Too Busy? So What! Ten Tips to Get What You Want

Okay, so you don’t have the time looking at your calendar.  But who does?  If it’s something we really want to do, we can and will find the time.  Where will you find the time, you ask? On your calendar!  Just decide what’s on your calendar that is less important or less urgent than the goal you want to focus on now!  And, don’t worry if your schedule is tight, some of my best work has been done under pressure.  In fact all of my six books were only completed when I gave myself an urgent deadline.  There seems to be some power in making a request urgent, otherwise it keeps getting put off waiting for the perfect time.

There Is No Perfect Time- Only Now!

Go on, commit and set a date.  It gets the juices going.  So, get busy realizing your goals.  You’re probably familiar with the adage, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”  Busy people get things done because they HAVE to schedule their time.  Last year this time I was busy  and had plans for the next day.   But then, I got a request from a client the night before to put together some training for teaching a course in Hawaii.  The request had everything it needed to peak my  interest. The only challenge was that I had to put the info together in less than 24 hours.  It was clearly an urgent request.  Did I get it done, You betcha!

  1. Decide what you want.  Make sure it’s something that you’re interested in doing.  If you don’t whole-heartedly commit, you’ll find yourself procrastinating more.  Just make a decision and commitment.
  1. Create a plan of action.  You might want to consult with others, get info, and do some prep work.  Your pre-planning work will help you to set a realistic date that you can commit to.
  2. Decide when you want to realize your goal and SET YOUR COMPLETION DATE!  Put it on your calendar.  Remember you can always change the date, but you’ll never hit a target if you don’t have one.
  3. Tell folks. Have people in your court to remind, encourage, and support you.
  4. Schedule your individual tasks too.  Put them on your calendar.  Take them seriously.
  5. Begin immediately to do something every single day that will move you closer to your goal.
  6. Cross off each completed task.  This self-satisfaction will keep you moving.
  7. Decide on a specific amount of time you will work on that project each day. 30 minutes? 1 hour? 2 hours?  Then set your timer and stay on it until you’ve worked the agreed upon amount of time.
  8. Focus!- Limit distractions.  Set yourself up for success.
  9. Finish- Keep at it until you’ve reach your goal.  Now reward yourself.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

The Power of A Date

Want to achieve a specific goal by a specific time? Then put a date on it.  The more urgent the date, the greater chances that you will achieve it. Most of you are aware of my desire to have my own television show.  Since the Oprah competition last year, I have been taking classes in field production, studio technician, Finalcut Pro Editing,  and studio production.  After the competition ended, I immediately signed up for the next class and have been taking them for the past year.  I decided that I wanted to launch my show in September.  Deciding to do something is not enough.  I had decided last year, but just yesterday I filled out the final paperwork,  and selected a date for my first show on the local cable MCM Channel 19.  The date is September 24, 2011.  Although I had been preparing for years, it finally felt real when I set the date.  I told them that when the Oprah people call, I’ll have to bow out.  So, even though I’m on hold for a part on OWN network, I’m proceeding on with my own plan.

Go on, Commit and Set A Date.

So what do you want to accomplish? Is it important?  Does it excite you?  You can keep hoping and wishing or you can set a date.  Just setting the date gets the juices going.  So, get busy now realizing your goals.  You’re probably familiar with the adage, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”  Busy people get things done because they HAVE to schedule their time.  I was busy yesterday and had plans for today.   But then, I got a request from a client last night to put together some training for teaching a course in Hawaii in August.  The request had everything it needed to peak my  interest. The only challenge was that I had to put the info together in less than 24 hours.  It was clearly an urgent request.  Did I get it done? You betcha!  Click to read about 10 Tips I Learned About Getting Things Done!

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

My Profound Realization That Changes Everything!

Asking is not enough!  You don’t always receive what you think you asked for and here’s probably why.  A profound realization I’ve come to is that it is not so much WHAT we ask for, but HOW we ask for it.  Words are not the only tool for asking; our actions are an even more powerful communicator.  Our emotional energy is powerful and reflects our desires and faith.   It’s clear that people ask for things all the time and don’t get them (or so they think.)  Now listen clearly for this is the pearl of wisdom that I think profoundly changes everything.    We must also ask with faith, with trust, and with belief.  That’s the secret ingredient!  

