Learn the top three strategies of high achievers to increase your business success
By Warren Wandling
Do you find yourself working at a slow pace with a low energy? If you want to work as a high achiever, then analyze how fast you work on tasks during your day. Ask yourself these questions: How faster do I move through my day? And, on a scale from 1 to 10 where am I? (10 indicates that you are moving fast.) The faster you move the more momentum you create. The more momentum you create the more you will accomplish. Get into activity that will produce high achieving results. As Dave Ramsay says, “gazelle intense.”
Here are three top techniques that high achievers use in their chosen profession.
The first strategy is to work faster. Pick up your pace. Whatever you are working on, beware of your pace that you are working. Do you find yourself working at slower pace with a low energy level or are you working at a high level urgency? Develop a sense of urgency about your day. Get into the do it now habit. Use the ABC priority system. List your tasks that need to be completed for the day and label them with an A, B or C. An A task is something that needs to be finished today. Work only on the A tasks before moving onto a B or C task. Developing a fast pace is key to becoming a High Achiever.
The second strategy is to work longer and harder. Have you ever said to yourself “ I can’t get anything done at work”? This is a common frustration. You must resolve that you are going to work harder and be focused all day long. If you find yourself being interrupted by other co-workers simply use the phrase “back to work.” Schedule two hours everyday without interruptions. Start an hour earlier, and stay an hour later. This will add two extra hours of productive time in your day, which is equal to an extra person working at your current pace. Use the clock as a tool to help you keep track of how much time you have until your next task. As you start to use this strategy your energy level will increase along with your productivity.
The third strategy is to focus on your high payoff activities (HPA) Write down five to seven tasks that are the most important for you to complete everyday. If you are a manager, scheduled a one-on-one proactive coaching meetings, on a weekly basis, with each of your team members is a top priority. If you are sales professional, talking with prospects is an HPA. Clients who use this strategy report that they get more satisfaction from their work. Make your list of your HPA’s today and you will start getting more job satisfaction.
To learn more how to become a high achiever and get greater results in your day, decide which coaching program is right for you.
Showing posts with label focus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label focus. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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Manage Your Time or Others will Do It for you
Manage Your Time or Others Will Do It for You
Harvey Mackay
I'll never forget an important time management lesson I learned in a seminar many years ago . . . especially how the instructor illustrated the point.
"Okay, time for a quiz," he said, as he pulled out a one-gallon wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on the desk in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is the jar full?"
Everyone in the seminar said, "Yes."
Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar. This caused pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he asked the group again, "Is the jar full?"
By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," we answered.
"Good!" he replied as he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"
"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?"
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you really try hard, you can always fit some things into it."
"No," the instructor replied. "The point is if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."
So, today, tonight, or in the morning when you are reflecting on this story, ask yourself: What are the 'big rocks' in my life or business? Then, be sure to put those in your jar first.
And by the way, you get the same size jar as everyone else. No exceptions.
What changes from person to person is the size of each rock. I've got a couple boulders in my jar: family first, always. Things like friends, my company, my speaking/writing "hobby," maintaining my network, my volunteer commitments, my health, and my religion all take up a lot of space. The gravel is all the stuff that takes up more than a few minutes but doesn't necessarily happen every day, like a committee assignment, a vacation, learning new software... you get the idea.
And now, the sand. You can decide whether to be that 98-pound weakling who gets sand kicked at him, or the creator of a spectacular sand castle. The sand is the yes/no stuff that absolutely has to fit around everything else after it's in the jar. A little piece of sand in your eye is a big pain, and those are the ones that get the no-thank-you right off the bat. A little sand on an icy street is one of life's little pleasures when you live in snow country as I do. You choose the sand. It's your jar.
In other words, it's your time. Change the rocks, gravel and sand into hours, minutes and seconds. Then decide what your priorities are and how much time you'll spend on them. If you don't, someone else will decide for you and you'll end up with a jar full of heavy, jagged, nasty shards that nobody could touch without getting stabbed by another rock. Do you really want to spend your time working on other people's priorities?
As Benjamin Franklin said, "If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves." Good time management is taking care of the things that matter most to us first and keeping that jar of rocks in sight all the time.
My friend Lou Holtz has a great formula: W.I.N. -- What's Important Now? Use some of your precious time to figure out what's important in your life and you will win.
Harvey Mackay
I'll never forget an important time management lesson I learned in a seminar many years ago . . . especially how the instructor illustrated the point.
"Okay, time for a quiz," he said, as he pulled out a one-gallon wide-mouthed mason jar and set it on the desk in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar.
When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is the jar full?"
Everyone in the seminar said, "Yes."
Then he said, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar. This caused pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he asked the group again, "Is the jar full?"
By this time the class was onto him. "Probably not," we answered.
"Good!" he replied as he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"
"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good!" Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?"
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you really try hard, you can always fit some things into it."
"No," the instructor replied. "The point is if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all."
So, today, tonight, or in the morning when you are reflecting on this story, ask yourself: What are the 'big rocks' in my life or business? Then, be sure to put those in your jar first.
And by the way, you get the same size jar as everyone else. No exceptions.
What changes from person to person is the size of each rock. I've got a couple boulders in my jar: family first, always. Things like friends, my company, my speaking/writing "hobby," maintaining my network, my volunteer commitments, my health, and my religion all take up a lot of space. The gravel is all the stuff that takes up more than a few minutes but doesn't necessarily happen every day, like a committee assignment, a vacation, learning new software... you get the idea.
And now, the sand. You can decide whether to be that 98-pound weakling who gets sand kicked at him, or the creator of a spectacular sand castle. The sand is the yes/no stuff that absolutely has to fit around everything else after it's in the jar. A little piece of sand in your eye is a big pain, and those are the ones that get the no-thank-you right off the bat. A little sand on an icy street is one of life's little pleasures when you live in snow country as I do. You choose the sand. It's your jar.
In other words, it's your time. Change the rocks, gravel and sand into hours, minutes and seconds. Then decide what your priorities are and how much time you'll spend on them. If you don't, someone else will decide for you and you'll end up with a jar full of heavy, jagged, nasty shards that nobody could touch without getting stabbed by another rock. Do you really want to spend your time working on other people's priorities?
As Benjamin Franklin said, "If we take care of the minutes, the years will take care of themselves." Good time management is taking care of the things that matter most to us first and keeping that jar of rocks in sight all the time.
My friend Lou Holtz has a great formula: W.I.N. -- What's Important Now? Use some of your precious time to figure out what's important in your life and you will win.
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