positve change

Chunking Up For Progress

October 6, 2010 By Cara Lumen

If we think in bigger chunks, we’ll feel better organized. Four big chunks are Plan. Prepare, Produce and Learn. Here’s how that might work.

Schedule a Planning Chunk

You need to take time to work on your business rather than in your business. This means quarterly contemplation about what’s working and what’s not and based on that what to release and what to keep.

You need a chunk of time to plan a new project – do your research, create an outline, write a landing page to focus your intention.

You need a chunk of time to plan the topics of your blog posts or article submission.

This is brain time. This is time you stop doing and allow yourself to feel and think and observe and choose. Put a planning chunk on your calendar. Putting it at the end of the week gives you time to acknowledge what you have accomplished and prioritize for the next week. Project planning can be scheduled any time. Again, you need to mark off several hours so you can really sink down into your ideas and pull out the best ones. Schedule planning time on your calendar in healthy sized weekly chunks.

Schedule a Preparation Chunk

You need time to prepare. This is the time you spend writing the landing page for your new product or service. It is time spent designing a cover for your ebook, or writing a new worksheet for your coaching practice. It can be about outlining a new course, designing handouts for it, figuring out bonuses and schedules. It’s about brainstorming blog topics and product ideas. It’s based on planning but it is about moving your projects forward.

Schedule a Production Chunk

I try to blog three times a week but I write them in one sitting and post them for the week so I just need one chunk of production time for the major part of my blog. It’s important to me so I do it Monday morning. I want to continue to post articles to www.ezinearticles.com so in this blog producing chunk I now make time to post at least one article on line. Adding one small step to an existing time chunk can keep you moving forward.

Part of my producing chunk is about leveraging – turning a teleclass into a home study course for instance. Or taking a radio script and making three articles out of it. Fleshing out my Cornerstone Content. Seeing if I have enough blog posts on a particular topic to create a new ebook. Putting existing ebooks on Kindle. You can see how you need a good chunk of production time each week.

Schedule a Learning Chunk

We need to keep learning. Schedule time to be on a conference call that will bring you new knowlege, read a business book, go exploring on the internet, or take a tutorial in a program you already use. I’m reading the revised version of Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid (I’m in it) and going to write a book review for Sharon Sayler’s What Your Body Says.” (I wrote the exercises) I want to order Mitch Meyerson’s “Success Secrets of the Social Media Superstars.” And I have several content development workbooks I want to study to enrich my “How to Craft a Magnetic Information Product” course. A learning chunk is vital to keep expanding our horizons. You should schedule a learning chunk every week.

Schedule daily Move Ahead time

What is important for you to accomplish this quarter? That is the one project you are going to focus on. Break it down into steps and schedule them on your calendar. Keep focusing on this one project till it is complete. It’s a Move Ahead Chunk on one outstanding project.

In my case it’s a content development course I am creating. My steps are:
1. Design the content, the experientials and the handouts
2. Decide how long the course must be
3. Decide what bonuses will go with it
4. Schedule the time to give it – allow time to begin marketing it 6 weeks out.
5. Write a landing page
6. Pick a price
7. Write the invitational emails that will precede it.
8. Expand the outline
9. Write the content
10. Produce the product
11. Promote the course

Some of this is planning, some preparing, some producing and some learning but you have to schedule 2-3 hour chunks of time for a Move Ahead time on a special project. This could be an information product, a new service, or even learning a new skill like more about video or audio. Mark off an afternoon to be creative. Then create. Give yourself chunks of time to plan, prepare, produce, learn and move ahead. Then notice how quickly your business takes off.

How to Get More Done in Less Time

September 27, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

Do you ever get to the end of the day and feel you have gotten nothing done? Has a month gone by and you’re no further along on a project than you were? I’ll bet you can also list a zillion little things that you did that pulled you off target. Would you like a way to get more done in less time? Of even just get more done – period?

Look for the big picture

First of all you have to have a big picture. What is the over-all goal here? For instance, one of the things I set out to do beginning last fall was to strengthen my platform. I bought a great home study course and then didn’t start it. So I was beating myself up for that. Until I realized that my big objective was to strengthen my platform and I had 1) taken a blog course, 2) upleveled the number of blog posts to five a week, and 3) had subscribed to five blogs that will teach me more about blogging. And I had 4) invested in an SEO program to make the post stronger. And I 5) kept doing little things that the bloggers suggested I do. Oh yes, and I was having a great time with my radio show. (6) So guess what – I am working to improve my platform. I just haven’t taken that one particular course yet. I felt like improving my platform was going to ask me to confront some of the things that are not so easy for me and it still may be the case, but meanwhile, I’ve found my own way toward my goal and until I saw it as part of my big picture, I didn’t realize I had accomplished so much toward making it happen.

