aware of your strengths and weakness and how to lessen the impact of the weaknesses and leverage the strengths.
Nearly twenty years ago, my good friend and pastor Todd Mullins gave me great advice. He told me, the way people perceive me is their reality of me. Even if it is not entirely true of who I am. That set me on a course to understand and be aware of my blind spots. Blind spots are the tendencies in ourselves, that we are not aware of.
I am a huge proponent that assessments are powerful for self-awareness and identifying blind spots. A few years ago, I started compiling a document of all my assessments. I call it my Leadership Profile. It keeps me aware of my strengths and weakness, it reminds me of my blind spot tendencies, and it guides my leadership development goals. Some of the assessment tools that I have found helpful are, EQi, MBTI®, DISC, and CliftonStrengths.
A second way to learn through self-awareness is by receiving feedback. Honest feedback from trusted people is priceless. Once you know the truth, you can do something about it. So, don’t wait for people to offer feedback, ask for it. Ask people you trust to share specific things you could do to improve. Remember, the people giving feedback may feel as vulnerable sharing it as you do receiving it. So, make it as easy as possible. At the end of each year, I send out a feedback questionnaire to those who work closely with me. It asks for feedback on where they have seen growth in my life and what area I can improve on. I use the feedback as part of my annual goal setting strategy.
Here is a question that you can ask those that you trust. “If you see me doing anything that would drive my life, family or organization off a cliff can I trust you to tell me way in advance before it destroys me?”
It takes humility to seek feedback. It takes wisdom to understand it, analyze it and appropriately act on it. ~ Stephen Covey
Learning Through Resources
Today is a great time to be a learner. There is an unlimited supply of resources from which to learn. With the advent of Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle and Audible, there is instant access to books on any and every subject. Numerous sites offer summaries of books, giving the most important content. The internet provides immediate access to teachings from some of the greatest teachers and thinkers. Now it is even possible to get an entire college education without ever stepping foot on a college campus. However, these resources have to be used to be of any benefit.
I want to challenge you to continually learn and improve in your chosen field. Brian Tracy, in his book The 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires: How to Achieve Financial Independence Faster and Easier Than You Ever Thought Possible says to think of your mind as a muscle, which develops more and more as you use it. The more you learn, the more you can learn. In the book Tracy gives his three keys to lifelong learning:
1. Spending at least 30 to 60 minutes a day reading in your field.
(Check out my post IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW KNOW where I give multiple benefits of having a consistent discipline of reading.)
2. Listening to audio programs in your car, so you learn on the road. (#drivetimeuniversity)
3. Attending as many courses and seminars in your field as possible.
So, if you want to harvest knowledge you have to garden your mind. Learning through failure, self-awareness, and resources will give you the tools to cultivate the garden. To wrap this issue of Provertivity up, let me challenge you to be a life-long learner with three suggestions.
Eliminate Excuses
Sean Stephenson in his book Get Off Your “But”: How to End Self-Sabotage and Stand Up For Yourself writes, “The only thing that has ever held you back from having what you want in life is the size of your BUT. Sure, I’d like to change, BUT; I’m too old/too young, I’m too short/too tall, I’m too fat/too skinny, I’m not pretty/handsome enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m from a broken home, I have a learning disability. Our BUTS are huge.”
Stay Curious
Michael Hyatt wrote, “Curiosity is vital for leaders because learning is vital for leaders. I’m constantly reading, experimenting, and playing with new ideas and fresh approaches. Without curiosity, my leadership would have stagnated decades ago. Without the habit of curiosity, yours will too.”
Teach What You Learn
I have found that the best way to continue growing is by teaching what I have learned. Teaching cements learning through action. No, you don’t have to gather a class of students to teach, it could be as simple as sharing your learnings with a friend or with a team that you lead.
I hope you have found this helpful. If so, please share it with your friends and family. I would love to hear your comments and feedback. Until next time, live intentionally, lead effectively and last by continuing to increase your leadership longevity.
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by James Duvall | Aug 17, 2018 | Personal Development, Productivity, Self Leadership
Thanks for checking out another installment of Provertivity, where I take a proverb or wise saying and combine it with a productivity principle. I really appreciate your comments and encouragement. If you have a proverb/wise saying that you would want to be considered for a future blog post, add it to the comments below.
