How to Convert Your Minutes Into Millions
Decades ago, the CEO of one of the largest steel manufacturing companies in the world was searching for some answers to the company's less than desirable productivity.
Someone recommended a financial consultant.
After spending days interviewing various managers from different departments, the consultant was ready to help the CEO.
His one recommendation was to require each and every department manager to keep a "To Do List".
The CEO thanked the consultant and asked him how much he owed him.
The consultant told the CEO to implement the "To Do List" requirement for his managers, and in six months send him a check for what the CEO thought the advice was worth.
That company was Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and the CEO sent the consultant a check for $20,000.
That was decades ago, when $20,000 was an immense amount of money.
Disorganization is a thief.
If you don't religiously work using a to-do-list, you can't imagine what you are costing yourself -- not just in time and money but in piece of mind.
Obviously, the single biggest problem created by disorganization is lost time.
Time is a unique resource.
We all have 24 hours each day and that's all we get.
Every minute we spend is spent irrevocably.
If we waste an hour, it is gone forever.
If you plan on spending just 10 hours a week on your business, but waste an hour of that time, it can have devastating consequences.
If you think about it, your time is the single greatest investment you make in your business, in your family and in mankind.
Don't lose the potential value of your time by letting inefficiency rob you and others who depend on you.
Just think, if the time saved by being efficient was shared with your children, or your spouse, do you think it might improve your life and theirs? Clearly, extra time could also make you more productive in your business.
With some effort on your part you can easily double your effective time.
Now, imagine 5, 10 or 15 years of working at double performance.
Allow that to motivate you to dream a little about what could be.
Setting the right PRIORITIES Having a "To-do list" has far greater implications than just saving time, money and improving our piece of mind.
The single most important factor in managing our businesses is first to manage ourselves, and the to-do-list is essential for self-management.
There is a simple, yet powerful expression that says, "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
" I want to make one critical modification to that old saying.
The main thing is to be able to sort through all the "IMPORTANT" stuff to find the MAIN THING.
If you don't know what needs to be #1 on your to-do-list, how are you going to make sure you are always working on the main thing? The to-do-list is about making a decision EVERYDAY concerning what the MAIN THING will be for that day.
Actually, that could happen multiple times in a day.
When you complete the top item on your list, you have to determine your next most important task.
In other words, you have to decide what will now become your main thing.
Do you think if a professionally kept to-do-list could produce a huge turnaround in an International Corporation, like Bethlehem Steel Corporation, that it just might be worth making it a HABIT IN YOUR BUSINESS and your personal life? Almost without exception, when I evaluate businesses that are floundering, I find that one or more key people and frequently the ownertoo, are doing the things they enjoy doing and not the things that need to be done.
It might surprise you to know that putting in too FEW hours is very rarely the problem.
In fact, frequently these people are working themselves silly, but they aren't doing the work that their company needs them to be doing.
It isn't enough to just make a list of important things in random order.
You MUST prioritize your business life EVERYDAY.
Do you want to see PHENOMENAL progress? Then just be honest about what you NEED to be doing in your business.
Never choose what you want to do over what you NEED to do.
If you will commit to doing just that, then your life is about to change right before your eyes.
I doubt very seriously if I could find one in a thousand business people who hasn't heard of to-do-lists, action lists or task lists.
Almost everyone is familiar with them, and to one degree or another, many folks use them.
I want to suggest, however, that there will be less than one in a thousand who use a to-do list properly.
There is probably no single factor in human resource management that has more power to take a company to exceptional heights than knowing what is most important and doing what is most important.
That is life-changing stuff.
Implement it into your business.
We all have a tendency to work on what we enjoy.
Perhaps to be more precise, we all tend to avoid the things we dislike.
Almost without exception, the things we dislike are the things we should be doing.
That shouldn't come as a surprise to you.
It has been well said that successful people aren't necessarily more intelligent than unsuccessful people, but they are willing to do the things that unsuccessful people won't do.
Make a passionate commitment to identify the main things in the order of their importance, for each and every day.
Make a similar commitment to DO THOSE MAIN THINGS each day, before toying with your computer or the Internet or whatever else it is that you enjoy.
If we are honest, then we have to acknowledge that most of the things we enjoy doing shouldn't even show up on our to-do lists.
Do you know what the main things are for your business? Once you determine what the "Main Things" are in your business, are you willing to DO them? Let me close with a couple of observations...
many men and women have become millionaires in less than five years through business ownership.
Yet, if you looked at their businesses one or two years earlier they would not have been worth very much.
You must do the right things with patience because you know your payday will come.
If you look for or expect instant improvement or quick profits you will give up on almost all the things of great value.
