June 14 was my dad's 85th birthday - yes, 85! We had a very nice family dinner together. During the dinner a tour group came in the restaurant. The leader was a very outgoing guy and took one look at my dad and started speaking to my dad in Dutch (my dad is 100% Dutch)! It turns out he had met my grandpa on previous trips and could tell my dad was definitely related to my grandpa. A short time later the entire tour group stood up and sang 'Happy Birthday' to my dad in Dutch. It was the coolest thing and my dad was so touched by this.

July 1 is a very special day - it's my birthday! My 54th birthday to be exact! And I'd like you to help me celebrate by all of us giving others a gift.

Here's what you do (and I'll do it too): Go to your closet and quickly pick out 15 items or more that you no longer wear (trust me, there's far more than 15 items in your closet that you don't wear). Don't think too long and hard - just do it! Put the items in your car right away and bring them to your favorite charity or give them to someone you know who would love them!

Email me at elizabeth@elizabethhagen.com after you've done this and tell me how many items you gave away and let me know how much fun you had doing this. I can't wait to hear all about it!

Happy summer!

Do you ever get to the end of the day and think 'what exactly did I get done today?' What's amazing is that you worked hard all day and now can't think of a thing you accomplished.

You're not alone. When I post that question to attendees in workshops almost everyone nods their head in agreement.

But, what can we do about it? Voila, the Focus Stone!

The reason we feel like nothing has gotten done is because we use our time so fragmented. We work a little on this, a little on that, check a few emails (ok, a lot of emails!), return a few phone messages, get back to a few things we were working on, etc. etc.

This is called multi-tasking and it doesn't work.

Our brain can only work on one thing at a time. If you're working on 3-4 projects your brain has to start over every time you jump to another project.

I want you to try something different today. Pick one thing to work on, yes, one. Preferably the most important task of the day and if you have trouble picking ask yourself 'what will put me closest to the money?' That makes it really easy to pick the project.

Now you need a Focus Stone. When I give a presentation every attendee gets a pretty blue stone that I call the Focus Stone. This stone is your reminder to stay focused on one thing and one thing alone until completion. Every time you feel yourself drawn to jump to something else look at your Focus Stone and stay on task.

What are you going to use for your Focus Stone? Perhaps it's a favorite memento you have on your desk, or maybe you want to go out and find a beautiful stone. Decide now what you're going to use.

Fearless Organizing Assignment:
Focus = Doing something and thinking about it at the same time.

1. Decide to give this a try!
2. Decide what you're going to use as your Focus Stone.
3. Decide on the most important project to work on it and START!
4. Decide to stay focused.
5. Watch how much you get done!

July 2, 2008	Fearless Organizing Professional VIP Circle laser coaching Day with Elizabeth. Learn more
July 10-13, 2008	Philadelphia, PA
July 16, 2008	Fearless Organizing Professional VIP Circle monthly Q&A Call. Learn more
July 17, 2008	Blogtalk radio with Sharon Capehart
July 17, 2008	Organize with Confidence Free Women's Workshop, Sioux Falls, SD. Learn more
August 5, 2008	Speaking at the Minnesota School Nutrition Conference, St. Cloud, MN
August 20, 2008	Fearless Organizing Professional VIP Circle monthly Q&A Call. Learn more
August 21, 2008	Speaking at the Midwest Society of Meeting Executives, Minneapolis, MN
August 25, 2008	Organize with Confidence Free Women's Workshop, Sioux Falls, SD. Learn more
August 27, 2008	Fearless Organizing Professional VIP Circle Coaching Call. Learn more

See more details of upcoming speaking engagements here.

I'm in the process now of booking 2008/2009 speaking engagements. If your business or organization would like to be more focused, organized, and productive please visit the Speaking page on my website.