THE POWER OF CHUNKING. Making more time for what really matters to you

By Tony Robbins

How much free time do you have these days? Did that question just make you laugh out loud?

These days, we are pulled in so many directions and we have so many demands placed on our personal and professional lives that the idea of free time usually stays just that — an idea. But what if there was a way to bring a higher level of efficiency to our lives? What if you were able to focus on achieving your goals instead of checking on a seemingly endless list of to-do’s? How could this change the quality of your life?

That’s what RPM planning is all about.RPM is a system of thinking, not a time management system. And it works by focusing you on the key results that are most important in your life, so that you can maximize the results of your life and maximize your sense of fulfillment and joy.

One of the core components of RPM is what we call chunking.

WHAT IS CHUNKING?

Chunking is the grouping together of information into ideally sized pieces, so they can be used effectively to produce the outcome you want without stress or shutdown.

You see, a major source of stress in our lives comes from the feeling that we have an impossible number of things to do.

We’ll often take an objective and pull it apart into a million pieces or tie it all together into one abstract whole. For example, if you take on a project and try to do the whole thing all at once, you’re going to be overwhelmed. And similarly, if you take a task and break it into too many small steps, it’s equally overwhelming, daunting and frustrating.

Most people can only focus on a limited number of things at one time. When most people are learning, they tend to remember things that are grouped into three’s. And anything above three things becomes too much for us to remember. In other words, most people tend to get overwhelmed after three difference pieces — or chunks — of information.

When people don’t reach their goals, it’s often not because of ability. It’s because of the way they’re focusing on the number of items, or rather, the way they are chunking things. By taking all that is coming at you and putting it into ideal-sized groups your mind can handle, you are positioning yourself to accomplish your goals.

START BY CAPTURING

To begin the chunking process, you must get the ideas out of your head and onto paper (or into your computer or mobile device). We call this processcapturing.

Keeping everything locked up in your mind is just another way to add stress to your life. You need to adopt a routine where you always put down the things you want or need to accomplish. Remember, human beings are able to focus on a limited number of things or tasks at once. Usually anywhere from five to nine items can be handled at a time.

Document the ideas, meetings, communications and required results. Capture the things that are a must for you to accomplish, whether they are the things you really want or situations that demand your attention. Write down everything you have to do this week. Consider this a dumping ground for your thoughts.

LOOK FOR COMMONALITIES

Now that you’ve captured the things that are a must for you to accomplish within a week, begin looking for commonalities. What items relate to finances, or relationships, or career, etc.?

Chunk those items on your capture list that correspond to the most common areas of life mastery: health, meaning & emotions, relationships, time, work/career/mission, finances, and spirituality.

For example, you might have a problem with a romantic partner. Or perhaps you neglected to get in touch with a friend you’ve been thinking about. Or maybe you have an upcoming family function to get ready for, among a litany of other things “to do.” These items could fall under the general area of “Relationships.”

THE ULTIMATE OUTCOME

Now that you’ve chunked these items together, it is easier to see what the result you desire is. In the example we gave above, the clear result is to improve your connection with others.

When you start thinking of your to-do’s as clusters of desired outcomes, you’ll keep stress at bay and learn to focus on your greater goals, rather than getting overwhelmed of the minute details. Why? Because you will start to feel inspired, rather than forced to follow through. And when you feel so inspired by a purpose, you’ll come up with a more effective action plan to get there.

There are so many things competing for and demanding your attention in life, if you don’t make a conscious effort to decide in advance which things you’re going to focus on, you’ll live in reaction to demands of the moment. Focus is the ultimate power that can change the way we think, the way we feel and what we do in any moment. When we change our focus, we change our life.

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12:35:00 - By Vincent 0

How To Stay Focused To Achieve Your Goals

BY Harleena Singh 

Can you achieve your goals without staying focused? I don’t think so. Many people wonder how to stay focused and achieve success.

I think being focused is the ability to say that “I’m doing this work and nothing else, and no one can stop me from doing it”.

Well, learning how to focus is in-fact a matter of making it a daily habit, isn’t it? You cannot stop a person with a focused mind to do what he or she plans.

