Simple, Practical Ways to be More Mindful in your Business and Your Life

"If only there were more hours in the day!"

Get ready, you're about to get your wish! That's right, it's Leap Day! February 29th. An extra 24 hours that you don't have to steal or squirrel away.




So we got to wondering, what would savvy, intelligent and entrepreneurially minded movers and shakers do with an extra day?

We polled over 50 of them, and the overwhelming response was that without the "cause to pause" that this question offered, they'd have just zipped through the day like any other - full out and pedal to the metal - without realizing it.

That started a side discussion about mindfulness and the power of pause, both clearly missing from our fast-lane lives and businesses.

But who has time to pause? Truth is, we need a fundamental shift in mindset about time, 'cause most of us are convinced we're pretty time-poor.

Instead of, "I'm going to run out of time; I'll never get it all done," choose to affirm, "There IS enough time." The most successful people in the world have the same 24 hours we all do, they just use each moment differently.

If your life seems to be passing by in a mindless blur, here are some simple ways to press pause:

Decide: Early in the day, decide on three key areas of focus. As emails, phone calls and ideas float in, check-in with your focus. If they fit, welcome them. But if they don't, then, "later, dude."

Laugh: Seems nuts when you've got a deadline looming, right? But just a couple of minutes of laughter can lift the sense of 'do or die'. Take a break for fun. When you return, you'll wonder why you were so frantic.

Just One Thing: Most of us are multi-tasking morning 'til night, making it impossible to pay proper attention to anything, especially your inner sense of direction or intuition. Focus on one thing at a time. Give it your all and it'll give it's all right back to you.

Focus on YOU: One poll respondent said it better than we ever could: "My weekly coaching call forces me to stop running, refocus, and make sure I'm headed in the right direction to begin with."  And remember to take a moment, to pause…for yourself - to think about what's important to you -- your goals, your life, your dreams. 

Enjoy Leap Day and please let us know if you have "Pause" ideas that you'd like to share with us and the Elance community.

About
Master class graduates of the Institute of Integrative Coaching at JFK University, husband and wife team Lissa Bergin-Boles and Randy Boles are known as the True Callings Coaches.  They specialize in helping life's movers and shakers successfully find and fulfill their life's true purpose, because absolutely nothing returns a bigger, all-round ROI. Visit the TrueCallings website.