Last week's question was "What is ONE way you would like to "be" for this first week of September?" It turned out to be a very helpful focus for my week. I had said I wanted to be accepting of whatever happened during the week. I chose that focus because I thought it might be a challenging week with my kids having their first week of school and being in stressful hockey evaluations. Having my mantra for the week to "be accepting" was helpful in navigating different challenges that popped up. But I really struggled to be accepting when my husband accidentally hit our son's car in the driveway as he was backing out of the garage on our son's first day of school. My first reaction was shock and then anger, (at my poor husband who was just distracted because he had so many things on his mind). I really wanted to stay stuck in my negative reaction to the event, but then I remembered that I had committed to be accepting. Every time I would start to feel upset that things hadn't gone the way I had wanted them to for the first day of school, I would remind myself of my mantra. It's easy to be accepting when things are good. It's not so easy, but probably more essential, when they are hard. Last week's ONE Thing focus really helped reframe my perspective and have a better experience.
So with last week's focus on being, this week's focus is more on doing. The two go hand-in-hand and we need both to have balance. I am going to keep my accepting mantra from last week and add this week's question to the equation. This week's question is, "What is ONE Thing you can do this week to be more productive?" Now that everyone in my family is getting in the groove of their September routines, I feel like I can focus on many things on my "to do" list for September. In order to be successful in achieving all the things I want to do this month, I am going to have to be highly productive. This week's question will help me stay focused to achieve what I want. Some ideas for how to be more productive include, making a realistic schedule and sticking to it, prioritizing what is most important each day and doing those things first, eliminating time-wasting habits, rewarding yourself for completing your "to do" list, look for more efficient ways to do necessary tasks, and delegate.
If you need more ideas for ONE Thing you can do to be more productive, there are endless lists you can find if you Google this topic. I am attaching a link for some ideas from Robin Sharma. https://www.robinsharma.com/article/21-tips-to-become-the-most-productive-person-you-know. His list covers a lot of the obvious productivity ideas and some ideas that I found to be novel and would like to try. My ONE thing is to eliminate playing games on my phone. I started playing a few games on my phone when my kids introduced them to me when we were on a long flight. It seemed like a great way to pass the time. Now I have a few games that I find relaxing to play if I am waiting to pick my kids up from their activities. But my daughter pointed out to me that I was distracted by my game when we were sitting in our living room and she wanted to talk to me. So I am deleting these games from my phone. I am also going to be on the lookout for other time-wasting behaviours that I might not even be consciously aware of. I will let you know next week if my productivity gets a boost from eliminating some Time-Wasters!
As always, I would love to hear from you on what you will do to be more productive this week? Please share anything you would like in the comments below, on Facebook or in our Weekly ONE Thing Facebook Group! We might get good ideas from each other.
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