I’ve heard many people say that they start off well with good intentions, but become unfocused after a while. Don’t worry. You’re not the only one to feel this way.

Sometimes I also start a project, work a little on it, and then lose focus or get distracted, but not for long – as I take a little break and I’m back to work again, more focused than before.

Has this happened with you too? How do you remain alert and concentrate on your work? Let me know in the comments.

“Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals.” ~ LL Cool J

How Successful People Remain Focused

You’ll mostly hear people say that they are not motivated and need to have enough passion to achieve goals. They feel only successful people have this kind of willpower and unstoppable passion, something that they lack.

But you know, even successful people get bored like you and me. They also sometimes lack motivation and need daily inspiration. They have also learnt how to rise up every time they fall.

The huge difference is that those who want to achieve goals don’t let their emotions influence their actions.

That’s right. Not only your disturbing emotions but also uncontrollable, useless, or unrelated thoughts might cause you to drift from what you’re doing and bring you out of focus.

But the successful lots find ways to work up through the boredom. They do all it takes to achieve their goals. It’s their capability to do the task when it’s not easy, and that is what separates them from others.

So, if you too want to be successful, then you need to follow the ways of the successful people to zero in on your target and stay focused.

Distractions are a major problem that does not allow people to stay focused. You cannot achieve goals if you are distracted. But who decides you have to stop where. No one, but you yourself!

Places like Facebook and other social media networks, or whether it is video games, TV, and text messages – they are all supposed to be used in moderation. You need to limit your time using them.

However, most people drown themselves into such distractions and make them their core activities, such that it leaves them no time to do other tasks in hand.

Being in focus is an uphill task for them.

Are you in a similar situation? Do you think you need to know how to stay focused and achieve your goals too? Then, this post is for you.

What You Need to Stay Focused

There are certain requirements for staying focused, and if you consider them, then attaining goals will not be a problem for you.

• Set Priorities

There might be many areas in your life that need attention. It becomes tough to decide which ones need immediate attention or where you need to focus first. That is because you want them ALL done now!

When you want to focus on a single task, it becomes tough to keep the other pending tasks aside. You begin feeling overwhelmed and feel you need to do all those task and be present all over.

That’s when you think that a quick Facebook or Twitter break will do you good, and you head there to check on your messages or notifications. And those ‘few minutes’ break turns to perhaps 1-2 hours!

Remember that whatever you do today will reflect on your life ahead. If you spend 1 hour on Facebook, for example, then you are setting that standard for yourself.

But what if instead you write 1000 words during that 1 hour you waste, imagine the amount you’d accomplish in a year’s time!

Writing nearly 365,000 words, that’s nearly writing a new blog post daily, or writing 4-5 full books in a year, if you had not wasted that 1 hour.

• Believe in yourself and your task in hand

You need to think positive to stay focused and achieve goals. If a task appeals to you, such that you are willing to take risk accomplishing it and don’t fear failure, it’s worthy of your undivided attention.

You need to move forward and make progress by believing in your abilities, in areas that matter to you. Once you accomplish one task, turn your focus on the next one and move ahead.

You might like – How To Boost Self Esteem in 8 Simple Ways

• Fight distractions

Distraction of home, work, family, friends, events and other things stop people from staying focused and achieving their goals.

It takes time and effort to remain focused to achieve goals that sometimes you give up.

You need to plan your task strategically. To stay on focus, decide on the best time to do your work. Chalk out the distractions that would arise and how you would react, and then deal with them.

Focus means to think strategically, and you need to remain committed and dedicated to be after one thing till the end at the cost of other possibilities.

Some people let distractions rule over them, but remember, you are distracted because you let yourself be distracted.

For example, if your friend calls or messages, your friend doesn’t know you are working on something.

Just let it be- end your tasks and then call back! If you explain, people understand that it’s your work time and you need to stay focused while working.

Start by keeping aside just one hour daily to focus on a main area of your choice. Train your mind to stay focused. You need to ‘make’ time for things that matter to you, isn’t it?

