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.
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Establish those things that are most important in achieving your goals.
www. plumbingafrica. co. za March 2018 Volume 24 I Number 1