I love the book of Proverbs. It is full of wisdom for today. Proverb 15:22 is a great proverb. I like how another version of this proverb reads,
Your plans will fall apart right in front of you if you fail to get good advice. But if you first seek out multiple counselors, you’ll watch your plans succeed.” We all want to find success. Whether that is in our relationships, business, finances, or health, the goal is to succeed, not fail.
My wife Lisa and I have the privilege of working with couples who are getting ready for marriage. One of the first things we share with them is this proverb. Why, because we know that marriage is beautiful but sometimes challenging. Having wise counsel when things get tough or when new seasons emerge is so vital to the success of a marriage relationship and any other endeavor in which we invest ourselves.
You have probably heard the adage, “Learn from mentors or learn from mistakes.” I have personally found it less painful and more productive to learn from mentors. There is a perspective that comes with experience. And failure to tap into that perspective will, as the proverb says, lead to failed plans.
Here’s some hard truth; You are good, but probably not good enough to make it on your ingenuity alone. Everyone needs other people who have greater wisdom or insight. We all need the voice of those who have previously traveled the road we are on to help us avoid the pitfalls that may lie ahead.
Nothing can kill effectiveness and forward progress like doing things inefficiently or making bad decisions that cost time and resources. You can have the grandest plans but have weak strategies and systems to make them happen. Having the right counsel can increase the odds of success.
The proverb says that with “many advisors” there is success. So, here are five types of advisors that you can leverage as you move forward in your life.
Accountability Partner
Everyone needs accountability. We all need checks and balances to push us to be our best self. A lack of personal accountability can lead to the inevitable and sometimes devastating consequences that result from living an unhealthy and unchecked life. An accountability partner will call you out on broken promises and the failure to keep commitments. Making yourself accountable to trusted people can be a safety net from making wrong decisions that lead to failure.
Mentor/Coach
As Bill Gates put it, “Everyone needs a coach.” The good news is that coaching is becoming increasingly more accessible. A coach is going to be objective, knowledgeable, skilled in listening, and someone who cares. A good coach will ask the right questions and sometimes the hard questions. A good coach will provide honest feedback and helpful insight. The right coach can be a guide in providing the direction and tools needed for growth and finding the right path forward. You may need a coach for a specific area where you are hitting a lid or in areas where you do not see the growth you desire. These could be in areas like spiritual growth, health, finances, relationships or productivity.
Counselor/Therapist
You may be thinking, isn’t a counselor and a coach the same thing. No. A coach focuses on helping people achieve their goals, giving motivation for, and creating plans for change. A counselor works with people to solve the problems that make them feel bad emotionally or keep them from functioning well. There are times when we need to get help overcoming issues from our history that hold us back from moving forward into our destiny. Anxiety, depression, and many other emotional matters require the services of a trained professional counselor to move forward.
Expert
Who are the people already doing what you want to do at a higher level than what you are currently doing it? For most of us, we will never have the opportunity to meet and get direct counsel from these people in a face to face setting. However, many experts make their counsel and advice readily accessible through the books they have written, blogs and podcasts that they have posted online and seminars that they teach. Today, you can leverage most experts on demand, twenty-four, seven.
Wise Sage
Merriam-Webster defines a sage as a person of great understanding of people and of situations and an unusual discernment and judgment in dealing with them. A wise sage is a person farther down the road than you who has through reflection and experience, greater wisdom and insight about life and how to be successful at it. When I think of a wise sage, I think of Mr. Myogi from the Karate Kid movies. More than teaching Daniel LaRusso karate, he taught him how to live a better life (wax on wax off).
Life can be challenging and complicated at times. Getting the right voices around you is so important if you are going to succeed. History is littered with people who failed due to inadequate or no counsel. Recently I heard Brian Houston, Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church say, “There is a big difference between opinion and good counsel. Opinion is forced on you; counsel is invited.” I encourage you to think about the “advisors” you have around you. Maybe it is time to add to your “many advisors” and invite the voice of an accountability partner, coach, counselor, expert or wise sage to speak into your reality and enjoy the success that results from the input.
