Al Jennings II

Get Stuff Done

You can only feel good about what you're not doing, when you know what you're not doing. Right now, are you making the most effective use of your time? Do you need to get more things done? By choosing to do what you're currently doing, do you know what you're not doing that perhaps you should be doing?

If you need help being more productive, I recommend a book to you called, "Making It All Work", by David Allen. You can find it on my book list on the left side of the screen.

Rest and Refreshing

Here's a story that illustrates how taking the time to refresh yourself will result ultimately in increased productivity and effectiveness. It will help the overall quality of your work to improve greatly.

The story is about two men who were racing each other to see which one could saw down their tree the fastest. We'll call them Charlie and Bob for the sake of discussion. As they began to race, both began to make significant progress. But all of the sudden, Charlie took a break from cutting his tree. But Bob would never take any breaks. He would continue to go after it, fast and furious. He went nonstop without taking any rest at all. On the other hand, Charlie continued to take his breaks at regular intervals. But Bob continued relentlessly without any breaks.

All of the sudden, Charlie's tree came tumbling down. He had won the race! In the meanwhile, Bob was still sawing away, but his tree had still not come down. Bob was puzzled as to why he didn't win. Because he knew that Charlie took breaks and he didn't. Bob actually had put more reps in with his saw.

So why did Charlie beat Bob? What was his secret? When Charlie took his periodic pauses, he  sharpened his saw! And for that reason, when he did resume his work, he was more effective because he was cutting with a sharpened saw. Bob on the other hand, was hard at work and never stopped sawing. But he was sawing with a dull saw. While Bob worked harder, Charlie worked smarter.

When you don't take the time to rest, you can keep going and going and going. But what will invariably happen is that you will be cutting with a dull saw. But if you take time off and rest on a regular basis, you will increase your effectiveness and productivity. You will be more focused and alert. You will handle your work with more precision and efficiency. You will think more clearly and be laser sharp. You will make better judgments and decisions.

So take at least a day off a week to relax and refresh yourself. Step away from all your work, you're not that important. The world will be there when you get back..

Taking time to rest is challenging for me because I love my work so much. So I get myself in situations where I'm thinking that I'm cutting with a sharp saw, but unbeknownst to me, I'm really working in actuality with a dull blade. It's not something I'm consciously aware of, but I have to consciously purpose to make myself aware. But I really don't want to have to think about or remember to do it on a regular basis. So what do I do? I'm going to consult with my wife (she is my helper by the way) and pick a day that will be my day off. It's not going to be easy, but I must discipline myself on that day not to do any physical work and to take my mind off of work. If you're doing this already, great. But if you're not, I encourage you to get started.

This blog is for me, but I'll let you in on it: REST!

Ex. 31:16 The people of Israel must keep the Sabbath day by observing it from generation to generation. This is a covenant obligation for all time.  17 It is a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and was refreshed.’”

Although we are not under the law of Moses, there are certain principles that were included in the law that didn't originate with the law and are good for us today. One of those is the Sabbath principle.  the Sabbath rest principle was incorporated into the law, but it did not originate with the law. It is a principle that God instituted after He finished creating this world.

Gen. 2:2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.  3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation. 

Even God took a day off to rest. To me, that's deep. So you mean to tell me that God needs rest? According to the Scriptures he does. If God took a day off to rest and be refreshed, who do we think we are (or as I should say, who do I think I am) that we don't need to refresh ourselves. When you refresh yourself you increase your effectiveness. Tomorrow in my next blog, I'll share with you a story that illustrates this.

Time and Knowledge

In the previous generation, the components for success and wealth was land, labor and capital. Today, the criteria for success and wealth is time and knowledge. Gain the knowledge you need to do fulfill your purpose and use your time wisely.

Wake-up call for your vision (part II)

I hope you found yesterday's exercise fulfilling. Here is another step that I forgot to mention. Set a deadline for the completion of your vision. Then, make that vision a statement of faith by stating your goal in the present tense. For example, "I publish my book on parenting by May 1, 2009."
Now, find some quality time to use this process for your other dreams and follow the same process. I recommend that you choose some categories for your dreams such as: family, career or business, fitness, finances, etc.
One more thing. In writing out your vision, you don't even have to know how to do some of the things that you wrote down. This is where partnership comes in. When you pursue a God-given vision, God already has people in place to help you accomplish what He put on your heart to do. Just step out and move in the direction of your dreams, and it's amazing how God will bring people across your path to assist you with your vision.
My dream journal will walk you through this process for all of your dreams. It will help you break your dreams down into a process that enables you to have a detailed map that you can follow to convert your dreams into reality.

