Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had some fantastic interactions with people I have been able to help in one way or another. Whether in a small group or in a one-to-one scenario, these conversations have been both engaging and rewarding. In reflection on though there was often a common denominator where, if time had allowed in the conversation, I felt I could have maybe helped a little more.
It’s natural to hear a lot of people talk about the challenges of moving their big goals forwards (ie their property investing goals) in amongst all the pulls of daily life. I know it and feel it too, just the same. However, there is one subtle tactic I learned a couple of years ago that has really levelled up what I can get done in the time I have to allocate.
For those in the early stages of their property journeys, with so much to think about what with new learning, new terminology, property legislation etc, this little tactic, may just be your new secret weapon.
And this is it….
To separate decision making focus from action taking focus.
This one small mental practice could just be the missing link to helping you get more of the important things done for the day, and still have sufficient downtime.
Let me explain how it works. Decision making focus is very different to action taking focus. Trying to combine the two during a work session can be OK, just don’t expect to produce a load of quality work in that time. On the other hand, if you do want to complete a lot of tasks, here’s a simple and logical way to do it.
DECISION MAKING FOCUS VS. ACTION TAKING FOCUS
Decision making focus is the kind of brain power you need to draw upon when weighing up options and prioritising. Lets take for example planning out your work day/week. Action taking focus on the other hand is the brain power we access to simply get on and execute a task swiftly when we know what we have to do.
Have you ever sat at your desk at 9am, opened up a few emails, then tried to think about what you’d like to get done, what needs to get done, then opened a few more emails, then tried to start a written project of some sort, only to realise 90 minutes have evaporated and you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything? We’ve all done it, and it doesn’t feel good.
Property investors who like their Return On Investment calculations will appreciate this quote from Brian Tracy,
“Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution; this gives you a 1,000 percent Return on Energy!”
This quote has always made sense to me but it really came to life l when I understood the psychology behind it – ie learning to separate my focus by a) using decision making focus to plan the day the night before ie consider all the variables, the people, the implications etc to chart a plan of action based on everything I know; and then b) when the day begins have confidence in my previous decisions and focus purely on executing the task.
If you let decision making focus creep into an action taking session it can lead to second guessing yourself, opening a different piece of work, then something else reactive, typically resulting in unfulfilling chaos. It’s pretty much what multitasking is and why neuroscientists have proven that task switching is exhausting – it literally uses up oxygenated glucose in the brain, running down the same fuel that’s needed to focus on a task.
By giving yourself permission to focus on action taking, and actually doing the thing for an unbroken period (ie 45-90 minutes) not only do you get so much more done, but you feel great about it too. So, invest a little time to make the decisions and set your objective for the focus session ie the specific completion point you’re aiming for over the hour ahead, then switch your focus to action taking and go do.
Yes there will be days with more distractions and reactive stuff than usual, and you actually need to plan for chaos time too.
You may well be reading this thinking what! That’s it! That’s so simple. And it is, but I’ll close the post by borrowing a passage from Darren Hardy –
“as Jim Rohn would say, “What’s simple to do is also simple not to do.” The magic is not in the complexity of the task; the magic is in the doing of simple things repeatedly and long enough to ignite the miracle of the Compound Effect.”
What simple little tactics help you get things done?