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by James Duvall | Jul 9, 2018 | Personal Development, Self Leadership
Recently, my pastor spoke an incredible message on the power of declarations. A declaration is statement, not of what is, but of what will be. The Bible is full of declarations made over individuals; David, Gideon, Peter to name a few. Declarations are powerful because our words are powerful. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit — you choose.” The words we choose to speak over our lives determine our destiny.
I have been using personal declarations as part of my daily disciplines for the past two years. I have personally witnessed the transformation that happens through declaring what will be in the midst of what is. I am confident that anyone can create and experience the power of making persona declarations in their life by following these five steps.
STEP 1: CHOOSE WHERE YOU WANT TO CHANGE, GROW, LEVERAGE OR IMPROVE.
Where are the places in your life where you want more, desire more significant impact, or you feel stuck? These are places to focus and build declaration statements around. Where do you want to see change in your life, relationships, finances? Are there negative thoughts or past failures that wear at your confidence and self-esteem keeping you feeling defeated? What hopes and dreams do you have for the future? Are you the person you want to be?
These are the types of questions to ask yourself as you begin the process of creating your declarations. I have found that using the framework of my life domains when creating or editing my declarations is helpful. I like the six F’s; “Faith, Family, Fitness, Fun, Faculty (Work) and Finances.” that Rory Vaden shares in Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time. Each one of my daily declarations, declares the person I am becoming in one of these areas.
Right now, as an action item, take out a piece of paper, take a few minutes and write out some areas in each of the domains of your life where you want to change, grow, or improve. These could include the way you are as a spouse, a parent, a provider. They could be things that point to your health. Whatever they are, these will be the building blocks for your declarations.
STEP 2: CRAFT YOUR DECLARATIONS
This will take the most time as you want to make sure that your declarations are structured in a way to transform your thinking. Here are a few things to consider when structuring your declarations.
Make your declarations personal:
Remember these statements are for you. They are not for anyone else. You are going to declare these over your life. Start each statement with the singular first-person personal pronoun “I.”
Make your declarations in the present tense:
The second word in your declarations should be “am.” There may be occasions where”have” or “will” work better as the second word. Remember, you are declaring who you will be or where you will be, not who you are now or your current situation. Declarations are faith statements. You are declaring what will be as what is. Remember“…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
Make your declarations positive:
Use big, positive, empowering adjectives to declare who you are becoming. I use words like great, blessed, and highly successful. Remember these are your declarations. This is not the time to be meek and humble. This is the time to be bold and call out the person you want to be or the outcome you want to achieve. As a note, you may want to stay away from superlatives. There is a big difference between saying you are great or you are the greatest at something.
Make your declarations descriptive:
Don’t stop at merely stating who you want to be or what you want to achieve. Add phrases that describe what the declared reality looks like. These statements will begin to shape the way you act, which will, in turn, move you toward your desired destination.
One of my daily declarations is “I am a great husband.” That statement by itself does not say much. However, I describe the actions that define what being a great husband to Lisa looks like… “I intentionally look for ways to cherish Lisa by taking advantage of opportunities to serve her (her love language), surprising her with unexpected gifts and planning special experiences. Finally, I describe the desired response from Lisa, “Lisa esteems me as her loving and faithful soulmate.”
Make your declarations meaningful:
Your declarations should stir your emotions. They should cause you to well up with a sense of resolve, confidence, and excitement of who you are becoming. If a declaration does not inspire you to be your best self, I would encourage you to scrap it.
STEP 3: STORE YOUR DECLARATIONS IN AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE PLACE
It seems like common sense, but as we all know, common sense is not common practice. So, if don’t have a plan for where you will store your declarations, you will probably have to regularly look for them. If they are not easily accessible, the chances of you leveraging them are slim to none. As the old adage goes, “out of sight out of mind.”
There are several smartphone applications that are specifically geared for writing and accessing affirmations. You can experiment with them to see if one works for you. Search your smartphone app store for “affirmations”, and you will find a substantial list.
I keep it pretty simple by keeping mine in a note in Evernote. I keep that note as a favorite in Evernote. So every morning, wherever I am, I can open my phone and quickly get to my declarations. You could even go old-school, analog and write them or print them out on paper and tape them to the inside of a journal or Bible. The point is to keep them very accessible so that you can quickly get to them on a daily basis.
