Did you ever wish you had planned ahead for a difficult day? - photo by D. Hennessey

There has been days when I have woke up in the morning and wondered ‘Okay, what do I need to get done today?’ When I have this thought I know I am in trouble when it comes to my personal time management.

After many years testing and retesting time management systems that I have come across to help me achieve more effectively my daily goals I realized that I needed an ‘action list’ often called a ‘to do’ list BUT I recently realized I was reviewing my ‘to do list’ at the wrong time of day.

I had been reviewing my list first thing in the morning when I needed to review it briefly as one of the last things I did at night.

When I review my list as one of my last things at night (note: my to do list includes personal, family and work items) I can confirm they are definitely actions ‘to do’ and not actions ‘not to do’.

Then as I go to sleep I set my subconscious mind to work on the successful completion of the tasks the next day. This helps me have clear thoughts of motivation when I wake up. So I get out of bed with my priorities already established for a fulfilling day.

Yes, I do look at my list in the morning as I start to take action but I know it is what I want to do because I planned it the night before.

Note: If my ‘to do list’ is not inspiring enough to get me out of bed I definitely need to review the list and put priorities on their or the list is more of a ‘Not to do’ list.

Remember you can learn how to be time effective so you can do more of what you want to do by reducing the stress in your life. Request a copy of my FREE eWorkbook via the form on the right of this page and see if you are missing any of the 19 steps I share to help make your life more fulfilling and less overwhelming.

Your friend on the journey,

David

Playing with Stones for Fun and Focus - Photo By D. Hennessey

At the beach it is always fun to play with stones to see what I can do. In the fun (like what I was doing in the picture) I teach myself more focus and patience. I like mixing games with learning it makes the process less intense.

When I was a teen I used to think playing board games was just for children. Then I found out that some games really make you work on your strategy and help you develop lateral as well as linear thinking – all excellent mental tools to enhance your personal and professional problem solving skills.

Indeed, you can develop mental skills with video games but my personal preference is to be off the computer so I can play games in person with one or more friends around a table, if possible, outside in the fresh air.  It also helps gives my eyes a rest from the computer screen.

Scientifically speaking, games can help keep our minds strong as we grow older by keeping our brains active and they can also help our children learn to use their minds in a new way. So not only is there a learning bonus but a health bonus too. Here is one link to an article in the journal of Neurology about the powerful positive effect of board games.

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Below you will find a list of some of the games I have enjoyed over the years.

The links under the names are to wikipedia details.

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Rush Hour – a game of focus and problem solving that can help you enhance your ability (in my opinion) of how you look at problems using visual memory. This game is played alone.

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Chinese Checkers – a game for building strategic thinking skills where you have to make plans and keep in mind the actions of the person you are playing with.

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Mastermind – one of the older games that is also about using your mind to figure out patterns like in a code breaking exercise – you use your deducting reason in this game.

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Many card games like Skip Bo can be nourishing for the mind young and old as it help you work on strategy and counting skills. Finally, although I have little experience with cross word puzzles they are definitely away to work the brain. Soduku is also a great way to work the mind.

If you are interested in feedback other than mine or pricing on one of these games you can visit Amazon without obligation by clicking on one of the links below

Mastermind

Rush Hour Award Winning Game

Chinese Checkers

SKIP BO Card Game

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What games do you enjoy?

Cheers,

David

Yes, the picture was just to grab your attention and get you to FOCUS on the article:

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I’ve seen many troubles in my time, only half of which ever came true – Mark Twain

Depending on how well you know me, you may or may not know that when I was younger I used to worry a lot probably every minute about every single thing that was happening or may be going to happen.

I don’t know why but somehow I got attracted to the idea of worry at a young age and we became friends. Today, we are no longer friends and I daily keep an eye out for Mr. or Mrs. W (and their children) and do my very best to avoid them entering my life.

Here are a couple of things I do daily to stop the worry habit:

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One
I Define the Challenge and Set a Goal
If there is something I can do about the situation like a lack of work, a lack of friends, a lack of food then I make a plan to take action. If there is nothing I can do about it I can’t take any action so I let it go and I immediately focus on the things that I can change in my life. See if this can work for you.

If you need help to set a new goal this article will help you – Smart Goal setting

You will also find the idea of using my FREE goals cards helpful to nourish your daily successes. Find out how you can get your free goal card template here.

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Two
I Live in a Day Tight Compartment
When I was about 16 I read a book by Dale Carnegie called ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. ‘Live in a Day Tight Compartment’ was the title of one of the chapters.

The idea is that at the end of the day as you go asleep you accept you did the best you could do that day and do not bring worried thoughts to bed with you. If you have concerns and you can change them then write a note to yourself about the action you need to take. Take the note and put it in your time planner (or in your shoes so you remember it) and take care of the action the next day. Then go to bed and enjoy a restful sleep.

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Three
See the Problem as Someone Else’s Problem
If I have a challenge and I am not sure how to handle it rather than worrying about it I like to apply a concept I learned from a friend. He told me look at the situation as if it was someone else’s problem. Then offer yourself the same advice you would offer a person who told you they had the problem.

You know we all can give very good advice when we are telling friends about what to do. We don’t encourage the friend to worry. We tell them to act or just to forget about it. Thinking in the third person can help dissolve a challenge.

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There you go – that is three things I use. Of course, after many years working on my own personal development as well as helping other people I have a few more ideas that I will share with you in the future. Try out these three for starters.

If you are curious to read more about Dale Carnegie’s classic book details plus over 140 reviews are on Amazon – check out this link to learn about How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Last time I looked Amazon had it available on a deep discount special. Nice.

Yes, I still have my own copy of this book. It is a classic I recommend you read or get for a friend who needs it.

Enjoy a happy day,

David