Organize Your Life to Win

Everyone wishes they had the secret ingredient for success. This article will get you close!

What does it take to succeed?

The answer could fill a book. However, one key ingredient is always missing. Organization. A real plan to win.

When you master the art of organization and stick to it, life will unfold in ways dreams are made. People stop doing a thing simply because frustration sets in from not getting anything accomplished.

Learning the difference between Activity vs. Productivity will serve you well towards success. An example of an activity is checking social media (non-work related), texting friends, merely goofing off. Productivity would be reading to educate yourself, working with a focus on a task that produces a tangible result. Something that moves your life forward.

Remember, as we learn to organize our life, keep in mind one HUGE thing. At first, you will stink at it. It will seem challenging and cumbersome. Like all things new, you must practice for a time before you master the skill. Do not give up!

What worked for me, and I found it to be incredibly easy to set up. Reminders on my phone. Set a reminder to start and finish a task, move on to the next.

What a day might look like:

1. 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM exercise
2. 6:00 Am to 6:30 AM Breakfast get the family up
3. Shower, off to work
4. 8:00 AM get settled in for the day at my desk
5. 8:20 AM to 10:00 AM for this time allotted, finish projects, answer emails, etc.
6. Fill the rest of your day much like the morning and include a break.

As your morning begins learning to regiment your time. Your brain works just like your muscles do, muscle memory. Golfers practice their swing thousands of times to get the same swing each time (or as close as you can get to 100%).

Why you say!

Getting our brain accustomed to focusing for periods of time. The easier it will be for you not to get distracted.

Key Point:

Make sure when you set out on a task, you give it 110% of your attention. Silence cell phones do not check alerts. Colossal waste of time at that moment. Between missions, we can check updates.

Multi-tasking get that garbage out of your head!

Get dialed into a project, start complete, move on to the next. Your mind will process faster when you are not jumping from one thing to the next, never completing the one. Laser focus get it done, NEXT!

Get all your production work done during the workday. Learning to work in time allotted intervals, you will find more time than you ever imagined you had. When you delete “Activity” and replace it with “PRODUCTIVITY,” time and success will find you.

No matter what you are doing, you must learn to be present in the moment. This means putting distractions aside for the time allotted.

Parents ask yourself. When playing with your children or spending time with them:

1. Will my kids remember me being fully engaged with them?
2. Will my kids remember me on the phone, checking emails, saying sorry, I must take this call?

Give your life the gift of being present in the moment.

• Shut off all cell phones during family time, production time, etc.

Screen time can be your worst enemy. Learn to use it wisely. Hence the subject or our article, Organize Your Life to Win.

We have come to a point where I feel sure some of you are saying, “what about me?” Well, this new paradigm shift includes time for you, family, and a life.

One analogy that I have used in this scenario is working your life as though you were a factory running 24/7.

6:00 AM to 6:00 PM busy with production, allowing a morning break, lunch, and an afternoon break.

6:01 PM to Midnight: family, single life, reading, exercise, date night, and the like.

Midnight to 6:00 AM rest, and sleep. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger says to those that say they need more sleep, he exclaims, “sleep faster.”

Three shifts that achieve a result.

The reason I use my factory story is it lends itself to balance. Without life-balance, expect more of the same if life is not really going your way. Make the time available for production but make time available to nurture yourself.

With all-new things, you will stink at trying this out for the first time. You will become frustrated; it is too much. Like any new beginner, you will stink. Never fear this goes away.

Practice, Practice, Practice

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”—Muhamad Ali 

Winning in life also means you cannot give up. The reason people quit is that what they are doing becomes hard. It’s new to you keep this at the forefront of your mind!   

Life success can be summed up in what Marathon runners call “the wall.”

Somewhere around 17 to 20 miles into a marathon, runners will hit what they call the wall. The brain begins to tell your body that you cannot run another step, you’re injured, stop before you do real damage. Very real to the person experiencing this. Your brain gets into fight or flight, and by design, flight is the choice; quit running.

The real story is the “Wall,” as it is called, is all psychosomatic. Study, after study, has proven that nothing is happening to you. Your brain is doing what it naturally does when you experience more stress to your body than expected. It is saying, wait stop, we have never done this before. Yet by running through the wall now, our brain learns, hang on a minute, we are okay, so let us keep running.

Beginners always stink terribly at first. Once you have run through the pain, your brain thinks you are experiencing. Then suddenly, guess what? You won!

With all-new things begin slow. Set up some regular routines that you can do recurringly. Set recurring reminders out for an entire year.

Easy analogy:

1 Hour per day X 365 Days Per Year = 365 total hours of learning or production. That is a lot when you want more out of your life. Indeed, you do not have to do everything seven days per week. You could read and expand your awareness seven days a week???

Now imagine filling a productive 8-hour day. What could you achieve?

Last, I will leave you with this. What is production? Imagine you are a TV producer for a major television show. You have forty minutes to fill with entertainment that keeps someone from channel surfing because they do not want to lose a minute of the content of the show.

Imagine what it takes to keep the Ellen show or Oprah audiences back in the day fully engaged. You are the audience, now go keep yourself fully engaged.

Organize your life to win; this is your time!

About Robert Bruton

Robert Bruton writes self-improvement, Christian living books. Born in New Mexico with a passion for mountains and skiing. Robert’s passion for life he shares his wisdom and insight with his readers. You can find out more about Robert on his website and connect with him on Twitter.