There is a well-known rule in psychology, especially in the NLP circles I work in and the books I read. It is called "7 plus or minus 2," and it says that the conscious mind can only keep track of between 5 and 9 separate pieces of information at once. Your unconscious mind seems to be so smart that it can keep track of literally billions and billions of things at once, while your conscious mind takes things one step at a time and has a fairly narrow focus. No matter how true this is, it is a good way to learn how you think.
Here are a few things you can do to see how much of your mind you are aware of: Don't write them down; just say them now, without thinking.
As many different car brands as you can.
- Names of as many movies as you can.
- As many pop bands as possible.
Most of the time, the 7+2 rule makes people lose steam when they reach ten. The main point is that the conscious mind can't handle more than nine pieces of information at once. So, before you send me an email telling me I'm wrong for pointing out the limits of the conscious mind, would you like to know how you can use this to your advantage? You would, of course.
When you remember the 7+2 rule, you can start to set things up so that you can work with your conscious mind and use it to its best advantage. Suppose you have a list of things to do.
Many people I've met have daily to-do lists with at least 20 things on them. This is a surefire way to get too busy (at which point they often resort to looking for the easiest or funnest thing on the list to do.) The tips below can help you get your to-do list under control quickly, especially if it includes things that are important for your goals, achievements, and sense of well-being.
First, look over the list and look for things that can be put into categories.
Here are some of the things on my list for this week:
Write Adam Up.
Cheques from the bank.
Finish writing a new book's chapter.
Get ready for sessions with clients.
Finish your project on speaking in public.
Complete the advertising for the new courses.
Complete listening to the current set of educational audio.
Read the materials that solicitors have about other business projects.
Make a script for a new audiobook.
Send follow-up letters to the clients you had last week.
Get ready for the new Bio photo shoot.
Write a short blurb about my new audiobook.
Write new text for a website.
Look at the new CD covers
Talk to PR people
Do Publishers a proposal for a new book.
Read e-book
Describe a new course
Meet with a possible business partner to talk about a new project.
Empty the inbox.
Get a life! Have fun......
"Write Adam Up" is the first thing on the list. "Adam Up" is one of my products, so I write "Product" next to it. Next is "Bank Cheques." This is part of our system for managing cash flow, so I write "Systems" next to it. Soon, everything on my list will have a place:
Write Adam Up.
Cheques from the bank.
Finish writing a new book's chapter.
Get ready for sessions with clients.
Finish your project on speaking in public.
Complete the advertising for the new courses.
Stop listening to the current set of educational audio.
Read the materials that solicitors have about other business projects.
Make a script for a new audio title called "Products."
Send follow-up letters to the clients you had last week:
Prepare for the new Bio: Marketing photo shoot.
Write a short blurb about my new audiobook, Marketing.
Write the text for a new web page: marketing.
Review the new CD covers:
People who work in PR.
Write a book proposal for Publishers: People.
Personal e-book to read.
Marketing is the name of a new class.
People: Meet with a possible business partner for a new project.
Clear your personal inbox.
Get a life! Have fun: Personal.
It's better now! I went from having a list of about 20 items (which made me feel overwhelmed right away) to having a list of 6 categories, which is well within my 7+2 limit.
- The goods
- Systems
- Training
- Marketing
- Humans
- Personal
In my field, this is called "chunking," and it is one of the best ways to deal with a large or complicated set of tasks (or set of anything else). You might say, "That's great, but I have 200 things to do." It doesn't matter, because the same rules hold true. If you go through your to-do list or goals list and cut it down from 200 items to 20 categories, that's better because it makes it easier to handle. Look through the 20 categories and see where the items in each group together. Group together goals that will help you improve yourself, such as quitting smoking, becoming more confident, making money, losing weight, etc. The key is to have no more than nine categories at each level. This way, your conscious mind can keep track of it all.
Second, start organising your list of things to do by the big groups: You can use this to make things easier in a lot of different ways, like:
- To-do lists.
- What you want to achieve.
- The way your computer organises files.
- The filing cabinet you use.
- No matter what you're working on.
One thing this lets you do quickly is see if there's a certain area where you haven't been doing much lately. This is a great way to help you focus on what needs your attention.
