BUSINESS AND TRAINING
49 more and train more and spend tons of hours on a bike — and for what ? Sure , I may get in better shape , but at that point , the improvement to my overall health is incremental at best .
In the meantime , I have to spend hours on cycling that I could spend on working towards more important goals . Or , I could just spend more time with my family , the most important goal of all . Think about something you already do well but are trying hard to do even better . Then weigh the input with the outcome . Sometimes ‘ good ’ truly is good enough , especially if that 5 % gain is hugely disproportionate to the pain required to reach it .
3 . FIND THE PERFECT WAY TO SAY NO Most of us default to saying “ yes ” because we do not want to seem rude , unfriendly , or unhelpful . Unfortunately , that also means we default to taking on more than we want or can handle . It is important to know how — with grace and tact — to say “ no ”. Maybe your response will be as simple as , “ I ’ m sorry , but I don ’ t have time .”
Develop your own way of saying “ no ” and then rehearse so it comes naturally . That way , you won ’ t say “ yes ” simply because you think you should — you will say it because you know it is right for you .
4 . ELIMINATE USELESS ME-TIME COMMIT- MENTS I used to play fantasy baseball and football , but when I thought about it , I had no idea why . Sure , I could rationalise that it created a nice break in the week . I could rationalise it was a ‘ mental health ’ activity that let me step aside from the stress and strain of business life . I could , but that was not true . I just did it because I had always done it , and once I start every year , I do not want to quit because , um , I am not a quitter .
Try this : decide you will only spend 10 minutes a day on social media . On the first day , you will get frustrated because you won ’ t get everything done you ‘ need to ’ get done . On the second day , you will instinctively skip a few feeds because they are not as important . On the third day , you will reprioritise and get better organised . By the fourth day , you will realise that 10 minutes is plenty of time to do what you truly need to do ; all that other time you used to spend was just fluff .
6 . ESTABLISH A NIGHT-TIME ROUTINE The first thing you do is the most important thing you do because it sets the tone for the rest of the day . So be smart and prepare for that first thing the night before . Make a list , make a few notes , review information , prime yourself to hit the ground at an all-out sprint the next day ; a body in super-fast motion tends to stay in super-fast motion .
7 . ... AND A MORNING ROUTINE Then , make sure you can get to that task as smoothly as possible . Pretend you are an Olympic sprinter and your morning routine is like the warmup for a race . Don ’ t dawdle and don ’ t ease your way into your morning . Rise , get cleaned up , get fuelled , and start rolling . My elapsed time from bed to desk is about 15 minutes ( which is easy since my commute is two flights of stairs ), so there is not much I can improve . So , I do something else ; I get my most important task done before I check emails .
8 . OUTSOURCE THE RIGHT TASKS I was raised to think that any job I could do myself was a job I should do myself . That is why it took me a long time to decide if the kid down the street should cut my grass . He can use the money . I can use the time .
But that is a simple example . Here is an even better approach : Write down the two or three things you do that generate the most tangible return . Maybe it is selling . Maybe it is developing your employees . Maybe it is building long-term customer relationships . Then strip away all the other stuff by outsourcing those tasks . Or , oftentimes , simply by eliminating those tasks .
9 . FIX WHAT YOU OFTEN BREAK I used to be terrible about putting meetings and phone calls on my calendar . I figured I would get to it later , and then I never did . Then I spent way too much time — often in a panic — trying to figure out when , where , and who . All that was wasted time . So , I finally decided I would immediately enter every appointment into my calendar the moment I made it — no matter what . You probably have at least one thing you tend to mess up . Fix those things to save time and aggravation .
10 . DO NOT MULTITASK Plenty of research says multitasking does not work . Some research says multitasking actually makes you stupid . I feel sure there is at least one thing you do that is so important you should never allow a distraction or a loss of focus . Choose one important task and commit to turning away everything else when you tackle it . Focus solely on that task . See if you do it better — I bet you will . PA
Look at the things you do because you have always done them and decide if it is time to stop . Here is an easy test : If you would not do something while you were on vacation , there is no good reason to do it when you are not .
5 . SET HARD LIMITS Deadlines and time frames establish parameters , but typically not in a good way . We instinctively adjust our effort so our activities take whatever time we let them take . Tasks should take only as long as they need to take — or as long as you decide they should take .
Creative Commons
Establish those things that are most important in achieving your goals .
www . plumbingafrica . co . za March 2018 Volume 24 I Number 1