Hard Work No Guarantee of Success

Some people feel they can accomplish anything by working hard or that hard work is necessary to accomplish anything. They think hard work guarantees them good results and success.

We believe this is simply not true. In fact, we consider you can accomplish a lot and probably much more by working intelligently and doing things better.

We’re not saying to be lazy but, in the end, we are pretty sure there’s more to success than only hard work. In reality, working hard may simply not be enough.

Maybe your boss can be impressed by committed employees that work long hours. But maybe he could be impressed even more by happier efficient employees that accomplish more working less.

Doing the Right Things Right

Some people just don’t work on the right things. There’s no point on working hard if you work on irrelevant stuff.

Take some time to identify priorities and focus more on these tasks. You probably can’t accomplish everything so try to concentrate on realizing what’s truly important.

12-Minute Financial Makeover Step 6 - Ease Your Mind with Debt Freedom Plan

This is the 6^th installment of our Financial Makeover Series featuring carefully selected personal finance subjects. We hope talking about these basic principles can allow you to figure out what can help the most in your own unique situation.

We talked about avoiding fees in Part 1 and how using a no-fee online checking account could help you so.

Part 2 featured spending more on things you truly love using a fun budget approach.

We continued in Part 3 with the amazing freedom of budget choices that can allow you to realize more of your projects and dreams.

Part 4 talked about emergency savings and having a personalized contingency plan.

Part 5 suggested to hammer down boring big recurring expenses.

After these, we now feel ready to abort an even more challenging subject. So, let’s put on our armor, sharpen our sword and face on the dreaded debt beast.

 

The Right Mindset

Having too much debt is probably today’s biggest financial problem of too many families. We did not start our Financial Makeover Series here because we believe it’s better to have developed some tools before tackling on dreaded debt.

 

With some confidence in your abilities, getting out of debt can be quite straightforward. You just have to allocate money in the right way to achieve it.

 

We know getting out of debt may seen difficult or even impossible for some. Many are even addicted to debt. They know extensive use of it is bad for them yet became comfortable bathing in it. Sadly, they are so afraid about getting into that battle.

 

But after you get over that steep psychological hurdle, getting rid of debt becomes basic math. You have to believe and decide you can get out of debt. No one can do it for you. You have to commit and do it for yourself and your family. The good news is that you have that power in you.

Perpetually Flourish Living by the Dozen

When you are passionate about something, you go all out. But after a while, you often run out of steam and can’t keep going because you are too exhausted.

Even if you manage to keep doing the right things, sometimes results won’t seem to materialize. This can be harsh and affect your morale.

Other times, you simply get disinterested and won’t accomplish much either. That lack of interest can even make you lazy.

The good news is that a remedy exists to keep fatigue out of the way. Both versions, physical and mental, can be kept at bay living by the dozen.  

Life is a long-haul game and the 12-Minute Method can help you keep pace. It can allow you to find and keep balance to thrive and constantly get significant things done.

So, look for ways to hammer down about a dozen meaningful tasks each day. Set and work towards your short-term (dozen days), mid-term (dozen weeks) and longer-term (one year or a dozen months) objectives. Also give yourself ample time (dozen years) for substantial career goals. You’ll probably get a chance to be considered an expert only after that long.

If you are a writer or would like to become one, composing at least a dozen lines per day can do wonders to provide everlasting inspiration and productivity.

Becoming Serenely Efficient

In my early years, without knowing why, I was naturally drawn towards things done correctly or with what I now know, efficiently. At that time, I didn’t realize how amazing that frame of mind could eventually make me feel. I now relish the calmness and peace of mind that come with being efficient or more efficient I should rather say. My hope is that one day, others might at least catch a glimpse of the enviable serenity of the efficient.  

To bluntly summarize our actual way of thinking in that regard, our motto has been to accomplish as much as possible with as little as possible. For instance, despite the fact we are willing to work hard, we are always looking for ways to minimize our efforts to still obtain good results. These efficient longings have tainted our actions for a long time now.

To be frank, at a young age, I probably aimed more for perfection. My attention to details got a lot of work done but annoyed quite a few. After some time, I realized trying to become perfect was a fool’s errand because being perfect is simply impossible for us mere humans. Over time, I learn to set free form perfectionism.

Yet I never stopped craving for things done correctly and I slowly found out efficiency was the answer to my prayers. Still young, I naively thought nobody would be against things being done right.

But the more I got exposed to the real world, the more I understood it was not that simple. Many are afraid of people who mostly do things right. They are not willing to change. They wrongly think effective methods will only mean higher standards and hence, more work for them. They don’t see that in reality, it’s quite the opposite.

Jump Start Change with Only 12-Minute

It’s kind of odd that a lot of people rather dream about being millionaires than actually doing something about it.

But the great thing is that you can start fundamental change with just 12-Minute to spare. In fact, 12-Minute can be the easiest answer to that widespread psychological hurdle that many never seem to surpass. So, if you can’t seem to get things going, remember that you can accomplish anything and everything starting with only 12-Minute.

So, start doing something about it, 12-Minute at a time. The truth is, beginning by investing only 12-Minute, can be a huge first step for improvement for the rest of your life. It’s impossible to accomplish everything all at once so take an easy step, the first step, now!

The long-haul recipe to success and happiness can be quite simple: just think about going forward in the next 12-Minute.

Action Out of Too Much Reflection

I must admit l can be the first to reflect too much. It’s not a crime to think about what you’re going to do. In fact, any accomplishment begins with someone thinking or if you prefer, dreaming about it. Too much reflecting only becomes a problem when it freezes up action.

Stressed Out by Performance: Choose Efficiency Instead

Corporations and our so-called modern society put a lot of emphasis on productivity and performance. But fed-up out-of-breath individuals are questioning those values more and more.

