Resistance-Free Change for Leaders

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Resistance-Free Change for Leaders

© 2008 by Eric Klein.

All rights reserved. Published by Dharma Consulting. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in ad database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Eric Klein.

This report is available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. This is part of the entire Resistance-Free Change series which includes audio programs, on-line training, etc.

For more information, please write to:

Dharma Consulting

1455 Hymettus Ave

Encinitas, CA 92024

USA

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"It’ssooooo crowded,” Our son Aaron came back from the YMCA shaking his head,

“It’s those New Year's resolutions that fill the place every January. I can't wait until February when things settle back to normal and I can workout in peace."
Aaron knows it's just a matter of time before the resolutions of January dissolve away and the people jamming the weight room go back to their exercise-free lifestyles.

It happens every New Year.

People decide to get serious.

To renew their goals.

To make fresh resolutions.

To establish meaningful intentions.

And every year many of those goals, resolutions, and intentions begin with a bang and end with a whimper.

Why?

Because, people don’t know the 3x5 secret.

What is the 3x5 secret?

It is a simple lo-tech method for not just setting goals/intentions/resolutions. It’s a powerful to generate the momentum-force you need to realize your important goals.

It requires some simple tools – 3x5 cards (but you knew that didn’t you) and a pen.

It’s so easy that it’s kind of ridiculous.

What makes it work is understanding (and mastering) two principles.

The 3x5 secret is all about building momentum-force.

Which is the key to breakthrough results.

Momentum-force is what:

• Keeps you effortlessly focused on what matters most
• Makes it easier to say “no” when distractions beckon
• Attracts unexpected allies and support to help you out
• Strengthens your capacity to take on bigger challenges

How do you build momentum-force?

By understanding (and putting into practice) two principles:

• Intensity
• Duration

Without mastering these two concepts, you will either expend too much energy, struggle, and effort pursuing your goals or lose track of your goals and wander off like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz into the field of poppies – where you fall into a listless dream.

The 3x5 secret avoids both these traps by skillfully applying the principles of Intensity & Duration. Let’s explore them one at a time.

What is Intensity?

Intensity is focus.

Your capacity to focus on your goal fully and without distraction – is the measure of your intensity.

As you develop your capacity for intensity, you are able to effortlessly rest your full attention on what you want to create.

That’s what intensity is.

But, it’s also important to understand what intensity is not.

Because many people confuse emotionality with intensity.

Emotionality isn’t the same thing as intensity.

Getting emotionally revved-up about your goals is different from being intensely focused.

Look at the fans at a Sunday football game. Faces painted with their team colors. Screaming.

Attend a political rally. Flags waving. Tears flowing.

Or a rah-rah motivational seminar.

If you get swept up in the atmosphere of those events, your whole body can be churning with excitement. Being pumped-up, emotionally high can be a thrilling experience.

But, this kind of emotional fervor rarely translates well into sustained commitment.

And it takes sustained commitment to realize your goals.

Emotionality dissipates energy.

Intensity focuses energy.

Emotionality is an unreliable basis for taking action.

When you base your actions on your emotional mood, then you don’t take actions unless you feel like it.

And, whether you emotionally feel like it is dependant on so many variables:

• What you ate.
• Your blood sugar.
• The weather.
• Hormone levels.
• The economy
• What someone said to you in the hall
• An email you just read.
• Etc.

Almost anything can trigger an emotional reaction.

Emotions are inherently unstable and changeable.

It’s their nature. Sometimes happy. Sometimes sad.

Emotions wax and wane. Ebb and flow.

And when your attention is directed by emotions – then it waxes and wanes with the swings of your mood.

Which makes for inconsistent focus. Thus, inconsistent action.

In terms of creating results, emotionality is unreliable.

What works is deep, sustained focus.

How do you develop your capacity for deep, sustained focus?

It’s like training a puppy.

The unfocused emotional mind is like a new puppy. Lots of creative energy. No focus. No structure. Very little capacity for sustained attention.

You start by putting your attention on your goal.

This is like putting the puppy on its doggy bed and saying “Stay.”

You know what happens next.

The puppy gets up and wanders away!

The same thing happens with your attention. It wanders.

When your attention wanders, simply re-focus on the goal - without emotionality!

Don’t create a mini drama when your attention wanders.

Don’t feed more emotionality into the system.

Keep it simple. When the puppy (your attention) wanders . . . bring it back.

Even if your attention wanders away for days or weeks.

No harm, no foul.

No blame.

Whenever you notice that your attention has wandered . . . bring it back.

Each time you do so, you’re building your capacity to stay focused.

You’re training the puppy (your attention) to stay focused and absorbed. With practice, this becomes natural. And eventually effortless.

The intensity that fuels sustained creativity comes from effortless focus.

The intense absorption that generates momentum-force is totally relaxed.

It’s not a straining, mental clenching.

Intense focus is not willful concentration.

No gritting your teeth or forcing yourself to pay attention.

You simply to choose to put your attention on

what matters most.

When your attention wanders.

When distractions beckon.

When emotions erupt.

Just choose to bring your attention back to your goal.