Know what your big objective is. Then stay open to how you reach it.

Chose and focus

Stay on target. Keep focused on what your big objective is and continue making choices around it. There are always exciting new ideas showing up but if I have decided in a thoughtful moment that my objective is to build my platform, then I must keep on making choices that further that goal. Leo Babauta in his book Zen Habits suggests we create only one significant work a year. Wouldn’t that be wonderful – just one significant work a year. Significant is the operative word here. Choose something that will make a difference in your business, in the lives of others, in the world. How would you feel if you could make that happen?

Leo goes on to suggest that we break that significant work into smaller projects. Life and business are really about doing one project at a time. Think how great it will feel to see the beginning, middle and end of a project. And the third suggestion in Zen Habits is to choose three tasks every day that will help you complete the project and do them – but only during your working hours.

Create uninterrupted attention spans

What do you consider your “working hours?” I know that when I sit down to write, time is suspended, I am totally engaged, I am excited and inspired and sometimes amazed at what shows up. Those are magical times and I don’t want them interrupted. I’m finding that during my morning meditation an idea often begins to form and if I move from there to my desk and start writing it is a continuation of my inner unfolding process. I don’t look at email, I don’t look at my action list, I just immerse myself in my thoughts and write. I had a friend with young children who got up at 5 AM to write her play in order to have uninterrupted inspiration time.

When is your best working time? Are you a first-thing-in-the-morning person? Then don’t schedule any meetings or phone calls then. Guard those times as sacred – the times you can focus on your significant work, the times you can contemplate your business goals and write them down, the time you can work on that information product that wants to go out and serve the world. It can be one hour or three. Let’s call it your Significant Work time. It’s a time when you only work on the projects that help complete your Significant Work.

Do not multitask. When you do several things at one time you are not truly enjoying any of the things you are doing. It’s very satisfying to take time to organize your desk but if you do it while on the phone with a friend, both your friend and you are short changed from the pleasure of total engagement. Whatever you are doing, do it will total absorption. Then you will be able to savor its completion.

Acknowledge yourself

Before you end your work day, make a short list of what you accomplished and how you feel about it. “I added two more exercises to my Idea Generator book and I’m very excited about how it is developing.” “I had a phone call from Voice of America Radio asking if I want to host a radio show there. It really stretched my vision of what is possible and opened up a lot of ideas and possibilities for me.” You get the picture, a short period of time to count your blessings if you will. To become aware of the signs and signals and opportunities that were provided and more importantly, what you felt about them and which ideas or conversations you may want to act upon. I have actually created a Magnetic Momentum Builder form that I use on a weekly bases to record these experiences and accomplishments. It helps me see that I am progressing and it also lets me decide how I feel about what I have done – or not yet done.

Choose a Significant Work, divide it into projects and only choose to do things that move those projects forward. When you are totally absorbed and engaged, the work is easily accomplished and time ceases to exist. And you will find you have gotten more done in less time.

The Ten Percent Solution

August 29, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

They say we only use 10 percent of what we own. Think how much space we would have if we gave the rest away. Think how much money we would have if we stopped buying stuff we don’t need. Think how much time we would have if we didn’t have so much stuff to take care of.

What’s important to you?

I’ve moved into a smaller place. My office is now in one corner of my living room rather than having a whole room to devote to it so I’ve had to do some really serious choosing.

Since it’s in my living room I care how it looks – there is no door to shut if it gets messy. So I need some tidy systems for tracking what I need to have on hand.
I use binders for my courses and ebooks but books are warmer looking. My binders will be on the lower shelves and my books will be on display.
What books do I want to keep? When I knew I was moving I threw away a lot of things but I need to give away more. I have the library so I could access some books again if I wanted to. Novels come and go that way. Even business reference books are up for release. There is a half price book store in town that will buy my books.
Clothes need a good reality check. I have lost some weight and really must trust that I will not go back to that larger size. I can release those clothes. And under the bed storage has to be for a change of seasons, not a storage place for clothes I’ll never wear again.
Kitchen stuff is huge. I don’t have as much kitchen space but I have a pantry so I’ve stuffed a lot in the pantry and as I need things I bring them out and put them in the prime locations. And I’m giving away duplicates and odd cooking tools I never use. I can’t reach half my cabinets in the kitchen and that is only storage space so why don’t I get rid of what I might put there? I have arranged my spices into plastic bins with baking spices in one and cooking spices in the other and can easily cart them out of the pantry to bake. And my favorite spices are close at hand. I do not need so many pans since I’m no longer cooking for four children. Again, I will pull out what I use and see about giving away the rest.
The put-abouts are the hardest. I have a ton of crystals, way too many Buddha and Quan Yin statues (they remind me to stay centered and calm) and a lot fewer spaces to put them on. This is my second downsize in a year and I have not given any of my put-abouts away. But I need to do that.