Take the example of Thomas Edison. He failed so many times before finally succeeding in inventing the lamp. But imagine if he hadn’t stayed focused on his goals – would he have achieved success?

He kept trying after each failure and remained focused till he achieved his goal.

• Accept that you may not achieve success

You’re only human and when you focus on any task, you pour all your energy into it. Your brain tells you it is an important task because you focus on a single idea, task, or thought.

However, sometimes you cannot achieve your goals despite being focused. Remember, focus does not guaranty success but only improves and increase your chances to be successful.

Also know that it is alright to accept this fact – face your failure and learn from it.

Don’t fear failure because that is your stepping stone to success. Remember, it’s ok to fail at times, and that doesn’t mean you stop trying. Being alert, aware, and determined helps you attain your goals.

“The true measure of success is how many times you can bounce back from failure.” ~ Stephen Richards

People don’t focus on their goals because they are afraid. They hesitate, procrastinate, and think negative, and try ways to escape from doing things.

They don’t want to try things out, or move out of their comfort zones.

Achieving Your Goals is a Process

People think that achieving goals is the end result. For them success is an event that can be achieved.

For example, “If I write a book, I’d achieve success”, or “If I get featured in a magazine, I’d gain credibility.”
You forget that to write a book, you need to fall in love with the process of writing and keep writing daily!

But if you see people who consistently achieve their goals, you realize it’s not the event or end result that matter. Instead, it’s the journey, their commitment to the process – it’s a daily practice for them.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” ~ Greg Anderson

So, don’t worry about the end result – fall in love with the journey, the boredom, the repeated process, the practice, the process and enjoy each moment. 

15 Ways to Stay Focused and Achieve Your Goals

Always keep your goals always in your mind. Yes, distractions are a part of life and you’ll find them everywhere. However, how you deal with those distractions lies in your hands.

“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” ~ Bruce Lee

1- Organize Your Workplace

Whatever you are working at, you need to have a clean and well organized working area because that helps you remain focused and you can work with full concentration.

It doesn’t take long, just a few minutes to keep things in the right place before you start work. Things you don’t need or use, keep away.

It’s said a cluttered work area creates a clutter in the mind too, so keep things organized.

2- Find Your Purpose to Stay Motivated

When you have a purpose to end your task, your work will motivate you and thus help you concentrate.

Some people lose focus as they cannot see what they might achieve and prefer doing other things.

After finding your purpose, write it down – define it as that will be your driving force to achieve your goal.

For example, if you are blogging, remind yourself why it is important for you and what you want to achieve from it.

3- Define Your Goals

Define your goals by chalking out the number of hours you are going to work and make list of your priorities.

When you write them down, they become more real and can be reviewed and used to encourage you. This helps to take care of distractions as and when they come up and how you can deal with them.

Must Read – Creating A Life Plan Can Change Your Life

Don’t overburden yourself by focusing on more than a few goals at a time as it will demotivate you and reduce your chance of achieving your goals.

Divide your time and keep accomplishing them one by one.

Narrow down your focus by completing the goals based on the priority. By defining your goals you stay focused to complete them by the end of the day.

4- Learn to Manage Your Time

Once you define your goals and make your list, write down how much time it will take you to complete each task. You are your best judge, so be realistic and complete each task within the set time limit.

Don’t become overwhelmed with time consuming tasks. Instead, break them into small bits and complete each one, one at a time.

“My success, part of it certainly, is that I have focused in on a few things.” ~ Bill Gates

You would like this post on time management – 6 Easy Tips for Time Management You Need to Know

This way you will be focused on your task rather than spending it chit-chatting with friends or wondering where time went by!

5- Use Visualization

When you want to remain focused you need to have a strong visual image of what you want to achieve – your target, so that you can reach your goal by focusing on the end result.

The more you visualize what you want to obtain, the more you can focus on achieving it. Achievers have the ability to visualize their goals as already accomplished.

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” ~ Mark Twain

Imagine how your family and friends would react once you achieve your goals – that is the power of visualization.

