Can you become more productive just with one question?
Grow your business by becoming more productive
Focusing is hard when you have 100 things on your to-do list and everyone wants something from you. Every working needs help with their projects, the smartphone beeps continuously and you need to concentrate on your activities as well. There is a solution to your problem and is called blocked time!
I discovered all the concepts I am going to present to you today in Gary Keller’s book, “The One Thing”. Gary has one of the biggest real estate companies in the world and he wrote this book to help others learn the art of focus!
In the book, he gives the most basic and important advice that you probably heard before… STOP multitasking and use the questions to get clarity on what you have to do to grow your business and have more time with your loved ones.
In the book there are 3 big takeaways that are going to help you better manage your small biz and your life:
- Learn how to discover your long and short-term goals using one question
- Teach yourself the art of saying NO and blocking time
- Never sacrifice your personal life for work
Number 1: Learn how to discover your long and short-term goals using one question :
“What’s the ONE thing I can do, such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?”
If you stop reading now this article and implement this question, I have achieved my objective 🙂
If you are still reading you probably want to know more. Gary calls this question the focusing question and there are many people who have different versions for it. Some ask people “If you discover today that in 6 months you are going to die, what would you do today?”. Others ask people “What are 3 things that if you achieve them today you will feel like you had a great productive day?”. The result is the same. You get to apply the Pareto principle that says that 20% of your work is going to give you 80% of the results. Learning this is going to affect the way you look at your to-do list.
Not all the items there are created equaly so in order for you to grow your business faster and never miss your boys game or your dughters play you need to become more productive by doing less.
You need to ask this question first for your long-term goals. Start with 5 years and then gradually get to today’s to-do list. Let me give you an example and you will better understand how to do this.
What is one thing that I would like to have, be or do in five years?
When we got an answer to the question above we will continue to go further with similar questions:
- What’s the ONE thing I can do this year to achieve/be or have that in five years, that if I do it I will be set for success?
- What’s the ONE thing I can do this month to accomplish my one-year goal such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary
- What’s the ONE thing I can do this week to accomplish my monthly goal such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary
- What’s the ONE thing I can do today to accomplish my weekly goal, such that by doing it everything else will become easier or unnecessary?
Number 2: Teach yourself the art of saying NO and blocking time
You’d think focus means saying yes, but it actually means to say no. — Steve Jobs
Saying NO doesn’t have to hurt someone else’s feelings. You just have to respect your time and always say YES only to the things that are important for you and are moving the business of your life forward.
If someone has an urgent problem is his problem. If that someone is a friend or a family member and is something that can’t be postponed and is important for you as well (keeping the relationship with that friend/a health problem, etc.) I tell you to help them, but if someone asks you to do something that you wouldn’t usually do just because is urgent for them, tell NO and tell them that you have problems too and you have to take care of your problems.
I also encourage you to teach your employees to always be focused on solutions instead of problems. When a problem appears, ask them their solution for the problem and if they don’t have a solution send them back to discover a solution and then come to you and present their findings with you.
Blocking time helped me save at least 1 hour every day. What does this mean? It means that every day I have scheduled a time when I check emails, check social media and answer messages. When I sit down to write as am I doing now, I quit all other distractions and focus one hour only on writing with no others distractions.
If you work on your ONE thing you should schedule, at first 30 minutes blocks of time when nobody can reach you. Tell your family you are doing this and set up an automatic voice message that communicates that you are working and you are going to return call at 1 PM or when you have scheduled in your planner to return calls. Next month make these 30 minutes 1 hour and do it for a month. Do the same thing and see what works out for you. Keller suggests making a time block for 4 hours but I discovered that that doesn’t work for me. I like 90 minutes blocks of time. Adapt it to yourself but implement it because blocking time is going to help you become more productive.
In the book, Gary also talks about the multitasking myth. Many people believe that if they write something and talk with someone and eat at the same time they will be more productive. That is a myth and you should not engage in it. There is a * to multitasking. If you listen to a podcast or to an audiobook that at the same time as running or doing small chores inside the house that is acceptable. Running doesn’t require your full attention and you could easily become in better shape and improve your mind at the same time.
Number 3: Never sacrifice your personal life for work
Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls…are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered. — James Patterson
You can always do another deal or schedule another business meeting. You can never undo your child first dance recital, first championship match or neglecting your health for 10 years because you were too busy working.
Make a rule for yourself to work on your ONE thing most of the time and not think at your family when you are working and think of work when you are with your family. This is going to help you be more focus and achieve more.
I would strongly recommend you to go buy the book on Amazon and not only read it but also use a highlighter pen and study it. This is going to help you better understand the concepts and implement them in your life and business.
👉 Please tap or click “👏” to help others discover this question and apply it in their business. Business owners need to get more organized and improve their businesses while getting more time for their family.
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