Category: Work Life

What one word describes what these three scenarios share:

Many states have passed a “no texting while driving” law.

The gallery is quiet while a golfer putts.

You are overwhelmed at work.

So what’s your one word? Mine is…

…focus.

Texting diverts your attention from driving and you wreck.

Noise distracts a golfer’s attention.

You try to do everything at once and do a small portion of it well.

So how do you improve your focus with greater productivity so you get out of the office earlier?

Here are 3 Strategies to Positively Turbocharge Your Productivity:

Put your smartphone in the desk drawer.

A regional account manager for a major beverage distributor described a recent training session which began with their leader asking them to pick up an empty, wallet-sized box with lid from the table at the rear of the room and return to their places. He then requested that they cut off their smartphones, place them in the box, and put them on the table. “Yes,” he said, “what we’re talking about today is that important.”

The leader knew what you know intuitively—your smartphone is “productivitas interruptus” of the highest order. On average, users pay attention to their smartphone about 150 times per workday. It takes you at least 10, some studies suggest 20, minutes to return to your previous task.

Schedule 3 times per workday to consult your smartphone while working at your desk on a project. For all other times, leave it in your desk with the ringer turned down but not on silent mode which makes it buzz in your drawer.

You finish faster and more accurately than currently…and yes, that text, update or tweet will wait.

Focus on the task.

Lean forward and look the person in the eye.

Ever play the game of wandering eyes across the desk? The one where the person with whom you’re allegedly talking has eyes that wander to the computer monitor, to the caller id, out the door and window?

How much are you listened to?

Instead, close the door. Put the phone on DND. Turn the monitor to the wall.

Lean forward. Look the person in the eye. Deeply listen. Feedback with, “What I hear you saying is…”

You’ll get more done, faster, and more accurately than “wandering eyes.”

Focus on the person.

Play positive music.

Your brain responds to music in amazing ways.

Mindlin, Durousseau, and Cardillo wrote, “Your Playlist Can Change Your Life” about their discovery of 10 ways your favorite music can revolutionize many things including your productivity.

Listen to your playlist of positive music in the background or on headphones. Your mind achieves a laser-focus which rivets your productivity.

Focus with the music.

Improve your focus with greater productivity so you get out of the office earlier when you put your smartphone in the desk drawer, lean forward and look the person in the eye, and play positive music.

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), Work Positive coach, & speaker who helps business professionals increase sales with greater productivity so they leave the office earlier to do what they love with those they love. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org.

Article Contributed by Neil Jesani 

A recent Wall Street Journal study showed that more than half of the 799 small business owners surveyed, 56% considered their business as their retirement plan, or at least had their retirement plan tied to their business.  And because of the economy, most of them are expected to retire after age 65.

This statistic disturbed me! How can anyone tie up all of their money and time into one retirement plan option?

Now don’t get me wrong.

As someone who runs one of the fastest growing, privately held online life insurance brokerage firms in North America, I know how important it is to re-invest in your business.  I understand that part of the entrepreneurial dream, involves building a business and then selling it when you hit retirement age so you can spend the rest of your life relaxing and doing just what you want with your days and nights.

The Harsh Reality and Why You May Be Working Longer in Your Business More Years Than Planned…

In today’s tough economy you can be working many more years than you’d planned since there is no guarantee that you’ll get the price that you’re asking for when you sell your business. I don’t want to be a downer but four years ago, the median asking price for a small business was about $225,000, and the median sale price was about $200,000.  Now, the median asking price is about $175,000, while the median sale price is less than $150,000.  That’s a big change in just four years.

That’s why many small business owners who are reaching the age of retirement are finding themselves in a situation like a 62 year old catering business owner who was recently featured in a Wall Street Journal article. The owner is stuck in “business purgatory” – not successful enough to sell the business for a big profit and without enough available in his retirement account to support his high net worth lifestyle that he’s become accustomed to.

Yes, you need to work on your business and re-invest in it.  But at the same time, you don’t want to be stuck in business purgatory. You want to build a secure future for yourself.

How Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs Should Be Investing Their Money for a Secure Retirement

Those small business owners who do not tie all of their retirement funds to the business usually  focus on only one retirement investment strategy – the 401(k). In reality, there are quite a few retirement options specifically designed for small business owners who want to cut taxes and position themselves for a comfortable retirement. These options include:

1. Profit sharing and SEP plans – These plans were officially created by Congress as an income tax and retirement planning tool for high earning, self-employed physicians, professionals and business owners. With these plans, you define the contribution you make. For example, you would contribute lesser of $50,000 or 100% (25% for SEP plan) of participant’s compensation to your defined contribution plan. For example, a business owner makes $100,000 in W2 income from his or her business. That business owner could contribute lower of $50,000, or 25% of compensation. Since that amount would total $25,000, he or she would contribute the lower amount to their defined contribution plan like SEP.
2. Defined Benefit Plan – In a defined benefit plan, a business owner does not define the contribution made to the plan, but rather, the amount of the retirement benefit at the retirement age. Based on your current age and income in relation to your intended age of retirement, you must establish how much to contribute annually to the defined benefit plan to ensure adequate benefits at retirement. Essentially the biggest bonus to a defined benefit plan is that it will give you a significantly larger deduction, up to $250,000, as compared to the maximum of $50,000 limit for year 2012 deduction from a defined contribution plan.
3. 7702 Private Pension Plan – This plan is “America’s Best Kept Secret” as it has two components that work symbiotically.  The first component has a cash account which enables you to: 

• Contribute after tax dollars
• Earn compounding dividends on the contributions – tax deferred
• Take advantage of tax advantaged withdrawals as unlimited withdrawals are allowed before age 59 ½ without penalties, unlike a ROTH IRA or a traditional IRA.

The second component to the section 7702 plan is a life insurance program. If the account holder passes away, it pays a death benefit to the designated beneficiary. The death benefit is typically 3-6 times the invested amount – depending on your age.  Furthermore, if the account holder passes away, the death benefit or cash account, whichever higher is paid to the beneficiary tax-free.

Now, it’s never too late nor too early to start investing for a secure retirement. You don’t know what the future has in store for you, your family and your business. So, don’t count on your business as your sole retirement funding source.

About the Author:

Recognized by the Consumers’ Research Council of America as one of “America’s Top Financial Planners”, BeamaLife CEO Neil Jesani helps small business owners create new wealth, protect their assets, secure their retirement and cut their taxes using nonconventional life insurance strategies. Download Neil’s guide on “How to Receive Additional $250,000 Income Tax Deduction Through a Defined Benefit Plan” at: http://www.beamalife.com/250000-in-income-tax-deduction-for-year-2012/

There is no such thing as a person who is not creative.

We all have a creative spirit and creative potential, the question is: Do we nurture and develop our creativity, or do we stifle and suppress it?

I often meet people who say things like –

Well, that’s easy for you, you’re so creative!

I’m just not a creative person

I don’t have a creative cell in my body

I don’t have great ideas, I’m just not an’ ideas’ person.

I don’t buy it, I think it’s either a total cop out, or it’s simply the product of years of suppressing creativity and concentrating on other stuff.

There is no such thing as a person who is incapable of creativity.

So, here are 5 ideas to help you access your innate creativity, figure out how to rekindle that creative spirit, and connect with your true creative self

1.       Take a walk, early in the morning

Here’s the idea, you get out while the rest of the house is asleep (perfect time to walk your dog if you have one!).  If you can, get into nature, even if it’s a small park inside a city.  There won’t be many people around so you’ll feel the quiet and serenity of the early morning.  Notice your environment, watch everything wake up around you.

2.       Create a practice of gratitude. 

You have some options here; you can keep a notebook that you write in, in the evening, simply stating what you are thankful for today.  You can introduce a practice (we do this!) at the dinner table in the evening.  Simply ask, who would like to say a ‘thank-you’? What happened today that you are grateful for? Or you can do a morning ritual (perhaps during your early walk) where you list the top three things you are thankful for.  And make this your morning prayer.

3.       Listen to a GREAT piece of music

At least once a day, listen to a song or a piece of music that you love to sing along with (the singing along with is really important!).  Don’t worry about who may be listening, just sing out loud for one whole song!

4.       Dance (preferably for at least 10 minutes every day)

You can do it while you’re singing along (there you go, two in one!) or do it in addition.  Find some music that lifts your spirits and moves your body.  You can’t help feeling a surge of creativity and freedom when your body is moving to a sound and beat that totally resonates with you!  (you know it’s Zumba that does it for me!!).

5.       Hug someone

Okay, you’re probably thinking, she’s really lost it now.

