The One False Belief You Need To Change Immediately.

It always amazes me how so many people believe they have to be available for their customers, clients and bosses 24/7. Just because we live in a 24/7 world, does not mean you have to operate a 24/7 life.

For any of us to create great things, we need time to focus. There is no getting around that simple fact. If you want to build a business, a meaningful project, a new marketing strategy, or get fit, you have to get focussed on your objectives and the process.

If you are always switched on to the demands of your customers, clients, bosses, family and friends, you will never have time to properly focus. There will never be time to switch off from the distractions coming at you 24/7 or the demands of others.

And therein lies a huge problem. If you are not focused on your objectives, whose objectives are you focused on?

The truth is, you can take time out of your schedule each week to focus on your objectives. All you need do is block two to three hours on your calendar once or twice a week to focus on your objectives. If you tell your colleagues, customers, clients and anyone else who wants a demand on your time that on certain days between certain times you will not be available no one will complain.

Let me give you a real-life example.

I have a client who works in a service industry. He has a senior position, so there are more people below him in the hierarchy chain than above. Nevertheless, he blocks the first two hours on a Monday morning to focus on his objectives and purpose for the week. Everyone he works with knows that until 10 AM on a Monday he will not be available.

Now my client has been practising this for over three years and never once has anyone complained, got upset or become agitated because he was not contactable for two hours on a Monday morning.

Recently, he has adopted the same principle on a Friday afternoon. From 3 PM until 5 PM on a Friday, my client now shuts his office door (although these days it’s more a digital door, being locked down at home) During that time he catches up with any outstanding work and does his weekly planning session.

All he has taken out of his working week is four hours. That’s four out of forty hours each week where he is not available, and nobody, including his immediate boss, his clients or his staff have ever complained.

Outside of these times, he is available to anyone who wishes to contact him.

Here are the keys to gaining focus time each week.

There are three keys to making this work for you. The first is that you must understand you are not all that important. That’s right. You are not indispensable. Your company and the world will not stop functioning if you are not available for a few hours each week. Things will move along just fine without your guiding attention.

The second key is you need to communicate your unavailability to everyone who needs to know. This is the hardest part because your belief system will be telling you that no one will accept your new schedule. Of course, the reality is nobody will mind at all. Most people will admire your resolve (but secretly believe you will fail).

The final part of this is you need to open your calendar and create time blocks and make then recurring every week. This is important because if you keep switching the times, you block out, nobody will learn your schedule. People need to know your schedule. You want your colleagues to tell other people that you are not available at certain times.

I work with a lot of surgeons, and all of them operate a version of this time blocking. Their surgical times are generally fixed. For example, a surgeon may be in the operating room between 8 AM and 11:30 AM. During that time they are not contactable by anyone (including their family members) Because of the need for sterilisation, they cannot take their phones into the operating room, once the surgery begins they are entirely focused on their work.

During this time, all their out-patients, colleagues and suppliers know they cannot be contacted yet no one complains. The world outside the operating room does not come to a standstill.

Once the surgery time is over, they then allow a period for meetings and for doing their rounds. During these times, the surgeon is available.

There is no reason at all why you cannot commit to periods where you focus on your most important work in the same way these surgeons do their work. When you give yourself this time, you will get a lot more work done, the quality of your work will improve, and you will feel a lot more relaxed and stress-free. It’s a win-win for everyone because everyone knows when you are and are not available, you get work completed for your clients on-time more often and the quality of that work is of a much higher standard.

So, give up on this false belief that you must be available for your clients, customers and colleagues 24/7. You do not. You have never been. The reason you feel this way is because you have allowed yourself to believe it.

So from today, stop believing it. Take control of your time. Give yourself a few periods each week where you are not available, and use that time to think, do creative work or work that requires your complete focus. You will be a lot better for it, your clients and colleagues will understand and support you, and everyone will be a lot happier.

Thank you for reading my stories! 😊

My purpose is to help 1 million people by 2020 to live the lives they desire. To help people find happiness and become better organised and more productive so they can do more of the important things in life.

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