Your “B” List
A “B” task is something that you should do. There are mild consequences
for doing it or not doing it. The rule is that you should never do a “B” task
when there is an “A” task left undone. A “B” task may be getting back to a
coworker with the answer to a question, or replying to correspondence.
The rule is that you never work on a “B” task when there is an “A” task still
not done. Working on your “A” list is the key to high productivity and
maximum performance.
Your “C” List
The letter “C” stands for things that would be nice to do, but they are
definitely not as important as “A” or “B” tasks. There are no consequences
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for doing them or not doing them. Reading the paper or going out for lunch
fall neatly into the “C” category.
Delegate Everything Possible
The letter “D” stands for delegate. Before you do anything, you should ask if
there is someone else to whom you can delegate this task to free up more
time for the most important tasks that only you can do.
Eliminate Everything Possible
The letter “E” stands for eliminate. There are many little tasks that creep
onto your daily list that you can eliminate altogether and it would make no
difference at all to you or to anyone else. The rule is that you can only get
control over your time to the degree to which you stop doing things of low
or no value. The more things you stop doing or eliminate altogether, the
more time you will have to work on your “A” tasks, the tasks that determine
your success or failure at work.
Reengineer Your Work
The process of reengineering applied to your personal work can be very
helpful to you in setting better priorities. The central focus of reengineering
is simplification. You must continually look for ways to accomplish a
complex task or busy job by simplifying the process of work on the task
from beginning to completion.
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In reengineering your work, you continually look for ways to delegate,
defer, downsize, outsource or eliminate. In delegating, you look for someone
else who can do the job at least as well as you, but at a lower hourly rate
than you earn. In deferring, you look for ways to put off parts of the task that
do not have to be done immediately. In downsizing, you look for ways to
reduce the size or complexity of the task. In outsourcing, you look for
individuals or outside organizations that specialize in doing this particular
task, and you turn over complete parts of the task to them. In eliminating,
you look for ways to discontinue the task altogether, especially if it is no
longer important in the current situation.
The decision to continually look for opportunities to outsource, delegate and
get things done by other people frees you up for the things that only you can
do. It is a critical part of setting and achieving your top priority tasks.
Setting Personal Priorities
Your main goal at work, and the key to self-esteem, self-respect and
personal pride is for you to increasingly develop your personal and corporate
effectiveness. The more effective, efficient and productive you are, the better
you feel and the more successful you will be. This is a central focus of time
power.
To set better personal priorities, regularly ask yourself questions such as:
1. “What are my unique strengths and abilities?
2. What are my natural talents?
3. What do I do especially well?
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4. What have I done well in the past? What skills, abilities and
accomplishments account for most of my success in life and work up
until now?
5. What are the things that I do quickly and well that seem to be difficult
for other people?
6. Where do I have the ability to become outstanding if I were to
upgrade my knowledge and skills?
7. What do I really love to do?”
Most of your results in life come from your ability to perform well in a few
limited areas. One of the characteristics of leaders is that they only choose
positions and accept jobs and responsibilities where they know they have the
ability to do the job in an excellent manner. They refuse to do things that
they don’t enjoy, or which they do not do particularly well.
Where Do You Perform Well?
Think through your past life, your past successes, your past jobs and
occupations, and identify what it is that you do well. Determining where you
perform, or where you could perform, in a superior fashion, is one of the
keys to channeling your life, your work and your energies into those areas
where you can really make a difference for yourself and your company.
To be successful at any job or profession, you must develop a series of core
competencies, or skills, that enable you to do your job well. But to rise to the
top of your field, you must become outstanding in at least one area. In this
sense, the “good” is the enemy of the “excellent.” Many people become
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good at what they do. They then become complacent and stop growing.
They compare themselves with people who are not as good as they are rather
than comparing themselves with what they are truly capable of.
Look For Ways to Add Value
The reason for every job, and the role of every person, is to “add value.” The
primary reason that you are on the payroll is to contribute value of some
kind to your company. This value is then combined with the value that
others contribute into the product or service that is sold to the customer or
client. Your ability to contribute value determines your results, rewards and
your success in your career.
Ask yourself, “Of all the things I do, where and how do I contribute the most
value to my company?” If you analyze your work carefully, you will find
that there are usually only three things you do that are responsible for 90%
or more of the value you contribute to your company.
To determine your three strongest skill areas, begin by asking yourself, “If I
could only do one thing all day long, what one activity contributes the
greatest value to my business?”
Once you have determined the answer to that question, you then ask, “If I
could only do one more thing, what would it be?” You then ask the question
one more time until you come to the third major activity.
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The whole purpose of organizing your life and setting priorities is so that
you can spend more time on these three tasks. If you complete these tasks,
and you do an excellent job on each one of them, you will make more of a
contribution, and be of greater value to your company, than everything else
you do put together. What are they?
The Secret of Success
Some years ago, I met one of the top insurance salesmen in the world. He
sold more than one hundred million dollars of life insurance each year. He
had a staff of 42 people. These people handled every single aspect of his
business, from scheduling through to proposal preparation, administrative
tasks, banking, advertising and promotion and client service. He focused on
the one thing that he did better than almost anyone else in the world, which
was face-to-face contact and interaction with prospective clients and
customers.