6- Take Breaks In-between

As you work, your alertness reduces and you tend to get easily distracted. So, it’s good to work in shifts of 30 or 60 or 90 minute blocks, depending on what suits you. Set a timer and take frequent breaks.

You could take a short walk, listen to music, chat with friends, or cook and do the household chores.

Some people like to reward themselves by visiting Facebook, but for a limited time during such breaks. But don’t get stuck there! Come right back once the timer goes off 

7- Turn OFF Everything

When people ask me how to stay focused, I always tell them one thing – just turn off all your tabs, emails, phones, and everything around you.

When you sit to work – just concentrate on your work and nothing else. When you say yes to achieve your goals, you must NO to other things, isn’t it?

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell

If you are working in an office, you can set up a time when you can take your calls, check emails, or make a system so that urgent messages can reach you. Other than that, just switch-off!

8- Learn To Say NO

This is a tough one for me! But to stay focused, you need to say, “No” to a lot of people and things.

When it’s work time, just say, “I’m sorry I cannot do that for you as I’m working on a deadline.”

I know how hard it is to say these lines. I sometimes postpone a response by saying, “Let me think it over and get back to you”. This avoids an outright NO or rejecting an offer.

“Focusing is about saying No.” ~ Steve Jobs

Remember, once you refuse politely, people understand and begin respecting your way or working. Of course, help out and do their work once you complete your task.

9- Make Time for Distractions

Distractions aren’t bad, but you need to schedule them so they work for you. Use them to reward yourself after you achieve your goal or end your task.

Distractions like playing a game, calling friends, visiting Faceook or your other social networks are all good, provided you stick to your schedule and time yourself.

You need to learn to not get distracted by trying to practice mediation and focusing on single-tasking. For example, if you are reading the newspaper, just do that, don’t check your email or status update.

There are many apps to fight distraction you can use, without letting them become distractions!

10- Create New Habits

To focus and reach your goals do something that is repeated daily, even if it’s just for 10 minutes each day. Make it a daily habit and analyze your progress by recording it daily.

They say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit.

So, if you want to move from an old habit that you know is not letting you focus, to one that will help you, stick with the habit for 3 weeks to see a change.

When you do something consistently for so long, it becomes a part of your personality and you eventually keep doing it without really thinking of it.

11- Improve Your Focus

Some people get distracted easily. For such people, just take any task and give yourself half an hour to work on that task without taking any break.

Then slowly increase your time and focus by a few more minutes to see how long you can increase your stamina. Reading and writing continuously help in such cases.

I’ve learnt this over time and can sit for hours at a stretch, but I remind myself to keep getting up and walking a little after every hour. How about you?

12- Don’t Multi-task

You might think that multi-tasking helps you complete many tasks all at once. But that’s wrong as it just slows you down and confuses your brain.

You need to reset your brain each time you shift between two tasks. However, a lot depends on what all tasks you multi-task with.

Like cooking and listening to music is fine, but cooking and chatting on Facebook will not work. It might leave you with a burnt meal. 

13- Be With People Who Have Similar Goals

Sometimes you are surrounded by people who prevent you from achieving your goals. They prevent you from staying focused. It can be tough to breakaway because these people maybe your family or friends.

They may not share the same goals or be interested in your goals. You need to extend your circle and move from those who hold you back if you want to achieve goals in life.

Having goal buddies or friends who share the same goals as you, helps you remind about your goal and motivate you when you feel a little down.

14- Use Positive Affirmations

Stay away from negative self-talks. Instead, use positive affirmations and remind yourself about the goals you want to achieve.

Positive affirmations help you believe in yourself and stay focused. Writing down your goals in present tense helps in personal affirmations.

For example, instead of saying “I want to earn more money”, say “I earn $5,000 a month” would be better.

After writing, read your goals in a loud and firm voice as it would make you proud of what it will feel like to reach it, and ignite the passion to accomplish your goal.

Some people create and use mantras that are small phrases that you can repeat daily – they encourage and remind you to concentrate on your goals.

15- Take Care of Yourself

You cannot remain focused if you do not care about yourself and your health.

