No Excuses! - The Power of Self-Discipline Part 16

You Can't "Save" Time.

The fact is that you cannot save time; you can only spend it differently. You can only reallocate your time usage from areas of low value to areas of high value. Herein lies the key to success, and the requirement for self-discipline.

Time management is the ability to choose the sequence of events. By exerting your self-discipline with regard to time, you can choose what to do first, second, and not at all. And you are always free to choose.

You require tremendous self-discipline to overcome the procrastination and delay that holds most people back from great success. A native Indian once told me that "procrastination is the thief of dreams."

The Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule, says that 20 percent of the things you do account for 80 percent of the value of what you accomplish. This means that 80 percent of what you do is worth 20 percent or less of the value of what you accomplish.

a.s.sess the True Value of Everything You Do.

Some things you do are five times and even ten times more valuable than other things, even though they take the same number of minutes and hours. The most important things you do-the top 20 percent-are usually big, difficult, and daunting. In contrast, the 80 percent of things that you do that make little or no difference to your life are usually fun, easy, and enjoyable.

You can tell the value that something has to you by the amount of your time you invest in it. You always pay attention to and spend time on what you most value, whether it is your family, your health, your social or sports activities, or your money and career. It is only by looking at how you spend your time that you (and everyone else) know what is really important to you.

Some people say that career success is most important to them, and then they go home and watch television several hours per day. Some people say their families are important to them, and then they go out socializing or playing golf. Only your actions tell you-and others-what you truly value.

The essence of time management is for you to discipline yourself to set clear priorities-and then stick to those priorities. You must consciously and deliberately select the most valuable and important thing that you could be doing at any given time, and then discipline yourself to work solely on that task.

Personal Strategic Planning.

In corporate strategic planning, the main focus is on increasing the "return on equity." Equity in a business is defined as the amount of money invested in the business by the owners (aside from debt and money borrowed). The purpose of strategic planning is to find ways to organize and reorganize the business in such a way that the company is achieving a higher rate of return on this equity than it would be in the absence of the planning process.

Companies invest financial capital, but individuals invest "human capital." Companies deploy financial a.s.sets, but your most vital a.s.sets are your mental, emotional, and physical energies. How you invest them determines your entire quality of life.

In personal strategic planning, your goal is to get the highest "return on energy" from your activities. Ken Blanchard refers to this as getting the highest "return on life."

Just as you would be careful about investing your money so as to ensure that you get the highest rate of return, you must be equally careful when you invest your time. You must be sure that you earn the highest level of results, rewards, and satisfaction from the limited amount of time you have.

Think Before You Act.

Before you commit to any time-consuming activity, you must always ask, "Is this the very best use of my time?"

Lack of self-discipline in time management leads people to procrastinate their top tasks continually, causing them to spend more and more time on tasks of low or no value. And whatever you do repeatedly eventually becomes a habit.

Many people have developed the habit of procrastination, of putting off their major tasks and instead spending most of their time on activities that make very little difference in the long run.

Priorities versus Posteriorities.

Setting priorities requires setting posteriorities as well. A priority is something that you do more of and sooner, whereas a posteriority is something you do less of or later. You are probably already overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time. Because of this, for you to embark on a new task, you must discontinue an old task. Getting into something new requires getting out of another activity. Before you commit to a new undertaking, ask yourself, "What am I going to stop doing so that I have enough time to work on this new task?"

Go through your life regularly and practice "creative abandonment": Consciously determine the activities that you are going to discontinue so that you have more time to spend on those tasks that can really make a difference to your future.

Identify the Consequences.

One of the most important words in developing the discipline of time management is "consequences." Something is important to the degree that it has serious potential consequences for completion or noncompletion. A task or activity is unimportant to the degree that it does not matter if it is done or not.

For example, completing a course of study at the university can have enormous consequences that can impact your life for the next fifty years. Completing a major task or project at work or making an important sale can have significant consequences for your job and your income.

On the other hand, drinking coffee, chatting with coworkers, reading the newspaper, surfing the Internet, or checking emails may be enjoyable, but these activities have few or no consequences. In other words, whether you do them or not makes little to no difference to your work or your life. However, it is precisely on these activities that most people spend most of their time.

Managing Your Time.

There is a simple time management system that you can use to overcome procrastination. It requires self-discipline, willpower, and personal organization, but the payoff is huge. When you use this system, you can double or even triple your productivity, performance, output, and income.

Before you begin each day, start by making a list of everything you have to do that day. The best time to make this list is the evening before, at the end of the workday, so that your subconscious mind can work on your list of activities while you sleep. You will often wake up with ideas and insights for how to more effectively complete the tasks of the day.

