¡Prioritize!

There is a time and place for everything. Life is a marathon, but in some stretches you just gotta sprint and learn to push out of your way anything that will distract you from reaching your goals.

These last weeks I’ve been buried in a couple of very important issues.

One of them, a rather difficult and draining beaurocratic process, I did not feel like dealing with, but had to. The other, a very interesting professional challenge, I was excited about.

In order to accomplish both, each day I had to make the decision to eliminate everything and anything that had nothing to do with those two impending issues.

The result was that I missed one of my best friends´ birthday party, wasn’t able to take phone calls, didn’t write my blog posts and the house was a mess. But I got the most important things done, and now I can get on with the rest of my life.

Prioritizing every week and every day helps me achieve my goals, while I also manage to devote time and energy to those I love.  

What is your priority this week and what are you willing to do to stick to it?  

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Tips to Stay Focused

I´ve mentioned in other blog posts that I don´t watch TV at all. Zilch, zero, nothing, nada.

This is mainly how I get things done that matter to me. This is how I write and publish books and blogs, make a living writing and translating, practice sports and raise my kids, plus spend time with my friends and loved ones or keep in touch with those who are far away.

Still, sometimes I feel I don´t have time enough to do it all and do it all well. I´m teaching myself to prioritize and streamline my life even further, so that I´m not swallowed by the constant barrage of distractions of modern life.

Following are just a few tips I use to keep my focus and get the important things done, while not forgetting to enjoy downtime too.

- Turn off my phone when I´m working, or simply don´t answer it unless it´s an emergency call concerning my daughters! Small but constant interruptions add up and make it more difficult to concentrate.

- Set time aside on my planner to work on the different projects I´m handling. I´m my own boss, and a good boss sets expectations for his or her employees, right? I also block time to spend with my kids and friends.

- Turn down too many social invites when I realize that short-term satisfaction will undermine the long-term satisfaction of getting my book written or meeting a deadline with a client (and getting my paycheck!)

- Be protective of my “alone” time. I consider walking or running on the beach just as important for me as eating or drinking water. It´s non-negotiable.

- Be protective of my energy and steer clear of energy drainers: people or situations that suck it out of me. If inevitable, then I do something to replenish it asap!

- Keep a vision-book in which, amongst other things, I write down my achievements on a daily and weekly basis. I´m not anal about it (I´m anal about few things if any), and it helps me stay focused on the positive.

- Block time to pay bills, get an oil change, doctor´s appointments, etc. on the same day. That frees my other days up to do my work.

- Make sure I have time to enjoy my friends, dancing, laughing or being silly with my kids or hanging out with that special someone. Life is too serious as it is!

How do you stay focused?

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