December Challenge Lesson #1 - Stop Thinking Hours, Start Thinking Results

This is the first post in Dave’s December Challenge series - if you haven’t heard about it yet, read the intro here.

If you’ve been wishing for more hours in the day, it’s not going to happen. Ever. (And that’s actually okay.)

You see, all those times you’ve wished you had more time, you didn’t really mean it. It wasn’t extra hours you craved … it was extra results. You just thought that you needed more hours to achieve them. But it’s this limiting belief that’s been giving you ulcers and keeping you up at night.

Wishing for more time is like wishing for superpowers … it’s simply not something you can make happen. It’s out of your control. And because it’s something you just can’t have, you bolster that victim mentality that keeps you trapped in the land of I-wish-I-could. You feel helpless, which doesn’t help you get your butt in gear. The victim mentality sucks the power out of your life, and you can’t allow that.

The first step to freedom is to acknowledge that you’re not after more time. You’re after more results.

It’s Like Saving Yourself A Thousand Dollars
Think about it like this: If you had $1,000 to invest at 10% interest, you’d make $100 after 12 months. But what if you wanted to make $200? You’d have to come up with another $1,000 to invest. Or would you?

What if you simply found an investment that would make 20%? You’d be able to double your profits without doubling the resources you’re investing. You just saved yourself the effort of finding another $1,000. Financially, it’s a no-brainer. You just have to look for more efficient, more creative solutions. But most of us don’t tend to do this with our time.

When was the last time you wanted to do something, but you told yourself you “didn’t have the time?” Maybe it was something like going through a sales course you bought, and you know it would take about 20 hours to read and absorb. But you’ve been telling yourself you can’t get to it until you “have some free time.”

You could keep thinking like a victim … or you could get smart about it and leverage your time the way you’d leverage that $1,000 investment. You could ask yourself questions like:

• What’s the real result I’m after? Is there a faster strategy I can use to get it?
• How I can get myself to be more productive when working on this task?
• Can I delegate any part of this task to someone else?
• Can I defer part of this task (perhaps indefinitely)?
• And so on …

The point is, you focus on coming up with a creative solution to free up time by getting things done faster (or by someone else).

It All Comes Down To Results
When it’s all said and done, what matters is how much return on investment you get with your time. If you have a 40-hour workweek and you can get creative/disciplined enough to push your effectiveness up 10% (which is completely realistic) you’ll have freed up 4 hours a week to take on that sales course. 5 weeks and you’re done, rather than 5 weeks and you’re still wishing you would get to it.

And that’s your first lesson for the December Challenge:

Lesson #1:
Assume there’s a faster & more effective strategy for getting the result you’re after, and then find it.

Remember, when you look for a faster strategy, your brain will shift up to a more productive state of mind. You’ll get more done. You’ll get it done faster. And you’ll have more free time to do other things you’ve been “meaning to get to.”

How To Make This Lesson Work (Starting Today)
Let’s make this stick. Here’s your homework.

1. Right now, commit to looking for one task that you’re going to find a way to get done faster / more efficiently. Keep in mind that faster doesn’t mean sloppier … it means finding a smarter strategy.
2. Leave a note in the comments below about the smart/creative way you’ve decided you’re going to get results in less time.
3. Make this a daily habit - to find and improve on one thing. If you commit to finding one thing every day, it will quickly become a habit. If you dabble, it won’t. The choice is yours.

Get crackin’, and I’ll see you in the comments thread.

- Dave

Dave’s December Challenge: Erase The “Victim Mentality” About Time

If you’re subscribed to my newsletter you’ve probably heard about this already, but I’m throwing a challenge out there to all of my readers: Take a stand in December and wipe out any traces of the “victim mentality” you have about time. Have you said or thought these words in the last 30 days?

“I just don’t have the time.” / “I wish I had the time.”

Chances are close to 100% that you have. Especially as the holidays approach. But this kind of thinking is simply a variation of scarcity mentality - the flawed reasoning that there isn’t enough of something to go around. I call it a victim mentality because you’re making the choice to mentally frame yourself as someone who, gosh darn it, just doesn’t have enough of that precious resource - time - to go around.

Oh, poor pitiful you. (I can joke about this, because I spent a few decades buying into the same thinking.) It’s tempting to simply accept the notion that there just isn’t enough time to go around. The reason it’s tempting is because it gives you an excuse for not doing whatever it takes to turn the situation around.

How To Wipe Out The Victim Mentality And Install Something Better
The victim mentality itself comes from the way that most people think about time. It goes something like this:

Number of Things To Do > Number of Hours In Day

or, in other words,

“There’s not enough time in the day.”

That kind of thinking sucks. It gets you nowhere. It makes you feel like a victim, because if only that big bad bully we call reality would give you more time, then you could do more, enjoy life, and feel less stressed. You just can’t win, so shy bother trying, right? But that’s a load of bull.

When you’re ready to rise up out of the time poverty level, this is what you need to do:

Stop focusing on how little you have and start focusing on how much you can do with what you have.

Focus on extracting maximum kick-a$$ results from every hour of your day and you won’t find yourself feeling pressed for time. Focus on the right mindset, and you’ll be able to create leverage that will help you double your current levels of productivity and get a lot more of what you want out of life. Focus on fixing your problems instead of living with them. It’s that simple.

It’s simple … but it’s not easy. It takes an entire shift in psychology, one that doesn’t happen overnight. And it’s hard as hell to do if you’re the only one rowing the boat. That’s why I’m going to step you through how to begin making the change over the next 30 days. If you’re not subscribed to this blog yet, subscribe right now so you’ll get every post, starting with tomorrow’s kickoff lesson.

Give yourself the greatest gift you can give this December - empower yourself by learning how to stop playing the victim and start taking control of the results you’re getting every day. Push past your anxieties and your doubts and get ready to kick some serious a$$.

Extra Goodness: As a bonus for the December Challenge I’m going to throw a free month of personal time management coaching to at least one of the challenge participants. Details will follow.

How To Take The December Challenge With Dave
Taking the challenge is easy. All you have to do are three things:

1. Write a comment below and stake your claim to the challenge. Write a short and sweet note about why you want to get more goal-slammin’ results out of each and every one of your days.
2. Subscribe to the blog feed via RSS or email to get updates as the December Challenge lessons are posted to the blog. I may etend this into January, as I’ve got some good vacation time coming up
3. “Show up” and put what you’re learning into practice. The easiest way to do this is to put your questions/results in the upcoming blog entries. I’ll be sure to answer any questions you have as you rock out with what you’ve learned.

I’m not saying that building a new habit is heartstoppingly easy, but it’s a hell of a lot easier when someone who’s walked the path steps you through it. Take the challenge, and build a habit in 2007 that will make your 2008 unbelievably productive, relaxing and satisfying.

Can’t wait to see your comments below -

Dave