Taking adequate rest, sleeping for at least 7-8 hours a day, eating a balanced diet and staying healthy are things you need to do to stay focused.

Mediate and concentrate on your breathing. Deep breathe, stay calm, and serene. When you inhale and exhale and concentrate on your breath, you are able to focus better when you sit to work.

Give yourself a break if you work continuously to avoid burnout (good reminder for me!) because that affects your productivity a great deal.

Don’t forget to celebrate each achievement by acknowledging and rewarding yourself for the progress you’ve made towards your goal.

You’d like this short video on more ways to stay focused 

Four Keys to Staying Focused at Work ~ YouTube Video

Speaking of myself and my blog, when I look back, I don’t think I could have achieved all that I have – had I not been focused on my work.

I am not just saying this to praise myself here, but just to make you realize that if I can achieve my goals, you can achieve your goals too. All you need to do is stay centered, committed, and determined.

“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” ~ Denis Waitley

So, are you ready to start? I hope now you will not lose your focus, nor procrastinate or get caught up by distractions. Instead, remain focused and achieve goals one after the other.

Cheers to your success! 

Over to you –

Do you know how to stay focused to achieve your goals? What are the ways to you use to remain focused and attain goals? Share it in the comments.

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13:30:00 - By Vincent 0

How To Make The Best Use Of Time

BY Vinay Kachhara 

Time flows like a river.

Have you heard of this phrase before? Certainly, you must have. Moreover, we all experience it.

We cruise along and drench ourselves in the river of time – sometimes we even get lost in it!

Or, at other times, time seems to have frozen, it just stands still.

Time stops!

Don’t the lovers feel so?

They are so engrossed in each other that even though they are together for hours, it seems like just a few moments, and they are left longing for more time.

In the material world, the time clock keeps ticking but your mental clock seems to betray it and stops following all laws.

I felt so, rather recently. No, not while romancing, but while working. 

Can you imagine that we’ve been away from blogging for months at a stretch? We hadn’t thought our break would be this long!

It feels like only yesterday when we wrote last on the blog, but it’s been a while now.

It’s been a strange and enlightening experience, which I’d share with you.

“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” ~ Philip Stanhope

Let’s Analyze Time

Based on my experiences, I’ve observed two things:

a) When idle, time moves slow.

Let me ask you about Sundays, holidays, or when you are on vacation. Don’t you feel like the day is too long or it’s hard to pass time when you sit idle?

It seems like days, even if a single day hasn’t passed.

On the contrary –

b) When busy, time moves fast.

This is what happened to me. I’ve been so busy with things that I was amazed so much time has elapsed, and I don’t even feel it! Time flies!!

It seems like a week, though a few months have passed.

Surely, Einstein was right – time is relative.

It depends on many factors, and one of them is your mental state.

Do you remember your experience taking an exam or watching a movie?

You sit through the exam writing all the answers, and the number of hours passes so quickly that you’re left gasping for more time.

Or you are so engrossed watching a good movie that you do not realize how quickly time passes. Then, you really feel the movie has been worth your money, don’t you?

But sometimes, even if you are busy and engrossed, you end up wasting time or not making good use of it.

Strange, isn’t it?

Making The Wrong Use Of Time

Even the slow and steady can win the race.

Besides working hard, you also need to be smart.

You waste your time if:

> You are not organized or do not have the things planned.

> You do not have a system that makes sense of the things you do and gives you a direction.

> Your efforts are not concerted; rather they are divided and not connected.

> You try to go too fast or engage in multitasking.

Are you making any of these mistakes?

Yes, I did. I made some of these mistakes and I do not regret or feel ashamed to accept it.

I believe acceptance opens the doors to improvement. The act of improvement will make you avoid the same mistake and lead you to the path of success.

My mistake was that I tried my hands on too many things at the same time. The result was that none of them got completely done.

I’ve been very busy all this while working on a few new projects, and for me time flew at the speed of the Concorde! But I still don’t have anything concrete to show you all.

I’d just take on a task as a challenge and keep working on it, and in the process neglect the other important tasks.

So, how does this analysis and my experience help you?

Yes, you now know that there’s more to making the best use of time than being busy.

