Ali Campbell is an internationally acclaimed life coach; he has built an enviable reputation as a highly motivational Coach, Presenter, Therapist and Personal Trainer. An advisor to celebrities, business leaders and politicians and even royalty around the world. Ali is widely featured in the media, on Television, Radio and in print. He is uniquely placed to assist you to reach your goals.
Three is the magic number
By focusing extra attention on what we are doing and accomplishing with our time, we can both achieve and find time ‘to do’ more of what we love.
I first explored the idea of ‘done’ lists when working with American life coach Michael Neill, probably my most productive period yet. You see, I’m a ‘lists’ kind of guy. Preparing for a meeting, make a list. Planning an event, make a list, packing for a trip, list. My best was 7 concurrent lists. In fact, everything had a ‘to do’ list, and there’s the problem.
‘To do’ is framed wrongly. It’s a bit like ‘should’ - we all know we ‘should’, but when?
I realized that my fun actually came not in completing the task but in ticking it off the list. If you’ve ever done something that wasn’t on your list then added it later just for the satisfaction of ticking it off, you’ll know what I mean.
Let’s frame things differently. My ‘done’ list very quickly became invaluable. The fact I was keeping track of everything I got ‘done’ was in fact the reason I did so much.
My second realization was that there was too much on my list, I was trying to juggle too much. Most people can, with a little practice, juggle with three balls but the difference between juggling three and adding a fourth is huge. You see, with three you always have a firm grasp of two, and only one ball in the air. The more things you add, the more things become out of control.
How much simpler would your life be if you never had more than three things on your list?
Right now, ask yourself "What are the three most important things I want to make today about?"
- Right now, ask yourself "What are the three most important things I want to make today about?"
- Ask yourself, "what is the one thing I most want to do or get done in each of these areas? These three things now make up today’s list. Anything else can wait (unless it can't!).
- Anytime during the day you feel yourself getting frustrated, overwhelmed, or off-track, ask yourself again, "What are the three most important things I want to make today about?" Then "What is the one thing in each area I most want to do or get ‘done’?" If the answers have changed, go with the new ones.
Just for fun widen it out from work, make a list of other ‘juggler questions’. Here are ‘three’ of my favourites:
- My three biggest life/career goals?
- The three most important people in my life?
- Three changes that would make the biggest difference in the quality of my daily life?
Remember, have fun! To the untrained eye, juggling has the appearance of magic!