Quality vs. Quantity: Getting the Most Out of What Matters

As you may have noticed, it has been almost a month since my last blog post. A lot is going on in my life right now, which has taken me away from some of my normal and enjoyable priorities.

My last entry was about doing what you love, and what you love becoming just another j-o-b. For me, that is what a lot of things were becoming largely because I had overloaded my plate with activities. I would be lying if I said my plate was not still full; however, after taking some time off to re-evaluate what I was doing, how to do it better, but more importantly how to do it efficiently while also being effective, I believe I have found a good formula.

After talking with one of my best friends last night, she made mention that sometimes when we are very busy we begin to do tasks just to do them. Our brain begins to go on autopilot, and there is not much thought or heart put behind what we are doing. We are simply doing it to get it off of our To Do list so we can move on to the next item and if we are lucky,finish them all that day.

The problem with this method is that your quantity may remain high in the period of stress; however, the quality of what you are doing begins to be negatively affected. When your quality of work goes down the drain, the time (be it short or long) that you spent working on it was largely a waste of time. When you are extremely busy, the best thing that you can do for yourself is make the time you are spending on tasks WORTH your time. After all, your time is valuable and clearly if you are at this point there is not much wiggle room...so if you are going to do it, do it right.

This might mean scaling back, even if you are like me and that idea scares the crap out of you. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a bit of a break. This does not mean quitting, rather re-evaluating where you can offer the most value at the given time with your given responsibilities and obligations. This idea falls back on the 80/20 rule: 80% of your results are going to come from 20% of your efforts. The trick that lies before you is deciding which tasks are your 20% that will yield you the highest results.

Here's how to do it: List your activities for the day and look them over. Which one of them will have a domino effect on other parts of your life? Which ones will move you in a positive direction towards your goals? Which ones MUST you do because they are an obligation?

My suggestion: If you have an obligation that stands in the way of you doing the activities you need to do to move you towards your goals (for example: grad school paper), get that over with first. It is the ugliest, probably most un-enjoyable item on the list, but if you get it done first the feeling of accomplishment you will have will propel you to dive into your next, hopefully more enjoyable tasks with heart.

In addition, once you have picked out the 20% of activities that will give you 80% of your results, work those next. And don't just do them to do them. Remember, the other tasks are not giving you 80%. Sure, they contribute here and there but they are not the "head honcho" of things you need to do. So rather than looking at them and thinking "I must get these done!" Stop. Breathe. And work on your 20% with a lot of thought, effort, and heart behind it. Put your time and effort into these tasks and watch it payoff...then you can go do the other small activities if there is time. By always focusing on what matters most, you can continue to move in a positive direction even when times are tough

Nicole's Method: I use the Reminders app on my iPhone for my daily To Do list. I write everything in there that I need to do for the next day (clearing out my brain before bed) and then when you click on the little "i" icon, you can add a priority to those items. My ugly obligations get highest priorities because I want them out of the way ASAP, then my 20% items get the next highest priority, and the trivial tasks that I would LOVE to get done, but if I don't it won't push me further ahead or make me fall behind get the lowest priority. I hold myself accountable to this list and resist the urge to go to the lesser priority items until they are the only ones showing on the list. I have found this works for me.


Do any of these ideas work for you? Do you have other ideas that you would like to add? Feel free to comment below and don't forget to follow me on Pinterest at Nicole Murray Fitness for various boards pertaining to how you can better your health, your fitness, and your life.

Make today awesome!

The Difference Between Your Passion and a J-O-B

I like to educate myself on the things I do, and while reading a blog titled, "10 Lessons Seth Godin Can Teach You About Blogging" by Neil Patel on quicksprout.com the difference was brought up between blogging because of your passion or blogging because of the money. This got the wheels turning for me...

What you do in your life, are you doing it because it's a passion or because it makes you money? If you are lucky enough, then whatever you do does both of these things, but for many of us that's not the case. Many of us hear the word, "passion" and feel like any passion has been sucked out of us. We don't even know what it means to have a passion or a dream anymore. Or! We know what a dream is: it's a dream. Something nice to think about, but the odds of it happening? Ehhh...not great!

And this is where we lose any chance we have of achieving anything that we want. The moment we succumb to the feelings of doubt, especially doubt in our own abilities, is the moment in which we have admitted defeat, stop trying, and barely find a reason to get out of bed in the morning other than to go sit in rush hour traffic on the way in to work. And if this is you, it's okay. It happens. I've been there. Totally fixable.

Find your passion. Go with it.

I'm not saying quit your job and go be a juggler because juggling is your passion, but hey! if you can get a business going with that and it can support you, by all means, my friend. Do yo thang!

Being real though, a passion creates a fire inside of you that keeps you moving forward towards your dreams when it feels like you can't. A passion gets you through those days at the office where you just want to throw your monitor out of the window. A passion can even get you away from that terrible office if you play your cards right, work hard, and get committed to it.

But there is a word of caution: your passion must remain your passion or you are doomed to fail. This isn't easy, especially once you start doing what you love full time. There needs to be a balance between keeping your passion your passion, and not doing too much that it becomes another J-O-B.

See, you should never want a vacation from your passion. It's what drives you. When you wake up in the morning, it is what you set out to do no matter what! It is something that FULFILLS some need inside that you have. And it does this without obligation, without stress, and without procrastination. That's your passion. Anything else is a job. And if you have turned your passion into a job, and it feels like a job, take it back to its roots. Why was it a passion in the first place? There's meaning behind what you are doing..you just need to find it.

The best way to keep it fresh? Always be learning about it. Always be challenging yourself in new ways to reach new heights with it. Always keep your eye on your "prize"...and while your eye is on it, throw in an added obstacle that you need to clear to REACH it because the more you push, the more you learn, the more you conquer, the stronger you become. When you are strong in an area, nothing can hold you back from achieving your dreams except yourself.

Do you have some crazy, amazing, uuber awesome dream but you aren't sure where to even START! Shoot me an email and let's talk nik4213@gmail.com

Is This for Me?

Have you ever thought that you might be able to do this whole coaching thing, but you just weren't 100% sure about it?

I was the same way. I always thought that maybe I could sell Avon, maybe I could run my own business one day, maybe I could be a Beachbody Coach...but the fact of the matter is until you try, you will never know! I decided to never be an Avon rep, because make up is not really my thing...but I did decide that with my general interest in health and fitness that this Beachbody thing might work. A year and a half later, here I am! A One Star Diamond coach and I'm really glad I just went for it, and tried.

The one great thing about Beachbody is our willingness to help one another out. Everyone joins as a coach for a different reason: Some just want the 25% discount on Shakeology and programs (that's why I started), others want to build a HUGE empire, and then still others are middle of the road: if they make some extra money on the side and can turn it into something bigger than side money then that would be gravy. There is no wrong entry into this business!! Just do it for YOU.

I pride myself on not being too pushy, unless I'm told by the person that they want to be pushed. If you have considered this Beachbody thing, then I want to give you an opportunity to put a little bit about yourself out there for me to review, and contact you. Let's see if this is going to be a good fit and if it isn't, no big deal, right?  Fill out this application below and hit submit when finished. The results will come right to me, and I can contact you as you specified on the form.

Looking forward to hearing from you!