Posted on June 18, 2010
This video talks about high value work, high value relaxation, and why you want to avoid the “gray zone” in between. Here’s another video I found of Eben Pagan discussing the productivity pyramid and other concepts that were discussed this weekend.
P.S. On a totally unrelated note, I announced a new program this week called Zero to Awesome: WordPress Advanced.
Click Here To Read The Transcript
Hey I am Laura Roeder and I just wanted to share today something that I learnt about at Eben Pagan’s Guru Business Model Seminar. I think it was called the Guru Business Plan which has been really powerful for me and I haven’t been to stop thinking about it since I learnt it. Basically he was talking about we need to either be doing our highest value work or what you could kind of call our highest value relaxation and eliminate all the stuff in between. We have so much trouble getting anything done during the day for our businesses because we tend to gravitate towards the busy work, towards the low value work and the reason that we do that is because we don’t have to worry so much about screwing it up.
It is very scary to make a sales call or to create a program or to coach someone on the phone or whatever is your high value work and it’s often, it’s always something that involves fear of rejection, fear of doing it wrong so instead we tend to fill our time with tweaking our website, or hanging out on plugs or things that like maybe are technically are making some sort of progress on our business but aren’t really the high value things. So we either want to be doing our high value or the high relaxation which means it doesn’t count to relax which means you are doing something like reading blogs or chatting on twitter. Relaxation really needs to be going on the beach, walking your dog, reading a book, having lunch with a friend, something where you are totally disengaged and disconnected from work and I found it really powerful to notice how much time I spend in this grey zone when I am not doing this high value relaxing or high value work.
So that’s all I wanted to share with your today really start being mindful of how you are spending your time, are you avoiding the things that would really move your business forward because they are scary and how can you start eliminating or delegating some of that grey zone time that is not really valuable.
Jun 18, 2010
Oh man, this has totally been something I’ve been focusing on for the last week or so. It’s amazing how easy it is to let that “grey zone” become almost your entire day. You feel productive because you’re technically being productive, just not in ways that will dramatically move you or your business forward.
It’s hit me in a different way though. My “grey zone” crept into my relaxation and family time. It happens easily when you love what you do, but everyone needs a complete disconnect from work, whether you call it that or not. The funny thing is that I feel much better and clearer in both my work and relaxation over the past week since actually “shutting down” at the end of my scheduled work time.
Most importantly, my family gets ALL of me when I’m with them.
Jun 20, 2010
I agree — 80/20 results is the way to go. But to pull that off it means spending your time in your greatest strengths (the secret is to find the overlap of strength + passion + value.)
I think my favorite phrase for reminding me to spend my time where it counts the most is:
“Give your best where you have your best to give.”
Jun 23, 2010
This great Laura and I 100% agree with this. The low value grey zone is so tricky. I recently had a huge “a-ha” in realizing that aiming for “perfection” is a big “grey zone” for me. Letting go of that, and just getting stuff good enough AND doing some serious implementing has lead to huge shift.
Thanks for the reminder to balance with high value relaxation. Love that.
Heather
Jun 23, 2010
laura,
funny that you should post this today–i just decided to take a vacation! now, i know that doesn’t sound so remarkable, many people do this, but i rarely get away for more than two days and i keep my finger on the pulse of my client projects every time i am away. as i scanned my calender this morning, i noticed that the third week in july is nearly free from meetings, appointments, etc. so i decided i’d take that week off.
what does this mean? i’m not fully sure yet, but i do know that i will let my clients know i am out for the week and then figure out how to spend my time from there. road trip? yoga 3x/day? champagne brunch each morning?
either way, it will be high value relaxation!
Jun 28, 2010
[...] How To Have High Value Relaxation by Laura Roeder [...]
Jun 29, 2010
Great video, I have a lot of trouble with this. It’s nice to have someone else to reminding me to stay out of the ‘grey zone!’
Jul 23, 2010
Totally agree. Get out and about this weekend, disconnect from being online at all – including your Smartphone and have your own creative time.
You can rest assured your community, friends, and business will still be there waiting for you and your renewed energy upon your return.