“Success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right. The secret to success is to choose the right habit and bring just enough discipline to establish it.” – Gary Keller, The One Thing
For years, I have been asked to share my thoughts on Time Management. It is a popular theme, and one that would draw huge crowds to the seminar room. Unfortunately, I am not qualified to offer any salient points on this subject. Reason being is that “time” does not require management. YOU DO.
The plight of today’s travel advisor is that they feel they have to do everything themselves. Heaven knows there is not a shortage of “to-dos.” The truth of the matter is there isn’t enough time in a day to get it all done. There is too much to do and not enough time to do it.
This has the earmarks of a true conundrum. But the sad fact is that you have all the time there is, and you still can’t possibly do it all… nor do you have to.
Back in 1896, The Pareto Principle came to light. It reminded us that 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts. Inversely. This implies that much of our time is wasted on tasks of little or no significance.
I have a solution, and you can be sure it is easier to read than to implement.
In order to W.I.N. you must determine What’s Important Now. That is the premise of Mr. Keller’s book. On every to-do list, regardless of the number of tasks listed, there is just one item that represents “THE” one thing.
I realize that it would be easy to address tasks 1, 3, 6, 12, and 22 on your list of things to do and cross off all five thinking you are one efficient machine. You would feel that you have this time management thing down to a science. That would really make you feel like you are “cooking with gas.”
Regardless of the length of your list, however, there is always a single entry (the “one thing”) that deserves your focused attention. The key is to concentrate on that “one thing” until it is completed to your satisfaction or you arrive at a logical stopping point. Only then is it time to turn your attention to the next “one thing.”
It takes discipline to switch from quantity to quality. Identify your “one thing” on your list and you will soon see that discipline will trump time management.
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club. Send for details.