The secret may be to lean towards efficiency instead. Efficiency doesn’t only focus on results but also considers effort and methodology.

By definition, being efficient is more than doing the right things (being effective), it’s doing things the right way.

In that sense, efficiency can take out some stress out of performance. To resume what we’re trying to expose here, being efficient means performing as well as possible with as little effort as possible.

Efficiency Can Make Life Easier

Efficiency can allow you to swiftly tackle on each of your tasks, using up less time and effort.

Because efficient people do things the proper way, they usually manage to achieve their assignments with minimal efforts and without undue delays. And since they use less time and effort, efficient beings also typically feel less pressure.

In that sense, adopting an efficient frame of mind can be a great way to relieve pressure and make everyone’s life easier.

Gradually Building Up a 12-Minute Workout Program

Till my late thirties, I remained quite fit. I had no real merit as exercising came easy to me. In fact, I always used to do it having fun, playing games or doing sports like golf, badminton, hockey, etc. 

A couple injuries and a knee surgery later, things were getting a tad more complicated. Predominantly due to a lack of time, of interest and opportunities, more and more, working out became a hassle. Far from being a workout maniac, I have to say gyms are not really my thing.

The problem is, even if you don’t like it, exercise is kind of mandatory for us, mere human mortals. Over time, I gained weight and my general health gradually deteriorated. My morale eventually started to be affected as I was increasingly prone to illness. I had to do something to get out of that lethal spiral. 

Then, the 12-Minute Method came to the rescue. I got the ball rolling with workout sessions of only 12-Minute every 3-4 days and progressively built up to 48 minutes every other day.

12-Minute Solutions

You have a problem, a difficult situation to resolve…

We probably have a 12-Minute solution, an insightful suggestion for you!

Analyzing problems differently, thru 12-Minute lens, can be quite refreshing and you’ll see that solutions can be much easier to come by adopting that special angle: the unique 12-Minute point of view.

Despite its powerful nature, we still suggest learning our somewhat atypical technique by applying it on lighter problems first. After a few training runs, being familiar with its subtleties, it will be simpler to tackle on more challenging difficulties.

Troubled by nagging problems, many get confused. Most of the time, they’ll think they are doing too little. But they could also be trying too hard and even doing too much.

Using Limited Time to Still Obtain Big Success

To achieve reasonable success, many would gain by reconsidering their usage of one of the scarcest resources of our modern era: their precious time.

A lot of people struggle with our hectic way of life and find it hard to keep up with all that is expected of them. That’s why we would like, in the 12-Minute Tradition, to provide suggestions to help balance your schedule and regain some control back over it.

You’ll see that sometimes, reallocating only small parcels of your time can greatly improve your results.

We also believe that, with experience, very successful people have become masters at maximizing their time. They seem to have the ability to detect most important matters and effectively mingle with ever changing elements of their busy agenda. We hope our humble propositions can get you a step closer to that ultimate state.

Invest Stress-Free Time in Planning

Most people consider planning as a waste of time. We prefer to view it as a great way to reduce stress and to accomplish more when time is limited.

No Need to be Perfect to Have Success

The Utopic Pursuit of Perfection

Some people think you have to be perfect to have any success and accomplish anything significant in life. Even though I’m literally allergic to incompetence, I still tend to believe quite the opposite. From my standpoint, nobody is and can be perfect, yet everyone can improve and achieve wonders.

As a sample of great accomplishments of imperfect humans until now, just look at all that fascinating technology and architectural marvels that surround us. All those things were not built perfect the first time around. We are far from perfect but still are getting somewhere. And that somewhere is most of the time, getting better and better.

Furthermore, those who try to become or remain perfect will most likely get away from their true self in the process. Their resentful and sometime annoying pursuit of perfection may also result in a lack of support from their peers.

Letting go of minor discrepancies, admitting we are all human and embracing the contribution of others to focus together on essential matters can be a much more interesting and productive approach.

Accept Occasional Mistakes

Only person who do nothing never make mistakes. You’ve got to allow yourself and others to make a few here and there.

Do A Little More Today!

Want to accomplish more: just take 12-Minute to do something about it today!

An easy start because everybody can spare 12-Minute.

You could do the same the following day…

And the next one…

…

We suggest 12-Minute a day 5 times a week for a while.

After you get used to that pace, you could then add an additional 12-Minute segment to your daily routine. And so on and so forth. We also recommend to record your progress as it can be very motivating.

This simple 12-Minute technique is a great way to change and improve, little by little. You’ll be amazed how powerful and wonderful it can be!

With some patience, we will be able to accomplish about anything you want!

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Have You Done Enough Today?

That may summarize the burning questions tormenting your mind…

Am I working hard enough? How can I make sure I’ve accomplished my fair share? Will my day ever end?

Answers to those questions can be quite simple from our 12-Minute perspective: take the habit to complete about 12 significant tasks each day; plenty to keep your projects going but not too much so you won’t get exhausted.

Sure you can do a couple extra actions some days when you have more energy, just remember that at some point, you will need rest, both mentally and physically. Also don’t be too hard on yourself on days you fall a little short.

Using a dozen tasks per day as a point of reference can also be a great way to stay balanced and pace yourself.

Let’s try to illustrate our point of view using Lucy’s story.

Before You Can Improve, You Must Be Able to Measure Your Progress

Before implementing changes to fix problems and improve, the first step should be to adequately evaluate your value and measure your performance.

Therefore, you must begin by putting in place a system and tools to process all the necessary data. This database will help you assess the situation and observe improvements as they arise.

If already existing measuring tools are not adequate, a certain data gathering period must be planned to ensure that your data analysis tools are valid to monitor your evolution.