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6 Time Management Tips for Remaining Unstuck

Number 6Achieve, don't overachieve.

By Bill Reeb

As I have said before, overachievers tend to

  • be overly optimistic about how efficiently they can accomplish any particular activity or
  • take care of themselves only after everyone else on their list has been satisfied.

MORE: Reality Check: Can You Hit Your Goals? | Aligning What We Think with What We Do | What Is the Best Use of Your Time Right Now? | Shrink the Gap between Strengths and Weaknesses | Be Ready to Forgive Yourself | Time Passes Anyway | Duty: A Tough Hurdle to Overcome | You Are Right Where You Are Supposed to Be | Become Your Mind’s Lead Programmer | How ‘Take What’s Given’ Works in Business
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Therefore, while overachievers accomplish great things, they often find themselves stuck because they are suffering from a disconnect between their commitments and available resources.
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TALENT & CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Reality Check: Can You Hit Your Goals?

Businessman pole vaulting toward his goalAn exercise to help you perform a self assessment.

By Bill Reeb

Everything in my posts is designed to help you become more aware of yourself, more aware of how you both propel and sabotage your own desires and efforts, and how to better harness the power of momentum into progress.

MORE: Aligning What We Think with What We Do | Don’t Be Someone Else’s Rug | Are You a Box or a Funnel? | Tension Impacts Performance | Your Perception Will Shape Your Experiences | For CPAs: The Road to Wisdom Is Paved with Failure | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive | 3 ‘Letting Go’ Actions to Help You Get Unstuck | Get Better, Work Better, Right Now | Constantly Build on the Basics | From Martial Arts to Business: 5 Steps of Evolution | Expect and Embrace Failure Anytime You Do New Work | Determining Your Desires Should Be an Active Process | Know Where You Are Running To | Let Go of What You Think You Know
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Aligning What We Think with What We Do

Two metal balls balancing at each end of seesawIf you're "behind," then "don’t try to eat the entire elephant in one bite."

By Bill Reeb

Look for disconnects between what you think and do. And when you find yourself taking an action that contradicts the way you have been thinking, take a moment to figure out why there is a disconnect.

MORE: Don’t Be Someone Else’s Rug | Focus on Changing Yourself (Not Everyone Else) | How a Strength Can Become a Weakness | Tenacity and Persistence: Friends or Foes? | Don’t Let Worry Consume You | Guilt vs. Duty | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive
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When your actions and thoughts are not in congruence, know that you are setting yourself up to get stuck. Doesn’t it make sense that a major source of dissatisfaction can occur anytime you are thinking one way yet acting another? If we can’t be honest with ourselves, how can we ever expect to know who we really are and what is really important to us?
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TALENT & CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Don’t Be Someone Else’s Rug

Businessman with hand extended in "no" gestureThere's almost always a win-win available.

By Bill Reeb

In the ’70s, there was a big movement in business culture to learn to be more assertive, aptly called “assertiveness training.” Michaelle was quick to enroll because this was an important skill set to call upon, especially with many women moving into jobs that had historically been held by men (Michaelle was a systems engineer with IBM during this period). The concept was simple: “You need to speak your mind, ask for what you want, demand what is fair and don’t let yourself be a rug for everyone to step on.”

MORE: Focus on Changing Yourself (Not Everyone Else) | What Is the Best Use of Your Time Right Now? | Shrink the Gap between Strengths and Weaknesses | Be Ready to Forgive Yourself | Duty: A Tough Hurdle to Overcome
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In our early years working at IBM together, when one of the secretaries needed to step away or take a  break, she would often come over to Michaelle and ask her to cover with typing, answering the phone and so on. In addition to the fact that she held the professional job of being a systems specialist, Michaelle also had earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and an MBA with a concentration in accounting. I just had a bachelor’s degree in business – far less educated – yet no one ever asked me to fill in.
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TALENT & CAREER DEVELOPMENT

Focus on Changing Yourself (Not Everyone Else)

Young black businessman looking at his reflection2 key takeaways.

By Bill Reeb

“Focus on changing you” is an important technique to embrace. For your life to change in a meaningful way, it is about you changing – not anyone else.

MORE: What Is the Best Use of Your Time Right Now? | Are You a Box or a Funnel? | Tension Impacts Performance | Your Perception Will Shape Your Experiences | For CPAs: The Road to Wisdom Is Paved with Failure | Fear Stifles You in Every Way | Change the Way You Think
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While this sounds cliché, it is absolutely true. As a consultant, I work with organizations helping them with everything from improving operating processes to succession. Because every project I am involved in requires me to deal with a number of different personalities, if I want the client to achieve a successful outcome, it becomes critical for our team members to understand the following premise:

Change occurs when you change!

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TALENT & CAREER DEVELOPMENT

What Is the Best Use of Your Time Right Now?

Meditative businessman is pondering time management while surrounded by alarm clocksA simple way to focus your priorities.

By Bill Reeb

All of us, no matter what our income, gender, race, religion, origin, have the same amount of time – 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. Each of us has the same capacity. The question is how we use it.

MORE: Are You a Box or a Funnel? | How a Strength Can Become a Weakness | Tenacity and Persistence: Friends or Foes? | Don’t Let Worry Consume You | Guilt vs. Duty | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive | 3 ‘Letting Go’ Actions to Help You Get Unstuck
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For most of us, you can carve out roughly 3,000 of those hours for sleep. Even if you don’t need eight hours, you need some time to sleep, and that number cuts a big hole into your available capacity.
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Are You a Box or a Funnel?

3 metal funnelsHarmonize, don’t just clash and resist.

