A tense debate broke out during a closed-door meeting of Senate Republicans on Tuesday, a sign of the serious hurdles GOP leaders face ahead of a critical funding deadline for the nation’s chief domestic anti-terrorism agency.
During a recent coaching conversation, a client began the appointment with this statement: “I’ve been busy!” For most entrepreneurs, that generally means we’ve been running around like a “chicken with our head cut off” (as my Grandma would say) but not getting much accomplished. Yet, when we probed a bit further about what “busy” meant, we discovered that she was more than busy – she was downright productive. The volume of business development tasks completed in the short span of time between business coaching appointments was staggering.
Busy is Not an Entrepreneurs Badge of Honor
Over time, “busy” has taken on many meanings. In fact, in many circles, entrepreneurs included, “busy” includes everything from checking email (incessantly), to attending meetings (unnecessary), to updating friends on social media (unessential). The definition of “busy” has also expanded to include strategic planning (significant), to marketing (indispensable), to business development (imperative). The subsequent activities are far from “busy” – they are categorically “productive.”
The problem that many entrepreneurs face is being caught up in the former definition of “busy,” so much so, that “productive” activities get lumped in with “busy” ones and get placed on a back burner for times when we’re less “busy.” (If you happen to know when an entrepreneur is “less busy,” please tell me. I’ve yet to find it.)
It’s a common held belief that if you’re busy you’re productive and accomplishing a lot. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. For most small business owners, busy work is unfocused. Busy work is comprised of endless activities that suck the time out of your day.
Words Matter to an Entrepreneurs Success
When you tell yourself you’re “busy,” what sort of image does it bring to mind? Frantic. Stressed-out. Overwhelmed. Even reading this arrangement of words (i.e. sentence) likely sends waves of stress reverberating through your body.
But tell yourself – and others – that you’re “productive” and what picture pops into your head? Strength. Determination. Moving forward. Doing what matters. In control. On top of everything. In fact, I bet a smile just crept across your face as you considered this unique notion of productivity.
Words change our perception of reality. Seemingly innocent, simple, straightforward words are scientifically proven to influence the parts of the brain that regulate emotional and physical stress.
According to research conducted by Andrew Newberg, M.D.. and Mark Robert Waldman outlined in their book, Words Change Your Brain, a single word, and its implied nature, can either stimulate the motivational centers in the brain into action, or stimulate our fear center flooding our body with stress-producing hormones.
So, if you’re “busy” with endless actions that have little or no correlation to your goals, call it as such. However, if you’re planning your week, analyzing your goals, tweaking your strategies, and moving closer to your objective, call it what it truly is – productive.
Your brain will thank you.
Busy or Productive: Why Words Matter to Entrepreneurs first appeared on Synnovatia’s business growth blog.
Turns out Microsoft had a surprise in store for students around the globe this February, and not just for those based in New York. The company’s finally bringing free Office 365 subscriptions to students outside the US, so long as they live in one of…
LG’s curved G Flex2 smartphone is now rolling out across the globe, according to the maker. This roll out comes ahead of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. The Flex2 will be available through big-name carriers in markets across the world, including France, Germany, the UK/US, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Says LG, “key markets” in those aforementioned regions will … Continue reading
It’s a landmark day for Google’s Chrome Experiments as they’ve reached 1000 submissions today. Google has curated a collection of user-made games, art, and creative coding it calls Chrome Experiments. These experiments look like games, but each one uses outside-the-box design and coding to create an entirely unique user experience. Launched in 2009, it started with only a handful of … Continue reading
You can now pre-order the new Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS50 digital camera in the US via B&H Photo. This compact point-and-shoot camera retails for $397.99 and will be released on April 28th.
Available in two different color options: black and silver, this travel-friendly camera sports a 12.1MP 1/2.3″ High Sensitivity MOS sensor, a powerful Leica DC Vario-Elmar 30x optical zoom lens (24-720mm), a large 3.0-inch 1,040k-dot LCD screen, a 0.2″ 1,166k-dot electronic viewfinder, an SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot, a micro-HDMI output port and built-in WiFi 802.11 b/g/n connectivity.
Powered by Panasonic’s Venus Engine image processor, the Lumix DMC-ZS50 can record 1080p@60fps Full HD video in AVCHD Progressive format or high-speed 720p@120fps HD video. [Product Page]
Mouse Computer is offering you their latest entry-level 14-inch laptop, the LB-B400EN-BG. As part of the LuvBook B series, this budget-friendly laptop is equipped with a 14-inch 1366 x 768 HD LED-backlight non-glare display, a 1.83GHz Intel Celeron N2940 quad-core processor, an Intel HD Graphics, a 2GB DDR3 RAM and a 320GB 5400rpm hard drive.
