Podcasts about focus to

In this episode of the "Treat Your Business" podcast, Katie delves into the concept of "eating the frog" for increased productivity. She explores how tackling the most significant or challenging tasks first thing in the morning can set a positive tone for the day. Katie also shares valuable insights on choosing the right tasks, making the most of the morning's optimal performance window, and overcoming procrastination. Additionally, she introduces the concept of Parkinson's Law and its role in time management, emphasising the benefits of setting specific time limits for tasks. Join Katie as she guides you towards a more productive and focused approach to your business tasks.Ket Takeaways: Eating the Frog: This metaphor encourages tackling the most significant or challenging tasks first thing in the morning, setting a positive tone for the dayChoosing the Right Tasks: Katie suggests that if a task is consistently being avoided, it might be a sign that it's not the best fit for the business owner. They should consider delegating it or seeking external help.Optimal Performance Window: Mornings are generally when energy and focus levels are at their peak. Utilize this time for tasks that require creativity and significant focus.Overcoming Procrastination: Eating the frog in the morning breaks the cycle of avoidance and reduces the stress associated with procrastination.Parkinson's Law and Time Management: Setting specific time limits for tasks using tools like an hourglass can significantly enhance productivity. Tasks often expand to fit the time allocated, so setting limits can lead to greater efficiency.Discipline and Focus: To make the most of the morning productivity window, it's essential to minimize distractions by turning off notifications, putting the phone on airplane mode, and avoiding email and communication channels.Benefits of Time Blocking: Katie highlights the effectiveness of time blocking in her coaching practice. By allocating specific time slots to tasks, it's possible to accomplish more in a shorter period.Save Administrative Tasks for Later: Reserve email and day-to-day administrative work for later in the day when creativity and focus may not be as crucial.Overall, embracing the concept of "eating the frog" and setting time limits for tasks can lead to increased productivity, efficiency, and a greater sense of accomplishment in business endeavors. Resources: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thrivebusinesscoaching https://www.facebook.com/thrivebizcoaching https://thrive-businesscoaching.com/ Book your business and marketing audit call here - we only have 5 slots per month! https://call.thrive-businesscoaching.com/business-audit This podcast is sponsored by the team at HMDG

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are shorthand reminders of the Buddha's core teachings on how to live a peaceful, fulfilling life. The formula was developed by his followers after his death as the Buddha left no written records of his teachings.Note that although still in everyday use when referring to this subject the term Noble does not refer to aristocracy or any sort of superiority. It simply means truths that make you are better person.The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows:As with the word Noble above, the Eightfold Path uses a word that needs a little clarification. Each of the eight paths starts with the word Right. In this case it does not mean right as opposed to immoral, so it is not judgemental. Nor does it mean correct as opposed to wrong. It is best thought of as skilful or wise.Right UnderstandingRight Intentions or Thoughts Right Speech or Communication Right Actions Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right Concentration or Focus To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure. Alternatively, you can email us Russ@familybusinesspartnership.comCopyright 2023 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek

The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are shorthand reminders of the Buddha's core teachings on how to live a peaceful, fulfilling life. The formula was developed by his followers after his death as the Buddha left no written records of his teachings.Note that although still in everyday use when referring to this subject the term Noble does not refer to aristocracy or any sort of superiority. It simply means truths that make you are better person.The Fourth Noble Truth: to cultivate these skills we have to follow a path that contains eight components, as follows:As with the word Noble above, the Eightfold Path uses a word that needs a little clarification. Each of the eight paths starts with the word Right. In this case it does not mean right as opposed to immoral, so it is not judgemental. Nor does it mean correct as opposed to wrong. It is best thought of as skilful or wise.Right UnderstandingRight Intentions or Thoughts Right Speech or Communication Right Actions Right Livelihood Right Effort Right Mindfulness Right Concentration or Focus To find out more about our unique programme and how it can help you and your family business, please follow this link and download our brochure. Alternatively, you can email us Russ@familybusinesspartnership.comCopyright 2023 Russ Haworth and Martin Stepek