By Bill Reeb

A college professor I know has had a difficult time harmonizing as his approach always escalated to clashing and resisting. And no, this isn’t a story about Michaelle in disguise, but someone else I had the pleasure of getting to know.

MORE: Tension Impacts Performance | Your Perception Will Shape Your Experiences | For CPAs: The Road to Wisdom Is Paved with Failure | Fear Stifles You in Every Way | Change the Way You Think | Let Go to Get Unstuck | Investing in Loss | You Might Be Your Biggest Obstacle | What to Stop May Be More Important Than What to Do
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He had a definite approach to teaching and was good at it. He believed in setting very high standards for his students and passing only those who achieved a specific level of excellence.
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How a Strength Can Become a Weakness

Rely, but not too much.

By Bill Reeb

While there are many lessons in martial arts that repeat themselves, the idea that a strength can also become a weakness is a commonly recurring one.

MORE: Tension Impacts Performance | Tenacity and Persistence: Friends or Foes? | Don’t Let Worry Consume You | Guilt vs. Duty | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive | 3 ‘Letting Go’ Actions to Help You Get Unstuck | Get Better, Work Better, Right Now | How ‘Take What’s Given’ Works in Business | Learn to Work ‘Better’ Instead of ‘Harder’
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But it doesn’t make sense – how could a strength ever be bad? Well,  here are a couple of examples.
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Shrink the Gap between Strengths and Weaknesses

Young Asian woman lifting dumbbellsBONUS: Increase your odds of success.

By Bill Reeb

There are many self-development books and advisors that proclaim that you should focus on your strengths, develop your strengths and don’t worry about your weaknesses.

MORE: Tension Impacts Performance | Tenacity and Persistence: Friends or Foes? | Don’t Let Worry Consume You | Guilt vs. Duty | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive | 3 ‘Letting Go’ Actions to Help You Get Unstuck | Get Better, Work Better, Right Now
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This is a great story to tell because it is one everyone wants to hear. Who wants to be told that they should work on what they feel inadequate about in themselves or their abilities? In other words, it is easy to get people pumped up about spending time concentrating on what they do well and discard what they do poorly and leave it for someone else.
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Tension Impacts Performance

Calm balanced businessman sitting outdoors on bench in Yoga lotus pose meditating, with office building and blue sky in backgroundMake it work for you, not against you.

By Bill Reeb

Your best comes through, especially when you are calling upon fine motor skills, when you are relaxed. Too much tension can quickly impact your mental, physical and emotional acuity.

MORE: Tenacity and Persistence: Friends or Foes? | Be Ready to Forgive Yourself | Time Passes Anyway | Duty: A Tough Hurdle to Overcome | You Are Right Where You Are Supposed to Be | Become Your Mind’s Lead Programmer
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What I am referring to is finding the right level of tension to support performance at a heightened level. The problem is that there is a fine line between tension that pumps you up and tension that starts to drag you down.
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Tenacity and Persistence: Friends or Foes?

Man with head down on desk, sticky note with "HELP" writte on it on baseball capLearn when to cut your losses.

By Bill Reeb

You are now at the final leg of the Process. To be here, you had to kick out of the Try (Work)-Evaluate loop because you were either feeling unsuccessful or unhappy about your progress or priorities. This negative evaluation occurs as you are either starting to get stuck or you are already stuck.

MORE: Be Ready to Forgive Yourself | Your Perception Will Shape Your Experiences | For CPAs: The Road to Wisdom Is Paved with Failure | Fear Stifles You in Every Way | Change the Way You Think | Let Go to Get Unstuck | Investing in Loss
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Because you have already worked through the techniques of “What You Are Thinking,” it’s time for us to walk through the other side of this evaluation, which is “What You Are Doing.” These techniques should help you find ways to get unstuck from what you are doing so that you can once again start regaining momentum toward whatever goal you are trying to accomplish.
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Be Ready to Forgive Yourself

Young man steering a wooden ship

The sooner you see yourself heading off course, the sooner you can correct.

By Bill Reeb

We need self-acceptance that as human beings we are emotional, have faults, are regularly scared, will make mistakes, are very self-critical, expect more from ourselves at times than is reasonable, and more.

MORE: Your Perception Will Shape Your Experiences | Don’t Let Worry Consume You | Guilt vs. Duty | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive | 3 ‘Letting Go’ Actions to Help You Get Unstuck | Get Better, Work Better, Right Now | Constantly Build on the Basics | From Martial Arts to Business: 5 Steps of Evolution | Expect and Embrace Failure Anytime You Do New Work
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We need to accept the fact that we will commonly sabotage or undermine our own efforts, sometimes consciously, often subconsciously. When we find our psychological and physiological energy heading down one of these destructive paths, rather than pile on and beat ourselves up even more, we need to accept that these detours are both expected and predictable so that we can quickly refocus on more constructive responses.
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How Perception Shapes Experience

Boy hugging ponyIt's okay to enjoy success.

By Bill Reeb

Your perception of what you expect will actually shape what you experience. Let’s consider a few common perspective variations like “scarcity versus abundance,” “one right answer versus many right answers,” “opportunity versus threats,” “easy versus struggle,” “success versus failure,” “happiness versus sadness” just to name a few.

MORE: Don’t Let Worry Consume You | Time Passes Anyway | Duty: A Tough Hurdle to Overcome | You Are Right Where You Are Supposed to Be | Become Your Mind’s Lead Programmer | Stay in the Present | How ‘Take What’s Given’ Works in Business | Learn to Work ‘Better’ Instead of ‘Harder’
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With each of these, there is a continuum between one extreme and the other, and depending on where your outlook falls on that continuum, your perspective – that filter – will shape the way you interpret every experience.
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