By Craig Ballantyne

Back when I was 13 years old, working away for $3.10 per hour at the local garden center, one of my tasks was to take the empty flats (the plastic container in which you get your petunias) and stack them up in an old warehouse until they were needed again the next spring.

Of course, the old warehouse was already overflowing with flats, pots, boxes of Christmas decorations, soil, tools, and even tractors. It was already over capacity. Somehow, I still managed to cram in another stack of flats in a dark corner. But it was far from optimal.

This is also how we treat our minds and as a result our work and relationships suffer.

We cram our mental faculties full of information; appointments, deadlines, commitments, ideas, and even “bucket lists.” We end up giving halfhearted attention to a laundry list of activities instead of sustained, quality attention to fewer, more important objectives. Our careers, stress levels, relationships and health all suffer.

As I discovered back when I was 13, the real problem wasn’t trying to cram more stuff into an already disorganized space. Oh no, the real problem came later when you tried to find things and extract them efficiently.

Likewise, the real problems in our minds arise when it comes to giving focus and attention to problems that matter. When we have halfheartedly committed to a dozen people, activity, committees, events, fundraisers and groups; all of them suffer, particularly the projects that demand our greatest focus.

It’s time for a politically incorrect solution to dealing with the overcapacity in our lives.

Recently two friends and business colleagues emailed me to set up a phone call to explain their new businesses and how I could partner with them.

I thought about scheduling calls with each of them as both opportunities were interesting and each could be successful for us and beneficial for the people we would help. But each call would need to fit between my deadlines for ETR, Financial Independence Monthly, my fitness business, and the Underground Online seminar, without cutting into the time I have dedicated for my family or health and fitness routine. The call would also need to revolve around my travel schedule.

As I thought about finding space in my schedule and in my mind for the extra responsibilities that these new opportunities would bring, my head exploded.

Boom.

Maple syrup-glazed Canadian brains everywhere. Have mercy on my poor assistant who will need to scrape out my grey matter from between the keys on my laptop.

Okay, my head didn’t explode. But it FELT like it was going to explode. My anxiety and blood pressure rose just thinking about trying to shove another opportunity into my already full to the brim mental warehouse.

So I said, “No, thank you, I’m sorry.” I went on to explain why I just could not get involved in any additional projects right now. Here’s what I wrote.

“I apologize, but I don’t have the mental capacity to give this conversation and your opportunity my full attention and preparation. As a business owner, I’m sure you’ll understand how we are being pulled in many directions, so you know where I’m coming from. I appreciate your interest in sharing this with me, however at this time I am fully committed to other projects and people.”

It felt great to say this. It felt even better to know that the strained attention I have for my current list of projects would not be diluted any further. And while there’s still a lot of work to do on cutting out more unnecessary tasks from my day, saying “No” to random opportunities that come my way is a start to reducing mental clutter.

The politically incorrect truth is this: You have to stand up for yourself. Listen, you don’t have time to talk to everyone about every single one of their problems. You can’t fix the world. Of course, you should certainly decline the invitations politely, but at some point you have to say no.

As much as you want to help everyone, as much as you want to jump into every new project and opportunity that comes along, you must remember that you have a limit on your mental capacity for quality work, meeting deadlines, and dealing with people.

All of these decisions are to be made with a big picture in mind. You want an uncluttered brain so that it is able to deliver focused attention on major projects. Avoid having your attention diluted by multitasking or chasing every shiny new object that comes your way.

On an even bigger scale, remember that every time you make a decision to get involved in a new project it will take time away from other aspects of your life.

With each new opportunity, ask yourself this:

What am I willing to sacrifice from my current life in order to insert this new opportunity into my limited mental capacity?

Each time I am tempted to overindulge my desire to be involved in every exciting new opportunity that comes my way, I remind myself to review Kekich Credo #2 that states:

“Cherish time, your most valuable resource. You can never make up the time you lose. It’s the most important value for any productive happy individual and is the only limitation to all accomplishment. To waste time is to waste your life. The most important choices you’ll ever make are how you use your time.”

For all of us, no matter how much we want to take on everything that comes our way, eventually something has to give. We can either take control and choose what gets cut, or we can find out the hard way through experience as to what part of our lives ends up suffering.

Make the choice. Reduce capacity. Do fewer things well rather than a lot of things halfheartedly. Eliminate the demand on your already strained systems, and give more focus and attention to the priority projects in your life that will make the biggest difference.

