How do you achieve business success whilst making quality time for your personal life?  The higher you climb; it seems the greater the sacrifices you need to make.  Many high achievers burn themselves out thinking they have to get everything done.  

People are busier these days, but not necessarily more productive.  They put in long hours at work, then more hours at home on their laptops and smart phones catching on up what they didn’t accomplish at work - negatively impacting their family time.

When you perform physical work, you know when you’re tired - but long periods of mental work produce a different kind of fatigue.  It creeps up on you and can be more insidious in terms of the effect your physical and emotional health.

If you want to build a meaningful business or climb to the top of the corporate ladder – and still have a rewarding personal life - you need to make wise choices about how you invest your time.  

Let’s face it - you will never get everything done, and the pace of business is only going to get faster.  You can’t slow it down, but you can make better choices.  

Peter Drucker said, “Do first things first, and second things not at all”

Force yourself to identify your #1 priority each week, and your #1 priority each day.  Target the few, vital strategic action priorities that will have the greatest impact in moving your area of the business forward – and get them done first.  

If you manage people, leverage your time by focusing on the things that will positively impact the greatest number of people.

People say “Yes” to too many projects, and they also say “Yes” too soon.  Next time someone asks, “Can you do this?” reply by saying, “Let me think about how that fits with my current priorities, and I’ll get back to you.”  This simple delaying strategy will help you make better decisions about how you invest your valuable time.  

If all you did was identify your #1 priority, stay focused, and get it done - you would be vastly more productive than the majority who blindly lurch from one “urgent” interruption to the next (a new email / a ringing phone / someone walking into your office to start a conversation) – and those who spend hours performing low impact “busywork” - deluding themselves that they are moving the company forward - when all they are doing is "business as usual" activities.  

Do you have a clear strategy for your business?  Do you know what your key strategic priorities are for the quarter?  Do you know what your #1 Action Priority is for this week?  What is your #1 priority today?  

If you can’t answer these questions – we need to talk.

 
Stephen Lynch

Chief Operating Officer - Global Operations
RESULTS.com