Pay attention to your words, because they become actions.

Pay attention to your actions, because they become habits.

Pay attention to your habits, because they become your character.

Pay attention to your character, because it is your fate.”

As your business has grown, so has your team.

Here’s 10 top tips to keep it all together.

1. Business Plan – update it now. If you only have a vague idea of your strategy then think how much fuzzier your staff’s understanding will be. Uncertainty can lead  to insecurity and confusion.
2. Segment it – by breaking down the plan by category and allocating responsibility to staff in each area, you will reduce the pressure on yourself and offer motivating opportunities
3. Keep it simple – don’t overplan. Be flexible and stick to the main road.
4. Transparency - ensure that everyone has access to key information. Make it visual and stick pictures, charts and graphs on the walls.
5. Job descriptions – does everyone know what they’re doing? This can create certainty and will help avoid confusion and gaps.
6. Review - organise regular and appropriate appraisals. Help people to perform better – you can offer yourself as a resource. Reward with appropriate praise and incentives.
7. Skills - invest in training that will help your team improve their performance. Remember the benefits of soft skills like communication, emotional awareness and motivation.
8. Meetings - only if they have a purpose. Make them as short, sharp and snappy as possible.
9. Communication - re-evaluate how you communicate to each other. What’s the best system? Informal and formal.
10. Celebration - success comes from synergy. Recognise that the effort was a team effort and celebrate your joint achievement.

ON not IN

What difference would it make if you had these ten tips in place, and practised them on a regular basis? How much more effective and efficient would your team and business be?

Putting these ten tips into place takes time. Not much, but it does require you, as the business leader, to take the time needed to bring them into play. Remember to regularly take time OUT of your business so you can work ON it, not just IN it. It might just be one hour a month, either on your own or with a business coach that could make all the difference to your team, your company and you.

Image CC An Honourable German - http://www.flickr.com/photos/anhonorablegerman/5540014699/

Often how much you believe you can do something depends on your desire and need to make that thing happen. Desire is incredibly important and is bolstered by strong belief, so how would a lack of options help to further increase your drive and chances of success.

In Think And Grow Rich Napoleon Hill tells a story that exemplifies how reducing your options can drive you forward:

A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision  which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own.

He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them.

Addressing his men before the first battle he spoke firmly.
“You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice – we win – or we perish!”

They won.

Create Leverage

So here’s the question you need to ask yourself. What external leverage can you put in place so that you create a must win situation?

I’d like to hear how you’ve ‘burned your boats’ so to speak so please let me know by leaving a comment.

Tease by Caitlinator - http://www.flickr.com/photos/caitlinator/4377858718/

Today you’re in for a brief preview of The Priority Principle. Instead of writing about what I’m writing about, I thought you might like to read some of the actual stuff itself. So here you go. Let me know what you think . . .

“So already we’ve identified Active Priorities, which suddenly made us worry about our lives, and Concurrent Priorities, which made us feel a bit better. Now having got that out of the way early on, we can knuckle down to really harnessing the power of the Priority Principle.

When you’re doing the things that you instinctively know and feel are important then that’s okay isn’t it? It feels fine to know that going for a swim, playing with the kids, reading something that feeds your mind, spirit, or wallet, are all priority moments. That’s because you’re in tune with what you really believe in, your actions are aligned with your core values, and everything is right with the world.

However, when you find yourself dawdling, procrastinating, or just generally wasting your time by filling it with fluff, then what does this tell you about your priorities?

I’m talking here about the things that you’ve stated are your priorities, the things that somewhere along the way you’ve decided are important to you. The things that you want to be doing but somehow life connives to prevent you from making them regular occurrences.

You know the things I mean because we all want them. I call them the the more or less things because we all want to do either more or less of them.

Like more exercising, drinking more water, eating more vegetables, earning more money, spending more time with the family.

Or doing less watching TV, drinking less alcohol, eating less fatty foods, spending less time on the internet.

When you work on your ‘more or less’ items most people try and prioritise them. (Especially around New Year’s Day strangely enough. What a bizarre time I always think to set new targets of eating and drinking less when there’s more food and booze in the house than any other time of year, and exercising more when it’s wet, windy, dark and possibly even snowing outside, and the gyms are at their busiest.)

Too often we make very little headway with the less items and nothing really changes. These less items actually stay as Active Priorities. I know you’ll be a bit more comfortable now identifying those habitual actions that many of us slip into as Active Priorities, the markers that show us what we really are prioritising our time for.