But here’s the thing.  It really makes a difference.  Having that human or even canine contact, yep, hugging your pet will work too!  It doesn’t really matter who you hug, just make sure it’s a real hug.  You know the kind; no whacking the back of the person you are hugging but just that open hearted closeness.  It’s magic!

So, 5 really easy things you can do that work. This isn’t just about being happier, but it actually gets the creative juices flowing.  Try it and let me know.

My Grandfather told me stories of getting up at 4:30 a.m. to bring in the wood, put it in the cook stove, and light the fire so his mother could prepare breakfast. A sister gathered in the dark eggs laid by the hens. A brother prepared the pig months earlier. The flour ground from their corn was in a sack to make the biscuits with fresh milk from their cows. Sure they had a lot to do every morning, but if they wanted to eat, this is what they did.

Your biggest morning task is to decide whether to stop by Starbucks or McDonald’s for breakfast. That leaves you an abundance of time to do other things on your to-do list that are important, right?

Struggling with your to-do list?

How do you focus on what’s most important as you Work Positive?

First, find your productivity trigger.

I found mine as I stood at a family member’s open grave. He was young and his death unexpected. As I stood there, my mind flooded with all the times I wished I had called him just to say “Hi!,” the birthday cards I didn’t send and “just because” notes left unwritten. I cried.

I decided that I wasn’t crying for him, but for me. For the lost opportunities—words left unsaid; deeds left undone.

Then a beautiful dragonfly flew over the grave, his iridescent wings glittering in the summer sun. More joined him and I remembered that most dragonflies live only about a month.

As I stood there at that open grave, staring at dragonflies, I asked myself, “If I only had a month to live, what would I do?”

Watching the sandy soil cover his casket, dragonflies flitting about, I decided to do better. I now say all the words, some to people I haven’t spoken with in 30 years. I now do for others rather than wait until later. I define success by my clients’ metrics.

I pay attention to what is important. I focus on and filter for positive thoughts. I cooperate and complement with other positive people, with no Eeyore Vampires on Team Joey. I trust my birthright to believe and imagine the best in opportunities, while my accountability partners sniff out the trail of my ego and redirect me as necessary. I pay attention to what is important, which leads me to achieve a Work Positive lifestyle. I share my discoveries with you.

What’s your productivity trigger?

Who do you work for? More than your employer?

Why do you work? Pay bills or achieve financial independence?

How do you work? Job or career?

Where does your motivation arise from? Mine certainly changed…

Answer these questions and find your one trigger to be more productive this week as you Work Positive.

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Last week you discovered your productivity trigger. I found mine standing around a family member’s grave, watching dragon flies and remembering their 30-day life spans. A new focus emerged for me in doing business, one that defines success by my clients’ success. My to-do list is better now—more focused with less time required for completion.

The second question to answer as you increase sales and achieve greater productivity so you leave the office earlier to do what you love with those you love is this:

How do I act in my first hour on my productivity trigger?

For most business persons, from the minute you walk in the building to when you crawl out at the end of the day, there is noise. Some of this noise is just part and parcel of running a business. It leaves few moments of quiet to sort out important matters which determine your mental perception. A positive mental attitude accelerates your productivity so you do more in an hour than most business professionals do in a month.

Starting your day quietly—your first hour—is the key to choosing a positive perception of your business. This means leaving the TV remote alone. 24/7 news is in business to monetize negativity. “If it bleeds, it leads” is their mantra. First-hour exposure negatively frames your mindset and stunts your sales, darkly coloring everything you see that day.

Instead, choose to Work Positive and act in your first hour in these two ways:

First, read or listen to something positive. Pick a book that refreshes you. Listen to a podcast or watch a video that inspires you. Fill your mind with positive jet fuel. Just as breakfast is the most important meal of the day for your body, think of this as jump starting your mental metabolism for how you view every person and activity that day.

Second, walk through your plans for the day and mentally experience positive results. Listen to a meaningful sales conversation in your mind that’s scheduled that day. See the contract signed. List the talking points for an important meeting and hear yourself engaging and wowing the group.

Your major focus at this time is to silence the noise of doing business daily and give yourself the physical and mental space to perceive the positive at work which propels you to grow sales and increase your productivity so you can leave the office earlier to go home and be with your family and friends.

Spend at least 10 minutes, preferably an hour, doing this Work Positive activity to manage your to-do list more productively. Enjoy the extra time and money with your family and friends as you Work Positive!

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.