I have a separation agreement with my iPhone. Don't you?

It’s 7 pm and time to say bye bye. My iPhone stays on my desk, and I walk away. It isn’t easy. I want to take pictures, check my emails, look stuff up. Maybe I should have a restraining order.

It’s so tempting to have the little darling in my hand, purse, pocket all night. Sometimes I sneak her upstairs. After all, I have to shoot my kittens, and the sunrises, and look up the director of Mozart in the Jungle. But I keep the ringer turned off.

There’s This Thing About Taking Time Off.

Now you say, you don’t want to get too relaxed, because YOU’VE GOT SO EFFING MUCH TO DO! Relaxing, unplugging, meditating, walking, watching. That’s when creativity happens, ideas emerge, answers come. And when you get back to work, YOU’LL STILL HAVE TOO MUCH TO DO. That’s a fact of life as we know it. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could breathe your way through your crazy days?

What About Working at 70%?

I study with a QiGong master. (QiGong? Taoist, martial arts, energy work.) He says it’s best to do the practices at 70%. Breathe easy. Don’t try too hard. Stay within 70% of your range of motion. That reduces tension and allows energy to flow through your body. It’s a great way to do anything really. Maybe not if you’re Serena Williams. But if you’re working, building, creating, starting something, you can’t max out all the time. The 70% principle is magical if you want to be authentically productive. You need time with your head in the clouds.

Here are some of my favorite magic tricks.

Schedule your day, literally the entire day, and stick to your schedule. Don’t let anyone or anything interrupt you. Especially email. If you’re dealing with a crisis or a lot of demands are coming your way, stop looking at email and build a couple of times – but no more – into your schedule to check your messages and deal.

Close your mental door. Put a Do Not Disturb sign on your forehead.

Use a timer or something like KanBanFlow to take breaks. The experts say to work 25 minutes and take five minutes off. It works better for me to work for 50 minutes and take 10 minutes off. I get up, play with my kittens, breathe, read another few pages in Blue Ocean Strategy and then get back to work. Refreshed and ready to focus again.

Want to try some magical thinking? Send me an email, and we can schedule half an hour to talk. In the space of 30 minutes, I can start showing you how to succeed in mobilizing your purpose, one deep cleansing breath at a time.