I recently had great conversation with Michael Linenberger, the author of the new business book: Master Your Workday Now! Proven Strategies to Control Chaos, Create Outcomes and Connect Your Work to Who You Really Are.

Linenberger is called an “efficiency guru” in the business world for his revolutionary common sense approach to workplace productivity. He has been a noted management consultant, technology professional, speaker and seminar leader for more than two decades. In this new book, he bravely balances helpful workday efficiency information with effective strategies for expanding one’s vision and with an emphasis on the importance of listening to one’s intuition.

Business Efficiency = Critical Now Focus, Expanded Vision, and Trusting Intuition

I say brave because while efficiency has been popular concept in the business world for decades and vision has had its time in the limelight, intuition is still not a common topic in business corridors. As Linenberger shares, it’s acceptable to talk about your gut instincts, but few people will go beyond that.

“There were times when I wondered if my publishers were going to think I’m crazy, but I really was inspired to integrate the practical and visionary with the spiritual world,” states Linenberger.

I have the utmost respect for anyone who is willing to speak their truth and present ideas and concepts that enable everyone to excel - not just the upper management tier. Michael Linenberger does just that. Master Your Workday Now! is composed of three sections: Control, Create and Connect. Each part essential builds on the other: starting with achieving daily success with less stress, then moving beyond typical goal achievement, and finally connecting to oneself and one’s life work in a satisfying way.

What I love about this book, which targets average workers in corporate America is that it’s about helping people achieve their dreams and goals through their work. With work being the major part of so many people’s lives, this is vital. And, the information he shares applies to just about everyone, whether you work for someone or run your own business.

As I read the book I thought of the sections as: “organizing my practical work tasks,” “ways to activate bigger goals,” and “advice for tapping into my true power.” My impression is that Linenberger really respects corporate and office workers and, I think, cheers them on to operate at a higher level than they may have considered possible — for both workplace productivity and so that they can fulfill their own dreams for their professional life.

Start with getting some daily control

Master You Workday Now! starts with the Control section: getting control of your workday by managing urgency zones. As Linenberger explains it, having vision and great goals is irrelevant when you’re so overwhelmed that all you can do is try to get through the day. “When you get over a certain number of things on your plate, you start to freak out,” says Linenberger. “I wanted to offer a systematic way to make it real clear what is due today so that you can adjust your energy accordingly.”

Too many of us are perpetually in overwhelm mode. Busyness has replaced efficient working. We start each day feeling we can’t get it done and that we will never get through our to-do list. We’re addicted to our email! Linenberger is sympathetic to this. He wants to help us to get our list down so that we can feel we can excel in our work life. His system gives you new ways to process through email and other tasks. This is perfect for anyone who wants to get off the treadmill and be back in control of their workday focus.

Spinning Up Through Vision

The Part Two “Create” section of his book focuses on what Linenberger terms “goal spinning.” Quite simply, with so much negative mental chatter, manipulation and cynicism in the workplace, traditional goal setting systems are “fundamentally broken,” according to Linenberger. The carrot has been replaced by the stick. “People write down a goal and forget about it,” he states.

Vision is the missing component to inspired goal setting that feels achievable. Linengerger writes, “Vision to me is a description of an outcome that conveys a sense of how the new outcome transcends the status quo - in a way that engenders inspiration for action.”

Linenberger outlines simple steps that enable readers to generate positive emotions that activate their goals. “Human attention is a very powerful thing. When you study your goals everyday you energize them. This is goal spinning — a sense of dynamism that keeps you moving forward with momentum,” he explains. You’re not just reminding yourself of your goals, “you are using the power of your imagination to feed your subconscious the experience of having the goal”

Connecting One’s True Self to One’s Work

In the final Connect part of the book, Linenberger helps readers make the connection between work and who they “really” are. This is the section that truly differentiates Master Your Workday Now!
from other workplace productivity books. It also aligns with my own belief that life is about evolving one’s understanding of self and how we can be at our best in the world.

In this section Linenberger helps readers to connect their values, their understanding of who they are and what they want in life, to their work. As he says in the book, “Many people feel they are faking their way through their work, that it has nothing to do with what they want out of life beyond being a source of food for the the table.”

This means finding one’s passion in one’s work. This means understand how one’s work is part of one’s life purpose. He discusses what “false visions” are — something you won’t find in most business books.

The value of intuition in business

Linenberger writes, “a truly connected person hears the inner messages of their soul and uses them to guide their work. They define themselves not so much by the world around them but y the smooth conversation with their inner vision, where aspirations are clear and motivating, and both achievements and failures are registered and learned from. A truly connected person has a clear, quiet voice from within that helps them in real time; it is trusted and usually correct.”

He offers examples from the business and scientific worlds about the value of intuition and offers tips for “recognizing [intuitive] ideas when they come, and paying attention to them.”

Michael Linenberger says that trusting in his own intuition has been a lifelong process, as it is for all of us. “By writing what I believe in, when I trust inner guidance, I become more successful. I encourage everyone to act from their intuitive insights and see the results. Nothing speaks as loudly as success.”

Master Your Workday Now! is chock full of great ideas and concepts. You can’t help but find helpful and inspiring advice. Check it out.

Melissa Wadsworth is a self-development author, inspirational speaker and personal growth coach specializing in intuitive dream boards.