Go deep

Any project you’ve ever done while leaving yourself open to distraction is not your best work.

Shut your phone (and watch) off and get better performance out of yourself.

Multitasking makes you worse at everything

Ok, you’re going to argue with me because you can walk and chew gum…

But your brain cannot do two things at a time.  What people call multitasking is really task-switching.

You focus on A for a short period (minutes, seconds) and then switch to task B, then back to A.  But you lose focus and time in the switch.  (That’s why you need to turn off all notifications on your phone when you are working.)

Multitasking is the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.

Do one thing at a time.  (The most important thing  for your key future results first!)  Do it well, feel good, and move on to the next thing.

Break inertia – take the first step

A body at rest tends to remain at rest.

A body in motion tends to remain in motion.

Like – YOUR body.

Do the important things that will make a difference in your life that you have been putting off.

Sometimes, to work out, taking the step of putting your workout clothes on is the first domino.  Then just go to the place you workout.  If you just do those simple things, you will find yourself working out.

Or you clear your desk and put in front of you the information and things you need to write what you need to.  Then shut your phone off.  Then sit down.  Then type the first word….

Or you make the ingredients list for the project and put them in order.  Then get the first thing you’ll need.  Then the second.  Then clear a work space…. pretty soon – you’re doing it.

What is important that needs to get done?  It’s become a wall in your mind.  Break through that wall by taking the very first very simple step…and you are on your way.

What is "Success"?

On Think Daily we talk about “success”.  On Think Daily for Businesspeople we talk about “success”.

So what is “success”?

Many people think that the word means money – you have a lot of it – you’re wealthy.

But that is only the definition if that was your goal – to make a lot of money.

Let me say it this way – could you be a successful mountain climber?  A successful parent?  A successful hobbyist?  A successful athlete?  A successful church leader?  A successful human in any endeavor? 

These goals have nothing to do with making money.  When I want to write a post I think “Is this more appropriate for Businesspeople, or is this for everyone?”  Often times it is applicable to both.

Businesspeople lead teams and their goal is to produce a quality product or service that customers want and to spend less money producing it than they take in so they can make a profit.  If they do not make a profit, the whole group goes home – so yes, making money is imperative in business.

Most subscribers get both Think Daily AND Think Daily for Businesspeople each day.  Pay attention to which Think Daily you are reading for a bit more context.

Success is not about chasing money and sacrificing your life to do so.  If what you are interested in or doing each day involves making money, then being successful at it will yield a higher income and over time, some wealth. 

Being successful to me is about being the best version of yourself while developing your talents into skills – while practicing what you were born to do.  As Earl Nightengale said, “It’s the progressive realization of a worthy ideal or goal”.

There are countless worthy ideals or goals.  Pick one that suits your talent and go for it each day.  And as the definition says, you don’t have to wait until the goal is reached to be a success.  Only to go for it each day and continue making progress.  At Think Daily, that’s what I mean when I talk about success.  And I hope my words help you do that.

Filling your gas tank to E

I’ll never forget it.  When I was in high school and didn’t have a car yet, I had a friend who did have a car.  One day we went to the gas station and he got 50 cents worth of gas.  He paid with two quarters. 

Now, gas was cheap back then, but it was still less than a gallon of gas.  He sped away with enough gas to get where we were going that evening.

Many people settle for just enough.  They fill their gas tanks to E.  Because when you’re on “E” you can go a little more and get through a little longer.  

Just enough information.  Learning just enough.  Having just enough energy.  Getting just enough sleep.  Saving just enough to get through the week.  Learning to create just enough value to pay the bills.

Going beyond E to fill your life tank much more is to delay gratification, learn more, look to the future, work harder than is necessary at times, and getting out of your comfort zone.

Let’s go for more than E, and live a full life.

Don't get mad.

There will always be critics.  They will even criticize the perfect man, if there was one – so you don’t stand a chance to avoid it.

Slights and insults are powerless without your reaction.

A reaction won’t change anything anyway. 

Tune out idiotic and reactionary voices.

“It isn’t heroic to be enraged.” -Marcus Aurelius

Be a learner – an open and honest one

Spend time learning before making a decision.  Many people make the decision first and go do research to see that they were right.  (Confirmation bias.) 

You will always get some people to agree with any bad idea – but they rarely will honestly tell you how their life or business turned out much later using the idea, or if they even used it at all.

Learn well.  It determines how your life turns out.

Favor the great over the new

Most people will do the opposite – like when choosing a movie.

Favor the great ideas, the great philosophies, the great principles for living. 

There will always be the new coming along, only to yield to the next new shortly after.

The great sticks around.  It may not be a shiny penny, but it works. for the long term.

Compliment people

“Everyone likes a compliment.” – A. Lincoln

If you compliment people, they will look forward to seeing you.

The "wills and the will-nots"

It’s not the “have’s and the have-nots”, it’s the “wills and the will-nots”.

Will you?