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2011 Planning – Empty Your Mind With A Dragon & An Elephant

Simon Reilly

I’m inspired to write today’s Empty Your Mind Blog by the following client testimonial that I received the other day;

I have had the best year of my career in terms of business flow but it didn’t come without challenges.  I have embraced the challenges as part of the entire business building experience and I know I have handled them better now that I understand myself much better with all the coaching time we spent together.  I am still not perfect and find that the biggest challenges is remaining committed to the ‘Empty My Mind Process’ that you promoted so well to me. 

Today’s 2011 Planning – Empty Your Mind With A Dragon & An Elephant blog is the next 2011 Planning blog that I have been writing since November 22, 2010:

To write today’s blog, I did a search of the term Empty Your Mind in my blog search engine I was linked to a series of blogs that I have written on this subject and I have posted them here.

Empty Your Mind – March 19, 2010

The first 90 days of 2010 draws to a close on March 31st … time to start creating 90 day goals for April 1st to June 3oth.

Before you do this, make the commitment to Empty Your Mind before the end of the month so that you can create the space to write your 90 day goals.

Using Microsoft Excel as an example;

1.        Type in every idea, project, task, and “to-do”  – line by line until you empty your mind. I do this on a weekly basis and I review the following areas for info;

  • Business plan
  • Documents that I have created in the last week in Excel, Mind Genius, Word etc.
  • E-Mail – incoming
  • Files
  • Loose paper notes on my desk – file them at the same time
  • Notes in my Journal
  • Maximizer or Outlook – or the CRM system that you are using
  • Open documents on my computer desk top
  • Smartphone notes
  • Sticky notes – if you use them – I don’t

2.        Next, review the following categories and ask what other project areas come to mind and add them to this list; administration, computers / systems, customer service, financial, marketing, office management, planning, product development, production, sales, team building and training. You can also include areas for your personal life that include; auto, clothing, home, health, hobby, intellectual, relationships; family, friends, spouse, spirituality

3.        Next, in a separate column in Excel, type in the category that each idea, project, task and “to-do” belongs to

4.        Next, sort the ideas, projects, tasks and to-do’s alphabetically by category

5.        Next, using another column in Microsoft Excel, prioritize by A – must be done before X date then, by B, & C priority

6.        Next, using another column, identify what can be delegated and meet with your team with written instructions

7.        Next, schedule your A priorities and take action

iOrganized Versus iOverwhelmed – September 20, 2010

While my iPhone is the best piece of technology that I have ever used, I’m finding that it has accelerated the new ideas that come into my consciousness by what feels like tenfold.

Like most entrepreneurs my jobs include being the long term visionary, planner, and scheduler for projects that include computer systems, customer service, finances, marketing, offices, products, sales and team.

At the same I am the coach, facilitator, speaker and writer and I am always looking for new material to keep things fresh.

If you are like me, you could find yourself feeling overwhelmed after a strong week of business with potential loose ends hiding in CRM software, documents, e-mail software, files, journal, mind maps and notes. To remedy this I created a system to Empty My Mind.

Friday marked a milestone because I saved myself hours to Empty My Mind because;

  • I had been using Evernote over the course of last week to instantly capture new ideas in the form of blogs, e-mails, newsletters, PDFs, pictures, web sites and videos all in one place
  • I used Dragon Dictation on my iPhone to debrief my journal

iOrganized 2.0 – October 1, 2010

In my continual pursuit to keep iOrganized …

I’m excited that on this Friday Buffer Day, I am going to Empty My Mind ( in other words, debrief my week ) using Dragon Naturally Speaking Voice Recognition Software Version 11.0 combined with a Plantronics Calisto Headset with Bluetooth.

  • The Sony MP3 Recorder and Dragon will help to produce financial advisor speaking and investment advisor speaking presentation transcriptions and excerpts of these will no doubt find their way into future articles, blogs and e-newsletters.
  • Dragon will also be used when I am on the phone with my clients to transcribe what I say when I am on the phone. The transcriptions can be used as a value add for my clients and again, excerpts of these will no doubt find their way into future articles, blogs and e-newsletters.
  • I’ve been using Evernote over the last two weeks which is saving me hours and hours with organization.
  • Evernote and Dragon are going to magnify my focus and productivity tenfold.
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