7 Day Restoration Handbook

The
7-Day Restoration Handbook
A basic attention management program to help you feel restored,

refreshed, and happier in just one week.
(You’re going to be more productive, too!)
www.empoweredproductivitytraining.com
Table of Contents
Introduction 03
Control Your Technology 06
Control Your Environment 09
Control Your Thoughts 12
Control Your Habits 16
Congratulations! 21
Build on Your Success 22
Helpful Resources 24
www.empoweredproductivitytraining.com 2
Introduction
Are you ready to stop feeling overwhelmed, overworked, frazzled and
burned out?
I suggest you print out this handbook, so that you don’t even need to turn
on the computer much to use it. This will help jump-start your restoration!
But first, be sure to note the articles I link to on the “Helpful Resources” page
at the end of this Handbook.
“
Now I want to tell you something very important:
The key to feeling energized and excited about your life and work is to reduce the
distractions in your life, so that you can focus your attention on achieving your
most significant results.
Follow this hand book and in 7
When you put other people’s priorities over your own, you allow your
attention to be diverted from what’s most important to you. days you’ll be well on your way to
Get Back in the Driver’s Seat! feeling restored and refreshed.
This 7-day program is designed to help you begin to develop the skills
necessary for a life-long practice of attention management.
Once you can consistently manage your attention, you’ll be back in the
driver’s seat of your life! And when you’re back in control, you’ll feel restored,
refreshed and ready to be more productive while having more fun. Plus,
you'll feel more accomplished at the end of your workdays.
Sound good?
Now let’s dive in.
There are four areas that routinely deliver distractions throughout your
workdays:
1 Your Technology
2 Your Environment
3 Your Habits
4 Your Thoughts
In the next 7 days, I’ll introduce you to each of these problem areas. Once
you are more aware of exactly where your distractions are coming from,
you’ll be ready to manage your attention away from these distractions.
Don’t Let Them Steal Your Attention!
Right now, though, trust me on this: You’re being distracted constantly on

both a conscious and subconscious level. Your attention is being stolen
many times an hour (maybe every 2-3 minutes!) and most of the time, you’re
not even aware.
You wouldn’t let someone walk into your house and steal your television,
right? Well, don’t let them walk into your life and steal your attention either!
While you might lock the front door to keep your possessions safe, you need
a lock for your mind to keep this most precious resource—your attention—
safe from thieves!
Attention management is the lock you need. But you can’t buy it at the store;
it’s not a product but a skill set that you can develop.
Time to Build Your Attention Management Skills
So I’m going to give you exercises to build your attention management

skills in four areas. And I promise that if you do these exercises, you’ll feel
refreshed and restored at the end of the week.
Better yet, if you continue to practice the techniques, you’ll get back that
time in your day and then some—every day into the future! You can use
your newfound time to focus on achieving the goals that are most important
to you.
A Few Key Questions... It’s time to fight back!

Before we start I’d like you to answer a few questions. These are important,
so either type your responses in the fields below, or print this document and
then handwrite your answers.
1. How do you usually feel first thing in the morning on a workday?
2. What do you usually do first thing in the morning when you start work?
3. Rate how productive you feel on an average workday, 1-5

Not Productive Very Productive
1 2 3 4 5
4. How do you feel at the end of most workdays?
Okay, good job!
Now are you ready to:
01 Feel restored in 7 days?
02 Be more excited about your work?
03 Get more done while putting in less time?
04 Have more of yourself available for the people and

passions you love?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, let’s get started!