On the other hand the more items become what I’ve termed Desired Priorities. These are the goals, aims and target behaviours that we would like to be doing – but aren’t. Sadly these are the things that you’re not quite doing because your Active Priorities are still taking precedence over them.

More than this likely tells you that they’re difficult to follow and too easy to ignore – it also tells you that they’re not your Active Priorities because you’re not actually doing them, even though you would love them to be. At least for the moment you have relegated them and made something else your number one priority.

Don’t worry too much though. This might tell you that your priorities are unclear or just plain confused. It might simply tell you that your priorities are not important to you at all, so you can stop worrying about them anyway. For others it might be that you need to drop everything right now and review your life plan.

Soon, we’ll look at how to replace your Active Priorities with your Desired ones, and in the process change your life.”

Ohrwurm Angler!

A ‘what’ you say?

An ohrwurm I said.

Even if you’ve never heard of the word ohrwurm before I guarantee that you’ll have experienced one. And it may very well have driven you to distraction.

Kylie Is Guilty

Kylie knew exactly what she was doing with Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. You may have thought all that wriggling about in loose fitting clothing and robotic dancers, was simply a breezy pop song but NO! Don’t be fooled, Kylie was fishing for the nation’s minds using ohrwurm bait.

And it worked. Most of the nation soon succumbed and allowed Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, entry into it’s collective inner mind, and from that vantage point this glorious slice of pint sized pop fulfilled the title’s prophecy.

As you have probably worked out an ohrwurm is a piece of music that sticks in your mind so that you always seem to hear it, even when it is not being played. Sound familiar?

Bad Thinking

At the start of last week on the way to meet a client I heard a song on Absolute Radio and try as I might couldn’t place it. By the time I had parked, it was still playing, so dutifully I waited for the end, yet, as sure as eggs is eggs, the DJ failed to mention the name of the song or the band.

The client meeting went well, the day continued as expected. At the end of it, like me, the sun set, had a few hours off and then rose again to greet the next day. The routine of life was satisfyingly continous and uniform, except for one thing.

Every single activity I undertook had this unidentified song as a thumping soundtrack.

Keep Burrowing

At times (in the shower, cooking, driving) this was an enjoyable phenomenom. At other times (coaching, reading, writing) this was an incredibly frustrating pain in the arse.

Whenever I’m faced with a problem ‘I always ask what’s useful about this?’ or ‘What can I learn from this?’

What I learned from this ohrwurm, consistently lodged in my mind, was the power of persistence. Imagine if I’d been able to apply that level of insistence to my week’s goals. What if, regardless of the obstacles around me, I just kept burrowing and burrowing? What would my results have looked like with such a determined and focused outlook?

If you acted like an ohrwurm for the next week and and kept your focus on just one single issue, challenge or goal, what could you achieve? What about for the next month or next year?

Whatever you are working on, let me know how acting like an ohrwurm improves your results. I look forward to your comments.

BAD postcript

By the way, using the power of Google and Soundhound I was able to track down this errant, erm, track. For your auditory pleasure I present Big Audio Dynamite and E=MC2

A Conversation

My Dad is great at doing this. He’ll call up on the house phone, (never my mobile), and then after expressing mild disappointment that I’ve answered rather than leaving him the opportunity to leave a message, he’ll launch into complex and minute detail about a train journey.

I’ll get the detail of three possible departure times from York, how that links in at Kings Cross, which of the connections he’s allowed to use across London (depending on the limits of the super duper, senior citizen, advance notice, bargain basement, online discount, early bird, seasonal offer, January sales ticket he’s haggled for) and what time he’s possibly arriving at a station near me.

Ah, arriving near me! That’s it!

That’s right, he’s thinking of coming down to visit. I’ve worked it out. (I suspected all along to be fair – he’s got form). And he’s very welcome. There’s nothing more I enjoy than catching up over a pint with my old man and watching the faces of my two little girls light up as Grandpa Graham scoops them into his arms.

But we’ve missed something.

Something important.

The Missing Link

You see although he’s given me all the detail about the train journey and furnished me with the time that he needs collecting from the station, it turns out that on the date he’s booked his ticket for we’re not around. We’ve got a family commitment in Kent. Ouch!

There’s been a communication breakdown somewhere along the line. Clearly. And somehow we’ve spent time discussing things that were of no relevance – like train times for a journey that isn’t going to happen.

So what to do? How could this have been prevented?

