Ever feel overwhelmed when yet another “must do” item finds its way to your inbox? It can feel like juggling fire.
It seems that more and more work begins to pile up and multiply. Make no mistake, we are partly… maybe mostly, to blame. We procrastinate items that aren’t urgent or important. We dig into items we’re interested in before they truly need our attention. Sometimes we even pretend those repetitive status updates or confirmations will take care of themselves!
The point is we can’t do everything and we absolutely can’t do everything well!
The basic principle of success here is to focus. It is what makes the difference between those who are successful and those who are not, regardless of how much talent, how many resources, and how much energy that they have.
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“I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.”
You have to ignore tasks which do not deliver value, so that you can focus on the tasks that do!
That advice is easier to give than act upon, especially when you have a boss or clients who expect a lot from you. You need to change the way you think about these relationships. Your boss wants you to deliver the most value possible. Your clients want that too. Your job is determining what is most valuable and IGNORING everything else. Work through your to-do list based on value and tackle one item at a time.
Yes, there are meetings. True, there are things that MUST be done by “X” date. But there are also 168 hours every week and surely you can set aside some of those hours to actually make an impact. How do you free up those hours?
IGNORE something!