Control your Technology
One of the biggest attention stealers out there is our technology. We pay for
smartphones. Then we put them in our pockets and let them ruin our lives!
Sure, we get important messages from work contacts, family and friends.
But we also get pinged and dinged from thousands of companies and
“
people who we wish wouldn’t contact us.
These companies are spending billions of dollars to divert our attention

from our most important work. So when we decide to take a quick peek at a
new message, we often find ourselves hours later completely off-track from
what we set out to do.
You must learn to control your
Understand this: Your life is made up of moments and when you let others
steal your moments, they are really stealing your life. technology rather than let your
It’s the constant shredding of your attention that is leaving you feeling
overworked, yet not accomplishing much. And it’s the lack of fulfillment that
technology control you!
probably made you want a 7-Day Restoration Plan that actually works.
So I’ll ask you this very important question: Do you want to live a life of
choice and intention or do you want to live a life of reaction and distraction?
If you want to live a life of choice, first you must learn to control your
technology rather than let your technology control you.
Day 1: Control Your Phone
Let’s start today with a simple exercise. I’d like you to put your phone on “Do
Not Disturb” mode for at least one hour during the day. “Do Not Disturb”
mode allows you to only let through phone and text messages from certain
callers. Or, if someone calls multiple times in a short period, it will allow that
call through.
You could just turn your phone off. But I want you to learn how to use “Do
Not Disturb” mode, and then I want you to actually use it. (If you don’t know
how to put your phone in this mode, go here for instructions.)
By the way, I don’t want you to put your phone on vibrate. When you put
your phone on vibrate, it doesn’t disturb others but it still disturbs you.
Please read through the questions below now. Then answer them at the
end of the day:
Today’s Date:
1. From what time to what time did you put your phone on “Do Not Disturb”?
2. What did you do while your phone was on “Do Not Disturb”?
3. How did you feel while your phone was on “Do Not Disturb”?
If you felt jittery or anxious while your phone was on Do Not Disturb mode, that’s not unusual. That’s a sign that
your brain has become habituated to distractions. Maybe you looked to alleviate that feeling by checking email or
actually seeking out another distraction instead.
Whatever happened during this brief experiment, pay attention. It’s your first insight into how you can improve your
attention management skills.
And remember, when you learn to manage your attention, you’re going to feel more restored, refreshed,
rejuvenated and just better!
Day 2: Control Your Email
Do you usually check email first thing in the morning? For most people, this is not the best way to start the day. In
fact, it puts you on a path to increased distraction and decreased productivity.
The reason is that when you’re answering email, you’re usually responding to other people’s priorities, rather than
pursuing your own significant results. That’s why, if possible, I want you to figure out a set time or times to check
your email today. Try not to make one of those times during the first hour of the morning.
Most CEOs I work with learn to only check email twice a day. Unless you have a job in IT or customer service, where
your main responsibility is to be reactive to others, then you probably can check email once or twice a day, too.
Today’s Tasks:
1. Decide what time(s) you will check your email today and try to only check email during this
time(s). Make sure to leave enough time to appropriately deal with your messages (figure
at about 2 minutes per message on average). Don’t leave any messages until “later.”
2. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode again for an hour today.
3. Work for 60-90 minutes without checking email or other messages. If possible, spend this
focused time first thing in the morning working on a task that is important to you.
Please read through the questions below now. Then answer them at the end of the day:
Today’s Date:
1. What times did you check email today?
2. What important task did you work on during the 60-90 minutes you set aside for focused work?
3. How did you feel at the end of the 60-90 minutes?
4. How did it feel to reduce the number of times you check email during the day?
Control your Environment
Research shows that knowledge workers get distracted every 3 minutes.
One of the big distractors is other people, who need us “Just for a minute” or
“Immediately!” Or other people who we love to talk to and when they call, we
just can’t resist answering even if we’re in the middle of focusing on a very
