Pushing To The Front
A good system shortens the road to the goal. – Orison Swett Marden I just re-read Orison Swett Marden’s best-selling book Pushing to the Front. The original was published in 1894, and it is quite lengthy at 800+ pages and 70 Chapters. Nevertheless, do not let the age of this volume fool you as it […]
Read MoreGreat Review Questions
I recommend the following three basic questions as a starting point to review the progress (or process) of any long-term project, goal, or dream. 1. What is working well? This is usually the easiest question to answer and I do recommend that listing recent successes at the beginning of any status meeting, performance discussion, or […]
Read MoreThe Tuesday Tickler
I would like to introduce you to an alternative and unique weekly tickler system: The Tuesday Tickler. It is a very simply system as it consists of 52 folders, each one for a weekly review. It is called a “Tuesday Tickler” as I originally designed it for a client who wanted to check non-critical documents […]
Read MoreStop List Redux
Question: What are your top three time wasters? Most people can identify these relatively easy and rank them from greatest to least. They often include both self-imposed activities (e.g. TV, Internet, Phone) and relationships (e.g. having the same 20-minute conversation daily, interruptions caused by unannounced visits by friends, family, peers, subordinates, and acquaintances). Once you […]
Read MoreAuthorship Counts
Who is the world’s earliest writer known by name? I asked this question to a group of very intelligent professionals a few years ago and most suggested either Homer (the name given to the poet or poets who constructed the Iliad and Odyssey) or Moses (tradition states he wrote the first five books of the Jewish Bible). […]
Read MoreJust Four Minutes!
What can you with just four minutes? More than you probably think. Since 1954, after Roger Bannister broke the four-minute barrier, many people have run an entire mile in less than four minutes! WOW. Watch that famous race here: Likewise, you can break the four-minute task barrier by being incredible productive with small increments of time. Here are a […]
Read MoreParallel Tasking
Question: Can you chew gum and walk at the same time? The problem with multitasking is that the human brain cannot do certain things at the exact same time and able to fully process the information. For example, one could try to read a book and watch TV at the exact same time; however, instead of comprehending […]
Read MoreThe Task List Magic Number
How many items should a good task list have? I really believe that 7 (plus or minus 2) is the best number. A ‘to-do’ list with 60 items will never get fully completed and one feels defeated when seeing 80% of the tasks as incomplete or not-yet-started at the bedtime. Besides, a big list encourages […]
Read MoreTime and Money
I often hear people say “time is money” but this really is not true. Time and money are not interchangeable. Time is much more valuable than money! If you save $100 dollars, you can invest it and watch it grow, doubling, tripling, even becoming worth fifty times the original sum. A $100 saved today can […]
Read MoreGoals are Minimums, not Limits
Many people view their goals like speed limits, as if they exist only at the far edge of possibility. Instead, I think one should view a goal more like a minimum…the very least they will accomplish. For example, a sales team might have the following goals: 10 Million in Sales Volume (annual) 12% Margins These […]
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