What do you really need?

Garages are lethal. Its way too easy to put things out there rather than give them away so they can stay in service. Too many closets let you keep things you don’t need. Too many bookcases let you keep things that could be passed along and big kitchens are for storing way too much stuff. Choose an area of your life and tidy it up. You have changed. Your needs have changed. What do you really need? Then get rid of the rest and you’ll have room to breathe!!!!!

What To Do When Need Overcomes Reason

July 21, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

Have you ever reached a point where your emotional needs are so great that practical, logical reasoning was impossible?

My friend was very, very lonely. Her marriage was failing, she didn’t feel very confident in herself and she was desperate to be with people who could affirm her ok-ness. When the doctor told her she should have back surgery right away she was so lonely that she chose to wait three months so she could go to her vacation home and play golf with the people she craved. And the doctor said, “If you feel any numbness come back right away.” She pushed her luck. Her emotional need overcame her logic.

She is still lonely, and is getting a divorce, and because of this huge need to be with people she is emotionally set on buying a house in a retirement community that may be too big an investment for her. But she perceives this environment as having lots of adult activities and thus a way to fill her loneliness so she didn’t even consider other options that might have been wiser for her future.

An unmet emotional need can overcome reason.

What needs are making choices for you?

There are physical needs, of course, that do need to be met – food, shelter, care of your health – but it’s the emotional needs that can push us into unreasonable choices.

Detaching the emotional need from the physical need may take a bit of doing.

For instance, the economy has changed and the business culture has changed. Whether it’s a job or an entrepreneurial venture, the choices we make now have to be different because the world is different. And to make good choices we need to understand our emotional needs and how they influence our choices.

Why are you in the job you are in? Why are you an entrepreneur? What emotional need is being fulfilled by your work, your relationships, your choices?

It is said we have four major needs: we want safety as in food and shelter, companionship and love, a sense of being worthy and a spiritual connection. You may choose to work in a company because you need companionship rather than work at home alone. You may be an entrepreneur because you can create results that make you feel worthy faster by yourself. You may be in service because you feel the spiritual value of actively helping others.

But what if the job goes away? What if the business stops? Will you feel fear, panic, lack of self-confidence? Will you want to give up? Or do you see unexpected change as an opportunity to reevaluate, reframe, explore your inner wisdom and look for the messages that are there to guide you to your next step?

What choices will your emotional needs suggest you make? And are they right ones for you?

Look for your core needs

Safety

If feeling safe by having food and shelter is your core need, then your current choice is to make the adjustments you need to live on what you have. Sell the house, get rid of the stuff, stop buying clothes, and start being thankful for what you DO have. Enjoy learning to cook economically, have a great time at the stay-at-home family nights. Count your blessings. Scaling back on what we have can actually enrich our appreciation of the most basic of possessions.

Love

If you need companionship seek those who truly nourish you. Give and give and give to others. Go volunteer. Look for small acts of kindness you can offer others wherever you are. Sometimes a need for feeling loved leads us to select the wrong person. When we give ourselves the self-love we deserve we are not dependent on others to fill that need.

Go more deeply in service. See where you are needed and step in. Offer a small kindness. Offer a big kindness. Give, give, give. That’s how you experience the give and take of love.

Self-worth

When we learn to acknowledge ourselves for the job well done, we won’t need to look for the approval of others to make us feel valuable. We are in charge of our own life. We are in charge of how we see ourselves. We are in charge of how much we love ourselves.

Write your own acknowledgement list. Write down the positive things others say about you. Stop comparing yourself and know that you are unique in what you have to offer and go offer it.

Spiritual connection

When we move into a place of constant gratitude, we will begin to see the abundant blessings that flow our way and understand how we are guarded and guided along our path.

Take time to smell the flowers – literally. Watch a bud develop over time. Look at the intricacies of a blossom; understand that the same Universal Mind that created nature in all its intricacies created you. Feel that connection and make it real for you.

