Why you always have too much to do
We all have a lot to do. But with a little change to your own mindset, you can quickly save 10 percent of your time. A new impulse for success shows how this can be done.
Let's be honest: you could achieve the same results as today in half the time. Don't you think so? Well, how about starting with 10 percent less time for the same results? That means you only work nine hours a day instead of 10. Sounds feasible, doesn't it? An hour more time for yourself or your family sounds tempting.
Well, I know that this is possible. And not just from myself, but from many of my coaching clients. The point is: if you know how to save the first 10 percent of time, you can tackle the next 10 percent. And so on.
Here's the point: the most important lever for this is not any tactics (I'll get to those in a moment), but something completely different: your mindset and your ego. Because you already know how you can become more productive:
- You need to know what your most important goals are.
- You must devote the majority of your energy and time to achieving these goals.
- You need to eliminate distractions.
- You need to keep your energy levels high.
- You need to make these things a routine.
Sounds easy, doesn't it? Very few people make it (and I'm talking about CEOs, division heads and similar people).
So the question remains: How do you approach the matter with your mindset? What can you do? Here are three problems and ideas for solutions:
Problem no. 1: No time for morning setup
Top leaders ensure that they generate positive energy from the very first thing in the morning and keep topping it up. This applies equally to physical and mental energy. Your morning routines in particular are crucial. Design them so that you can hardly wait to rock the day and achieve top results. With low energy, you are more easily distracted and make poor decisions.
Problem no. 2: We love reactivity.
Many leaders I know go into reaction mode right at the start of the day: answering emails, reading news, running to meetings etc.. This puts them in the driver's seat instead of working on their most important results. Why do we do this? Because it's easy. If our mindset is not aligned with the importance of our goals ("why is it extremely important that I achieve these goals?"), we switch into reaction mode.
Problem no. 3: Our ego gets in the way.
We feel important when we are asked a lot of questions and sit in meetings. It feels good to answer a few emails quickly. Our ego gets instant confirmation. The problem is that all these ego-feeding activities often have little to do with achieving our goals. And in the evening, we have only made minimal progress towards our goals - if any at all.
Your action?
Work on these three problems. You will easily save 10 percent of your time. Warning: It feels uncomfortable at first - even if it is useful.
To the author:
Volkmar Völzke is a success maximizer. Book author. Consultant. Coach. Speaker. www.volkmarvoelzke.ch
