We Do What We Want To Do
“We do what we want to do.” –Daryl Wizelman
Time is about choices. We have a finite amount of time in which to live. I want more time to do the things I enjoy doing with the people I enjoy and the things that bring the most revenue to my business. Many of us are looking for ways to increase our business revenue and that requires managing our time efficiently. Increased revenue leads to us being able to do more of the things we want to do outside of our vocation. I believe that we often find the time to the things we want to do. Many of us find ways to avoid or put off the things we don’t want to do.
Time is the most valuable thing we have. We can make more money but we can’t make more time. The question we must ask ourselves is are we making the best decisions each day in order to maximize the value we are deriving from our business and our lives. One of the ways I do that is to say no to the good in order to say yes to the great. What I mean by this is we all have a variety of opportunities that come across our desks. Most are poor or good opportunities and a few are great. If we train ourselves to say no to the poor/good opportunities it opens up our time to say yes to the few great opportunities. If we foster this discipline we will only accept great opportunities which will lead to increased revenue and more freedom to enjoy our free time and do the things we want to do.
Manage your time or it will manage you
Time is a series of decisions. We choose what we say yes to and what we say no to. Thus deciding what we do with our time is paramount to achieving our goals and living an extraordinary life. We have all experienced how when we allow others to hijack us away from our time blocked day, we lose efficiency and often that leads to a loss of momentum and not completing our daily disciplines. Those daily disciplines (example: business development) are one of the biggest keys to insuring consistent growth in our business. We must be diligent about controlling our day.
Focus on your strengths. Ignore your weaknesses.
I believe we all have certain gifts that allow us to succeed. I believe we should concentrate on deploying those gifts and ignoring the things we aren’t good at. Those things can be delegated or ignored. I focus on;
1. The things that bring the most satisfaction/you enjoy doing.
2. The things that bring the most revenue generating opportunities.
3. Exception to my rule: Then exception to this is discipline & consistency. In my experience there can be no relational or business success without a strong adherence to discipline and consistency. This means doing that you know you should be doing every day, every week, every month etc. If you asked me what are the most important factors in success I will tell you trust and likeability and discipline and consistency. There can be no great success without this combination.
a. Make a list of things that must be completed daily, weekly, monthly & annually. I refer to these as non-negotiable disciplines.
b. Don’t allow anything or anyone to come between you and your non-negotiable disciplines. They must be completed.
c. Track your success in accomplishing these non-negotiable disciplines.
One last suggestion is to review the tasks of the day first thing in the morning. Prioritize the tasks that are the highest revenue generating and do those first. Then list the to-do’s for the day and during what period during the day these tasks will be completed. This way we can ensure we are on-track for the day. It is also early enough to make adjustments to the plan for the day. Then we must remember to be proactive and not reactive with our time.
“You've got to know what you want. This is central to acting on your intentions. When you know what you want, you realize that all there is left then is time management. You'll manage your time to achieve your goals because you clearly know what you're trying to achieve in your life.” -Patch Adams