Podcast Reources:
- My To-Do list System Blog Post
- Cozi
- Awesome Note
- Today Matters by John Maxwell
- Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy
- Push by Chalene Johnson
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
- Michael Hyatt – Blog
Notes:
Tips for Becoming as Productive as Possible:
1.) Value Your Time – “Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time”
2.) Value Today – “We over-exaggerate yesterday, we overestimate tomorrow, and we underestimate today.”
“The secret of your success will always be found in your daily agenda!”
Zig – Opportunity Clock
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” – George Lorimer
3.) Determine to be Someone Who Makes Things Happen
“The number one quality of a leader is they make things happen.” -John Maxwwell
The best way out of where you are is to do the best you can where you are.
You may think you’re only cheating your job or cheating your boss but not giving your best, but in reality, the person you are really cheating is yourself.
Because here is the reality: if you don’t give your best now, you won’t give your best when you get promoted, get the position, or get your dream job. In fact, if you don’t give your best now, you won’t get promoted, get the position, or get your dream job . . . ever! Even if you do . . . you won’t stay there long!
4.) Study the Work Habits of Others – Learn as Much as You can about productivity! – Get a Coach
Book Reocmmendations:
- Today Matters by John Maxwell
- Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy
- Push by Chalene Johnson
- The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris
- Michael Hyatt – Blog
5.) Track Your Time Two Weeks a Year
Twice a year, record everything you do every 15 minutes into a time journal. At the end of 2 weeks, review how you’ve spent your time. I think you’ll find that the best of us, waste hours. If we’re wasting hours, that means we have plenty of time that we could focus on getting things done. Find our where you’re wasting time, and make that time effective.
“John Wesley and F. B. Meyer, men who influenced the world for Christ, divided their days into five-minute periods, then tried to make each one count. All of us could benefit by similar discipline.”
“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life”
“The way we employ the surplus hours, after provision has been made for work, meals, and sleep, will determine if we develop into mediocre or powerful people.”
6.) Have a System to your To-Do Lists
The best system is the one you’ll use! It doesn’t matter what system you use, but it does matter that you HAVE a system!
Awesome Note – see episode resources
7.) Set Deadlines
“Goals without DEADLINES are DEAD on arrival. Deadlines are lifelines 2 your goals.” -Mark Batterson
Parkinson’s Law states: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
8.) Prioritize Your Tasks
Eat that Frog – Find your most important task and do it first! Usually we do what we like first… Don’t!
If you have trouble prioritizing, ask your boss what your priorities should be!
Figure out Your Priorities – If your priorities aren’t right, then you will always be focusing on the wrong things. Learn to recognize the difference between what is actually important and what isn’t!
9.) Schedule Everything
“The question isn’t will your calendar be full, the question is, who will fill your calendar?” -John C. Maxwell
“People who have nothing to do usually want to spend their time with you!”
What gets scheduled gets done! Write out your day in time lines… We should be able to look at your calendar and know what you are working on!
Schedule date nights. Schedule times to meet with mentors. Schedule time to check e-mail and social media. Schedule times to workout. Schedule what you’ll do throughout the workday. Schedule when you’ll rest! Everything!
Plan Your Day in the Morning or the Night Before – Look over your day and make your to-do list based off your goals and what needs done. Get it done before you start your day. Don’t leave what you’ll accomplish up to chance!
10.) Reflect and Adapt Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Annually
“Through daily prayer, the leader discovers the details of that plan and arranges work accordingly. Each half hour should carry its load of usefulness.”
11) Create a Stop Doing List or Have Someone Create one for you! – Hack Committee
11.) Use Better Tools – There are millions of applications and programs to help you. Find the best ones and the ones that work for you, just make sure you don’t spend all your time with the application and not on the work! 🙂
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Questions:
- What are some of your favorite productivity tips?
- What are some of the best productivity books and blogs you’ve read?
Comment below!
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