Then apply the A B C D E Method to your list:* A = "Must do"-Serious consequences for noncompletion; * B = "Should do"-Mild consequences for doing or not doing; * C = "Nice to do"-No consequences whether you do it or not; * D = "Delegate"-Everything you possibly can to free up more time for those things that only you can do; * E = "Eliminate"-Discontinue all tasks and activities that are no longer essential to your work and to achieving your goals.

Review your list of activities for the coming day and write an A, B, C, D, or E next to each task before you start.

If you have several "A" tasks, rank them by importance by writing A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on. Do this with your B and C tasks as well.

The rule is that you should never do a B task when you have an A task left undone. You should never do a lower-value task when you have a higher-value task before you.

Once you have organized your list using this system, discipline yourself to start on your A-1 task first thing in the morning, before you do anything else.

Practice Single-Handling.

Once you have begun work on your most important task, you must discipline yourself to concentrate single-mindedly, with 100 percent of your time and attention, until that task is complete.

It takes tremendous self-discipline to select your most important task and then to start on that task rather than doing anything else. But once you begin to work on it, you will start to feel a flow of energy that motivates and propels you into the task. You will feel more positive and confident. You will feel happier and more determined. The very act of starting on an important task raises your self-esteem and motivates you to continue.

Deep within each person is an intense desire to feel strong, effective, powerful, and in control of his or her life. You automatically trigger these feelings of self-confidence and self-esteem when you discipline yourself to start work on the task that is most important to you at the moment.

1,000 Percent Return on Investment.

This A B C D E Method seldom takes more than about ten minutes to organize your entire day. But you will save ten minutes in execution for every minute that you invest in this way of planning before you begin.

This means that you will get a 1,000 percent "return on energy" from the act of planning thoroughly and setting clear priorities before you start on your first task.

As you feel yourself moving forward, making progress on your most important task, your brain releases a steady flow of endorphins, nature's "happy drug." These endorphins will make you feel more positive, focused, alert, aware, and in control.

When you discipline yourself to push against your natural resistance to get started on your most important task, you get an "endorphin rush." You experience this as a sense of elation, exhilaration, happiness, and high self-esteem. By completing a major task, you feel exactly like an athlete who has crossed the finish line first. You feel like a winner.

Your payoff from excellent time management is never ending. As soon as you begin to plan and organize your time, set priorities, and begin on your A-1 task, you will feel happy and more in control of yourself and your life. The better you plan and execute, the better you feel.

Keep Yourself Focused.

The Law of Forced Efficiency says, "There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things."

Here are some questions that you should ask yourself, to help keep you focused and working on your top tasks, activities, and responsibilities: 1. Why am I on the payroll? Exactly what have I been hired to do? What results are expected of me?

You must be clear about your answer to this question. Discuss it with others. Ask your boss.

2. What are my key result areas? Of all the things I do, what are the most important results that I am expected to achieve in my position?

There are seldom more than five to seven key result areas in any job. It is essential that you identify yours and then work in those areas all day long.

3. What are my highest value activities? Of all the things I do, which activities contribute the greatest value to my company and to myself?

You have core competencies that enable you to make a valuable contribution. What are they?

4. What can I-and only I-do, that if done well, will make a real difference?

There is only one answer to this question at any given time. This is something that you and only you can do. If you don't do it, no one else will do it instead. But if you do it-and you do it well-it can make a tremendous difference in your life and work.

5. What is the most valuable use of my time right now?

This is the most important of all questions for setting priorities and overcoming procrastination. At every minute of every day, there is an answer to this question. Your ability to organize your life and to select your highest priority is a key measure of your intelligence and your effectiveness.

Start Today.

Starting today, you should apply these key time management principles to every area of your life. Apply them to your work, family, health, exercise routine, and financial decisions and activities. No excuses.

You require tremendous discipline to set priorities and then stick to those priorities. You require the continuous exertion of discipline and willpower to overcome the procrastination that holds most people back. However, the more you discipline yourself to use your time well, the happier you will feel and the better will be the quality of your life in every area.

What stands between you and your goals are almost always problems and difficulties of some kind. Your ability to effectively solve the problems of daily life can have an enormous impact on your results and rewards. We will talk about this in the next chapter.

Action Exercises:.

1. Make a decision today to become absolutely excellent at time management. Work at it until it becomes a habit.

2. Before you begin each day, make a list of everything you have to do that day. As new tasks arise, write them down before you act on them.

3. Organize your work list by priority by using the A B C D E Method over and over until it becomes a habit.

4. Identify your A-1 task each day and resolve to work single-mindedly on that task until it is totally complete.

5. Identify the one task that only you can do and that, if you do it well, can make a real difference.

6. Determine the 20 percent of your tasks that can account for 80 percent of your results, and then discipline yourself to work on them most of the time.

7. Every minute of every day, ask yourself, "What is the most valuable use of my time, right now?" and then discipline yourself to work on only that task until it is complete.