Model

There’s a very simple communication model that I share with businesses, and indeed individuals, that helps to avoid problems like this. It saves time and creates clarity around discussions, expectations and events. It’s called the MADE model and looks like this:

M = Message
A = Action
D = Detail
E = Evidence

Get The Message

In the example above where my poor Dad gives me all the journey information first, he’s started on the ‘D’, the detail. The effect of this is that I’ve got information but that I don’t yet know what to do with it. This could be confusing and could lead to impatience. More so in a business environment than in my family example perhaps.

In all scenarios though, whether family or professional, it is better to start with ‘M’, the message, which would be something like “I’m thinking of coming down to visit on x date for a couple of days.”

At this point the recipient in the conversation becomes clear about the intent. By clearly stating what the purpose of the conversation is, everyone in it can have clarity from the outset.

Going back to the example again at this point I could have saved us both a lot of time and uncertainty and avoided a build up of expectation, by simply pointing out that the date was unsuitable. Then that particular conversation would have ended and we could have started another one, maybe about a different date. Or rugby. Or the correct way to sow potatoes. Probably rugby.

But let’s say the date was good for both of us.

At that point the ‘A’ comes into, well, action. What is the action that you want to occur? In our journey scenario, it would be Dad saying “. . . and when I arrive I’d like you to pick me up from the station.”

Now, and only now mind you, do I actually need the detail. So bring on the D! Give it to me baby!

Because at this point it makes sense and is actually vital to making sure I can carry out the action that followed from the message.

The last piece of the jigsaw is the ‘E’, evidence. Most times you may not even need to go any further than detail but sometimes there will be something extra to add. Evidence can be a ticket, an invoice, a report, an email or if someone’s covering for you at a football match it could even be a pair of boots! Evidence is back up for the detail.

Here’s a brief example of how a ticket might be the evidence.
M = Are you free on the 16th?
A = You are! That’s great. Would you cover for me at the x function?
D = Date, time, location (and costume!)
E = Here is the ticket

Makes sense doesn’t it?

Start With The Message, Not The Detail

I encourage people to use this method in verbal conversations, in letters and in emails. Sometimes it can be useful to have in mind when drafting a proposal.

Leave a comment to let me know how much this model helps you and how many times you now notice people start a conversation by offering too much detail before they actually get to telling you what it’s for.

So what do you do? You leave them until you’re ready to tackle them. You put them to one side for another time when you’ll feel more equipped to start.

This is not a good strategy.

In all likelihood, you already have everything you need to start, all the resources you need are already in place. You simply need to start.

Right now you are procrastinating. That’s not good. You know it’s not good.

You are procrastinating because you are thinking about getting the task done. Or rather how impossible it feels to get the thing done.

Here’s an insight. You’re thinking about the wrong thing.

Here’s some advice. Start thinking, not about getting finished, but about getting started.

Thinking about getting started is easy because it takes no effort.

The best thing to do now is simply to start. Getting started is also dead easy, especially once you’re thinking about starting. That’s because you can do the smallest thing to get started. Any one thing will get you started. A phone call, a sentence, pressing the on button. Any one thing.

Start Here, Start Now

The only place to start is at the beginning. That’s right now. In this very moment. You don’t need to wait for tomorrow or think about what happened yesterday. Now is the time.

Even if you’re starting in the middle, that’s really the beginning. Wherever you start is the beginning. Right here, right now.

Added to this was a steadily worsening stream of poetry. (Don’t ask.)

Inspiring Scrap

I don’t know where any of these mementos are now but I used to do it because the clippings would inspire me (although I doubt whether the poetry would inspire anything except groans). These were images and words I liked looking at. Simple as that.

That was all back in the late 70s, 80s and early 90s. The only real advance that helped me in that particular endeavour over all those years was the invention of Pritt Stick.

These days however instead of battling torn edges, corrugated paper and glued together pages I would be collecting images of Dangermouse by the thousand, digitally, and storing them safely in the world’s biggest and best scrapbook: Evernote.

Evernote

I’ve been using Evernote for a little while now and quite honestly don’t think I could ever go back to being without it. It’s simply fantastic and is one of those pieces of software that once you get, you really really GET.

I’ll be posting about the different ways I use Evernote and in particular how it’s helping me towards a realistic paperless existence. But for now I thought I’d simply describe it as I just have – as being the biggest and best scrapbook in the world.