Running on Windows 8.1 with Bing OS, the system comes complete with a 1 million pixels webcam, a multi-card reader and built-in lithium-ion battery (up to 7.2 hours of operating time). For connectivity to the networks and peripherals, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE are provided.
The Mouse Computer LB-B400EN-BG is available now for 37,800 Yen (about $318). [Product Page]
This is just awesome. A camera was strapped onto a GoFast 2014 rocket—an amateur rocket that set the record for highest and fastest rocket ever launched into space—so that we can see the entire launch from the rockets point of view. The initial burst and thrust into the air is epic and then the world starts spinning and then we see space.
The Lunar XPrize is a $30 million competition for a privately-funded mission to get to the moon, land a rover, and travel across the Moon sending back images and telemetry. The Google-sponsored prize has been around since 2007, but it looks like first place is going to come down to a mad dash across the lunar surface.
WASHINGTON — It took the Senate Banking Committee about two minutes on Tuesday to unanimously pass a bill honoring those who walked in the historic 1965 civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama.
“I am pleased to serve as an original co-sponsor of this bill,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the chairman, moments before it passed.
But while the bill has a noble aim — to award the Congressional Gold Medal to thousands of people who marched on Bloody Sunday, Turnaround Tuesday and the final stretch of the 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery — most of its supporters are doing nothing to restore the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law that came in response to those marches.
The Supreme Court struck down Section 4 of the act in 2013. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that the time had come to update that section, which determined which states and localities with a history of minority voter suppression had to get permission from the Justice Department to change voting laws. The court left it up to Congress to come up with a new formula for designating which regions of the country require special scrutiny.
That was more than a year and a half ago. House and Senate lawmakers introduced a bill last year to restore the law, but it went nowhere, largely due to a lack of GOP supporters. The House bill had a handful; the Senate bill had none.
Because of congressional inaction, states that previously required pre-clearance from the federal government — Mississippi and Texas, to name two — have been able to pass laws that make voting more difficult for people who are poor, disabled or a minority, through such means as requiring a government-issued photo ID in order to vote.
Some lawmakers are trying to push the bill again in this Congress, but its prospects look grim. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and John Conyers (D-Mich.) reintroduced their House bill this month with fewer GOP co-sponsors than it had last year. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is expected to reintroduce the Senate bill soon, still without a GOP co-sponsor.
“I will continue to work to find a Senate Republican to join me in introducing bipartisan legislation to restore this landmark law so that every American’s right to vote is protected,” Leahy said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said last month he doesn’t think it’s “necessary” to restore the law.
As the 50th anniversary of Selma approaches on March 7, lawmakers’ eagerness to celebrate those who marched stands in sharp contrast to the lack of interest in fixing the law that resulted from their bravery.
Of the 22 senators on the Banking Committee who voted for Tuesday’s bill, which explicitly states that the Selma marches “served as a catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” only two were co-sponsors of last year’s bill to restore the law: Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). The same bill that just cleared the Banking Committee sailed through the House earlier this month, 420-0. Yet the Voting Rights Act bill in that chamber has just 30 co-sponsors.
The Huffington Post reached out to all of the Senate Banking Committee members to see if any planned to sign on to Leahy’s bill. No Republican offices responded. Four Democratic offices did.
“Senator Reed supports restoring the Voting Rights Act and is looking forward to taking a look at Senator Leahy’s new Voting Rights Amendment package when it’s introduced this Congress,” said Chip Unruh, a spokesman for Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.).
“He will co-sponsor again,” said Brown spokeswoman Meghan Dubyak. “Next week, he’s leading the Faith and Politics Congressional pilgrimage to Selma, and may be introducing additional legislation related to the 50th anniversary.”
A spokeswoman for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said she supports fixing the Voting Rights Act but wants to make sure it includes protections for Native Americans. A Schumer spokesman said the senator is on board too, assuming the bill is the same as last year.
Before moving on to other business in the Banking Committee, Brown made a plea to his colleagues to pay tribute to those who marched in Selma not simply by giving them a medal, but by staying true to their purpose.
“It used to be we were in the business of expanding voter rolls, but lately too many states have thrown up barriers to voting, ostensibly to cure the problem of in-person voting fraud. But this kind of fraud is almost nonexistent,” Brown said. “Fifty years later, state governments are once again making it a bit harder, or in some cases a lot harder, to vote. Let’s honor those foot soldiers today, March 7 and in everything we do.”
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