STEP 4: READ YOUR DECLARATIONS DAILY
There is power in repetition. The act of consistently reading (out loud) your declarations will begin to shape your mindset and align your actions toward the person you are becoming. I prefer to read my declarations at the start of my day as part of my morning quite time routine. However, don’t limit this exercise to one time a day. You may want to state your declarations at times when you are feeling vulnerable. They will be valuable at times when you need a boost in your confidence. They can be used to pick you up at times when you may have failed to lived up to your best self, and need to be reminded of the person you are becoming. You can never leverage your declarations too often.
STEP 5: BE ON THE LOOK OUT!
I have been amazed as things happen in my life that relate directly to the declarations I have made. You may have heard of The Law of Attraction. It says that we attract into our lives whatever we are focusing on. We have all experienced it at some time in our life. Have you ever been looking to purchase something like a specific car? Maybe you are thinking about buying a red Subaru, and it everywhere you look, you see red Subarus. Probably nothing mystical about it. You have probably passed red Subarus every day of your life. But now, you see them everywhere due to your mind being focused on and sensitive to spotting them. It is no different for the outcomes that we experience in our lives. As you begin making your declarations, you will be focused and sensitive to seeing them fulfilled. Be on the lookout! What you declare with your mouth will become a reality in your life.
Declarations have changed my life for the good. As a result of speaking declarations, on a daily basis, over my life I am a stronger Christ follower and a better husband, father, leader, and friend. I want to challenge you to take the time to go through the steps outlined and experience the power of declarations for yourself.
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by James Duvall | Jun 20, 2018 | Personal Development, Self Leadership
This past week I had the opportunity to speak at church to a new group of interns during their summer experience. There could have been so many topics I could have talked to these young leaders about that could have added significant value. I thought I would put in a post the content of the direction I decided to go. I felt a call to vocational ministry when I was fifteen years old. At the time I thought my calling would lead me to a life of real impact (stardom) through music. After graduating high school, I packed up my ’79 Plymouth Duster and headed to Nashville, TN, the promised land of music wannabes. After starting my college career in Nashville, I quickly realized that a dynamic singing voice came a dime a dozen. At about that same time, I began serving in an inner-city ministry to students. I really found what I thought was a sweet-spot working with those students and as God stirred in my heart, I decided to change my major from Music Business to Christian Education. After meeting and marrying my wife, Lisa while at college, we left Nashville and served in student ministry at a church in Ohio and then in Kansas before coming to Christ Fellowship in 1996. I was a young, confident student pastor stepping into a ministry position at a church, that was at that time, the largest church I had personally ever been a part of. Wow, if I had the opportunity for a do-over in some areas, I would take it in a heartbeat.
THREE THINGS I BELIEVED BACK THEN:
1. Personal growth was something that just happened over time.
Looking back, I placed a lot of trust in my calling and natural abilities. I believed that they would sustain me for my entire ministry career. I was too nearsighted (focused on the moment) when I should have been much more horizon focused (looking toward the future). I also acted as if I had an unfair advantage to all my peers. I mean come on, I was on staff with Tom Mullins and Dr. John C. Maxwell. I think I must have believed that mere proximity was all I need to grow. I didn’t read all the free John Maxwell leadership books that I received as a staff member at Christ Fellowship. Why would I, I had probably heard Dr. Maxwell teach the content in a staff meeting or at one of the conferences that he held at the church. Wow, what a faulty belief.
2. I had all the time in the world.
I was young. I was just starting out in my ministry calling. There was no timetable to accomplish the dreams I had. I never worried that time could run out on those dreams and ambitions. I believed that the people who needed to worry about that kind of stuff were those who were in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Their time was running out. Okay, now that I am in my mid forty’s, I look back at that snotty nosed kid and think you were so wrong!
3. Reading books was a waste of time.
This may be a reason why all those free John Maxwell leadership books never got read in my twenty’s and thirty’s. I now realize I had a severe case of “EXCUSE-ITIS.” There were all kinds of “legitimate” excuses for why reading books was not something I could do.One really good excuse was that life was busy and who had time to sit around all day reading books. And seriously, after a hard day of “ministering” to people, I needed veg-time on the couch with my good friend the television remote control. Another self-defeating excuse that I used, leveraged the fact that I have dyslexia, adding in me being a reader.
