Just Two More Things

Two more things to add to my list and no more paper. This is when I’m glad the paper is just a small yellow legal pad instead of a whole page. Why? This is my day off.  Do you make lists? Efficiency makes the day more valuable, and when I know there is this one day to get it all done, a list is the trick. My partner Rich has lists all over. The Costco list, the current Class list, the “some day” list. Yet, there are always “two more things” … coming in from the back of your mind reminders.
Frequently I will be ready to go to the office, and just as I get my coat on and reach for the door knob I look at a book. “Oh, I’ve been wanting to read Robert Dilts’s book From Coach to Awakener again. I’ll take that with me and read it later… ” So, I grab it and off I go!
Later that day, I reach for my list and realize I had “read book” on it… funny, but I just grabbed this book on the way out the door. Now I have it on my list, so I can give myself permission to read it. Nice!
This is pretty much how I get so much done. Set an intention to do it, and even if it’s not exactly worded on my list, my unconscious mind reminds me “at the precise moment I need it.” How many of us use this powerful and amazing tool: unconscious or greater mind?  Working with people in personal development coaching, I find it is important to walk your talk and use as many ways to develop your own successful life as you can.  Unconsciously we have so much ability! Let me tell you a story of a day of “two more things.”
We were working on a new training session, and knew I needed one more piece to enhance the learning for a particularly tricky skill. My conscious brain was busy answering the phone, feeding the cat, and putting together meals for the day.  I added to “Cat’s Doing List” a line saying “find amazing learning activity for today,” and then left it at that. Picking up my purse, grabbing the cell phone, iPad, stack of mail ready for the post person, I walked down the steps to the car. Opening the car, strapping myself into the car and the phone into the handsfree unit, it struck me how my generation had so many gadgets to worry about just to get out the door!  Mom had such a different perspective. The phone was at home. No such thing as computers. Before going out shopping she may have said, “Oh, I need to put lipstick on!”  Simple.
Suddenly I realized that I had it! The learning exercise would be taking a look at changes from our past and how we handled them. Then, I remembered a conversation in a book with some great questions for introspection! Next… “Inspector Gadget” – the video about a man turned into a robot with lots of funky inventions – popped into my head. Zing! I had it – my exercise for class which included a way for people into audio learning and one with visual learning.
I pulled out my list, and added “two more things.”  1) Past Reflection questions and 2) Show  1 minute film clip from “Inspector Gadget.”
Using your unconscious mind in the background is going to happen anyway. So, why not pull out yours and use it with two more things? For those of you interested in learning more ways to enhance your productivity or work on business issues, join Dr. Marci Nemhauser and me for Executive Coaching this coming Week-end, October 20th &21st at Apositiva’s Center in Portland, Oregon. Write two more things on your list: Call Cat at 503.525.0595 and Sign up for Executive Coaching (less than $500.) See you on the list!