Belief Is A Seed That Grows With Action

Spiritual teachers have always taught that we don’t even have to have  that much faith (just enough as the size of a mustard seed), but we do have to have some faith.  Hope is the first sign of faith and must be coupled with trust.   That means we have to BELIEVE! We must have faith in the outcome.  If I ask for something feeling doubtful or fearful, I’m likely to get the thing I doubt or fear instead of the think I want.  Fear is a powerful attractor, but faith is even more powerful.  So when asking for what you want, make sure that your faith is stronger than your fear because you attract what you feel the strongest about, not what you want most.  Fear and doubt are actually belief that the worst will come to past.  Why not believe instead that the best outcome will be realized?  Belief is a seed that grows with action.  You nurture that seed of belief when you pray, brainstorm, plan, expect, and act like it has already been given to you.  You then have little time to worry, complain, or cry about what is.  When you believe, you act differently than you do when you feel hopeless. Remember, “Anything you ask for believing, you shall achieve.” [Bible]

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

Are You On Purpose?

“Until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment,” wrote James Allen, author of ‘As a Man Thinketh.’  There have been times in my life that my excitement and energy were so pronounced that people have asked, “What are you on?”  I’d respond with, “I’m on purpose!” At those times I was undoubtedly thinking about things that excited me, motivated me, and uplifted me. My vision and perspectives were uplifting and clearly I was thinking about meaningful things, purposeful things, or things that brought me or someone else joy.   At those times, I tended to have absolute hope in the future, faith in people, and understood that divine grace was guiding and protecting me.

Elevate Your Thoughts and Elevate Your Reality

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote: “Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”  I can say for sure when my energy, vision, and excitement are high that I am most certainly NOT thinking about events or gossiping or complaining about people.  When my thinking was skewed, I’d fear the future, distrust people and their intentions, and feel all alone and hopeless in my doldrums.  But when my thinking is right, that faithful feeling of knowing and of being connected sparks my creativity and solutions to whatever problems I have become clear.  The right person, thought, idea, or circumstances seem to appear before me.  I’ve learned that if I listen to my guidance and act immediately, that solving whatever problem is before me becomes an exciting journey rather than anxiety driven mission.  Even more importantly the “problems” are no longer debilitating but instead become opportunities for growth.  Just changing my perspective changed my focus and changing my focus changed my reality.   You are the driver and your thoughts can take you anywhere, so be careful and stay alert.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.

Listen for Your Inner Wisdom

We each have an inner knowing that we must learn to trust and rely upon. On Sunday afternoon I got the inspiration to call my stepmother who is recuperating in a nursing home.  It was just a spark in the middle of the day, at a time that thought she’d be at the church service and I almost talked myself out of calling right then.  But the impulse was strong and I listened.  I called her and she didn’t sound good at all.

She said, “Make the nurses stop drugging me.  They are giving me too much medicine. They have me in the hall.”  I asked her did she want to be there and she said, “No.”  I told her my sister and I would work on it.  Then there was silence.  The last few conversations we’d had she’d fallen asleep in the middle of the conversation or just asked me to call back because she was tired or sleeping, no matter what time of day it was.  When I questioned the nurse I found out she was not in the hall at all, but something was wrong.  She was obviously disoriented.  I reminded them of her bad heart.  They ended up sending her to the hospital for evaluation and deduced that she had had a heart attack.  In addition as a dialysis patient she also had elevated calcium and potassium levels.  And if that were not enough, she had a bladder infection.  So many things were wrong and yet had I not called, they perhaps would have been calling me with that final dreaded call.

I am so grateful that I listened.  I had a few deadlines at the time and it was not the best time to stop and spend the afternoon on the phone with nurses, caretakers, doctors, and family.  But I’ve learned that when we care, we are guided.  When we listen, the eternal source of wisdom speaks to us.  When we are “interrupted from our mundane reality,” it’s because something MORE important needs our attention right then.  It’s so great to not have to live with, “I wish I would have….”  Today’s lesson is to listen, appreciate the intuition, trust it  and act on it.  Now she’s recuperating in the hospital and on the road to health, we hope!

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out: What Does Barbara Do? or visit  my website.