He took two hours aside every day to study, practice and prepare his face-toface
meetings and interactions. He became one of the most knowledgeable
experts in personal insurance and estate planning in the world. His unique
talent was his ability to assess the needs of a client and to help that client to
make the very best decisions in the areas of life insurance and estate
planning for his unique situation. He delegated everything else.
Where Do You Excel?
Analyze yourself and ask these questions:
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1. “What is it that I do better than anyone else?”
2. “What is my competitive advantage?
3. What is my area of excellence?
4. What is my unique selling proposition?”
5. “Where could I be excellent?
6. Where should I be excellent?”
7. What skills do I need to develop to make a maximum contribution?
Asking and answering these questions is the key to personal effectiveness
and high performance.
Commit to excellent performance. Make the decision today that you are
going to join the top 10% of people in your field. Determine the most
important skill that you can learn and develop, the one skill that will help
you more than any other, to get into the top 10% in your profession. Write
this skill down as a goal, set a deadline, make a plan and work on it every
day.
Get Better At Your Key Tasks
One of the keys to setting priorities and good time management is to “get
better and better doing more and more of the few things you do that make
more of a difference than anything else.” The better you are at what you do,
the more you will get done in a shorter period of time.
Set “mastery” as your goal in your career. You will only be truly successful,
happy and paid what you are truly capable of earning when you develop
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mastery at what you do. Years of research have concluded that the
achievement of mastery is possible for almost everyone, but it is not easy. It
requires five to seven years of hard work in your field, including many hours
of study and practice, to become one of the very best at what you do. And
there are no shortcuts.
Invest Time in Your Future
When we discuss this at our seminars and workshops, many of the
participants moan and roll their eyes. They have somehow gotten the idea
that it is possible to jump to the head of the line in life without paying the
price that others have paid. They are looking for a quick, easy way to move
to the top without putting in the hundreds, and even thousands of hours of
hard work that are necessary to get there.
Sometimes they say to me, “Five years is too long!” Then I tell them
something that often changes their thinking completely, “The time is going
to pass anyway.”
How old will you be five years from today? Answer – five years older. In
other words, the time is going to pass anyway. The only question is, “Where
are you going to be in your field at the end of five years?”
The good news is that if you set mastery in your field as your long-term
career goal, and you work toward that goal every day, continually reading,
listening and learning to upgrade your skills, you will inevitably reach the
top of your field. If you are willing to make the sacrifices and pay the full
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price of success in advance, you will eventually reap the rewards. Nothing
can stop you from getting to the top of your field except yourself, and you
can only stop yourself by stopping.
Think In Terms of Priorities All Day Long
Apply the 80/20 Rule to every part of your business. Identify the most
profitable products and services your company offers. Identify the top 20%
of customers who contribute the greatest value. Identify the 20% of people
in your company who contribute the most value in terms of their work. What
are the 20% of possible opportunities that can account for 80% of your sales
in the years ahead? Keep viewing your business through an 80/20 lens. Be
sure you are working on those activities that can make the greatest
difference of all.
What products, services and competencies account for your company’s
greatest successes? Why is it that your company has grown from where it
started to where it is today? The key to achieving great successes in the
future is to identify the reasons for your success in the present. This becomes
your springboard to market superiority in the future.
In setting priorities, you must analyze your business clearly, and understand
it completely. Determine the areas in which your company performs well.
Decide upon the company’s area of excellence, or area of competitive
advantage. Where and how is your company, and your products and
services, superior to your competition? In what areas are breakthroughs
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possible if you were to develop new products and services, or upgrade your
existing products and services?
Analyze Your Company Priorities
Practice “Corporate Triage” on your company, and your products and
services, on a regular basis. The concept of triage comes from World War I.
During the battles on the western front, there were so many wounded that
the medical corps could not treat them all. There were not enough doctors
and nurses. As a result, they began dividing the rooms into three groups. The
first group was made up of the wounded soldiers who would die in any case,
whether or not they got medical attention or not. They were put aside and
made comfortable.
The second group was the group that would survive in any case, whether or
not they got medical attention, because they had light wounds. These were
put aside and treated quickly.
The third group of wounded was the group that would survive only if they
got immediate medical attention. This is where the doctors and nurses
focused all of their energies, to save those would die in the absence of
treatment.
Divide Products/Services into Three Groups
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In your business, you can apply the idea of corporate triage to your products
and services. They can be divided into three groups: Winners, Survivors and
Losers.
Sometimes they are called “Cash Cows, Stars and Dogs.” Which of your
products and your services are your winners? These are the ones that sell
well, that are profitable, that generate steady, predictable cash flow, and for
which your company is known. These are products and services that you
take excellent care of, but which do not require immediate or emergency
attention.
What are the products and services that have great potential? If you spend
time on these products and services, in sales and marketing, or if you
redesign or repackage them, you can turn them into winners in the market.
These are the products and services that require immediate attention, and the
best energies of your most talented people.
