It would make sense to think that the more things you can get done in the least amount of time the more productive you would be.

Heck, if you can do many things at the same time even better, right?

Wrong!

Sure, I’ll admit that at one time it seemed that bouncing the baby on my lap, writing a blog post, listening to a teleseminar and starting dinner all at the same time were a great use of my time.  The more things I could possibly fit in at the same time became like a multi-tasking badge of honor that was somehow indicative of my super mom meets She-ra wannabe persona.

Of course, the burnt dinner, the crying baby, the unfinished blog post and not being able to recall one single thing from the coaching call told quite a different story.

So I’m gonna make it easy for you and sum up the truth about multi-tasking in ONE sentence.

Here it is…

Multi-tasking KILLS your productivity.

Instead of concentrating your efforts like the sun’s rays thorugh a magnifying glass,  multi-tasking spreads the beam of your focus so thin that it reduces to almost nill the effectiveness of what you do.

So instead of doing more things well, you do more things half-arse or not finish them at all.  Which we would all agree is a bad thing.

Instead of feeling confident about goals accomplished, you feel failure at the things still left on your To-Do list.

Instead of being clear about what you are doing at the moment, your thinking becomes muddled and hazy.  What’s even worse is that you develop a habit of erratic thinking that spreads to all areas of your life.

What did I do to overcome this?

I had to re-train my mind to focus.  You see, focus is a skill like painting, or hitting a baseball, or playing the guitar.  And like any skill it improves with practice.

If you can learn to focus on the task at hand,  wether its spending time with your kids, editing a video, writing an email to your subscribers, or simply enjoying a day off away from the computer you’ll be able to accomplish whatever you want.

Which is what being productive ultimately is.  It’s not about being busy for the sake of checking things off your list.

It’s about doing the things that will get you from where you are to what you want. Whatever that is for you.

So today I’m going to share with you two things you can do that will help build your “focus” muscle.

First, get and use a timer.

Using a timer is probably the single most important thing that helped me shoot my productivity through the roof.  You can use a stopwatch, your iPod, an online timer, an old-fashined handheld one, whatever you want as long as you can countdown in increments of time and it gives you some kind of alert when time is up.

Here’s how to use it. Decide what you are going to focus on and set your timer.  Do not work on anything else until the timer goes off.  Turn off the phone, skype, IM, Twitter, email, and any other distractions.

If you’ve never used a timer I suggest you start out with 15 minute increments.  As you get better on focusing you can increase to 30 then 45.  I wouldn’t recommend going past 60 minutes at the most unless you get obsessed with your work and are really hard-core like me.   You know if that is you.

But for most, stick to 30-45 minutes max.

When the timer goes off, take a break.  Physically change what you are doing.  Stand up and walk around, go to lunch, get a drink, whatever works for you to clear your mind.

After that, set the timer again and re-focus.  You can work on what you were working on if you didn’t finish or go on to something else.

After some time, something interesting will begin to happen.  You won’t need the timer.

Once you develop the habit of focus, you’ll be able to pull yourself in to that state as easily as putting on a pair of socks.  It just takes a little bit of time and practice. (Pardon the pun. )

I said I would share with you two things to help your productivity and focus, but this post is getting a little long so I will be posting a follow-up to this next week instead.

I’ll tell you about a great sweet little free tool I’ve been testing the past few months that helps you easily and effortlessly track how productive you are on the computer and also my absolutely favorite way to banish distractions in your business.  Probably not what you think.

Be on the lookout next week.

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There was something in the following video that Seth Godin said that is a paradigm shift on how we have marketed and been marketed to in the past, and how that no longer works in bringing about significant change and contribution to the world.

He goes on to list the qualities of leaders and entrepreneurs who challenge the status quo and bring about things others thought was not possible.

There were so many golden nuggets in this talk that I could write a whole blog post on almost every sentence. Leave me your thoughts and comments.

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Last week I sent a survey to my list asking them whether they wanted more, less, or the same amount of email from me.

I couldn’t believe the results of the survey!

I wasn’t sure what the results would be…

But here they are:

RESULTS

5.9% said "Yisel you’re sending me too many emails, please slow this train down to about an email once a month."

11.8% said "Yisel, keep things like they are, email me about once every other week and keep me posted with what you think will most help me."

82.4% said "Yes Yisel send me emails any time you have something on your mind – I want EVERYTHING!"

So, I guess I’ve got my work cut our for me to them the best.

Before I sent out the survey I thought the majority would want about the same amount of email from me.

LESSON

If you guess what you’re subscribers want, you’ll be wrong. If you really want to know what they want – ASK THEM!

I did also introduce the 5.9% that said I’m sending too many emails to the UNSUBSCRIBE button.

After all, if I’m not gonna serve them the way they want, it’s best we part our separate ways.

P.S. I also told my subscribers I was working something out for them that would REALLY REALLY help them with blogging, even if they didn’t have a blog yet.
I’ll be sending them an email on this tomorrow.

But, if you’d like to cut in front of everyone before tomorrow and see what it is – here is the link:
http://budurl.com/blognow

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I was on Facebook and saw this ad on the sidebar.

I ‘especialy’ thought the line ‘represent your business profesionaly ‘ was a nice touch.

I could say so many things about this ad, but I better not.  Grandma might be reading.

I’ll just let you make your own conclusions…

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I read an email the other day that referenced the most absurd article .

The End of American Capitalism?

Come on.

Sure, it’s no surprise that the media has been all gloom and doom when it comes to the economy.

The stock market just last year was at a 14,000+ high point and today is now at around 8000…almost 50% less!

Sure it’s sad that lots of people have lost their jobs and some have even seen more than half of their retirement washed away.

But let me explain why you shouldn’t panic.

See, most people are programmed to see the glass half empty.

So they miss out on the half that is FULL.  They fail to recognize the opportunities that abound and exist in these type of conditions.

Let’s take the stock market for example and a company like General Electric.

Last April 2008 it was worth $400 Billion.  Today?  $120 Billion.

So the person that sees the glass half empty will cry "Boo ha ha" and go hide his money under the mattress.

The person who see the glass half full will see OPPORTUNITY and go buy hundreds of companies at ridiculously low prices.

This is just one example.  Same thing is happening in real estate and lots of other places.

So, the end of American Capitalism you say?

Well I say boloney!

As long as entrepreneurs like you and me, continue to see opportunity and CREATE solutions for problems people are willing to pay money for – American Capitalism will continue to be alive and well.

The entrepreneur is the solution.  People willing to imagine and create products, services, or charities that make other peoples lives better.

It’s because of the american entrepreneur that I have hope.  Hope in me, hope in YOU, and hope in America.

Believe in yourself and what you are capable of doing.

I AM an entrepreneur,  are you?

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• “Quack, Quack”, said the duck.