Archive for June, 2010
Top 10 BlockBuster List of Achievement Killers — #3
By Judith Parker Harris
Block: Lack of Time.
Buster: Make it, Steal it, Demand Time for Yourself.
I have always wanted an eighth day to my week. This would be a day that no one else knows about. I would sit at my desk in complete silence. The phones would not ring, the computer wouldn’t ding, there would be no chaos outside my door. I would sit at my desk and I would write, create, ponder, think, breathe, review, strategize, research, in short, I WOULD ACHIEVE.
I never got the eighth day so I had to create it myself. I start my day at 4:30 AM or 5:00 AM when everyone I know is sleeping. I use that special time to achieve the connection with my brain, my creativity, my strategic plan.
If you’re not an early morning person, where can you create your “special time”? There’s late night, the middle of the night, a stolen lunch hour to walk in the park, weekend alone time that you declare and stake out for yourself, no questions asked.
You get the idea, “special time” is a time when everybody in your life is doing something else so they cannot intrude upon your time. It’s that time when you get the download from your own brain free from the noise the rest of the world is trying to download into your brain.
Time is a precious resource – perhaps one of the most precious. Only you can decide how much time you need for sleep, love, career, fun, community, spiritual, family, friendships, health, parenthood, and environment – most of the life areas in which we must apportion our time. Achieving balance in these areas takes conscious effort and a bit of magic. It can be done, however, even though I’m hearing a chorus of naysayers.
Time: We want to ration it, store it, protect it, steal it, hoard it, create it and hold on to it so time will never run out. We want to wrap our minds around using time well, around taking an early hour in the morning and focusing our intent so expertly that it seems like one hour morphs into our very own 8th day of the week.
To connect to your genius, which will align you with the achievements you desire, you simply must remember to make, steal and demand time for yourself. That is where you will find the “magic” to run your life according to your own plan. Time most certainly will run out for us all, but at the very least we can say, it was time well spent.
Watch for my next blog and #4 on the BlockBuster List of Achievement Killers – Not Listening.
Top 10 BlockBuster List of Achievement Killers — #2
By Judith Parker Harris
Block: Unclear Intention
Buster: Know What You Want.
Number 2 on the Top 10 List of Achievement Killers is having an Unclear Intention. How can you possibly get what you want when you can’t state it with conviction and clarity? Once you can do that, have you defined a SMART intention, meaning is it specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely?
Remember, an intention according to Webster’s Dictionary is “something that somebody plans to do or achieve, the quality or state of having a purpose in mind.” The element that fuels the plan or purpose is clarity. What do you want? Why do you want it? When do you want it? Who’s going to make it happen? Where do you want this to take place? Yes, you’ve got it, defining your intention is a bit like being a detective. You’ve got to get to the facts, all of them, and keep narrowing it down to what is achievable. Just keep asking Why? Until you drill down to the heart of your intention – the heart of the matter.
All of my clients must start their projects with me by having an intention in mind. They must also name what they think is blocking them from getting that intention. Recently, one client, by our fourth session had still not been able to define her intention. There were many factors at work: She was a multi-tasker and couldn’t imagine narrowing her projects down to one; She had difficulty prioritizing; She had a fear that if she named her intention, determined to go after it and failed that she wouldn’t be able to face the consequences. These are just three of the many excuses people find to keep them from going after their dreams. Let’s not forget, “I’m not good enough,” “I’m too busy.” “It’s too late.” I could list 50 excuses that block us at one time or another.
When the excuses are at work, we tend to be more general than anyone can grasp or even care about. My client kept saying, “My intention is to be happy.” I kept saying, “Yes, you and everybody else. And, what will make you happy? Choose a concrete intention and explore the happiness that accomplishing that intention brings, then go on to the next intention and the next intention…”
Bottom line is, know what you want. Think about it, feel what it would be like to achieve it, feel what it would be like to not have it, look at it from every angle, talk about it until you can express it in 7 words – a good headline. Have a picture so clear in your head, heart and soul that you can get anyone and everyone to see the vision of your intention — accomplished.
Define it, see it, speak it, feel it, strategize it, and you will achieve it.
Top 10 BlockBuster List of Achievement Killers — #1
By Judith Parker Harris
Block: Risk Aversion.
Buster: Take Action.
Number 1 on the Top 10 Blockbuster List of Achievement Killers is Risk Aversion. Let me tell you, nothing in life gets done without a tiny bit of risk attached to it. There’s an old joke about a man stuck on the top of his house during a flood. He prays to God for help and waves away a raft, then a boat, then a helicopter, because he knows he doesn’t need them and that God will help him. Tragically the flood rises and takes him under as he cries to God, “Where were you?” Then he hears God’s voice, “I sent help three times. All you had to do was take it.”
All you have to do is take it. Take the first step, ask the first question, offer the first suggestion, jump in and go after what you want. Take the risk before the little voices come in with a chorus of fear and insecurity saying, “You might be wrong,” “What if you fail?” Who do you think you are?’ So-and-so does it better,” jump in and take the risk.
Long before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I had a feeling something was wrong with my business or the way I was running the business. I needed to raise the fees in my advertising agency, I needed to replace some employees with more qualified ones, I needed to take the leap of growth in order to attract more and better clients. Instead, I kept working harder at the old, comfortable ways of doing things. I worked round the clock and ignored every warning my body sent me. I ignored exhaustion, I ignored floaters in my eyes, I ignored an occasional loss of balance, because I couldn’t “risk” listening to my body and changing my ways. So, my body finally screamed at me with partial paralysis from the waist down and loss of my central vision. I had to stop and listen. I had to take a risk, change my habits, learn to be healthy and find balance in my life before I succumbed to the disease.
So, I took action after action after action – all with a bit of risk attached and all different than I would have taken before. One by one over three years my symptoms disappeared. I’ve been healthy since 1990. Nothing about my life is the same today as the year of my diagnosis in 1985, and everything is BETTER.
What are you ignoring? What risk do you need to take that can change your life, relationship, health, financial situation, career? Don’t be a whiner and mourn what’s missing in your life. Explore the possibilities and take ACTION. Fill up with love for your life and what you are going to do to achieve your intentions and push out the fear of risk that blocks achievement.
Watch for my next blog and number 2 on the Top 10 List of Achievement Killers – Lack of a Strategy.