Month: May 2018 Page 1 of 2

“That’s been one of my mantras-focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” Steve Jobs.

The busyness of modern life presents us with countless different and competing priorities requiring our attention. It’s therefore important that we maintain a sharp focus on our key priorities.

When we reduce distractions and focus it increases our personal effectiveness and has a great positive impact on our goal achievement and results. It helps to contribute to increased self-esteem, confidence and happiness levels.

Being focused enables us to make the best use of our time. It helps us to take actions that are aligned with our true desires and beliefs and that bring us the most effective results.

When you set goals, it’s a good practice to picture in your mind, how you would like things to look in the end. Effectively, you’re starting an action period with a vision of an outcome in mind.

Having a sharp focus enables us to make the best choices and develop habits and behaviours that will help us to achieve our goals. Like any other behaviour in life being focused is a habit and can be honed with practice and consistent action.

In order to become more focused you must first of all decide what are your most important priorities and goals. You can also figure out the behaviours and strategies that will bring you the results that you desire.

To avoid splitting our energy and to maximise our effectiveness, a great habit to adopt is to focus on one task at a time. Having a single focus and ensuring that you complete tasks before you move onto something else will maximise your effectiveness.

If we use our attention and energy in this way, concentrating all our mental power on a single task, we will see a substantial increase in our productivity and efficiency. It will also mean that we use less energy and actually be energised by our increased effectiveness.

When we adopt this kind of mental discipline, we may find ourselves “in the zone” totally immersed in what we’re doing in that particular moment. In this state we get into a state of flow. We become less conscious of time and what is going on around us.

There are a few obstacles that we have to overcome in order to become more focused:-

• Lack of clarity. We may not have a clear sense of what we want to achieve or what our most important priorities are. We may not be certain about the direction we’re heading in. In order to deal with this, it’s good to spend some time tuning into what we really want and then create some clear goals. This helps us to devise focused action plans.
• Distractions. There could be a variety of things that distract us in the environments in which we operate. We may work in an office that’s open planned. As such we may have people who distract us by chatting or being loud when talking on the phone. Telephone calls and e mail notifications and technology in general may distract us or interrupt our focus and train of thought. It’s beneficial to work out some strategies to minimise the impact of interruptions by switching off technology and notifications when you have a big task to complete. You may also explore if it’s possible to work in a quiet area occasionally when you have to do something that requires total concentration.
• Spread too thin. We may try and do too much in the amount of time available. This may mean that we are pulled in various directions and feel that we don’t have full understanding of our most important priorities. In such circumstances we can work on reducing the length of our to do lists. We can think about if there are certain tasks we can stop doing to free up some time. We can also review if there are some tasks or projects that we can delegate to others.

This week, why not take a few moments out to reflect and consider what action you can take to become more focused.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk

“Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.” Jessica Lange.

It’s important if we are to be the best that we can be personally and professionally that we learn to use our energy and mind in the most productive ways possible. One way we can do this is to develop greater inner peace and calm.

A key element to achieving greater inner peace and calm is to be more accepting of situations and people. Rather than expending lots of energy wishing things and people were different or trying to rewrite history, we have to start working with “what is.”

In having greater acceptance in our life, we start to focus our minds, time and energy on how we want things to be. With this clarity we will move things forward from where we are now. We can decide what we can do to build upon our current position and develop it into what we desire and aspire to.

There is a great quote by Socrates which we can use a reminder of the power of acceptance and how it helps us with deal effectively with change.

He said “The secret of change is to focus your energy not on fighting the old but building the new.”

How many times have you fallen into the trap, after something hasn’t gone as planned or as you envisaged, of replaying the situation in your mind and wishing it had a different outcome? This is easy to do but a pointless exercise because no matter how many times you replay it, what happened isn’t going to change. It is what it is.

Being more accepting of others allows us to be in a state of non- judgement and have no malice towards them. As a result, we have greater tolerance of other people’s views and opinions. We accept people as they are rather than how we would like them to be. We start to look at their strengths and qualities rather than their flaws and weaknesses.

We could apply this principle to ourselves too and become more accepting of who we are and develop pride in our qualities, our accomplishments and achievements. In doing so, we expand our appreciation of the value we bring to the world and the contribution we make.

We can accept and use our natural gifts and talents rather than spend time and energy focusing on our weaknesses and what we lack. This also allows us to stop wasting time and energy comparing ourselves to others. Instead we become more single minded and focused on our goals and desires

When we encounter difficulty or challenges we can choose to accept what is, take the lesson from it and move on with greater wisdom. After all tomorrow is another day.

We can learn much from the Reinhold Niebuhr quotation “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Also we can accept gifts and compliments from others and be grateful for all that we have in life. In doing so, we can develop an attitude of gratitude and frequently count our blessings.

This week, why not take a few moments out for reflection and ask yourself; where do I need to develop greater acceptance of situations and people personally and professionally?

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk

“Change your thoughts and you change your world.” Norman Vincent Peale.

There is much written and said about how the internet and social media can be a negative influence. We hear stories of how people are harassed, bullied and abused online. Conflict is played out in public and in extreme cases it used to whip up hatred, create division and promote terrorism.

There have also been numerous stories recently about how some social network sites have shared customer data without their knowledge. There is also much talk about how social media may be used to influence and manipulate people’s opinions prior to elections thereby influencing the result.

However, social media contains lots of inspirational and heart- warming material and resources. It has the ability to inspire, motivate, uplift and empower us. It can be a force for good. It largely depends where you decide to point your personal lens and what you look for.

Posts on social media can have a ripple effect. People can post something online to inspire others or to help others feel good. Alternatively, they can see something online that inspires them and that they share with others. The people they share it with can share it with their own networks. In doing so, they are creating a positive ripple of inspiration.

The blog is simple this week and is my contribution to create a positive ripple of positivity and inspiration. I have shared something below that inspired me when I saw it on social media:

Words to live by:

Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

Your Job won’t take care of you when you are sick; your friends and parents will: stay in touch.

You don’t have to win every argument; agree to disagree.

Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

Don’t compare your life to others; you have no idea what their journey is all about.

Over prepare and then go with the flow.

Be eccentric now; don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

Frame every so called disaster with these words: “In five years will this even matter?”

What other people think of you is none of your business.

Your children only get one childhood.

If we threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

(By Regina Brett aged 90 years old.)

A couple of things occurred to me after I read this:

• When we share our wisdom and life experiences it has the ability to help others to think, develop and gain valuable personal insights.
• We can have a positive influence on the world and other people by using the internet as a force for good.
• There is much wisdom to learn from old people but they aren’t always given the opportunity to do so. Additionally, older people’s views, opinions and insights aren’t always given sufficient respect by society.

This week, why not take a few moments out to reflect and consider which of the Regina Brett’s insights you could apply to your own life. Also, think about how you could use the internet and social media as a force for good.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk