But the repetitive tasks you perform at your desk may be just as taxing on your body as physical labor. Your neck muscles start to tighten. Your eyes begin to strain. You feel a discomfort in your wrists. Fortunately, there’s an answer:

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Get away from your desk and your computer for five or ten minutes.

You don’t necessarily have to quit working. You can have a quick conversation with a co-worker about that project on which you’re both working. You could make a quick phone call.

But actually taking a little break from work may be just the ticket!

Try to do that at least every other hour. Take a short walk. Stretch. Breathe. Focus on something far away to give your eyes a break.

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For me, this really helps me get more done. Especially when I’m writing or trying to solve a complex problem, I often find the answer when I’m away from my desk.

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For example, we often come up with the title for our show when we step away for a few minutes. I feel better when I just stand up and move. It feels good to get my circulation going. I feel refreshed quickly and it gets me ready to tackle my next bigg challenge.

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It’s a little bit counter-intuitive, but it really does work. Try it for yourself and see.

We needed a reminder

But if you’re like us, you get so involved in your work that it can be difficult to remember to take a break. Fortunately, there’s an old-fashioned tool that helps you remember to get away.

It’s an alarm!

Set an alarm every hour so you remember to change up your routine for a few minutes.

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I won’t speak for you, Mary-Lynn, but I needed the alarm to develop the habit of getting away. Otherwise, I could just keep plugging away for hours. When I finally would get up, my body would say, “Whoa!”

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I’m the same way. I get in that zone and I just don’t think about getting up and stretching a little. The next thing you know, my neck is so tight that I can hardly stand it.

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A task to improve productivity

In case you aren’t convinced that a short break will improve your productivity, we’ll serve up a task that will definitely make a difference.

When your alarm goes off, stand up. Stretch a little. Move around.

Now compare your progress for the day against your To-Do List.

Are you on track? If you are, congratulate yourself. If not, double your efforts before the next alarm.

It may only take you a minute to do this. You may reward yourself with a longer break of five or ten minutes if you’re on track.

Find what works for you and then implement it for your bigg success!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read our post today.

You’ve heard the phrase “think outside the box.” Frankly, we’ve heard it so much we’re sick of it. Next time, we’ll discuss how to always think outside the box. Please join us.

Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file:
http://media.libsyn.com/media/biggsuccess/00482-091609.mp3

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Have you ever had a co-worker promise they would get information to you but then drop the ball?

Have you ever asked a sales person to get back to you on a proposal but then they never did?

What was your impression of that company, co-worker, or sales person when they didn’t follow-through?

It probably wasn’t favorable. You realize that you can’t count on them to do what they say they’ll do.
   
Follow-through: an essential element to building your personal brand.
A brand carries with it the promise of expected benefits. Every time a promise is not delivered, the brand suffers.

Promises are easy to make, but not as easy to keep. But if you want to build trust, you have to make good on your promises.

“Say what you’ll do, then do what you say.” Author unknown
 
This separates people who achieve bigg things from people who don’t. Even if it’s just a little thing, you risk leaving the impression that you don’t follow through.

We often have the best of intentions, but it’s impossible to judge someone on their intentions. So we do the only thing we can do – we base our opinions of people on whether they deliver on their promises.

Be careful not to over-promise.
If we surprise someone, we should surprise them in a good way – by doing more than we say we’ll do. It’s not good to disappoint them by doing less than what we say … or not doing it at all.

Today’s bigg action item – Develop a system to record every promise you make.
Do whatever works for you, whether that is an old paper system or something using new technology.

One simple way to do this is Jott. Whenever you make a promise, just call and leave a message about what you need to do. Jott will send you an e-mail or text message reminder. That coupled with your personal calendar can keep you on track. Here’s the best part – Jott is a FREE service.

There are two keys to making any system like this work:

• Budget a little extra time after each activity.
  This will allow you to write down or record anything you promised.

• Make it a habit.
  Really focus on using your system every day for the next two weeks.

Or you could do what George does. Mary-Lynn reminds him of his promises. Speaking of which, he has to go pick up the dry cleaning that was ready last week!

Subscribe to The Bigg Success Show in iTunes. 

Subscribe to the Bigg Success feed. 

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