Wallace Wattles wrote that failure is caused by doing too many things in an inefficient manner and not doing enough things in an efficient manner.

Doing anything important or significant in an inefficient manner is not fully occupying the space you are here to fill . . . your most fulfilling life and life moments. It can be uncomfortable to realize a day has passed and you feel you did not accomplish what you wanted or needed to, or at least feel some level of success about your day. This does not mean you have to work your backside off to be efficient. In fact, overworking is a sure path to inefficiency.

Inefficiency can include
-Not having your mind fully on what you are doing
-Multi-tasking
-Allowing interruptions from the phone, email, and others
-Hurrying or rushing
-Trying or planning to do more than you can do realistically in a specific time period (overworking)
-Inadequate rest and recharge time
-Non-supportive self-talk

It is worth giving consideration to each of these as you think about how they are included in and affect the various areas of your life, both professional and personal.

Efficient action and the Law of Attraction
If you at all believe in Law of Attraction, as someone once pointed out, notice that the last part of the word “attraction” is action. If you desire a specific outcome, you are going to have to take specific action. Action is a clear sign to Source (God, the Universe, etc.) that you are ready to receive what you have asked for. Efficient action is a Very Clear Signal about this. Efficient action means your vision, goal, or ideal outcome is on your radar screen; and that is what you want the quantum field to help you fulfill.

Not having your mind fully on what you are doing
Well now, this one can certainly cause real problems from one end of the chaos spectrum to the other. What do you think the quality of your experiences and outcomes might be if you were 100 percent focused on anything you do?

Multi-tasking and allowing interruptions from the phone, email, and others
Multitasking was a buzzword for quite a while; and job descriptions sometimes listed it as though it was a skill (some still do, despite the evidence of its negative impact on productivity). There are times when you can, say, start something baking in the oven and then do something else while you wait, but that is not actually multi-tasking in the way usually meant by it. What really affects your productivity is when you attempt to do something that requires a steady line of thought, and you allow interruptions from others or engage in your own. You have to know how you work best and at your most productive if you intend to do anything efficiently. You are likely able to know if a significant number of experiences and results you have now demonstrate efficient action or inefficient.

Hurrying or rushing
When you hurry or rush, you are attempting to force something. Hurrying can mean either the time needed was not given sincere consideration and planned for, or that you may have an agenda attached to the action. Some people feel they validate their significance if they appear terribly busy, when the truth is there is no need to rush. Only on occasion is fast action required, but certainly not for everything. Of course, it should be obvious that dawdling is inefficient as well. Everyone has their most productive pace. Just note if you’re speeding ahead or dragging behind yours. Also important to know is whether or not staying busy is your natural state or if it isn’t. Neither is right or wrong; people have their own energy levels and needs to express them in ways appropriate for them.

Trying or planning to do more than you can do realistically in a specific time period
If you attempt to do in an hour or two what would take a day, or in a day or two what would take a week, unless you are Mr. Data from Star Trek, you are going to start to perform inefficiently at some point. If you do this for an extended time, you can experience burnout. Wattles pointed out that success happens more easily when we do what is needed efficiently each day; that it is not about how many things we get done, but about how efficiently we do what we do. You might say that some jobs demand speed, and you’d be right. But I also think you get the point he wanted to make: There is no satisfaction or success if you do a lot of things poorly, but there is satisfaction and success if you give your best (your best at the time) to whatever you do.

Inadequate rest and recharge time
Some people have massive amounts of energy, some have less; but everyone needs real time for their body, mind, and spirit to replenish. A body and mind in need of rest cannot work as efficiently as hoped or needed. If you need to rest or allow time to heal, and do, that is efficient as far as that specific action is concerned.

Non-supportive self-talk
This one can lead you to feel immobilized. Talk to yourself as you would a cherished friend you believe in.

Why is any of this important, beyond the obvious? Wattles said successful actions are cumulative in their results (I add, so are unsuccessful actions). Successful actions create successful outcomes. Efficient actions are successful actions. If your days end with you feeling unsatisfied, feeling you did not have even one thing to feel successful about, see if you are doing one or more of the inefficiency items. None of them should be impossible to adjust. Adjust as needed so you can support your successes. It is important to remember that your best will be different every day.

If any area of your life feels unfulfilling, consider any ways you may be managing or acting on them inefficiently.

You are what you practice.
© Joyce Shafer

Joyce Shafer (jls1422@yahoo.com) is the You Are More! Empowerment Coach and author of I Don’t Want to be Your Guru, but I Have Something to Say, as well as more life and small business empowerment books/ebooks. Check out the terrific articles and Empowerment Extras in her free weekly online newsletter, and get a FREE PDF of How to Have What You REALLY Want when you subscribe at http://stateofappreciation.webs.com

Mindset means your thinking mind is set in a certain way. I like the word “set” because it means you place something in a particular spot or way, like when you set a vase on a table. If you can set it, you can set it differently or in another place or direction.

Here’s how I’d re-word the definition of mind-set: a mental attitude inclined in a direction based on what you tell yourself that anything means, which means you can tell yourself anything, depending on how you decide to or prefer to set your mind about anything and everything.

You may believe events and others cause you to feel or think a certain way, but no one but you can set your mind about anything.

But . . . “some things are real,” you may say.