Do this over and over again.

It’s this non-emotional re-focusing that trains the puppy.

The practice of bringing attention back again and again to your goal relates to the second principle of the 3x5 secret: Duration.

What is Duration?

Duration has to do with the time factor:

How much time per day you devote to your goal

How many days per week you devote to your goal

On one level it’s as simple as that. Put in the time.

If you want to write a book – you need to spend time writing.

If you want to build a business – you need to put in the time.

It’s true. But, putting in the time, alone, won’t do it.

The duration principle includes more than just doggedly logging hours.

Because time is not measured only by the tick-tock of the clock.

When musicians sit down to play a piece of music they look to the “time signature”. This tells them what kind of a rhythm is the music calls for.

Is it a waltz? A march? Every piece of music has a time signature.

What’s your optimum “time signature”?

What is the rhythm that brings out your best work?

Do you prefer to work at as easy waltz?

Or do you groove to a driving rockin’ roll beat?

Mastering the principle of duration involves finding your productivity rhythm.

Are you an early bird?

Or a night owl?

How long can you sit at your desk or attend meetings and still be useful?

What times of day are best for creative work?

When works best for making phone calls?

Not every hour of the day is suited to the same kind of activity.

Becoming a student of your own timing preferences allows you to invest time in ways that deepen your focus and enhance your productivity.

To summarize. The 3x5 secret is based on understanding and applying two key principles:

• Intensity: Your capacity for sustained effortless focus

(which can be high or low.)

• Duration: The time you devote to your goal

(which can be high or low.)

While there are infinite variations to the ways that Intensity & Duration can interact – in practice there are four essential combinations:

Low
Intensity / High
Intensity
High
Duration / Plateau
Results / Breakthrough
Results
Low
Duration / Chance
Results / Intermittent
Results

Low Intensity & Low Duration: Chance Results

This way of working on your goals is . . . not really to work on them very much at all. In this mode, you rarely focus attention on your goals. And you rarely devote time to them. If anything happens at all – it’s by chance. In this mode you have very little, if any, momentum-force.

Low Intensity & High Duration: Plateau Results

In this mode, you spend a substantial amount of time working at your goal. It’s part of your daily routine. Your low intensity means that you don’t focus attention on the goal. The time you spend is more of a rote habit than an intentional practice. You get results – simply from the fact that you put in time every day. But, the level of those results has hit a plateau. In this mode you have some momentum-force although it may not sustain itself if you don’t start paying attention.

High Intensity & Low Duration: Intermittent Results

This way of working on your goals is kind of like cramming for a test the night before exams. You put in a lot of focus and attention – but just for a short period of time. It may be a looming deadline that gets you moving. Or slumping finances. Whatever it is – you galvanize your attention and pull an “all-nighter”. Lots of intensity for a short period of time yields intermittent results. You get results more from concentration and will power than by building momentum-force.

High Intensity & High Duration: Breakthrough Results

This mode combines profound focus with regular/substantial time commitment. It is the path towards both breakthrough results and a sense of personal fulfillment. As you develop your capacity for sustained focus it becomes more enjoyable to spend time in that creative state. Personal breakthroughs and performance breakthroughs naturally enhance and support each other. You’re building momentum-force.

Which quadrants are you working in?

Now, it’s time to apply this matrix to your goals.

So, think about three of your goals.

Then consider which of the quadrants best describes your current Intensity & Duration combination.

Goal #1:

I’m currently getting ______results.

Goal #2:

I’m currently getting ______results.

Goal #3:

I’m currently getting ______results.

.

Are you satisfied?

Reflect on whether you’re satisfied with the ways in which you are working on your goals. If so, breathe deeply and appreciate what you’ve been doing.

If you’d like to shift your mode of working by increasing your Intensity or Duration, here is a simple, powerful, lo-tech method.

Finally – the 3x5 secret.

Get a stack of 3x5 index cards (at least 100). And a pen.
Reflect on your life and your work. What do you really, really want to accomplish in the next 12 months?
Write your 3 most important goals on the top card.
Then, every night before you go to bed:

1)Look at you the card with your three goals.

Quiet your mind.

Breathe calmly and focus your attention on those goals.

Visualize each goal in its completed state. Get as absorbed as you can – letting your focus sink into the image.

Breathe in the feeling of completion.

2) Take a blank card. Date it with tomorrow’s date. And write 3 things you will do the next day to realize your key goals.

3) When again night arrives, look at the three actions you wrote and notice how you did.

Check off the actions you completed. Feel the energy of completion.

Notice if you did not take any of the actions. Reflect on what kept you from completing those.

4) Repeat steps 1 & 2

5) As you fall asleep, turn peacefully inward and gently affirm that all inner obstacles to achieving your goals be cleared away.

During the day:

1)Whenever you consciously put your attention on your goals – pause and take a few slow conscious breathes.

Appreciate the experience of intentional focus. Intensify it.

And enjoy taking actions that create what matters most.

It’s that simple.

Bring together Intensity & Duration to create what matters most in your life

All it takes is a sincere willingness to practice and a stack of 3x5 cards.

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