A quick note from the “Geek” here.

In case you missed my previous e-mail, we’re offering a SUPER deal on the 7 Wealth Secrets of the Rainforest special this week. Check it out here.

We’ve added a couple of extra FREE gifts to it as well, including my new online training video, “How To Download Products from the Internet the ‘Right’ Way!” If you’ve ever wondered where a download went when it disappeared on you, I show you exactly how to prevent that from ever happening again! You might as well learn from a “Geek!” I teach you everything you need to know, but the great thing is… you don’t have to be a “Geek” to understand it!

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Let me help you recall the premise of this series of 7 lessons for increasing your productivity… On Barro Colorado, in the heart of the Panama Canal, a test was done with 35 pairs of young plants. Half were protected from pests and half were not. The protected half grew 10 times faster and was already 5 ½ times larger in just twenty months. The only difference was being sheltered from pests.

We have already discussed four natural strategies rainforest plants use to minimize the impact of pests. Today, we look at the fifth. It’s called, “leaf production when plants are rare” and it is highly effective. Some types of plants actually delay putting out new leaves (which are the most vulnerable) until the dry season when many of the pests have died off or gone elsewhere. With fewer pests, they have faster and more complete growth.

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It’s Rainforest Friday! It’s the day we send out our rainforest report with useful tips for increasing productivity and turning your business and life into a peacefully productive environment where things just seem to work like they were meant to.

Last week we talked about how to synchronize to maximize like so many trees do in the rainforest but today I want to talk about another strategy for keeping the pests at bay that is modeled in the forest. It’s called “delayed greening”. Here’s how it works… The tree shoots out its new leaves which are highly vulnerable, but they come out red in color. They are completely lacking green (chlorophyll) which is what the bugs want to eat. The leaves grow and get strong without being eaten, then once the leaf has matured some and toughened up, the plant injects the green into the leaf. By then, it is protected and the bugs can’t get to it.

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Getting too many interruptions? Not getting enough done? Is your time consumed by pests of one sort or another? You know… those pesky interruptions that try to look legitimate but in the end, they only consume your time. Well, here’s the third of seven rainforest strategies to protect your time and maximize your productivity. It’s called Synchronous Leaf Production. It’s where several species of trees all put new leaves out at the same time. The idea being that there are so many new leaves suddenly appearing in the rainforest, that no one tree or group of trees will be ravaged by hungry pests. It’s like spreading the risk around.

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As I write this blog entry, I am flying home from Seattle to Florida. It’s been a busy week with doing a Get Motivated event with Zig Ziglar on Tuesday, visiting family in Canada and staying on top of several business priorities. Did I mention this was a “red-eye” flight arriving home at 6:30 am? The good news is that flying is an excellent “no-pest zone” for me.

You see, in the rainforest, there are 7 strategies built into the ecosystem to help plant life erect a barrier to pests. The more effectively they keep pests at bay, the faster they grow and the more productive they are. The same is true for us. Trees are most vulnerable when their leaves are fresh and tender. (Our projects are most vulnerable when they are in the formative stages.) Some trees utilize a defense strategy called, Rapid Leaf Expansion where they shoot out their new leaves at a remarkably quick rate. By the time pests discover the new leaves, they are already grown and tough.

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Continuing our series on 7 Strategies for Fighting Pests, we’ve discussed at some length the concept of leaf toughness as being a picture or model of saying “no” to pests that would consume us. Another way of looking at leaf toughness is the idea of setting boundaries. Everyone needs boundaries, not only to keep you out of trouble, but to keep trouble from invading your space.

You must learn to set boundaries for yourself, what you will allow and what you won’t. You must set boundaries for your coworkers, your staff, even your boss. Yes, there are boundaries that must be set for your family and friends too. Boundaries have two sides to them. The first side is the inside consisting of everything you want inside that territory, be that your time territory, your financial territory, your influence territory, etc. The second side, is the outside consisting of everything that wants to get inside your territory and consume your time, your finances and/or your stuff!

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Pests consume what we produce so that at the end of the day we have little to show for our efforts. In previous emails we’ve discussed the various kinds of pests that eat away at your day, that upon honest reflection, we really could have made better choices to limit or even eliminate their effect. Last week we discussed how leaf toughness, a rainforest strategy for deterring pests was analogous to personally getting tough and saying “No” to those pests, no matter how nice, friendly and persuasive they are if they are going to pull you away from being productive.

Here’s the thing on that… It’s easy to say “no” to the obvious bad choices, like going to a movie in the middle of your workday. What is difficult and what requires wisdom is having to make a good choice between worthy but competing time commitments. Or having to make a choice about a new but unexpected opportunity. It’s not as easy as it may seem. To make a good choice, consider asking a few questions… Is this consistent with my primary purpose as I understand it? Does this contribute to the vision I am working towards? If so, is it more important or more strategic or more timely than what I am currently working on?

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