Time Management (The Brian Tracy Success Library)

by Brian Tracy

In simple terms, single-handling can reduce the time you spend completing an important task by as much as 80 percent, and dramatically increase the quality of the finished work.

multitasking is actually “task-shifting.” The fact is that you can only do one thing at a time. If you stop doing one task to turn to another task, you must shift all of your attention and energy to the new task.

Decide to Concentrate

Resolve today to make it a habit to plan your work carefully, set priorities, and then begin on your most important task. Once you have begun on your top task or output, resolve that you will work single-mindedly, without diversion or distraction, until that task is complete.

Overcome Procrastination IT HAS BEEN SAID that “procrastination is the thief of time.” A wise man in one of my seminars expanded on that by saying, “Procrastination is the thief of life.”

Your ability to overcome procrastination and to get the job done on schedule can make all the difference between success and failure in your career.

Mental Programming “Do it now!” These are perhaps the most powerful words you can use to increase your productivity. Whenever you find yourself procrastinating on an important task, repeat to yourself, with energy and enthusiasm, “Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!”

Henry Ford once wrote, “Any goal can be achieved if you break it down into enough small parts.” Any big task that you have to complete can be completed if you break it down into enough small parts.

A variation of the “bite-size pieces” technique for overcoming procrastination is called the “salami slice method.”

Instead, you salami-slice the task; you reduce the size of the task by slicing off one small part at a time.

You then resolve to complete that one small part before you go on to something else.

The most important qualities that they looked for were 1) the ability to set priorities and 2) the ability to start on the most important job and get it done quickly and well.

Create Blocks of Time

YOU REQUIRE UNBROKEN blocks of time for maximum accomplishment. The more important your work is, the more important it becomes for you to establish blocks of time to work on serious projects.

You need a minimum of sixty to ninety minutes to accomplish anything worthwhile. It takes about thirty minutes just to get your mind into a complex task, like preparing a proposal, report, or even planning an important project. Once you are into the task, you can then concentrate single-mindedly, at a high level of awareness and creativity for the next sixty minutes or more of serious, focused work.

Don’t Mix Creative and Administrative You cannot mix creative tasks with functional or administrative tasks.

You cannot really do operational tasks and creative tasks simultaneously. They require fast or slow thinking, but not both. Office activities require fast, short-term thinking. Creative tasks require thought, planning, and application.

First, work in the morning when you are the freshest and most alert.

Another time that you can use to your advantage is lunchtime. This is a great opportunity for you to shut off your phone, turn off your Internet connection, and remove other distractions while everyone else is out of the office having lunch.

After I recommended that she put a DO NOT DISTURB sign on her door and work nonstop for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon without interruptions, it transformed her work life. She told me afterward that, within a few days, she was totally caught up.