You must KNOW by common sense that by doing the right things for a reasonable period of time it will pay off.
Someone recommended a financial consultant.
After spending days interviewing various managers from different departments, the consultant was ready to help the CEO.
His one recommendation was to require each and every department manager to keep a "To Do List".
The CEO thanked the consultant and asked him how much he owed him.
The consultant told the CEO to implement the "To Do List" requirement for his managers, and in six months send him a check for what the CEO thought the advice was worth.
That company was Bethlehem Steel Corporation, and the CEO sent the consultant a check for $20,000.
That was decades ago, when $20,000 was an immense amount of money.
Disorganization is a thief.
If you don't religiously work using a to-do-list, you can't imagine what you are costing yourself -- not just in time and money but in piece of mind.
Obviously, the single biggest problem created by disorganization is lost time.
Time is a unique resource.
We all have 24 hours each day and that's all we get.
Every minute we spend is spent irrevocably.
If we waste an hour, it is gone forever.
If you plan on spending just 10 hours a week on your business, but waste an hour of that time, it can have devastating consequences.
If you think about it, your time is the single greatest investment you make in your business, in your family and in mankind.
Don't lose the potential value of your time by letting inefficiency rob you and others who depend on you.
Just think, if the time saved by being efficient was shared with your children, or your spouse, do you think it might improve your life and theirs? Clearly, extra time could also make you more productive in your business.
With some effort on your part you can easily double your effective time.
Now, imagine 5, 10 or 15 years of working at double performance.
Allow that to motivate you to dream a little about what could be.
Setting the right PRIORITIES Having a "To-do list" has far greater implications than just saving time, money and improving our piece of mind.
The single most important factor in managing our businesses is first to manage ourselves, and the to-do-list is essential for self-management.
There is a simple, yet powerful expression that says, "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
" I want to make one critical modification to that old saying.
The main thing is to be able to sort through all the "IMPORTANT" stuff to find the MAIN THING.
If you don't know what needs to be #1 on your to-do-list, how are you going to make sure you are always working on the main thing? The to-do-list is about making a decision EVERYDAY concerning what the MAIN THING will be for that day.
Actually, that could happen multiple times in a day.
When you complete the top item on your list, you have to determine your next most important task.
In other words, you have to decide what will now become your main thing.
Do you think if a professionally kept to-do-list could produce a huge turnaround in an International Corporation, like Bethlehem Steel Corporation, that it just might be worth making it a HABIT IN YOUR BUSINESS and your personal life? Almost without exception, when I evaluate businesses that are floundering, I find that one or more key people and frequently the ownertoo, are doing the things they enjoy doing and not the things that need to be done.
It might surprise you to know that putting in too FEW hours is very rarely the problem.
In fact, frequently these people are working themselves silly, but they aren't doing the work that their company needs them to be doing.
It isn't enough to just make a list of important things in random order.
You MUST prioritize your business life EVERYDAY.
Do you want to see PHENOMENAL progress? Then just be honest about what you NEED to be doing in your business.
Never choose what you want to do over what you NEED to do.
If you will commit to doing just that, then your life is about to change right before your eyes.
I doubt very seriously if I could find one in a thousand business people who hasn't heard of to-do-lists, action lists or task lists.
Almost everyone is familiar with them, and to one degree or another, many folks use them.
I want to suggest, however, that there will be less than one in a thousand who use a to-do list properly.
There is probably no single factor in human resource management that has more power to take a company to exceptional heights than knowing what is most important and doing what is most important.
That is life-changing stuff.
Implement it into your business.
We all have a tendency to work on what we enjoy.
Perhaps to be more precise, we all tend to avoid the things we dislike.
Almost without exception, the things we dislike are the things we should be doing.
That shouldn't come as a surprise to you.
It has been well said that successful people aren't necessarily more intelligent than unsuccessful people, but they are willing to do the things that unsuccessful people won't do.
Make a passionate commitment to identify the main things in the order of their importance, for each and every day.
Make a similar commitment to DO THOSE MAIN THINGS each day, before toying with your computer or the Internet or whatever else it is that you enjoy.
If we are honest, then we have to acknowledge that most of the things we enjoy doing shouldn't even show up on our to-do lists.
Do you know what the main things are for your business? Once you determine what the "Main Things" are in your business, are you willing to DO them? Let me close with a couple of observations...
many men and women have become millionaires in less than five years through business ownership.
Yet, if you looked at their businesses one or two years earlier they would not have been worth very much.
You must do the right things with patience because you know your payday will come.
If you look for or expect instant improvement or quick profits you will give up on almost all the things of great value.
You must KNOW by common sense that by doing the right things for a reasonable period of time it will pay off.
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