Time management tips, at their best, revitalize your personal power - not later, but right now. Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith fully grasps this. In his most recent bestseller, "Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back if You Lose It!" he describes this special quality as "Mojo":
"Mojo is the moment when we do something that's purposeful, powerful, and positive and the rest of the world recognizes it."
If you want to build satisfaction and social capital, what time choices do you change? Goldsmith's steps are remarkably straightforward. Furthermore, he offers a wealth of inspiring success stories to back up his theories. Here are 3 essential stratagies he recommends to prioritize the power of positive thinking as you plan your day:
1. Thoroughly commit to your happiness.
Each day, rate each time choice you make on a 1 to 10 scale... Simply ask yourself the following 2 questions:
- What level of meaning or long-term benefit did you derive from this activity?
- What degree of short-term satisfaction or happiness did you experience?
Notice how assigning a number to each activity helps you establish a hierarchy of priorities. In day to day life, it can be difficult to weigh options on short notice. Activities vary so greatly! Using numbers as the common denominator makes it easier to be decisive.
2. Persist as if the quality of your life fully depends upon it.
To achieve positive lasting change, ongoing follow-up is essential. Don't be content with simple insights. Take the answers from the previous two questions and use them to reconstruct your time choices accordingly. Make this a daily commitment! Then you will experience first-hand how exercising power over your time choices directly increases your personal power.
3. Focus on explicitly positive communication.
Never assume that others can read your heart and your mind. Express your good intentions clearly and unambiguously so that they can't possibly be misunderstood. Observe how sharing your appreciation and good will creates bridges between you and others! Verbalizing your satisfaction, gratitude and good wishes puts you "on record", and this willingness to commit yourself helps strengthen relationships.
You can energize yourself and brighten your workplace dramatically by simply working these 3 tips. They require dedication, assertiveness, honesty and consistency. But your efforts will be rewarded when you experience that powerful upsurge in confidence and effectiveness. What better reward could you seek?
Now, how will you build on these ideas to make your life better today?