important project.
“
We teach people how to treat us. If you work in an open floor-plan office—or
at home with other people around—you may have unintentionally trained
the people nearby that you’re always available and happy to help.
But being always available for them means that you’re not available to
pursue what’s important to you. Research shows that knowledge
It’s not that you can’t help others; you can and you will. But their demands
shouldn’t derail your ability to manage your attention and focus it on your workers get distracted every
most important tasks.
three minutes!
Fortunately, there are some low-tech strategies that are effective and can
help you set boundaries with others. These strategies will allow you to
better focus your attention, so you can progress toward achieving your most
significant results.
Day 3: Control Your Environment
Think about the people who are the biggest distractors in your daily life. These are people who frequently need your
input, help or advice, but often ask for it without an appointment.
Please answer the following questions:
Today’s Date:
1. Write the name of at least one person who frequently distracts you here.
2. What is that person’s relationship to you? (ex. boss, child, friend)
Now pick a strategy you can use to reduce distractions from this person. Here are options:
• Do Not Disturb Sign - Consider putting a humorous “Do Not Disturb” sign on your desk. You can download
one for free here. If you use the sign, put it up during periods when you are focusing intensely. But keep in
mind, for the strategy to work, it’s equally important to take the sign down periodically to show others when
you’re available to help them.
• Mentor in Hindsight - If you’re frequently interrupted by direct reports, consider mentoring in hindsight. This
means that you’ll clarify roles and responsibilities so your direct reports know what decisions they are free to
make without you. Then you’ll encourage your direct reports to be proactive and seek your advice only after
a decision is made. You need to be supportive, though, even if mistakes occur. People learn best by doing,
so mentoring in hindsight is a win-win strategy for both you and your direct report. Read more about this
strategy in my article for Harvard Business Review.
• Dry Erase - If you work at home with family members who need you frequently, consider setting up a dry
erase or chalkboard somewhere away from your desk. Encourage family members to write their questions or
requests on the board. Then be sure to check the board periodically throughout the day. Respond to requests,
and then erase those already addressed. You have to keep up with the system for people to trust that it
works. (If you don’t have a board yet, start by hanging up a piece of paper and using that to get started.)
Finally, no matter which strategy you use, it’s helpful to have a direct conversation with the person you are
targeting. Explain that you are working on managing your attention, so that you can feel more energized throughout
the day. Say, “Could you please help me out by using my new system?” Then explain the system.
Here are your tasks for today:
1. Explain your strategy for controlling your environment to a main distractor in your life.
2. Set aside 60-90 minutes for focused work. You might find that first
thing in the morning sets a great tone for the day.
3. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode during this time.
4. Only check your email at specified times during the day that you deem appropriate for your
work role and responsibility. Read this article regarding checking email first thing in the
morning. For most people, checking email first thing in the morning is a productivity killer.
At the end of the day, answer these questions:
Today’s Date:
1. How did the person you explained your strategy to receive the information?
2. How well did the strategy to control your environment work? How can you improve upon it tomorrow?
3. How productive did you feel today? Rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 from Distracted to Focused
Distracted Focused
1 2 3 4 5
Great job today! Tomorrow we’ll work on controlling your thoughts.
Control your Thoughts
Have you ever heard about “flow”? This is the state of mind that elevates
performance and makes work more satisfying and enjoyable. We’re in flow
when we lose track of time, we’re fully absorbed in an activity, and the work
we’re doing feels effortless.
While we can’t force ourselves into this pleasant and productive state,
“
we can set the conditions to make it more likely to happen. When we can
manage our attention and avoid distraction, we are prepared for flow.
And when we experience flow more often, we feel more inspired, creative,
productive and refreshed.
You’re already practicing avoiding distractions from technology and

