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Chain Yourself Down

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Hi —

This weekend was a chilly welcome to winter for us in the Chicagoland area. We had flurries and a little ice on the windshield. I'm SO NOT ready for winter!

What I AM ready for is THIS THURSDAY'S Fuel Free Seminar at 12:00 PM CST with guest expert Christie Clarke of Out-a-Box Parenting. Dubbed "The Nanny of Elgin", Christie is an educator, facilitator and Love & Logic trainer who truly puts the fun back into parenting! The information Christie shares is universally applicable and simple to use. Together, we will be sharing 7 of our best tips for Guilt-Free Parenting.

As always the call will be recorded if you can't make it, but those LIVE on the call will receive an ADDED BONUS. See below for details.

As you know my friend and colleague, Tammy Cook, and I have teamed up on our new Stepping Stone Courses. Tammy's forte' is helping people focus their genius and I wanted to share some of her wisdom with you. With the massive information overload most of us are coping with, and a steady stream of interruptions, it can be difficult to work on any one project for any length of time. That's why I just LOVE her article Chain Yourself Down!

If you take the opportunity to "chain yourself down," let me know how the method worked for you!

"If you have a child that is obedient and responds to your every command, it's good in the short term (especially for you), but bad for the child long term. The child is listening to YOUR voice and not the one in THEIR head. They aren't able to thinkf or themselves and know how to make good decisions." ~ Christie Clarke, Out-a-Box Parenting

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much."
~ Jaqueline Kennedy Onasis

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." ~ James Baldwin

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Chain Yourself Down

By Tammy Cook

I work with a lot of solopreneurs who work out of their homes. A great environment, except for the minor fact that distractions come flying in from all angles! When I had to really get focused to meet a deadline, I came up with this trick to keep me from wandering aimlessly about my house when I needed to be working. I don't use it all the time, but it works great when I'm feeling particularly restless and ambulatory.

Sometimes, the problem that we have is that our attention wanders off, when we're attempting to focus on a task. So this little trick enables the "back" of your mind to focus on one thing, while you focus your attention on the project at hand.

Grab a CD player or MP3 player and a set of headphones. You are going to use the music to focus. Some people focus fine with their rock or contemporary music, but that type may distract others. If so, then I would recommend classical music, wordless music, or even a CD with the sounds of water or nature. I've got one of those, and it's fabulous for blocking out my mental chatter when I'm trying to focus!

What you will do is commit to a set period of time - the duration of 1 CD, or 4 songs, or whatever it may be. Determine in advance how long your focused session will be. Gather up EVERYTHING you might possibly need - pens, paper, laptop, refreshment, everything, and turn off your phone. You can return all calls immediately after the session is over, but you want to really dedicate this period of time to concentrating.

Hold the Phone!
One note about "holding the phone." The phone is considered by many experts to be the #1 interrupter of most people today, severely hindering their ability to focus and concentrate. Especially for those of us who are self-employed. When the phone rings, we want to be there for our clients and prospects.

But use your secretary/assistant/voicemail to your advantage. If you are uncomfortable about this, when you schedule focused time, also schedule an hour of time immediately afterwards to return phone calls.

Many of my clients have struggled with the concept of "holding the phone" for an hour or two during working hours. Yet without exception, every client that has tried it has found it invaluable to reclaim an uninterrupted block of time for their focused concentration.

So let go of any doubts and resistance you might have, and for just one to two hours this week, try it out and see if it helps you to "hold the phone!"

About the Author

Tammy helps creatives with more ideas than time get more focused. She specializes in helping people successfully juggle several goals at once - and COMPLETE those dreams and goals that have been waiting so patiently in the background. She's also the Co-Author of the new Stepping Stone Courses.

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