Many things are what they are—usually because of what leads up to them, but we often tell ourselves way more than what’s actually going on. And then we believe what we tell ourselves . . . and then, because misery loves company, we set out to convince others as well.

Here’s an example. A workshop presenter shared that she had to learn to “fix” her face. When she wore no expression, her mouth’s natural shape was turned down, which made her look as though she was frowning, when she wasn’t. You can imagine the chatter about her that likely included, “She’s always in a bad mood,” when she wasn’t. Once she realized this, she began to practice deliberately shifting the corners of her mouth up just a bit so people wouldn’t judge her as angry or unfriendly. You could say the corners of her mouth are fixed in a downward direction, but she chose to fix this—in order to have different experiences and results. And others had fixed in their minds an opinion of her that was inaccurate.

One of the daily emailed quotes I receive came from The Talmud: “If you add to the truth, you subtract from it.”

Looking at choices and actions

If you have a result or experience you don’t like or want, look at the choices or actions that led to it so you know what to shift, and don’t add to it with comments like, “I’m such a (whatever negative you might say about yourself)” or any other version of that about life or others. When you add such criticisms about yourself (or life or others) rather than look at what is and what can be done differently, you diminish the truth of yourself in your mind. You set your mind against your Self. What experiences and results might you expect if you do this?

You can choose to keep an attitude fixed, but that is a choice (remember that clever phrase “hardening of the attitudes”?). I’ve heard people say things like, “I’m too old to change” or “It’s too late to change it now,” and even “That’s how God made me.” What’s between the lines is, “This behavior (or mindset) meets an immediate need for me. It creates problems for me, but it’s a lot easier for me to repeatedly butt my head against this familiar wall than to risk facing what scares me or admit that my behaviors create some of my problems.”

How is your mind set about these?
● I have to be perfect, OR My significance is inherent and not dependent on being “perfect”.
● Who I am is not enough, OR I’m the only me there is so I enjoy and make the most of it, and expand who I am in the ongoing process of my life.
● Every day is difficult, OR Some things challenge me, but I’ve been meeting and going beyond challenges since God made dirt. If I allowed this to be easier, what would I do differently?
● Money worries are like a shadow I can’t shake, OR Every day I find a way to increase my contribution to others and feel great about the compensation that’s exchanged.
● People with money are to be belittled (and simultaneously envied), Or Having all the money (and even wealth) that supports my life feels right.
● I HAVE to be stressed, OR Sometimes I feel stressed about certain events, but I can decide if they are events I need to take action on, and take it, or whether it’s my thinking about events causing the stress, and shift this.
● I don’t have what it takes to be successful (work, relationships), OR I choose success and nothing less, and allow myself to have it.

When you get into bed to sleep, how is your mind set?
When you wake, how is your mind set?
When you do anything at all, how is your mind set?

You can meditate, affirm, and use all the techniques you know, but if your mind-set is not aligned with what you truly desire, and desire to be and experience, you’re butting your head (and life experience) against a too-familiar wall.

Specific mindsets create matching experiences and results. How is your mind set?

You are what you practice.

© Joyce Shafer
Joyce Shafer (jls1422@yahoo.com) is the You Are More! Empowerment Coach who helps women rediscover their authentic selves, and author of “I Don’t Want to be Your Guru, but I Have Something to Say”, as well as more life and small business empowerment books/ebooks, most easily found online at Lulu.com. Check out the terrific articles and Empowerment Extras, and learn about private coaching sessions, in her free weekly online newsletter at http://stateofappreciation.webs.com.

A while back I published an article titled “Set Them Free”. In it I wrote, “How can you expect your relationship with her to be anything other than what it’s been as long as you have her fixed in your mind as capable of only certain behaviors?” I didn’t then envision the person the way I’d like her to be, I chose to just let her be…that is, be who she is. After all, she could surprise me in remarkable, positive ways; and indeed, since I made that choice, this person has. This also freed me to reflect on and appreciate all of the good moments we’ve shared during the years, and there have been many. Every time a good memory flashes in my mind, I give her a quiet, heartfelt Thank You.

It occurs to me we can do this with money as well. We can recognize that money is actually a form of energy we exchange; and though we enjoy it, use it, and seem to usually want more of it, we may never actually thank it for all it’s done and does for us. Sometimes we treat it like the quote and curse it (in a manner of speaking) however it shows up in our lives—generally by wanting more but holding a negative expectation of it showing up in the way we’d like. Better to light an inner candle to illuminate ourselves differently about it.

Try this: deliberately pull up money memories that are goods ones: A purchase that either made you feel really good or served a purpose; a gift chosen carefully, knowing how delighted the recipient would be; an enjoyable dining experience or form of entertainment; a donation that really made a difference; and of course the everyday exchanges that help us move through life. Take a moment to thank money for making these things possible since money exchange is what we use in our 3-D world.

Thank it for showing up consistently or as a surprise, in expected and unexpected amounts (including coins on the ground that I hope you pick up and then affirm abundance). Thank it for helping you learn a good deal about yourself and others. Apologize for ever restricting it because of learned negative or limiting beliefs.

Is it time for you to set money free from “behaviors” based on your beliefs and limited expectations? Start by genuinely feeling core-level appreciation for what it’s done, does, and will do to enhance your life experience.

You are what you practice.

© Joyce Shafer