I also thought I’d share this hugely impressive list of practical and timesaving uses that Evernote compiled by Andrew Maxwell. It made me smile because it seems to me that most of the ideas are utilising Evernote as a modern version of a scrapbook.

I have to admit I’m not sure about all of Andrew’s ideas (I really don’t reckon I’ll ever need Evernote reminders about which tattoo I might one day want to choose) but I’ve kept them all here because it really shows the broad appeal of the software, it’s huge scope for usefulness and just how many different folks could make use of it.

See which of the below you think would work for you and let me know. Or if you use Evernote for a purpose that’s not here then share it by leaving a comment. Thanks.

1. Take a photo of your contacts measurements and save them to your personal notebook. Makes ordering your next pair easier.
2. Take a photo of the page you are reading in a book and use @evernote to make your notes, keeping your book pages clean
3. keep your web bookmarks in Evernote, then add screenshots to help kick start your memory when looking for a useful website.
4. Write down coupon codes into a note and continue to add to them when you find them, this makes saving money a lot easier
5. Make a list of movies that you want to watch on a relaxful weekend with your loved one(s)
6. Save your blood type in a note which would come in handy if you get hurt or need to know.
7. Write down your printer’s ink numbers, this comes in handy when you find a great sale on some printer ink. or when your out
8. Save locations that you would ride your BMX bike/skateboard and share them with other riders/skaters.
9. BMX – Keep a list of tricks that you want to perform in a certain location, this feature is useful esp. for iPhone users.
10. Keep track of your loved one(s) clothing sizes.
11. Keep a note dedicated to ideas that you want to write about on twitter, facebook or your blog
12. Keep your receipts in a notebook which will help be organizes when Tax season comes around.
13. Take photos of all of your napkin sketches and put them into individual notes, this helps for getting inspired later on.
14. Keep snippets of code in a “Code” notebook for easy use of it later on.
15. Save old copy from your website into a note for later use, so many times I wish I had a backup years down the road.
16. Take screenshots of websites and other things that inspire you and save them into notes, one item per note.
17. Use snagit to take video shots of websites/animations that inspire you, save them as .mov and add them to evernote
18. If you are visiting family and they give you a file/photos, add it to Evernote for easy retrieval when you get home
19. Keep track of presents that your friends and family want. This helps from being stuck as the last minute shopper.
20. Save text that you often write in emails into a note so that things are consistent when sending emails to clients
21. Take a photo and add some notes for a new drink or food that you found and like.
22. Take photos or scan your kids artwork, that way you don’t have to lug around years of art but you will still have it.
23. Keep track of which friend or family member borrows something. This saves the date they borrowed it.
24. Save recipes that sound good as you come across them.
25. Save prices, photos and text of parts that you want to buy for your car, bike or other vehicle(s).
26. Take photos of your cars License and VIN numbers.
27. Tale photos of your cars tire size and pressure and use the info when getting new tires.
28. Save ideas and concepts which can help when writing a script.
29. Scan/save your computer specs, this helps when buying new computer parts.
30. Record audio notes for quick on the go ideas.
31. Save video game high scores can keep track of your own progress and skills.
32. Save the list of prescriptions that you are taking and the purpose each one serves.
33. Write down the dimensions for each room in your house.
34. Save a list of what light bulb sizes are needed for each room and for what object.
35. Save photos, text and prices of items that you would like to have in your house.
36. Take pictures or each page in your notebook just in case you happen to spill something on it, your notes will be save.
37. Take pictures of interesting locations you come across so that you can find out more about it once get home.
38. Keep a note of the nice things people say about you and who said it, this comes in handy when your feeling depressed.
39. Keep a note of images, text and links to videos that make you laugh and smile.
40. Make a list of names that you come across that you would like to name your kid.
41. Keep a list of programs that you’ve install on your computer in case you need to re-format your computer.
42. Write down ideas for things that you would like to include in your next website design.
43. Scan or take a photo of every business card you get and store them in a separate notebook to quickly find a contact.
44. Save website wireframe sketches, these can be re-used for other projects.
