The 7 Minute Solution: Creating a Life with Meaning 7 Minutes at a Time - Softcover

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Allyson Lewis is a renowned time strategy expert, productivity speaker, and author of three books who has spent the last thirty years developing and teaching concrete, actionable business ideas to executives all over the country. Now, in The 7 Minute Solution, she shares these winning techniques and explains how you can apply them to all aspects of life. She lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

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The 7 Minute Solution

INTRODUCTION

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

—PROVERBS 23:7

KING JAMES VERSION

THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, the wise King Solomon wrote, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” In the Middle Ages, scientists and philosophers believed that the soul resided in the human heart. The idea made sense: when we are sad, our heart aches; when we are physically or emotionally energized, our heart pounds.

During a recent sermon, my pastor, Dan Reeves, illustrated the connections among our thoughts, our hearts, and our lives. As he took the stage that Sunday morning, the familiar sound of a human heartbeat filled the darkened auditorium.

Boom-boom . . . boom-boom.

A video of a beating human heart appeared on the overhead screen.

Boom-boom . . . boom-boom.

“The human heart is designed to pump the perfect amount of blood needed to meet the exact demands of your body at the exact time,” Reeves said. “When resting, your heart pumps slowly. When exercising, your heart rate increases to the perfect level to meet your needs. You are not consciously thinking, ‘I’d better make my heart beat.’ Rather, your heart changes its output based on the demands you put upon it at any given time. Like your heart, your life is ready to deliver exactly what you ask of it.”

With the rhythmic heartbeat in the background, he asked a question I hope you’ll answer now: “What will you ask of your life?”

What a powerful point, “Life is ready to deliver exactly what you ask of it, what will you ask of it?” In this book, I will encourage you to look deeply at your life. Do you know what you really want most out of life? How would your life be different if you made the best use of your mind? Your nutrition? Your sleep? Your learning? Your time?

If you want a more meaningful life, are you asking for your life to deliver its very best?

Reeves continued his sermon by picking up a large rock that sat next to the pulpit. The dirty mass measured about twenty-four inches wide, fifteen inches across, and four inches high. It had to weigh almost thirty pounds. As he held the rock, he described the difficulty he’d had carrying it into the building. Unable to hold it and open the door at the same time, he’d had to put down the rock, open the door and brace it with his foot, bend over, pick up the rock, place his back against the door, and maneuver his way inside. From there, he had carried the rock about a hundred yards, wrestling with yet another door. Finally, sweating with exertion, he had placed the boulder on the stage, taking care not to damage the wooden floor.

The rock seemed to grow heavier in his hands as he recounted the story, and his arms were visibly straining to hold on to the rock.

“We aren’t designed to carry heavy rocks all day,” he said as he carefully put it down. “I can no longer feel my fingers. My arms are aching. There are simply some things in life we were not meant to carry. What do you need to change in your life? What do you need to put down?”

Then he added, “My body and my strength allowed me to carry the burden of the rock. Unfortunately, like so many people, I was straining after the wrong goal. Life is ready to deliver exactly what you ask of it—maybe it is time to ask what to seek.”

Boom-boom . . . boom-boom.

As I sat there listening to the sound of the human heart beating, I wondered, What are the rocks in my life? What rocks have I been holding onto that are keeping me from creating a life with meaning? Most important, am I asking enough of life?

CAN YOUR LIFE REALLY BE DIFFERENT?

What do you need to throw off or set aside to live more fully and less fatigued? The good news is that, like putting down a heavy rock, change can happen in an instant. One moment you are facing one direction in life; in the next your world changes forever.

For me, that change took exactly seven minutes. I was forty-one, and as a full-time working mother, I felt the constant crushing pressure of deadlines and obligations. My life sped past me in a blur from one day to the next, one month to the next, and one year to the next. I wanted more. I wanted my days to be more than waking up and going to work. I wanted my life to matter. I wanted to make a positive difference to my family and to the world. I wanted to be different, but I didn’t know what my next steps should be.

My guess is that you are looking for many of the same things I continue to seek. Maybe you can relate to my story. I am a full-time working, teenage-chaperoning, pet-grooming, laundry-doing, treadmill-marching, tweeting, Facebooking, fiftyish-year-old woman. And I am creating a life of more—more meaning, fulfillment, significance, purpose, hope, and joy.

The 7 Minute Solution is the outcome of my desire to grow, live, and give with purpose. It is not the end of the journey; it is the story of what is happening in my life and in the lives of other friends and sojourners who are on the same path.

EXPECT CHANGE

Throughout this book, you’ll be encouraged to consider what rocks—what burdens—you have chosen to carry. Are they worth the effort? Does the strain of holding on to them keep you from enjoying and experiencing growth in other areas of life? Are those burdens inhibiting your faith, family relationships, health, personal growth, creativity, or generosity? Is the weight of what’s not working keeping you from making a positive, lasting impact on your relationships at home, in the workplace, or in your community? If so, it’s time to make a change.

You can be different tomorrow than you are today,
seven minutes at a time.

THE 7 MINUTE SOLUTION

Definition: The 7 Minute Solution offers strategies to help you prioritize, organize, and simplify your life for greater meaning and productivity.

Living the 7 Minute Solution is not about living in seven-minute increments; it is about gleaning a deeper understanding of the seven vital signs of living with meaning: conscious awareness, motivation, growing and learning, engaging, persevering, living in flow, and living with faith.

The 7 Minute Solution is a choice. The 7 Minute Solution is about choosing to consciously focus your attention for 7 minutes every day on what is most meaningful in your life. You can be different tomorrow than you are today based on the choices you make on a daily basis. The process of moving from where you are today to where you want to be is about engaging your desire to learn and grow, while acknowledging that today is your only opportunity to live and breathe. The 7 Minute Solution is about taking tiny steps forward every day, while fully experiencing every moment in the present.

Life is intended to be lived, not watched; inspired, not easy; meaningful, not mundane. The ideas of the 7 Minute Solution have inspired change in the lives of thousands of people I have been privileged to meet and share ideas with during the past two decades. You’ll learn from fathers who have reconnected with their children and from couples who have rediscovered joy in their marriages. You’ll be inspired by the perseverance of women and men who have faced unimaginable odds—and won. You’ll read accounts of triumph experienced over life-threatening circumstances—and in everyday moments.

You will meet people whose lives were very much like yours...