the environment. Today we’re going to practice avoiding distractions
We can manage our attention and
from ourselves. It’s often our internal dialogue that keeps us fidgety and
unfocused, and prevents us from being free to enter flow.
avoid distraction. This allows us
to feel more inspired & creative!
Day 4: Control Your Thoughts
Doing physical activity helps send oxygen to our brains. It’s a good idea to send oxygen to your brain when you need
to focus. So today, before your 60-90 minutes of focused time, try spending 10-15 minutes doing gentle physical
activity.
Physical activity can be as simple as walking up and down the stairs in your home or office, or around the block or
down the corridor. It can look like doing a few yoga postures or riding your bike.
The idea here isn’t to work up a sweat and need a shower, but simply to elevate your heart rate a bit to sharpen
your mind.
Here are the tasks for today:

1. Set a timer and engage in at least light to moderate movement for 10-15
minutes just before your focused work time.
2. Spend 60-90 minutes on focused work, preferably first thing in the morning.
4. Use your chosen strategy to control distractions from other people in your environment.
5. Only check your email at specified times during the day that you deem appropriate for
your work role and responsibility.
Answer these questions at the end of the day:
Today’s Date:
1. What physical exercise did you do before your focused work time?
2. What did you notice about settling into work after brief physical activity?
3. What is easiest for you about managing your attention and resisting distractions? What is most challenging?
Distracted Focused
1 2 3 4 5
Day 5: Control Your Thoughts
I hope you’re starting to feel excited about the progress you’re making! I hope you feel better at taming distractions
than you did just a week ago.
Today you’ll build on your work by continuing to practice controlling your own thoughts. We’ll do this by practicing
listening deeply, and mindfully, to someone else.
Author Scott Eblin describes three levels of listening:
• Transient - focusing more on yourself than on the other person; feeling distracted and impatient.
• Transactional - focusing on the next step or the solution to a problem.
• Transformational - establishing connections with and between people and ideas.
In order to be our best selves, and feel joyful, we need to control our thoughts and be fully present when we listen
to others. This is a skill that takes practice. Today, we will start building this skill.

1. Exercise 10-15 minutes just before your focused work time.
2. Spend 60-90 minutes on focused work, preferably first thing in the morning.
work role and responsibility. Practice the email-checking strategies you’ve learned.
6. During a conversation with someone else today, try your best to be a transformational listener. If
you find yourself focusing more on yourself than the other person—or on what you want to say
next—don’t be hard on yourself. Everyone does this to some extent. Instead, silently whisper the
word “listen” in your mind and then return your attention to what the other person is saying. Try
repeating what they said to you, but in your own words, and ask them if you understood correctly.
Today’s Date:
1. Who did you have a “mindful listening” conversation with today?
2. What was your experience with mindful listening? Was it easy or hard? Why?
Distracted Focused
1 2 3 4 5
You’re on a roll! Next up, we’ll work on controlling your habits.
Control your Habits
We all have good habits and bad habits. Habits are behaviors we do
regularly and often automatically without being conscious of them.
While bad habits (like constantly checking email) can drain our productivity
and divert our attention, good habits (like exercising) enhance our ability to
focus on our most significant tasks.
“
When we become more conscious of our habits, we can increase our good
habits and decrease our bad habits. Then we start a virtuous circle; we
accomplish more and feel energized. With our increased energy, we can do
even more to progress toward achieving our most significant results.
The bottom line is that habits are very important. This week you have Good habits enhance our ability
started developing some excellent habits around managing your attention.
to focus on our most
Now it’s time to eliminate a bad habit and then implement a strategy to help
good habits stick around. significant tasks.
Day 6: Control Your Habits
One habit that seems harmless—and maybe even helpful—but is actually destructive is the habit of “multitasking.” I
put that word in quotations, because while we may feel that we are getting more done by “multitasking,” there really
is no such thing as multitasking in our brain.
Unlike computers, the human brain is unable to simultaneously process two tasks at once. We fool ourselves into
thinking that this is what we are doing, when really we are just distracting ourselves from one task and then from
the next task, over and over again, back and forth, as we switch between them. When we shred our attention like
this, we start to feel frazzled, depleted and burned out.
So today, we’re going to work on disrupting the bad habit of multitasking. Throughout the day, when you notice
yourself trying to do two or more things at once, stop. Close out one of them. Do the other one. Finish it. And then
complete the next task. This is harder than it sounds, since we are all accustomed to juggling technology, home life
and work life— all at the same time!