It takes me too long to get through a book, so I will just not put myself through the pain of reminding myself of how slow I am. There were probably more excuses that I used.I was sneezing excuses all over the place. All I know is that I had a bookshelf of unopened treasure sitting in my office.
THREE THINGS I KNOW NOW:
So, if I could go back and tell my twenty-ish self a few things, here are three things that if I had known, would have propelled me farther than I am today.
1. Personal growth demands continual self-leadership.
The difference between people who maintain a continued upward trajectory in their leadership and those who flatline is self-leadership. Early in our leadership careers, success is based primarily on execution. The better you are at executing a role, the more promotion you receive. However, there comes a day when someone younger, quicker, smarter, or more talented than you will come along and be able to do what you do better than you. The thing that will set you apart and help you expand your leadership longevity is going to be how intentional you were at developing yourself. By being diligent about self-leadership, you move from influence as a result of execution, to influence as a result of who you are as an individual.
“What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” — Abraham Maslow
Self-Awareness is the beginning of real growth. You can’t know the path to get to where you want to go if you don’t first know where you are. A great place to begin the journey of self-awareness is through the use of assessment tools like DISC, Meyers Briggs, Enneagram and EQ-i 2.0. Another powerful tool for self-awareness is honest feedback from those who know you best and love you most. On your quest for personal development, it is crucial to adopt a growth mindset.
There are 2 different mindsets; fixed mindset and growth mindset to describe the underlying beliefs people have about learning. You have a growth mindset when you believe you can get smarter, you understand that effort makes you stronger you will put in extra time and effort to pursue higher achievement.
Stay curious (Google everything)! Don’t discount the ideas of other too quickly thinking it could be too old-fashioned, or not relevant. Some of the best teaching on personal growth is going to come from mentors that are no longer living. Let me introduce you to one of those people, Jim Rohn who said the following about self-leadership.
“The most important question to ask is, what am I becoming?” – Jim Rohn
“Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job. If you work hard on your job, you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself, you’ll make a fortune.” — Jim Rohn
2. Time is your most valuable commodity
Unlike money, time is a nonrenewable and nontransferable commodity. Once it is used, it’s gone. Once it is used, it’s gone. A.W. Tozer wrote, “Time is a resource that is non-renewable and nontransferable. You cannot store it, slow it up, hold it up, divide it up or give it up. You can’t hoard it up or save it for a rainy day – when it’s lost it’s unrecoverable. When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.” In case you did not know, every single human being gets the same allotment of time, twenty-four hours a day, one hundred and sixty-eight hours a week. It doesn’t matter how rich or how poor, how educated or uneducated, we all have the same…no more no less. Kevin Kruse, in his book 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management says, “Time is unique because it’s the one true equalizer.” This is why you need to learn how to do three strategic things with your time.
- Prioritize it!: What are the most important things that you need to do to accomplish your responsibilities, complete your goals and fulfill your dreams? Using a tool like the Eisenhower matrix is an excellent framework to start identifying those things.
- Protect it!: Did you know that every day you could be getting robbed and not even realize it is happening? It is true! Without adequate protection, thieves will rob you blind of your time. A great process to put guardrails around your priorities is through a tool called time blocking. Like a budget gives a purpose for every dollar you make, time blocking gives a use for all the time in your day, week, month and year. If you don’t protect your time, it will be stolen by something or someone else.
- Maximize it!: Highly productive people focus on minutes instead of hours. You can start doing the same. Thinking in smaller units of time will enable you to maximize your time.
One way to maximize your time is by compressing the amount of time that you give to meetings, projects, and tedious activities. There is a law called the Parkinson’s Law that states work expands to fill the time available for it completion definition. So, If you give something 3 hours to do, it will take you the entire 3 hours to complete. But if you give the same project 30 minutes to do, you will get it done in 30 minutes. Compress 60-minute meetings to 45 minutes and 30-minute sessions to 20 minutes. This one small change will allow you to maximize your time.
3. The single most effective strategy for personal growth is a regular, disciplined reading habit.
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” — Charlie “Tremendous” Jones
There is no other practice that I know of that has the overwhelming benefits to a persons life and leadership than the habit of consistently reading books. Here are ten proven benefits from reading books.
