An aha moment that changed my life forever
The wonderful thing about life is the ability to reflect on moments of time that were pivotal turning points. I have many key moments that have transformed me into the person I am today. This is the story of my first step on the road to my personal paradigm shift in truly understanding and believing in the power of productivity.
I have always been a person who appreciates order and organization. Perhaps it was because I grew up in a family where this was not the norm, who knows. My first experience with productivity was when I was introduced to a well-known paper-based time management system.
I was 20 years old and in university. It was like someone gave me a magical wand. I realized, with the power of organization and time management, I could be extremely productive in achieving my long and short term goals. I also found out very quickly for any tool to do its magic, I was the key to making it work. I needed to be committed to the using the planner system as intended, without veering off course and this discipline was key to my productivity success. This was my first exposure, without realizing it at the time, that I was the master of my productivity destiny. That I could achieve anything I set my mind too. That I held the power to make change in my life and that everything was my choice.
On my journey to become a productivity and efficiency expert, this tool highlighted the fact that discipline was the key to achieving goals. The link to productivity was how I achieved those goals. In order to be productive, I needed to be moving towards a goal/dream/desire.
The system taught me to dream big, break down dreams into goals, goals into manageable bite size tasks and to transfer these task into specific months and dates with priorities so I would actually do them. This very simple techniques of prioritization and goal breakdown has helped me achieve my personal vision in life, and in managing large scale projects for my clients. I’m able to take large complex ideas and turn them into reality and the planner system was the first, of many tools, I mastered to help me become productive in business and in life. The skill set I learned from this planner system, along with my varied professional background and additional tools, work together and allow me to offer productivity and efficiency expertise to Fortune 500 company and other organization.
As I reflect on the beginning of my productivity journey I’m grateful for being able to see all the stepping stones I have taken to get me to where I am today. The first stepping stone was the time management planner system. I used the Franklin Planner, there are loads of electronic and paper based planners out there, find one that works for you. Understanding and embracing time management was a pivotal productivity point in my life and one that I am extremely grateful for and has been instrumental in my professional and personal development.
