Saturday, October 4, 2014

Bridging The Gap

Bridging The Gap Between Knowledge and Action

Chances are, you already know what needs to be done.  You know you need to stop procrastinating.  You know you need to watch less TV. You know that you need to set smart goals and intelligent deadlines.  And hopefully, you know you need to track your work, track your results, and put more of your effort into the aspects of your business to give you the strongest results.

But there's a very big gap between knowledge into action.  Think of all the money that's spent on knowledge: whether it's a large companies trying to improve their efficiency, or housewives and stay at home dads trying to get into better shape. They know the adjustments they need to make, but they always fail to set habits and follow though.

Let's look together at some of the gaps that keep you from turning knowledge into profitable and useful habits.

The Fear Of Change
Failure can be comfortable.  It represents a continuation of a routine that, at least on some level, has brought us a lot of pleasure. Now where this breaks down is that pleasure and happiness are two very different things.  Pleasure can be bought with a cookie, it can be found in the bottom of a bottle, you can get a short rush of it with a few minutes on Facebook.

Happiness is harder, and the road towards it is longer, winding, and littered with distractions. The constant pursuit of pleasure, ironically enough, keeps more people away from becoming happy.

You Won't Learn By Doing
There are too many people who tried to do by learning instead of learning by doing.  Talking about problems to death rarely solves them. People talk too much already.  It's natural to want to go into a scary situation with knowledge at your back. But once you've learned the basics of a skill, start acting on it.  Then look for new information once you've run into a serious roadblock, or have a smaller aspect of the skill that demands your attention.

You Rely On Motivation Instead Of Habit
It's okay to "feel unmotivated" sometimes, to hit a roadblock and need something positive to dig you out. But you're always needing to be motivated for any kind of positive action in your life, it's a sign that you haven't really put the energy you should into setting habits.

Habits aren't subjects that need motivation.  Habits are things that we just do, whether it's a good time or a bad time.  If you can devote one month to establishing a positive habit, chances are much better that you do it for a long time to come.

Accepting "Life Excuses"
Too many people take "life happens" as an excuse not to do the things that they should.  It's almost like there's no effort to leap the obstacles that life puts in front of them.  It's important to set uninterrupted times and uninterrupted places for the most important priorities cannot be violated. 

When you give yourself a choice between any two things, there's a chance you will take the less beneficial choice.

Set up at daily routine that eliminates those choices.

Going From Zero To A Hundred
When it sinks in how far behind we are on our goals, it's easy to try to do too much at once and destroy our desire to improve altogether. While there are people who can handle this sort of drastic shift, for most people it'll be best to start small, focus on repetitive action, and scale up from there!

No More Excuses
The time for learning and not doing it over. Step up and start making a serious change in the way you approach problems... right now!

BANABU

Fran Watson

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Burnout

A few weeks ago I found myself involved in a war of words with a colleague.  I did not respond well and found myself shaking and in tears for much of a two week period.  I wasn't sleeping well, I wasn't eating well, and I certainly was not happy.  It was time to stop for a while and take stock of what was happening.

I have been reading Simple Abundance by Sarah Bean Breathnach for the past 9 months and today's reading hit me between the eyes. 

She began with a quote by Edna St. Vincent Millay:  My candle burns on both ends;  It will not last the night.  Exactly what I was feeling.

She went on to say that "burnout is a condition caused by unbalance:  too much work or responsibility, too little time to do it, over too long a period."  Yes, that too.  Too many clubs, too much responsibility, feeling I had to carry everything on my shoulders, that if things failed, it would be my fault, and over too long a time period -- 12 years.  Or wait, maybe it was even longer, maybe 28 years - since my husband left me with 4 kids to raise, and when I worked full time, raised the kids and took my university degree over 13 years.

Whatever it was, as Sarah said, "a smoldering flame can be just as deadly as a flash fire" and I think that things were smoldering below the surface for quite some time.  Sarah called it when she said, "first degree burnout--the soul snuffer--comes from living unbalanced for years, when what was supposed to be a temporary situation becomes a lifestyle".

Her final paragraph told me what I have to do.  "When you're suffering from burnout, you are the only person on earth who can help because you're the only one who can make the lifestyle changes that need to be made; to call a halt, to take a slower path, to make a detour."  And so I have.  I have cut back on meetings.  I am letting others take control.  I am backing away from too much responsibility.  I am taking better care of me, going to bed earlier, eating better, stopping work earlier, taking time to get out in nature.

How about you?  Are you beginning to feel the strain of burnout?  Take the time now to make the necessary changes before you crash and burn. 

See below for a short test you can take.

Fran

To a new and better you  (BANABU)


ARE YOU A STRESS PRONE PERSONALITY?

SCORE YOURSELF:                        4 Always         3 Frequently    2 Sometimes    1 Never

1.      Do you try to do as much as possible in the least amount of time?                _____

2.      Do you become impatient with delays or interruptions?                                _____

3.      Do you always have to win games to enjoy yourself?                                    _____

4.      Do you speed up the car to beat the red light?                                               _____

5.      Are you unlikely to ask for help with a problem?                                           _____

6.      Do you constantly seek admiration and respect from others?                        _____

7.      Are you overly critical of the way others do their work?                               _____

8.      Do you have the habit of looking at your watch or clock often?                   _____

9.      Do you constantly strive to better your position and achievements?             _____

10.  Do you spread yourself too thin in terms of time?                                         _____

11.  Do you do more than one thing at a time?                                                     _____

12.  Do you frequently get irritable or angry?                                                       _____

13.  Do you have little time for hobbies or time by yourself?                               _____

14.  Do you have a habit of talking quickly or hastening conversations?              _____

15.  Do you consider yourself hard-driving?                                                         _____

16.  Do your friends or relatives consider you hard-driving?                                _____

17.  Do you have a tendency to get involved in multiple projects?                       _____

18.  Do you have a lot of deadlines in your work?                                                _____

19.  Do you feel vaguely guilty if you relax and do nothing during leisure?        _____

20.  Do you take on too many responsibilities?                                                     _____

·         Between 20 – 30, your life probably lacks stimulation

·         Between 31 – 50, you have a good balance in your ability to handle stress

·         Between 51 – 60, you are bordering on excessively tense

·         Over 60 – you may be a candidate for heart disease