45. Make a list of items that you work on each day. This will come in handy when a client asks when you worked on something.
46. Save the brand and flavor of food that your animal eats. You don’t want to get them the wrong kind.
47. Scan TO-GO menus so that you can have all of them with you where ever you are.
48. Save photos of Tattoo’s that you like to help narrow down the tattoo you want to get.
49. Sync up your Twitter account with Evernote and send @myen any twitter posts that you like.
50. Create a folder for Evernote to watch and every time you put a document into that folder it will be automatically added.
51. Take photos of concert or event tickets and then later on you can look back, similar to a scrap book.
52. Keep notes containing keyboard shortcuts to your favorite programs.
53. Save copy or links to articles that you would like to come back to and finish reading.
54. Make a note for each project idea that you have, and then you will have one place to consistently come back to and update.
55. Keep track of which shoe size goes with which brand of shoes.
56. Keep track of which pant size goes with which brand.
57. Make a list of songs that you come across while on the go and purchase those songs once you get home.
58. Make note of things that make you relaxed and use them to consistently enjoy your life.
59. Make a PDF version of your business license, this comes in handy when you fill out business paperwork.
60. Make a list of all of your girlfriends family members names. Use this list to study them before your next big visit.
61. Take a photo of the type of treats that your dog likes.
62. Keep a note that has ways to save energy in the home and share it with friends and family.
63. Keep track of the steps it takes to complete tasks on a clients website.
64. Keep track of locations that you have hiked and the time it took to complete. Add photos if possible.
65. Make a check list of the steps needed to successfully complete a website.
66. Send important emails to your custom Evernote email address.
67. Keep the items you see as “Do’s and Don’ts” and follow them whenever you can.
68. Make a list of goals, and slowly one by one complete them.
69. Make a list of items in the house that uses batteries and the type they use so that next time you get the right ones.
70. Have a list ready available of the different resolutions that your website is often viewed at.
71. Make a note of your serial numbers or registration keys for your software.
72. Make a list of important events in your relationship, and then look back upon those events at a later date.
73. Use the events found in my previous topic when writing a loved one a poem, or letter.
74. Save the name of a restaurant you just ate at if they have good food.
75. Keep and share the family grocery list.
76. Keep photos of all of your watches (used for Watch Collectors)
77. Keep a spare note for random notes
78. Keep a PDF document in a note, then use the note to make comments regarding the attached PDF document.
79. Make a list restaurants near your house and then try them out one by one, marking them off as you go.
80. Keep wood working plans and share the note with your team, making  everyone aware of the progress.
81. Create a website project note that you share with the team, and everyone updates the note with any new information.
82. Make separate tags for each client, and assign any client related notes to that tag.
83. If you keep inspirational images in your evernote, create tags for the 12 main colors.
84. Create a tag for person in your immediate family, and save related notes to their tag, like medical, gifts etc.
85. Create a list of your kids school supplies, and make sure that they have some for school and some for home use.
86. Save your childrens teachers name.
87. Get into a car accident? Take photos of the damage of both cars, both insurance cards and license and VIN numbers.
88. Sort all of your misc. items into boxes, then take photos of the items. This helps find the item(s) your looking for.
89. Take photos of the wiring setup on your media center so that if you move anything, you will know where it goes.
90. Grab and write down slogans that you like when working on creating your own.
91. Scan and save warranty information when you buy something, make sure to write down the expiration date.
92. Scan documents to PDF that you think you may need at some point, then shred the un-needed paper version.
93. Take photos of all valuable items in your house when you get them then save each to a note with the price and receipt.
94. Save your loved ones favorite flower, take a photo if you need to.
95. Take photos of all of your video games, and use evernote as your running catalog.
96. Scan documents that your doctor gave you for exercises when going to physical therapy.
97. Save newspaper articles of important events to share with your kids.
98. Web designers should look back periodically at website you built and make notes of things you would change now.
99. Keep track of symptoms when you are getting sick.
100. Make a list of dreams that you had, what they are about and the day you had it. See if you start to see a pattern.