Ways To Make The Best Use Of Time

Here’s what I conclude from my experiences and analysis of time – the more attentive and passionate you are, the more you make use of time.

Also, the faster the time moves, the more valuable it becomes.

But it is also true that if you do not mix fast and slow time in your working, you may end up being burnt out.

Don’t always be in the fast lane; take time out of your busyness and slow down.

To make the best use of time, you need to:

• Have the right mental state to leverage time.
• Have a practical strategy in place.
• Remain focused to be more productive.
• List your tasks daily and keep track of them.
• Balance and prioritize your work.
• Put your hands on what you can manage.
• Take up one task at a time, complete it, and then move to the next one.

Making good use of your time isn’t difficult as you just need to implement and practice these guidelines frequently. Gradually, they will become new habits and a part of your routine.

If you can leverage time in the right way, you can achieve stability, strength, and prosperity.

I’ve a step-wise structure for you to make sure that you include all the guidelines to make the best use of time.

 “Eternity: a moment standing still forever.” ~ James Montgomery

T.I.M.E. – The Four Steps To Harness The Value Of Time

If you wish to be successful, you need to harness time. Here’s my method to help you.

I love acronyms. This time I’ve a special one for you and it’s called – TIME!

It stands for:

T  – Thinking

I  – Implementation

M – Management

E  – Exploration

Let me explain them to you.

Thinking

The seed of success is an idea or a thought.

To incubate an idea of success you need to have the right state of mind.

Furthermore, you need to connect your ideas and think deep to develop a plan.

Planning is essential for success, no matter what aspect of life. It gives you a form and direction to follow.

You create the long-term and short-term goals making sure they are realistic.

But mere planning is not enough. You need to go ahead and implement those plans.

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” ~ William Penn

Implementation

It is nothing but putting your plan to action.

To implement, you need to have the will or the motivation to get out of your state of inertia or the comfort zone.

You can bank on your four personal qualities, the 4 D’s – Devotion, Dedication, Determination, and Discipline. I’ve laid it all out here in this post.

Without implementation, your planning is useless, a futile act and a waste of time.

It will help if you make achievable to-do lists at the start of each day and carry out those tasks.

However, you need more to make your plans become effective.

“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.” ~ Nelson Mandela

Management

You need to make sure that your plans are implemented in the way they are meant to be.

To implement your plans successfully, you have to ensure that your efforts are organized and are in the right direction.

You need to develop the right skills and especially learn the skills of time management.

Keep track of all your tasks, and besides allocating deadlines, define time limits to each one of them.

In fact, you need to manage all the aspects of your life that may affect the implementation of your plans, directly or indirectly.

Proper administration saves you time and make your efforts more efficient.

If you wish to achieve excellence, then you need to go a step further.

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” ~ Steve Jobs

Exploration

Yes, you need to become an explorer!

Most successful people are pioneers and inventors of some sort, who spend a millionth part of every second they got to explore new avenues and methods.

You should leave no stone unturned and make sure that no second of your life goes waste. You have to be systematic and spontaneous too.

Going by the book is good, but you also need to be flexible enough to change your ways when your plans do not work as desired.

Yes, sometimes it happens that things do not go as per the plans. Don’t lose hope or treat that as a failure.

There is a time for everything, and your job is not to give up and keep trying.

To harness your time in the best way, you need to be able to extract the best out of every moment, change your thoughts, and look for signs of better opportunities.

“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” ~ Robert H. Schuller

Let’s Be Efficient And Smart

“Time and tide wait for no man” and “Lost time is never found again” – these are popular quotes that I’m sure you’ve read many times before.

But the real problem is that we forget as soon as we read it.

We need to change our habit and stop wasting time.

Remember that every moment is precious. Make every intention sacred, every thought positive, every behavior meaningful, and every act decisive.

Let’s resolve to use every moment to develop ourselves, grow professionally, and cherish the gift of life!

So, are you going to make good use of your time now?

“Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Over to You –

Do you believe in the value and power of time? How do you make the best use of time? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below

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13:30:00 - By Vincent 0