It’s hard to believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. On the other hand it is quite believable, as will soon be clear.
About two weeks ago I was speaking with one of my colleagues. He is the president of his volunteer organization and he was feeling burned out. I could see that he was taking on a lot in his desire to succeed and I could see how that was negatively impacting him. I had recently read about Deepak Chopra’s daily routine and shared it with him.
Deepak gets up at 4am does two hours of meditation and two hours of exercise, he then goes golfing for 4 hours and then has a leisurely lunch with good friends for 2 hours. He starts his work day at 2pm and is in bed by 10pm. I am sure between 2 and 10 he also spends time with family and has dinner.
So assuming he puts in 5-6 hours a day, Chopra manages to write 2 bestsellers a year and go on his many speaking engagements. I imagine that he did not start this habit after he became successful, but its because of these habits that he became who he is today.
I explained to my colleague if he wanted to succeed he needed to stop trying to accomplish everything and narrow his focus. And by focusing on one thing and bringing it to brilliant fruition he would be able to achieve far more.
Ironically I had a coaching session with my coach (yes even I need one) later that day, and when I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to work on for that session, my coach suggested we focus on how I manage to function when I take on so much. Talk about dejavu, but this time the lens was on me. By the end of the session I too realized that I have been juggling way to many things.
After the call I sat down with my wife to see just how many things I’ve been juggling. The count was no less than 10. The next obvious question was, if success is part of my game plan what was my next step? The answer was simple. Leave the juggling to the entertainers but remove it from my life.
Since then I have already removed 4 self imposed obligations from the list already. My goal is to get down to two.
Where are you at??
Coaching Questions:
How many things are you juggling right now?
How is this preventing you from truly succeeding in life?
What would your life look like if you dedicated your energy towards one or two objectives?
What is your next step?
