Back a few weeks ago I learned something while running a 5K that I now realize also applies to life in general.  This particular 5K was the day before I was going to run the ING Georgia Half Marathon.  I decided to take it easy and try and run the 5K in around a 10 minute per mile pace instead of my usual 9 minute pace.  I glanced at my watch at the end of the first mile to see 9:27… 30 seconds too fast and I felt like I was walking.  I slowed down even more and was surprised to see a 9:17 at the end of mile two.  A little frustrated, I tried to slow down even more and ran the third mile in 9:15.  I learned that I am a faster runner when I take the pressure off of myself, relax, and enjoy what I am doing.

Over the last few weeks I have applied this same concept to work.  I have found that when I don’t let the pressure get to me, I relax and just do one thing at a time, and I try to enjoy myself; that I perform so much better.  I feel like I have accomplished more by slowing down than I would have by trying to maintain a faster, more hectic pace.  It is weird to think that you can speed up by intentionally trying to slow down!

Unless you live on some other planet you have the same 24 hours each day to eat, sleep, work, spend time with family, pursue hobbies, etc as I do.  This means that the time I have allotted to each of these activities needs to managed as best as I possibly can.

I recently came to the realization that in today’s Internet-connected world it is possible to be too connected.  Sure, those 25 Google Alerts that fed me information on my company’s market each day sometimes provided great information, but most of the time are just a waste of time.  The same held true when I reviewed the “news” that I was following in Google Reader each day.  Sure, lolcats are funny, but does that really help me grow my company or provide any real value other than some humor?  Do I really care what the competition is doing since I already know they are doing it wrong anyway?  And, we all know that Jimmie Johnson will win his 5th NASCAR championship this year so is there any point in reading about it every week?

This past Monday I starting removing the things that waste my time and divert my focus away from what really matters.  Almost all of my Google Alerts are gone, and I am down to reading just the blogs that really add value to my life.

If you were to step back and look at your day, what things are you wasting valuable time on each day?  What “simple” things could you remove that would be a huge productivity improvement?

Back at CES in January we announced that Safe Eyes 6 was on the way.  Now it is here.  The R&D team has been hard at work for several months to create this new version of Safe Eyes.  I snapped this picture a couple days ago at a meeting to do a final check over the interface and add the final polish.

If you are already a Safe Eyes customer you can download and install this latest version.  If you are not a Safe Eyes customer you should be!

I am back and caught up from being gone at CES for a week.  It was a busy and productive week for InternetSafety.com this year.  We had good interest in Safe Eyes 6 from the press and people walking by the booth, and overall exhibit hall traffic seemed to be higher this year.  Now we have the task of following up on the leads that we got and seeing what we can turn into real business.  I snapped a few pictures with my camera phone to share:

Here is our booth all setup and ready to go

There was good interest in Safe Eyes 6

152″ plasma tv at the Panasonic booth (I want one real bad!!)

My first trip to Freemont Street - Very cool light show

We need to test the “bulk waste” claims of the new office toilets.