[Ed. Note. Craig Ballantyne is the editor of Early to Rise and author of Financial Independence Monthly and Turbulence Training. He is also the co-creator of the Early to Rise $100,000 Transformation Contest that you are a part of today. Craig’s goal is to help one million people improve their lives by 2020, and he does this through his relevant and relatable content that he provides daily, weekly and monthly on his numerous sites. Subscribe to Early to Rise today so you don’t miss out on Craig’s motivational messages.]

Thanks to Seth Godin for this one.

Today’s post is from http://freeneville.com

What do you think. Leave a comment on your thoughts.

Today’s Free Neville Goddard Lectureteaches us about forward giving. I want you to as you read the lecture quote, consider “forgiveness” as FORWARD GIVING. It’s a simple, yet ancient concept – which free’s us – and those we love – from the past – and opens us up to the power of the DIVINE IMAGINATION.

When we hold a SEEMING other in mind IN A VERY POWERFUL AND POSITIVE WAY, we give to them, as we give to ourselves. Feeling peace and power for another, generates it inside of us. And remember too, feeling PITY or ANGER for another – or any other limiting emotion, creates the same feelings and vibrations with each of us, and in our body chemistry as well. – Mr Twenty Twenty

Enjoy the lesson and Neville Goddard quote below, and thank you for being a member of our growing community. And make sure you read the PS below, it’s a reply to an email we got from a community member this morning.

This is a great article by Tony Shwartz of Harvard University – http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/

Have a read and leave a comment at the bottom about what you feel in relation to this. It was very thought provoking for me.

Why are you here? It’s arguably life’s most important question, but is it one you ask yourself?

I recognize it’s a question some people might view as self-indulgent, while others would see it primarily through a religious lens. But is there any part of an answer we could all agree on?

I’ve found a very simple one for myself, and it’s provided me in recent years with an increasingly powerful sense of clarity, inspiration and even joy. It’s this: I’m here to add more value to the world than I’m using up.

I use up resources every day — the gas I burn driving my car, the heat and electricity for my house and office, the food I eat. So how do I put more back into the world than I take out?

I spent the first 45 years of my life accruing value — trying to earn enough money to feel financially secure, sufficient success to feel respected, and enough relationships to feel safe and loved. I’m not especially proud of that, but I also know that some of my motivation was practical and human. Some of it, sadly, was compulsive.

To the extent that I felt I didn’t have enough, I didn’t imagine I had a choice about how to live my life. I was operating from a sense of deficit and I felt relentless hunger to fill that void, both financially and emotionally.

I was externally successful, as a journalist, but I didn’t feel particularly good about the work I was doing. Eventually, and fortunately, I finally hit a wall — a point at which I was so unhappy with my life that the desire to do something I deeply believed in eclipsed the fear of starting over in a completely new career.

Today, I resonate deeply with the parable of the faithful servant, from Luke 12:48, which ends this way: “To whom much is given, of him much will be expected.”

I have yet to meet any person who gets lasting satisfaction from earning way beyond what he needs. Accumulating more and more eventually, and invariably, delivers back less and less. It’s literally self-defeating.

I had the benefit of a comfortable upbringing, a great education, parents who modeled hard work and serving others, and people who believed in me along the way, even when I didn’t always believe in myself. I stood on the shoulders of many people, including ones who enjoyed far less good fortune than I did.

I believe in the law of reciprocity. Much was given to me. The reason I’m here, now, is to give back.

For more than a decade, I’ve had the amazing experience of waking up every morning excited to get to work. Partly, it’s that I have the freedom to do what I do best and enjoy most, and to keep getting better at it. Beyond that, it’s that I get to use my talents in the service of helping people build better lives and decrease their suffering.

The advantage I have is that I run my own business. What if you work at a job that doesn’t allow you to do what you do best and enjoy most, and that isn’t intrinsically inspiring?

At a company I frequently visit, there is a woman who works at the entrance and hands out the tickets for valet parking. She’s worked at her job for years. When I pulled up a couple of days ago, it was freezing outside, and she was all bundled up. Even so, when I got out of the car she greeted me effusively, as she always does.

She called me “Sweetheart,” she gave me a huge smile, and her energy lifted me up. As I was walking into the building, I heard her do the same thing for the next driver, and she sounded just as heartfelt.

This is a woman who knows who she is, and why she’s here. She adds value in the world. She doesn’t for a moment let the limits of her job stand in her way.

I’m inspired by her. She reminds me that knowing why you’re here, and who you want to be, isn’t a part-time job. The challenge is to live out what you stand for, intentionally, in every moment.

I fall short, frequently. Who doesn’t? When that happens, my goal is to notice, as quickly as I can, to take responsibility for whatever I’ve done, and to make amends. I know why I’m here.

So what do you think?

Leave a comment and share with your friends.

Paul