Ch Ch Ch Changes

That’s not to say your priority will always be the same. No, no no, of course not – things change all the time, and priorities are no different. They change, of course they do. (Plus life would be pretty boring if you had just one most important thing forever, wouldn’t it? If priorities never changed then I’d still be working out how best to approach Samantha Fox for a steamy date.)

Your priority may change according to the environment you are in, who you are with or what role you are fulfilling, and sometimes the changeover is going be very fast. Nevertheless, at any given moment in time, you’ve got just the one priority.

So what is it right now? And how do you decide?

Sometimes you’re looking forlornly at that big long list of things to do thinking that they’re all important, all urgent and all are priorities. Well, the good news is they’re not. Only one of them can be your priority.

They might all be important, they might all be urgent but they are not all priorities. And that FACT is very useful to those many good intentioned folks who want to be working on the right thing but find it almost nigh on impossible to decide what to work on first.

Here’s a very simple trick I call The Holiday Scenario, that you can play on yourself at the drop of a hat. It helps you to identify and get working on your priority task. (I can’t remember where I first read or heard this little gem, so please let me know if you do so that I know who to credit.)

Pack Your Suitcase

While you’re looking at your big old list and feeling more than a bit overwhelmed or intimidated, simply imagine that you are going away on holiday very soon. In fact imagine very specifically that you are having to leave for the airport in exactly 40 minutes, and that if you don’t leave in exactly 40 minutes you will miss your flight.

Given that you’ve got this one small window of opportunity to get something done, take a fresh look at your list and see which task item suddenly jumps up and says ‘Me! Me! It has to be me!’

Have you done it?

Isn’t that amazing? Do you notice how creating a sense of urgency and leverage, focuses your mind, and so the most important task simply announces itself. Nine times out of ten using this method allows what I call your actual priority to become clearer and stand out of the crowd.

The Holiday Scenario works as quick as a flash and, like all of the best and the most effective tools, is simple and easy to use. Leave a comment and tell me how well it works for you.

Priority setting is something that takes a short amount of time, yet allows you to focus more clearly on the prime objectives, and ignore the noise. By noise I mean the mental chatter caused by not knowing exactly what you should be doing. As well as the distraction of the other items you could be working on.

Clarify Your Focus

The ABC method will allow you to clarify your focus, and direct your enthusiasm towards the place its needed most – your top priority. Your motivation will go into hyperdrive once it knows where it’s needed!

The ABC method will take you just five minutes to put into place. In those five minutes you will identify which are the most important tasks you need to complete and in what order they need to be done.

I know a few people who use this method for a while getting very successful results, but then they give up on it. Why? Because it’s too simple. One of the plus points is that it’s a very simple method, and using it feels almost childlike. However this can also be a negative point because those same people don’t like to feel that they are relying on such a simple device, and so after a while they stop using it. Guess what happens? They begin to lose control over their priorities.

In Association With . . .

I use the ABC method alongside Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix that I’ve discussed before now here. I usually divide my tasks up into Q1s and Q2s first, which simply means that if it’s pressing then it’s a Q1. If it’s not so urgent then I’ll label it Q2. This takes a flash and most times I don’t even need to write it down, it just happens automatically and mentally – it’s that quick.

Examples of Q1 items are things like prepping for a client meeting – an event that has a rapidly approaching, time-specific deadline. A Q2 task however is something that could wait for a while. It will be important, like planning and writing the Priority Principle eCourse to accompany the book, but the deadline for it is quite far off.

(If you’re not au fait with the Quadrant system right now don’t worry, because for this example we’ll assume that all your tasks are Q1s – important and urgent. Doesn’t that always seem the way?!)

So you’ve got a list as long as your arm and everything on it is a Q1 – urgent and important. Very simply take a look at your list and make a note of any that are defined by a time, like an appointment. Let’s say I’ve got just one of those so I label it Q1A. Then I move onto the rest of the tasks and give them a letter of the alphabet according to how important they are. Q1B, Q1C and so on. This now gives me an order in which I will complete the tasks. (I ignore the slightly out of order appointment times until they arrive with a calendar ping but that’s just my take on the system.)

Decide

The important thing here is to simply make a decision. You see that’s what holds most people back – the lack of a clear and committed decision about what they should be doing. Decide which is the most important task you need to do. Which single task must you get completed first of all at any cost? Decide which it is and then label it. Then onto the next one, and the next and the next, until you have labelled all them.

Doing this simple, and some might say simplistic action, will put you ahead of 80% of the pack, simply because you have decided on an order to your work. Most people simply reach around for whatever seems the most appealing task – or more truthfully they reach for the least worrying, least difficult, least time consuming task. Mostly though they will not be looking at their tasks with an eye for importance. That’s what will make you stand out and you can do this by using the ABC method.

Don’t worry so much about scheduling finer details of time at this point. By labelling with ABC, the layout of your day and the actual length of the tasks will decide much of the scheduling for you. After that you simply start, working on one task at a time until it is completed.

Help Is On Its Way

Don’t worry if you’re agonising over which of your tasks is the most important. There are times when it’s difficult to work out which job should come next. Over the coming weeks I’ll be showing you a veritable shedload of different ways to prioritise further. Just click on the Priorities tab in the Categories section near the bottom of the homepage.