2. Spend 60-90 minutes for focused work, preferably first thing in the morning.
work role and responsibility. Practice the email-checking strategies you’ve learned.
6. During a conversation with someone else today, try your best to be a transformational listener. If
you find yourself focusing more on yourself than the other person—or on what you want to say
next—don’t be hard on yourself. Everyone does this to some extent. Instead, silently whisper the
word “listen” in your mind and then return your attention to what the other person is saying. Try
repeating what they said to you, but in your own words, and ask them if you understood correctly.
7. Throughout the day, notice when you’re multitasking (hint: this often happens when we allow
distractions, from other people or technology). When you are, try to stop. Finish one task
completely and then turn your attention to the next. For example, if you’re talking on the
phone and also looking through email, stop. Finish the conversation (as a transformational
listener!) and then, if it’s the designated time to do so, check your email.
Today’s Date:
1. Think about one time you caught yourself multitasking today. What 2 or more tasks were you switching
between?
2. How did it feel to stop this habit and single task instead? Was it easy or hard? Why?
Distracted Focused
1 2 3 4 5
I hope you’re feeling that change is afoot! You might even

feel anxious or fidgety. That can be a good sign that your
normal ways of operating are rearranging themselves.
Trust that it will be for the better!
Day 7 : Control Your Habits
In our always-on, 24/7 workplace and lives, many of us look at taking time to
rest as shameful. Did you ever notice how it has become a badge of honor to
brag about how busy we are?
The reality is that our brains and bodies need substantial rest to operate
most efficiently and effectively.
Sure, a robot can go through the workday without emotion, creativity, and
vision. But if we want to unleash our genius—to reach our human potential
“
—we actually must rest, and probably more than we are doing right now.
When we’re overtired we’re more likely to engage in bad habits—whether

stuffing down a whole bag of potato chips in a single sitting, or
binge-watching Netflix when we have a big project due the next day. There’s
brain science behind why we do this.
To unleash our genius,
But for now, it’s just important to know that solidifying good attention
management habits into a daily practice is a function of giving your body and we actually must rest!
mind the rest you need.
So today I want you to practice taking rest seriously!
Here’s the challenge for today: Get up and take 15 minute breaks after
every 60-90 minutes of work. If at all possible, I want you to take a full hour
for lunch. And if you have vacation time coming to you, I want you to start
planning to take it, even if you spend your vacation as a “staycation” at home.
2. Spend 60-90 minutes for focused work, preferably first thing in the morning.
role and responsibility and work. Practice the email-checking strategies you’ve learned.
6. During a conversation with someone else today, try your best to be a transformational listener. If you
find yourself focusing more on yourself than the other person—or on what you want to say next—
don’t be hard on yourself. Everyone does this to some extent. Instead, silently whisper the word
“listen” in your mind and then return your attention to what the other person is saying. Try repeating
what they said to you, but in your own words, and ask them if you understood them correctly.
7. Throughout the day, notice when you’re multitasking (hint: this often happens when we allow
distractions, from other people or technology). When you are, try to stop. Finish one task
completely and then turn your attention to the next. For example, if you’re talking on the
phone and also looking through email, stop. Finish the conversation (as a transformational
listener!) and then, if it’s the designated time to do so, check your email.
8. Get up and walk around for 10-15 minutes after every 60-90 minutes of working.
9. Take a full hour for lunch (and leave your desk!), even if you have to rearrange a meeting.
10. Start to plan your next vacation or staycation.
Today’s Date:
1. How did it feel to take your rest seriously today?
2. What thoughts do you have on your next vacation/staycation? When will it be? Where will you go?
Distracted Focused
1 2 3 4 5
Congratulations on completing the 7-Day Restoration Hand book!
Congratulations!
It’s my sincere hope that you feel excited about your new attention management skills.
Read on to find out how you can continue to build on your beginner-level attention
management skills to get back in the driver’s seat of your work and your life!
I’d love to hear about your transformation. Please message

