Hi friends – Adam Thompson coming to as always from FocalPoint Minnesota’s world headquarters in lovely Plymouth, Minnesota. Hope you are having a fantastic day.
What’s your day look like today? Are you effective, focused, locked in, and getting important things done?
Or are you staring down the barrel of a never-ending task list that seems like it gets bigger at the end of the day rather than smaller? Are you stuck in the weeds, are you focused on the minutiae, and are you working in your business rather than on your business?
In today’s video – the second of a three-part series on time management, focus, and prioritization – we’re going to look at what one of those time management techniques looks like and the advantages of following them. The advantages of things like:
- Learning to focus on what matters most.
- Finding ways to get more done in less time, which will ultimately lead to more success and, more importantly, more time to enjoy that success.
“Eat That Frog” Technique
Brian Tracy wrote a book called “Eat That Frog,” and it’s probably his most well-known and best-selling book of all the volumes of books that he’s written, and it’s all about time management.
In the book, it is a compilation and analysis of all of the greatest, most impactful, and most well-known time management and prioritization techniques that we know. It’s chock-full of good stuff. The three things that I love the most are:
- Time blocking
- Making good lists
- Eliminating multitasking
Time Blocking
That first piece, time blocking: it’s about bunching your tasks together, finding the things you need to get done on a certain day, and putting them in a group so you can focus on that series of tasks at once – put them on your calendar.
If you have to send a bunch of emails, send them all at once; if you have to respond to a bunch of emails, respond to them all at once; if you’re making phone calls and need to make eight phone calls, make eight phone calls in a row rather than bouncing back and forth; if there’s admin things you need to get done and paperwork you need to fill out, spend time, block out an hour on your calendar, and knock it out.
It does a couple of different things:
- First of all, it forces you to focus on what’s right in front of you.
- Second of all, it puts a time deadline on there.
If you put an appointment on your calendar and you honor your calendar, you’ll stay focused and stay more efficient.
Creating Effective Lists of Tasks
The second is building lists: but not just making a random list, but making a prioritized and well-thought-out list.
At the beginning of your day, sit down, and take two minutes to write down the things that need to get done that day. That’s step one. Step two is now to go back to that list and prioritize it: find all those A-level tasks – those things that need to get done today that are high priority – and mark them as an A.
Then go through and mark your B-level tasks: those next-level things that need to get done, that should get done but need to be a little bit lower on the priority list. And finally find your C’s: the things that you’ve got time for. You got some space and you got some bandwidth to get it done, and if it doesn’t get done today – or maybe even tomorrow – you’re still in good shape.
So you’ve got your A’s, you’ve got your B’s, and you’ve got your C‘s: now go through each one of them and prioritize those. Label your A’s, A1 A2 A3, and so on; your B’s B1 B2 B3, and so on; and then your C‘s C1 C2 C3, and then get to work.
Start with A1. Finish that. Focus on that task, cross it off, and do not move on to the next one until A1 is done, A2, A3, and so on and so forth. At the end of the day, you’ll find you might not have gotten everything done, but you got the most important things done on your list.
Eliminate Multitasking
And the final one is to eliminate multitasking. We all think we’re great at it, we all think it’s an efficiency play, and we all think the more plates spinning, the more successful we are. When in actuality, all it means is we are disconcerting ourselves and bouncing back and forth.
Every time we switch from one task to another, our brains have to reset and that reset takes a little bit of time – and if you do that constantly throughout the day, you’re losing focus, you’re losing effectiveness, and you’re losing time. Do one thing, finish the one thing, and move on to the next thing: single-tasking, not multitasking.
Hone Your Efficiency for Success
Follow these three steps and you’ll find that you become not just more effective, but more efficient. You’ll find that you are more focused on the things that matter, getting those most important things done, and you’ll get more important things done not just more things done. Which is going to lead to, again, greater success and most importantly, more time to enjoy that success.
So what’s that first step look like? I will give you one right now, I’ll give you an action item: email me athompson@focalpointcoaching.com. In the subject line, put “Eat That Frog.” I will respond directly and I will send you an e-book copy of Brian Tracy’s book “Eat That Frog.” You can dive into all the concepts in the books, all the strategies, and all the techniques, and see the ones that you like.
I think my three are good ones: they work for me and I use them in my life every day. Find the ones that work for you. Email me athompson@focalpointcoaching.com, subject line “Eat That Frog.” I’ll send you the e-book.
Let’s get focused: let’s get efficient, let’s get prioritized, and let’s get more important things done – not just more things done.
Let’s find ways to be more successful and have more time. Have a great day, I look forward to hearing from you and I’ll talk to you soon.