- Reading make your mind stronger – The brain is a muscle and reading keeps your mind active preventing it from becoming weak and unhealthy. Mental stimulation can prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
- Reading improves your verbal and written communication skills – AAs you read you learn new ways to form sentences, share ideas and express emotions.
- Reading makes you smarter –All the bits of information fill your brain and you never know when that information may come in handy. Knowledge equips you to overcome any challenge may face.
- Reading improves your vocabulary –You are introduced to new words, phrases and expressions. Just today, my wife Lisa made the comment about how she had to look up words she didn’t know in a book she is reading.
- Reading improves your memory – With every new memory you create new brain connections (synapses) and fortify existing ones.
- Reading enhances critical thinking skills – You make decisions every day and some of them are critical. The requirement of reading for a person to think through and process information strengthens critical thinking.
- Reading improves focus and concentration – Reading requires your mind to dial in on what is being said through the text. This discipline carries over into other aspects of daily life.
- Reading builds self-esteem – Did you know that If you were to read three books about a topic, you would know more about that topic than 99% of the population. That would make you an expert. How is that for building self-esteem?
- Reading makes you more interesting
- People who are well read can recall stories, illustrations, history, funny antidotes, and information about all kinds of topics.
- Reading it the ultimate leadership differentiator – It’s a sad reality that only one in four Americans read a single book in the last year. Just think how reading a book a month could separate you from the pack as a leader. Not all readers lead, but all leaders read!
If you want to start the discipline of reading. I would encourage you to focus on reading a small number of pages per day that you know you can accomplish. Ten pages is a good starting point. If you commit to reading ten pages each day, you will read around 12 to 13 books in one year. If you are not sure what books to read, I have a lot of the books that I have personally read listed in my RESOURCES with Amazon links for each. The most critical step to creating the habit of reading it to start. I know it is impossible to go back in time and talk to myself and to hope that I would take my advice and act on it. But, I know it is possible that after reading this post, you could take my advice and start growing yourself, prioritizing, protecting and maximizing your time, and begin the daily discipline of reading books. I leave you with one last quote…
“My father used to say that it’s never too late to do anything you wanted to do. And he said, ‘You never know what you can accomplish until you try.'” — Michael Jordan
by James Duvall | Sep 16, 2017 | Productivity, Self Leadership
Email is a productivity thief. If I could take the familiar passage from the Bible about Satan being like a roaring lion and apply it to email, it would read something like…
“Be alert, have a plan! Your enemy, Email, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someones time and attention to devour.”
Seriously! Email kills productivity. I’m always working my plan for email and learning from others how to make it better. While reading Personal Productivity Secrets Do what you never thought possible with your time and attention… and regain control of your life by Maura Nevel Thomas, I was intrigued by her T.E.S.S.T.™ Process for dealing with paper and emails. Although it is similar to my process that you can read about in ZERO emails in your inbox?: How I get my Inbox to Zero and Keep it That Way, the process is excellent. Here are the building blocks of T.E.S.S.T.™ …
“Take immediate action” – Apply the “two-minute rule.” Can you accomplish the task in two minutes or less? If so, do it.“Empower yourself and others” – Pass the task along to someone else.
“Empower yourself and others” — This is a much more inspirational way of saying delegate it to a person, or people who should do would be better to do the action required.
“Suspend” – If you don’t have all the data you need, don’t do anything until you do. You can add this to a next action to get the resources you need to determine if you or someone else should complete any work required.
“Store” – Any information you want to keep, but does not require action can be filed away in a trusted system where you can retrieve it when needed.
“Trash” – Any information you do not or will not need in the foreseeable future, DELETE. There are numerous ways that you can go about processing your email.
I think the T.E.S.S.T.™ process is a fresh and intelligent way of working through your inbox. I would also recommend you get the book Personal Productivity Secrets to read more about the T.E.S.S.T.™ process as well as other helpful productivity teachings on topics including; attention management, mastering your technology, and controlling communication. You can read more of my thoughts on email and how to take control of your inbox in my post: Process Email Like a Productive Pro!: Three Ways Conquer Your Inbox.
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