Whose balls are you juggling?

Posted by Faizel Mohidin on Nov 7, 2009 in Mind Mapping, Mind Maps at Work, Mind Maps in Education, Personal Mind Maps | 0 comments

Are you juggling your own balls, someone else’s balls, or simply too many balls?

This article can’t answer this question for you. It is just intended for you to rethink about the balls that you are juggling, so that you can really focus on what you really want to achieve in life.

It can also prompt you to look at your load at work, if you feel swamped and cannot get through your daily ‘To Do List’.

Once you have decided what YOU want to focus on, this article holds the secret to getting it done and reaching your goals, whether it be to increase your knowledge in your existing field, take an extra course, finish that degree, or start a part time business.

Before we go on to how you can achieve what you set out to do, please review your ‘To Do List’, if you have one.

The most common way of managing tasks and things to do, is the standard ‘To Do List’. I have already covered pitfalls of the standard ‘To Do List’ in my Article, Mind Maps for whole brain ‘To Do Lists’ on MindMapTutor.com. I’ve also shown you the Mind Map way of managing tasks in that article. This will ensure that you are juggling the correct balls.

Once you are happy that you know what you want to achieve, you need to focus on getting it done.

For example, you may be reading this article because you are interested in using Mind Maps to improve yourself or be more successful, or make more money. I have lots of Free Articles on MindMaptutor.com, which show you how to do this and the number of people visiting my site each month is in the thousands. Many people read the articles, comment on them and even say, ‘That was a great article!’ Yet, a few months down the line, they’ve implemented none of the advice that they thought was so great at the time.

So, what is the secret to getting the right things done?

To answer this, I will use myself as an example. I made a commitment in December 2008 to post one article a week on MindMapTutor.com and deliver it to people automatically via email. I wanted to be part of the Mind Mapping community and establish credibility in the market place. I am proud to say that I have not missed a single week since that commitment. In fact, you can subscribe to my weekly posts right now and get them in your email Inbox every week by subscribing on MindMapTutor.com.

How do I manage to do this?

I am an extremely busy person. I hold a demanding, full day job, which requires constant learning. I am a father and a husband. I’m involved with quite a few different websites. I exercise regularly. I follow the latest Internet developments and last, but not least, I write my weekly article for MindMapTutor.com.

While every article, including this one, is based on my personal experiences, it still has to be reasearched, collated, written and edited. I do all of this myself.

Is there a Magic formula to getting things done?

Yes there is!

For two years now, I’ve been following a guy called Ed Dale. He provides a free Internet Marketing course called the ‘Thirty Day Challenge’ in August every year. If you are thinking of starting an online business then definitely think about doing the Thirty Day Challenge before you start. I tried it last year – and failed! I did not manage to do the whole challenge, even though I thought it was a great course. What made matters worse, is the fact that even though it did not cost me a cent, I still did not complete it.

The problem was getting the discipline to sit down every day, for a fixed time, and work through the material. Not five hours once a week, but one hour five days a week.

This year, I committed myself to doing the whole Thirty Day Challenge and did every lesson, every day. This was one of the hardest things to do. There were demands at work, T.V., Manchester United playing and so many other distractions, but I am proud to say that I completed the whole Thirty Day Challenge.

Implementing the learnings from the Thirty Day Challenge is another matter altogether! That’s my next commitment.

Ed Dale also posted a Tweet recently, which I feel sums up this secret to success. He stated:

‘An hour of content creation 5 Days a Week as a habit is the difference between speaking at a conference, or paying for it.’

This can be applied to anything in life that you would like to achieve.

It is the difference between me writing this article and you reading it.

Stephen King, one of the greatest horror writers, is known for his great work ethic. When interviewed by the New York Times about how he managed to turn out six novels in six years, this is what he had to say:

“I’m not a fast writer, but I stick to it. I write 1,500 words a day, and the stuff just piles up. It’s a constant secretion. I have the feeling that if I stop, I won’t be able to do it again.”

That’s his secret! He writes 1,500 words a day – every day. It does not matter if it’s good or bad, but he sticks to it and eventually reaps the rewards.

At the moment, I turn out one article a week, but at least it’s every week.

What do you do next?

You need to focus on what you want to do. Make sure you are juggling the balls that YOU want to juggle. Put your plan down in writing using the Mind Map techniques on MindMapTutor.com, commit to the amount of time you want to spend on it. AND DO IT!

It does not matter whether you commit to an hour a day, or an hour a week. Just keep on doing it and the ‘stuff just piles up’, as Stephen King says.