Today, I’m asking a deceptively simple question, and that question is the following:
What’s in your inbox?
I’m not just asking about your email inbox. I’m asking about your other inbox, the BIG one, the one that has a list of all your lifelong to-do items.
Oh! Did I hear you groan? Good! That means that you know what I’m talking about!
So often in life, we put aside our bigger goals and dreams to take care of the smaller, easier-to-accomplish tasks on our to-do list. Tasks like organizing the things on top of your desk, researching obscure facts on the Internet, or answering the easy emails in your inbox, to name a few.
These are activities you might be doing to maintain a sense of order and control in your work life. And you’re doing a great job, because all around me I see pretty neat desks and files, page upon page of interesting information from the web, and lots of emails going back and forth…and back and forth…yeah, you get the picture.
At the same time, in prioritizing tasks like these, people are de-prioritizing other items that may be incredibly critical to their growth, fulfillment and long-term success. The result is a lot of time and effort put into activities that won’t bring you the results that you want or need, or create the life and career that you crave and deserve.
It’s time to make it happen for yourself, both at work and in your life. Here’s one way to get started:
- Take a moment now to jot down the top 3 things you’d like most to accomplish from your “inbox.”
- Sit back and take a look at these items. Ask yourself how important these items are to you. How would you feel if you accomplished even one of them? No need to write anything down – just sit back and soak in your answers for a moment or more.
- Now, pick the one you’d like to tackle most and think about what would be possible for you if it were to happen.
- Next, write down the one thing you could do to really get things started. It doesn’t have to be big. In fact, the simpler the better.
- Okay, now do it!
What’s that you say? You’d love to do this, BUT…..
There it is, the infamous BUT. It gets in the way of progress, and in this case, it gets in the way of you really doing something meaningful for yourself. If le BUT has entered the building, ask yourself this question:
What could I gain by actually taking this first step?
If that wasn’t enough to free you from the power of le BUT, do give me a call, and we’ll tackle it together. In the meantime, keep your top 3 inbox items in front of you, and let me know how it goes when you make things happen.
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Carolyn Ou is a Coach and Consultant in Chicago, Illinois who loves to work with clients on having those A-HA! moments that help them take meaningful action in getting from point A to point B.