Summary The problem with solving problems is that we often rush towards solutions without spending enough time clearly identifying the challenge we’re facing. In this episode we explore the power of a well crafted problem statement.   Transcript Welcome to episode 33 of the Leadership Today Podcast where each week we tackle one of today’s biggest leadership challenges. This week we are looking at the problem with solving problems - that we often rush towards solutions without spending enough time clearly identifying the challenge we’re facing. There’s a quote typically attributed to Albert Einstein that goes along the lines of “If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.” Now, there’s not great evidence that Einstein ever uttered those words, but there is still a great deal of truth in them. We often rush into solution mode when we’ve only partially, or even incorrectly, identified the problem we’re trying to solve. I’ve spent around half of my career working in management consulting focusing on complex problems and solutions. Over that time I lost count of the number of times I heard the classic attempted put down - “consultants borrow your watch to tell you the time, then charge you for it”. Of course, if you ask a consultant to tell you the time while you’re wearing a watch, then maybe the consultant isn’t the problem. Either way, it highlights that organisations often outsource solution generation, and are then frustrated when the expensive solutions don’t quite hit the mark. I believe this is often because the problem isn’t clearly and accurately identified, so people end up frantically working towards solving the wrong problem. Once the problem is clear, organisations are usually pretty good at developing and implementing solutions. I shared an example in the last episode of a person who inherited a task to prepare a series of reports. Preparing all of these reports was arduous and took 8 hours to complete - it was a real problem for him as he struggled to get the rest of his work completed in the rest of the week. He initially identified the problem as “these reports take too long to complete”, and so came up with and implemented improvements that meant he could prepare the reports in just four hours. But there was a deeper question that needed answering - “why are these reports needed?” It turned out people weren’t actually using the reports - no one really needed the reports to be generated, and so he took an eight hour task and reduced it to zero. The problem to explore was around the need for the reports, not the efficiency of report production. It’s hard to identify the real problem when you’re in the middle of it, but using a clear structure and approach can help. It might even save you from using a consultant or, at least, make your investment in an external consultant more valuable. We need to start by trying to identify the root cause of the problem. I’ve talked about using the “5 whys” approach in episode 20 - repeatedly asking the question “why?” to step back towards the root cause. Once we think we’re close to the root cause, a structured problem statement can help. It provides some rigour around identifying the problem and its impact, while also making it easier to communicate the problem to others, and assess the value of various proposed solutions. One simple structure for a problem statement includes four elements: Ideal scenario – what it would be like if this problem didn’t exist Current situation – what it is currently like - the current reality Consequences – the implications for this audience if we do nothing - can help build momentum towards change Focus – the areas we will explore to solve the problem Here’s an example of applying that approach to a business that’s struggling to have sufficient stock in stores. Ideal - We want our customers to be able to easily purchase our products with an emphasis on experience and convenience. Current - Our most loyal customers are complaining that their local stores are often out of stock of our most popular products, so they’re forced to phone ahead or drive around to other stores looking for stock. Consequences - We are losing sales and frustrating our customers, leaving ourselves open to them switching to competitor products. Focus - To address this problem, we are going to explore three elements. The first being the reliability of transport of product from our warehouse to stores. The second - building our capacity to track current stock levels at stores. And thirdly, explore our ability to provide stock to customers directly via a new home delivery channel. Now it’s important to also be responsive. Sometimes as we are seeking to solve the problem, we come across further information which may further clarify the problem. You can always refine the problem statement to reflect this new information.

Modern life today sometimes to me, resemble a food tasting event instead of and enjoyable full and hearty meal. We engage in shallow things and not put in the time to apply deep work and focus on something meaningful, and yet we expect great results and to be successful. I for instance, over the course of the day, dealing with my teams, constantly get distracted from accomplishing things during the office day. Having to deal with challenges and problems which take us away from engaging in deep quality work that creates value and significance and is hard to replicate. This book by Cal Newport builds on the lessons from his other book, So good they can’t ignore you, which I reviewed earlier in this podcast. He defines deep work as: "Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that pushes your cognitive capacities to their limit.” Like the book the One Thing, we know that multitasking cannot be done. We assume when we switch rapidly between tasks, we are multi-tasking, but we are not, we are simply switching rather than actually doing both at the same time. Cal Introduces us to the Value of Deep work. In today’s distracted economy, those of us who will thrive are those who have the ability to rapidly master hard things and those with the ability to produce at an elite level in terms of both quality and speed. Both of these require the ability to engage in deep work. Cal provides us a formula to this. High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus) To be able to learn things quickly, we need to apply intense focus without distraction. This will enable us to acquire the necessary mastery to perform at peak levels of quality and quantity. Allow me to leave you with this We are constantly distracted in todays modern world. Our work has rewarded us for multi tasking which has killed our ability to be ultra productive. It will not be easy, but we need to commit and take back, control of our time by removing distractions and letting our brains focus deeply and immerse in complex and deep work. Only by doing this, will we allow ourselves to really maximize our value in todays economy and thrive.

Focus: To encourage repentance to a merciful God.

Last episode I interviewed Omar Zenhom about how to “Focus To Succeed.”  Afterwards, several ideas emerged for me that led to the topic “Focus Without Focus.” “Focus to Succeed” only works when we are focused on the essential projects that help us move forward. Our focus has to be on target. Moreover, if we take focus as the […] The post Focus Without Focus appeared first on Ana Melikian, Ph.D..

Focus: To show that Jesus is the only name (person) that has the power to heal, save, and therefore must be proclaimed to the world!

Focus: To show that citizenship in heaven (salvation) cannot be obtained through human efforts.

Focus: To make sure that we, and those in our community, enter the kingdom of heaven.

Focus: To worship Jesus as our Sovereign Savior and to join with Him in sowing the Gospel liberally.

Focus: To call us to love the Creator back by caring for His creation in a way that reflects our stewardship and His ownership.

Focus: To learn how to pray for the blessing of God on the lives of those entrusted to you.

Focus: To help us see that our covenant God seeks to have a covenant relationship with his people and his loving faithfulness is to fuel our loving obedience.

Focus: To call the church to choose to obey God, seeking His blessing on their life (rather than his cursing/discipline for their disobedience).

Focus: To call the church to loving obedience by remembering our loving God.

Focus: To read the laws of Moses as a way to see, worship and honor God for his holiness, sovereignty and love.

Focus: To show how God reveals Himself and His will for His people throughHis laws. These are the 3 Words for boys to help them know how to deal with the women (Moms, sisters, and, someday, a wife) that God has placed in their lives.... 3 WORDS for...

Focus: To allow war to teach us about loving obedience to a loving God.

Focus: To call the church to justice that mirrors and honors God’s own commitment to justice.

Focus: To run the race in such a way that we hear "well done my good and faithful servant!"

Focus: To challenge us to live radically for the glory of God and for the good of our neighbor. Repenting of all liberty and idolatry that hinders the gospel.

Focus: To acknowledge that idolatry is deceptive, enslaving, and deadly…and the only antidote for our idolatrous heart is to flee and participate in the death and life that Christ offers in the gospel.