Fill your own needs

Once you identify the emotional needs that need filling, set about filling them. Focus on changing your own beliefs and your own attitudes

Learn to love yourself: When we learn to love and appreciate ourselves we will gain in self-confidence. Know and understand yourself and start giving yourself what you need. Set boundaries. Create a vision. Expect the best. Do not settle for second best.

Learn to relate to others: When we realize that everyone has a unique contribution to make, we no longer have a need or desire to control others or give them unsolicited advice. We will cease to be judgmental of the individual uniqueness in others. Become a gentle listener, a patient companion, a generous and kind friend.

Learn gratitude: When we learn to appreciate everything we have and give gratitude for it, we will not have the need to get more stuff just because someone else has it. Express your gratitude of others to them. Express your gratitude of yourself to you. Be aware of the goodness that surrounds you.

What emotional need is influencing your decisions, your actions, your choices? Do you need approval, feelings of self-worth, friendship, a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging? It may not be obvious at first but take some time to identify your needs. Then look to see how your need is influencing your choices – for better or worse.

How to Use Assumptions to Gain Clarity

July 14, 2010 By Cara Lumen

by Cara Lumen

In Seth Godin’s blog post The theory of the case he puts forth this idea about how to use assumptions to gain clarity:

“Here’s a way to get more strategic.
Instead of arguing for a course of action based on the status quo or your emotional gut, describe the theory of the case.
A is true.
B is true.
If we do C, then A and B should permit us to get D.
The method of this strategic analysis is that you expose your assumptions, you describe your actions and you post the results. This permits your teammates to supply facts that might change your analysis.”

Uncovering assumptions uncovers limiting beliefs

So I did this exercise with my personal life. I wrote down my assumptions about what I think is true and immediately began to clarify or justify or dispel every assumption. Some were about my business, some were about my finances, and some were about how I felt emotionally. None of them were absolute. All of them touched on a concern, and after I wrote down my assumptions and clarified them, I wrote down the action steps I was willing to take.

An assumption is a dangerous jumping off place. The word “assumption” means “something taken for granted”, ‘belief without proof.” It also means an “approved starting point.” So if you are working as a team you better be sure your approved starting point is valid and everyone is clear about the assumptions behind it. And if you are creating a new project or business venture you better get proof that what you are about to create is needed by the people you want to reach. Don’t assume, get the facts.

Clarity is vital

The worst kind of assumption is when we think we know what the other person is thinking – or what they mean by a particular statement or action. Did the person unsubscribe from your mailing list because she did not like what you wrote or was her email or her day or her life simply overwhelming and she cut out a lot of things? You don’t know and you can’t assume without asking.

Not only can you not assume for other people but you cannot assume for yourself. Make an honest list of your assumptions and see how true they are before you start building on them. Write down three assumptions – one about your business life, one about your relationships, and one about your health. Is your business working as it is set up now or does it need repositioning? Are you lonely or do you have fulfilling relationships and if not what can you do about that. Have you given up on getting healthy even as you age? What is your assumption about the aging process? Once you clarify your assumptions you can define your action steps. Question your assumptions; they are partially based on limiting beliefs, not-knowing and wild guesses. Examine them until they are based on the truth.
Assumption also means acceptance of responsibility for something

Then you have to take action. If A and B are true, what C do I have to put in place to turn them in the direction I want? Sometimes talking to someone helps. Explore your assumptions with a friend. Is this really true? Is this how you see it? How else can I look at this assumption to see it in another way? Take responsibility for the assumption. Take responsibility for changing it until it rings true. And take responsibility for taking action based on that assumption.

Reframe

My son, Chris, gave me some important advice the other day. I found a major change necessary to make and I was depressed about it and saw it as a negative move. He said, “reframe it.” That means I have to find a new vantage point, a new way to perceive it, a way to see the change as positive. I did and I felt better about the upcoming change. When I do look for and see the positive, it becomes positive.

Be aware

Awareness is vital. I meditate every day to tune in to my inner wisdom. I write posts like this one to figure out things. I journal. I make lists of my assumptions. I look for the signs that are given every day that guide me in the right direction. I jump on the ideas that show up, the impulses that lead me to write something or read something or call someone up. And I am consciously aware of what I receive from others. There is a kindness in the people here that is powerful. I have to up my own kindness game and give back more.

Be open to change

Don’t continue blindly down the path you are on. Examine your beliefs, lay out your assumptions and see if they are true, Reframe how you look at your life, your work, your relationships and see the positive in each. Change what needs to be changed. Release what needs to be released. Embrace what needs to come next.