Wake-up call for your vision (part 1)

Prov. 29:18a   Where there is no vision, the people perish:
Hab. 2:2   Then the LORD answered me and said:
“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.
If you are going to be successful in life, you need a vision. Solomon said, "where there is no vision, the people perish."
Here is a success tip for today. This is a five minute drill that may infuse some energy into your day.
1. Get out a sheet of paper (PDA or computer will do) and write out a dream that you can think of that is the most important to you.
2. Convert your dream into a vision by breaking it down and making it as specific as you can. It can be one sentence to a maximum of one page. I suggest you find or draw a picture that will give you an image of what fulfilling your dream would look like.
3. Convert your vision into steps. What steps do you need to take (in order) to accomplish this vision. Write each step on a separate piece of paper.
4. If the individual steps cannot be done all by itself, then with each individual goal on a separate sheet, convert those steps into tasks.
How do you feel now? Doesn't that exercise give you a sense of clarity about how to accomplish your vision? Now this is important. Look at the next step and/or task that you need to take. Now the first available discretionary time that you have -- do it right then. It may be read a chapter in a book or make a phone call. Whatever it is, don't hesitate or procrastinate. Do it now!

Too many books to read & not enough time

I am a big fan of reading books. Someone once said that you will be the same person one year from now except for two things: the books you read and the people you meet. Almost all people who have achieved a high level of success in life are book readers. I would not have the knowledge that I have today and the things of God without being an avid book reader.
Several years ago, I experimented with the concept of speed reading. I even bought a course on tape. But I never stuck with it long enough to master the techniques. A couple of days ago I came across a book entitled, "10 Days to Faster Reading". I really need to master these techniques because the books that I want to read are stacking up on me! I am coming across books that I want to read faster than the time I have to read them. Something's got to give. So I figured the solution is not just to take the time to read, because obviously I have other responsibilities that are demanding my time. I decided that what I need to do is become a faster reader. So I am determined to push through this material and apply what I learn. I look forward to moving through my book material on my reading list with greater speed, comprehension and understanding.
The book I mentioned is on my book list and the left column of this blog. If you would like to order this book through Amazon, there is a link to the Amazon bookstore if you click on the book.

More about dealing with e-mail

Have you ever had someone call you 30 minutes after they send you an e-mail, asking you if you received it? I have begun sending an auto response to people who send me e-mail that will let them know that I did receive it, and at the same time helping them understand that I won't necessarily respond to it immediately. That doesn't mean that the e-mail is not important . It just means that I am controlling the e-mail, instead of the e-mail controlling me.
Here's the auto response that I use, which I picked up from the book, The 4 - Hour workweek:
Greetings friends:
Due to high workload, My goal is to check and respond to e-mail twice daily at 12:00 PM ET and 4:00 PM ET.
If you require urgent assistance (please ensure it is urgent) that cannot wait until either 12:00 PM or 4:00 PM, and you have my mobile number, please contact me by phone.
Thank you for understanding this move to more efficiency and effectiveness. It helps me to accomplish more to serve you better.
aj
One pet peeve of mine is when folk treat e-mail like IM. One thing that may be helpful for you, is to train the people who send you e-mail not to treat e-mail like an instant message. As far as I'm concerned, e-mail is not IM. So, if someone needs a response from you immediately, just ask them to pick up the phone and call you.

E-mail OC

How often do you check e-mail? Recently, I had this thought. What if the mailman delivered mail to my box every 30 minutes? What I run out to the box and check it every half hour? At least I hope I wouldn't! Well, it made me think, why do I check e-mail so much? It was totally making me less productive than I could be. While it seems like a small thing that doesn't take very much time, when you stop and think about it, (at least for me) you can spend a great deal of time opening, checking, and responding to all sorts of e-mail messages. So I decided to do something about it. I have made a decision to only check e-mail twice a day. That is my goal anyway. Admittedly. I'm not there yet. But I press toward the goal of checking e-mail only twice a day! Yesterday for example, I checked my e-mail not twice a day, but less than I have been, for sure. And already, I'm getting more work done. I heard about a study that revealed that most people only work two (productive) hours per day. They may think they work eight hours, but the majority of people only work about two hours. Ouch!
I challenge you to take control of your e-mail, and don't let your e-mail control you. Spend your discretionary time doing the important stuff based on your goals in life.
I hope I've helped you, that would be productive time and a win for me today.
Can anybody relate to what I'm talking about? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Oh, and one more thing. Here's a tip that may make you more productive: "don't check e-mail first thing in the morning".

I'm having what I say (on my mac)

I am writing this blog using a brand-new speech recognition software program. For those of you not familiar with speech recognition programs, its software that types what you speak. The program I've used in the past was called iListen from a company called MacSpeech. I'd rate it a 5 on a scale of 1-10.
With it you can do stuff like, dictate e-mails & documents, and open/edit applications. It is very useful when it works well. But the problem is, it wasn't that good. It was fair, but not good. I used to have to spend so much time editing after I dictated, that I may as well have just typed it. Actually, I used this program to write some of my book material. Since you can talk faster then you can type, it causes me to do my book writing and document typing a lot faster. Well anyway, the MacSpeech company came out with a brand-new product. It's not an upgrade, but a totally redesigned software program called, "Dictate". And I mean to tell you, I don't know of any other software program that I have been this excited about. Because it actually works. It has an amazing 90+ percent accuracy rating. And that is truly remarkable. The bottom-line for me is that I can really go to town writing and editing books, typing documents, not to mention writing blogs!
Currently, I am revising & doing a total makeover of the winning track platinum level. And I used Dictate to do this. I've got some brand-new material in the platinum level that this software helped me to produce. And I am excited about getting it done and out to you. It will be ready for the platinum level class that will start April 9.