“Productivity isn’t about being a workhorse, keeping busy or burning the midnight oil… It’s more about priorities, planning, and fiercely protecting your time.”
The One Thing by Gary Keller, page 156
Chapter 15: LIVE FOR PRODUCTIVITY
I am absolutely certain of one thing when it comes to rendering travel services to the rank and file. Although you can try to be many things to many people, you can’t be all things to all people if you have any intention of accomplishing your financial goals.
I am betting you are as busy as a 1-armed paperhanger, and you do not have enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks on your to-do list. You did not invent this “time warp,” but you do have to find a way to deal with it.
Try these two strategies for ten days and see how your life changes for the better:
First, spend the first 15-minutes of every day “thinking” and “planning” about the day ahead. This simple exercise will help shed light on your most pressing obligations. Determine what work is important and what work is urgent. There is a difference.
The distinction between the two is referred to as The Eisenhower Principle. Dwight D. Eisenhower was quoting Dr. J. Roscoe Miller from Northwestern University when he shared with his audience: “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
Always do what is important at the expense of the urgent.
Next, and this is the most important advice I may ever give you, practice at saying “no” more often.
I purposely implied “practice” because you are most likely going to fail at this in the early going. You must, however, become more comfortable with your decision to say “no” to outside requests for your time.
“Priorities” is another key word to introduce to your daily routine. Or, to turn this into an action word, let’s call it “prioritize.”
Mike presents a business-building webinar on the third Thursday of every month sponsored by AmaWaterways. To receive monthly invitations send Mike an email with the words “business training” in the Subject Box. You will also receive a link to the recorded version. mike@mikemarchev.com
