Your best just got better

A bulletin board of "Thank You" notes - what a morning!

On the way to SFO airport last Saturday morning, I stopped at Starbucks for a bit of breakfast.

What a wall...how great to be surrounded in/with/by gratitude at 5 o'clock in the morning!

www.KIVA.org - a way to be your own bank! (And, help the world, one person at a time...)

So, if you're a late-comer to the game - as I was - and haven't heard of KIVA.org, here is a 2 minute 30 second overview of what I think about it...Enjoy, and please pass on to just one person!

Please Click anywhere in the black area below to get started...

Ask...and you shall receive!

Well, just this morning, I posted a note on my Facebook page asking people for a quick favor. Here's the request I made:

I am about to start a new Moleskine "journal." I always like to write a few quotes in the beginning...suggestions? Please share a fav quote!

Below, here are just some of the responses (to read them all, check out my FB page...). This picture is from an older journal...The beginnings of an article written many moons ago!

Joe Bruzzese at 7:55am May 4

"I've seen many troubles in my time, only half of which ever came true"
~ Mark Twain

Sarah Berger at 7:58am May 4

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Sandra Rodriguez at 8:07am May 4

Excuses are the tools of ignorance used to build monuments of nothing WE TAKE ON THE STRENGH OF THAT WHICH WE OVERCOME._______________ Be the change you want to see in the world -Gandhi

Andre Christou at 8:10am May 4

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."
-Stephen Grellet

Commodore Mann at 8:35am May 4

If you hold onto a dream for five years it will become a reality, but most people can't hold onto a dream for five minutes.

Lawrence Mize at 9:41am May 4

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
- Patrick Overton -

Get to know your BlackBerry even better. (Article written by Jodi...)

You've probably been with your BlackBerry so long it sometimes feels like an extension of your own body. But how well do you really understand it. Are you maximizing all that it offers to simplify your life? Here are 10 shortcuts you'll want to know.

1. Click the space bar instead of the @ symbol and the dot when typing e-mail addresses.

2. Click the space bar twice at the end of each sentence. It adds a period and a space and capitalizes the next word.

For the rest of Jodi's article (and, 8 more tips you HAVE to know) read the rest of the article on the Pink Magazine website!

She even talks about this tip!

One little "productivity" tip to start your day...

This one is from www.OutlookDashboard.com...

If you’ve ever missed a morning meeting, make your Calendar the opening screen on your computer.

Most people are unaware that you can change the main view of Outlook to have the Calendar as the starting page. It is quick and easy to edit the “dashboard” view. (There are step-by-step directions on the Outlook Dashboard site, just click the link in above...)

If you use an online calendar, you can make that your homepage by editing the Preferences from the menu bar of your online browser.

Now that you’re looking at your calendar, do you trust it? Or is it a jumble of reminders and to do’s, mixed in with your actual daily meetings and appointments? Do you keep moving uncompleted tasks from one day to the next? For many people the Calendar becomes more of a chore or afterthought than a productivity tool. When you glance at your calendar, it should be a clean shot of what you need to know about your day.

By reviewing a concise calendar, you’ll be better prepared for the day and never miss another 8 am meeting again.

+ PS: We found ways to create your "dashboard" in Lotus Notes, and even gMail as well! Just ask...

Who are you thinking of thanking?

Well, Joe Bruzzese has done it again. In less than 3 minutes, he makes the case for the importance of the "Thank You" in our every-day lives...

Enjoy!

How to maintain focus and achieve results

Constant, vigilant (*attentively or closely observant), dedicated practice is perhaps the least "energy-intensive" way to go about getting from here...to there.

Carefully identifying some of the "areas of focus" for goal setting and goal achievement takes but a few moments of time. In fact, purposeful and directed focus can actually take some of the stress of "thinking about thinking" out of the picture!

Here are just a few things to consider...

1. BARRIERS: represent blocks, excuses and reasons. They sometimes lead to blame...
2. POSSIBILITIES: represent the "choice" side of goal setting. They include potential, and when pursued often lead toward celebration.
3. GOALS: are made up of specific objectives with "due dates." They can incorporate purpose and intention to continue the motivational (intrinsically) push to continue moving forward.
4. CHOICES: are the things we "make" when we prioritize. At the beginning of the day we create a plan (our intention) and at the end of the day we have an experience (our attention). 

Continue to balance the "Thinking/Managing/Doing" aspects of your work to bring together hours, days, weeks, months and quarters more in alignment with where you think you'd like to be...identify the results you hope to achieve, and make daily choices - of your action and your focus - to move further...faster.

If there is something getting in your way of focusing on the MITs (the Most Important Things), write it down and filter it through the 4 areas of focus above. Then, over the next week, see how you can move forward, from where you are to where you want to be.

What happens when you write it down?

Recently, I sat at a cafe with a group of friends at the "start of our morning." During the conversation, the topics ranged from sports to politics to travel. But, at one point we turned to a theme of "recommendations." I don't remember what got us started (were talking about traveling down the CA coastline), but I do remember taking this picture.

As the recommendations were flying, two of us took out our "little pads of paper" and started taking notes. Now, in many situations this may have been seen as weird. ("You're taking notes on conversation you're having at a coffee shop???)

But, as I am planning a 5 day bike ride from San Francisco to Ojai next spring, I know that I was more than just interested in the conversation. I wanted to get back to my office, go online, and research some of those suggestions.

I did NOT want to hope I remembered what they were!

I have an idea for ya: for the next week, take a few more notes...even if you "think" you'll remember something later, write it down anyway! Then, look at those notes back at your desk, office or home. I'm curious to hear what happens!

Hey, what's that distracting your learning?

Did a little research this morning after my most recent trip consulting for a few Investment Banks in Europe last week. It seems that now (more then ever, they are saying) people have more than "just" work on their minds when they are AT work. So...what's the big deal?

Read on...

The study compared 10 healthy people in their 60s and 70s to a dozen younger volunteers, ages 22 to 36. Their brains were scanned while they looked at photographs of people they did not know. As each photograph was displayed for one second, the volunteers were asked if they'd seen it before in the study.

Have you ever felt "a little bit distracted?" If so, check out this article by Mr. Malcolm Ritter.

For years, I have talked about the importance of learning in "less distracting" environments. As a high school teacher, I didn't ask my students to study in quiet environments because they could NOT learn while watching TV or listening to music. Instead, I attempted to show them that they could learn FASTER and EASIER by focusing in on what they need to do!

I know, I know...nothing new. But, I do have a question to ask of my own self: What will I do today, in total focused concentration?

To get myself geared up for an experiment, I re-viewed this TED Talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Geographically independent, and moving through the crisis!

On vacation, I found out my website is down, my email account is down, and I'm a 4+ hour drive away from the office. So, I called in on my network of friends and mentors: - we've domain-forwarded the website (that's why you're here, if you typed in www.jasonwomack.com. - we've moved my email hosting (please E-mail me at jwwomack (at) gmail (dot) com

Ok, we're back up, you can E-mail me at the link off to the right side of this page between now and Monday)

- we've decided to take a hike, as I'm not going to drive back to the Ojai office to fix this. This is what running our own business - and being geographically independent - is all about!