me at maura@regainyourtime.com to tell me about your
experience using the “7-Day Restoration Handbook.”
Build on your Success
Scroll through the pages of your “7-Day Restoration Handbook” and read
over your responses.
• Do you feel less distracted and more focused than a week ago?
• Are you able to connect better with your colleagues and friends at
“
times when you choose?
• Are you accomplishing more of your most significant tasks?
I hope so! Continue practicing your new habits and you’ll feel restored and
refreshed more and more often. You’ll be able to enter a state of flow more
frequently. In this state, you’ll unleash your genius and bring your best ideas If you want to continue on the
and work into the world.
If you want to continue on the path of attention management, I’m here to

path of attention management,
guide you. I’ve developed a system called Empowered Productivity™. It’s
based on attention management and is designed to help you get back in the
I’m here to help you!
driver’s seat of your life and stay there for the long-haul.
I’ll help you implement a system to organize all the meetings, information,
technology, plans and ideas in your work and personal life. Attention
management is the foundational core of this system. Through my work
with thousands of clients, I’ve seen how using the Empowered Productivity
System is often the cornerstone to living a successful and fun life.
To learn more about the Empowered Productivity System and my online

training, click here.
Helpful Resources
Click the links below for insights that will help you on your journey:
1. Control your Tech
2. "Do Not Disturb" Signs
3. 4 Ways Leaders Can Protect Their Time and Empower Their Teams
4. THIS is How to Check Email First Thing in the Morning
5. The Empowered Productivity System and Online Training

7 Day Restoration Handbook

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

7 Day Restoration Handbook

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The

7-Day Restoration Handbook

A basic attention management program to help you feel restored,

(You’re going to be more productive, too!)

Control Your Technology 06

Control Your Environment 09

Control Your Thoughts 12

Control Your Habits 16

Build on Your Success 22

Now let’s dive in.

Don’t Let Them Steal Your Attention!

Right now, though, trust me on this: You’re being distracted constantly on

Time to Build Your Attention Management Skills

So I’m going to give you exercises to build your attention management

A Few Key Questions... It’s time to fight back!

1. How do you usually feel first thing in the morning on a workday?

3. Rate how productive you feel on an average workday, 1-5

4. How do you feel at the end of most workdays?

02 Be more excited about your work?

03 Get more done while putting in less time?

04 Have more of yourself available for the people and

If you answered yes to any of these questions, let’s get started!

These companies are spending billions of dollars to divert our attention

1. What times did you check email today?

3. How did you feel at the end of the 60-90 minutes?

Please answer the following questions:

2. What is that person’s relationship to you? (ex. boss, child, friend)

3. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode during this time.

At the end of the day, answer these questions:

Great job today! Tomorrow we’ll work on controlling your thoughts.

You’re already practicing avoiding distractions from technology and

Here are the tasks for today:

3. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode during this time.

Answer these questions at the end of the day:

Author Scott Eblin describes three levels of listening:

• Transactional - focusing on the next step or the solution to a problem.

• Transformational - establishing connections with and between people and ideas.

Here are the tasks for today:

3. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode during this time.

1. Who did you have a “mindful listening” conversation with today?

You’re on a roll! Next up, we’ll work on controlling your habits.

Here are the tasks for today:

3. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode during this time.

I hope you’re feeling that change is afoot! You might even

When we’re overtired we’re more likely to engage in bad habits—whether

So today I want you to practice taking rest seriously!

3. Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode during this time.

10. Start to plan your next vacation or staycation.

1. How did it feel to take your rest seriously today?

Congratulations on completing the 7-Day Restoration Hand book!

I’d love to hear about your transformation. Please message

• Are you accomplishing more of your most significant tasks?

If you want to continue on the path of attention management, I’m here to

To learn more about the Empowered Productivity System and my online

1. Control your Tech

2. "Do Not Disturb" Signs

4. THIS is How to Check Email First Thing in the Morning

5. The Empowered Productivity System and Online Training

You might also like