Channelone.TV: Speeding up to slow down to speed up

Friday, July 4, 2014

Speeding up to slow down to speed up

Mel,

Do you ever have days where you do nothing but sit at your computer and answer emails, and at the end of the day you're completely exhausted and you still don't feel like you got anything done?

In my early days as a salesman, somebody told me, "Massive action solves every problem." That has to be one of the worst pieces of advice I ever got from anyone.

Did you know that it's possible to be productive without being frantic and rushed all the time?

Lots o' people are celebrating the US 4th of July by taking today off. Today is the perfect day to slow down for a minute and see how you can get more done with LESS effort and less stress.

A few weeks ago I did an interview with RC Peck about the "Critter Brain" or "Lizard Brain." It's the part of our brain that hijacks our best intentions when we most need to be strategic and deliberate. The lizard brain takes over and we do stupid stuff.

RC said, "The way to speed up is to slow down. Rarely is a rush of frantic activity helpful."

If you're a spontaneous person like me it's hard to slow down and really think. I don't know about you, but I get excited about new things and generate a whirlwind of activity. A lot of energy gets wasted.

TIP #1:

The worst place to get REAL thinking done is with your hands on your keyboard. The best place to think is in your favorite quiet spot with a pad of yellow notebook paper.

TIP #2:

Get up and go for a walk.

Physical motion switches your brain on. I guarantee you, you will have more thoughts, better thoughts, more creative thoughts when your body is active than when your butt's on a chair.

If you play a sport, run, ride your bike or play music, that's even better.

When I put on my shoes and head for the door, I say "Time to go give my head a shake" and my family knows exactly what I'm talking about. I go for walks even when it's freezing cold outside. It stimulates my brain.

TIP #3:

Learn to recognize when you're stuck in reactive mode. If you can't get your mind to focus and all you seem to be able to do is react to emails and click on things and surf, it's a good sign you need to bleed off some excess energy.

Yes, there are times when you just need to answer emails and phone calls and take care of miscellaneous things. Much better to do that stuff within a deliberate time slot instead of all the time.

My formula is:

Speed up to slow down to speed up.

Which means:

Stop the frantic activity and plan your work. Plan your work by physically speeding up (a brisk walk or run gets your juices flowing) then (slow down) write down your plan on your strategic yellow pad of paper. You'll speed up getting more done.

You're an entrepreneur, which means the world does YOUR bidding. YOU are the person who organizes resources and moves things from low value to high value. You don't just sit there and let your day get nibbled to death by a thousand mosquitoes.

There has never been a time when one person could accomplish so much in so little time. But you need to run the world, not let the world run you.

If today is a day when the phones aren't ringing and people aren't demanding your time, then it's the perfect day to go for a walk, figure out what you want to accomplish in the next weeks and months, map out your plan and EXECUTE.

Seize the day - and start by going outside and getting a breath of fresh air - right now.

Perry Marshall

Your stories & comments are invited at http://www.perrymarshall.com/speeding-up/