In our last several +1s, we’ve been exploring some of Kevin Kruse’s 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management.
Here’s the quick, spaced-repetition Learning 101-inspired super-abridged recap of our 15 secrets…
1. Time is your most valuable resource.
2. Identify your Most Important Task (MIT) and work on it each day before doing anything else.
3. Work from your calendar, not a to-do list.
4. Procrastination can be overcome if you figure out how to beat your future self, who cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
5. Accept the fact that there will always be more to do and more that can be done.
6. Always carry a notebook.
7. Email is a great way for other people to put their priorities into your life; control your inbox.
8. Schedule and attend meetings as a last resort, when all other forms of communication won’t work.
9. Say no to everything that doesn’t support your immediate goals.
10. Eighty percent of outcomes are generated by twenty percent of activities.
11. Focus your time only on things that utilize your unique strengths and passions.
12. Batch your work with recurring themes for different days of the week.
13. If a task can be completed in less than five minutes, then do it immediately.
14. Invest the first 60 minutes of each day in a ritual that strengthens your mind, body and spirit.
15. Productivity is about energy and focus, not time.
Quick theory to practice check in…
Where are you strong? (“That’s like you!” Keep dominating. 👏 )
Where are you weak? (“Needs work it!” You got this! 🙌 )
Now…
Today we’re going to talk about Secret #13.
Kevin tell us: “Highly successful people take immediate action on almost every item they encounter. They know that to be efficient, they want to expend the least possible amount of time and mental energy processing things. In short, they practice a ‘touch it once’ mentality. ...
I actually think the ‘touch it once’ rule is so important I recommend you immediately take action on something if it will take five minutes or less to complete. As long as it won’t interfere with a pre-scheduled task, you are generally better off taking immediate action than having to come back to it in the future.”
I repeat the essence of Secret #13…
“If a task can be completed in less than five minutes, do it immediately.”
As I read that, I thought of Roy Baumeister—who is one of the most cited psychologists in history.
He literally wrote the book on Willpower.
Here’s how he puts it in his great book: “The Two-Minute Rule: If something will take less than two minutes, don’t put it on a list. Get it out of the way immediately.”
Brian Tracy echoes the wisdom on “touching it once.”
He calls it “single handling.”
Here’s how he puts it in HIS great book on time management called Eat That Frog!: “Every great achievement of humankind has been preceded by a long period of hard, concentrated work until the job was done. Single handling requires that once you begin a task, you keep working at it, without diversion or distraction, until the job is 100 percent complete. You keep urging yourself onward by repeating the words, ‘Back to work!’ over and over whenever you are tempted to stop or do something else.”
He continues by saying: “By concentrating single-mindedly on your most important task, you can reduce the time required to complete it by 50 percent or more... The truth is that once you have decided on your number one task, anything else that you do other than that is a relative waste of time.”
Plus, he says: “Your ability to select your most important task, to begin it, and then to concentrate on it single-mindedly until it is complete is the key to high levels of performance and personal productivity.”
That’s Today’s +1.
How are YOU doing with that?
Pro tip...
Decide what your most important WIN is and DOMINATE it from start to finish!
Not someday…
TODAY.
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