I’ve felt this coming for a while. A power week, a week where I am so narrowly focused that I achieve everything I need to achieve.
What is a power week?
A power week is where you have no other option that to just commit whole heartedly to what you want to achieve. I have a strong belief that those people who are backed into a corner with nowhere-else to go can achieve some amazing things.
That sheer will and determination to change your circumstances for the better. You know what you need to do you just haven’t done it yet.
I have put myself through this narrow focused mind-frame 3 times I can think of where I went all-in. It consumed me, I was operating off 2-4 hours sleep a night and for that period of time I was engaged nothing else mattered.
The first time was when I wanted to break a company record for the most SMS replied to in a fortnight. So this was 2 weeks of 3-4 shifts a day which were 4 hours each in length. I smashed the company record and held that record for a very long time after it was set.
The second time was finishing off a thesis that I had left to the last minute. It was the final week of the year and I hadn’t even started my 5,000 word thesis. Talk about self-imposed stress, it was at very high levels and I don’t stress to often but I knew how much was riding on this.
In 3 days I got very little sleep I think it was 8 hours total over the 3 days. I never drink energy drinks but on this occasion I made an exception. The hard part wasn’t researching the content, I had everything I needed at my disposal. The hard part was the referencing it took way more time than I anticipated and it was worth a high percentage of the paper so I had to get it right.
Prime example of working smart, don’t spend all your time on filling out a table that is worth 10% if the referencing is worth 20-30% which was outrageous to me. But it shifted my focus because of the importance of it and I made sure I got it right.
The results were I obtained a 97% mark on my end of year thesis and I was not expecting it all. Most of the marks I lost were grammar errors but to be perfectly honest I didn’t have time to proof read the paper I just pumped it out and handed it in.
And the third time was something I have mention before the Acer Team Unlimited challenge. I had 1 shot at winning that $25,000 prize and I wasn’t going to be left wondering. That campaign took a lot out of me, and I had to deal with huge amounts of stress.
But the end result was being announced the winner of that competition and taking home that $25,000. It was my largest pay day in a single day but also the hardest I had ever worked over 5 weeks to get it done. Anything is capable if you commit yourself enough to the cause.
So I am feeling the need for another power week.
Why now? What brought on this urge to commit to another power week?
A Deadline.
A deadline and opportunity has come about. It’s not as big as the Acer Team Unlimited challenge but I have been asked to be a guest on a podcast for the very first time. I took the opportunity and ran with it.
The problem is I will be talking about what it takes to win online competitions and offering some handy tips and I haven’t finished rebuilding the Enter Comps website yet to take advantage of the potential traffic that could come from the podcast.
I need to get the website up. But unlike my blog the first impressions are important so I need to make sure I get it right. There are other things I need to get right as well with lead capture and lead magnets and I also need to produce at least 4 high quality articles so the website isn’t a ghost town when they visit it.
My challenges
The time frame.
I am recording the podcast on the 21st of October. The podcast is not going live that day but this is the timeframe I have set myself to get a much done as I can.
Work
Work takes up 8 hours of my day every week day. I know the standard 9-5 is a drainer and not financially sustainable if you have your hands is and many pies as what I do but I need to make the most of 16 hours of the day I have left.
Unforeseen circumstances
I have had a lot of curve balls thrown at me this week just passed. I need to find a way to negotiate those and put them aside for one week.
I am looking forward to seeing how much I can achieve this week, whilst still maintaining my blog. The extra time will be found with earlier mornings and smarter use of my time.
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