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Everything I've been talking about sounds pretty good right? I can tell you from experience it's great and it works, but at the end of the day can you execute? Your ability to manage yourself comes down to one simple area: FOCUS
When you arrive on the job and start your first 50 minute block, do you stay focused on what you need to get done or do you get distracted? I hate to be cliche but life in our world today runs at a crazy pace. One second you're reading a business email and before you know it you're looking at some ridiculous topic on Wikipedia and then your watching a video on YouTube.
Your ability to focus in on one task you need to do and actually execute is very important. The best way to avoid massive distractions is to create a great environment. You want to be totally honed in on what you need to do.
Multitasking is one of the most unproductive time wasters around. By focusing on the task at hand and not reading a text message, or checking an email, or browsing the web at the same time you will be much more effective and get way more out of the activity.
By putting yourself in the proper environment you drastically reduce the chances of you getting thrown off course. Ideally you want each block you work in to be dedicated to one specific or a few related tasks. Don't try to talk to a customer on the phone or via email and build a new product in the same block.
You'll want to close down all other distractions. Communicate to everyone else you are not to be bothered. I shut the door to my office and everyone knows not to disturb me. I shut my cell phone off and close every program on my computer than is not related to exactly what I'm doing.
At that point in time, nobody can get a hold of me. I know exactly what I need to do and I just execute. When the time is up, I wrap up what I'm doing and completely remove myself from it. When the next block starts I'm not thinking about the past block. I'm totally engaged in that moment.
I know that the most profitable way to spend my time is working on marketing my business. It's the most high leverage activity I have at my disposal. Everything I've created in my business is totally centered around and supportive of me marketing the business. That's how I get paid. I don't want to deal with tech hassles, customer support, or any other operational issues. I only focus on what's important. Try to design your environment based on what is important to you.
When it comes to email, phone calls, and any other ancillary activity that I ABSOLUTELY have to personally handle - I dedicate a block of my time to handling this. Then I cut it clean, and don't go back until the next scheduled session. Nothing is more unproductive than trying to work all day and interrupting yourself by checking for new messages.
You want to focus on high leverage activities ALL DAY because this will bring you closer to your goals much faster.