Management Information |
What One Thing?
A few weeks ago I asked my readers what the most important issue was in their business. Hundreds responded with a variety of answers, but one of the most common was, "How do I get everything that needs doing done?" Happily, I have an answer for this question, but like many things in life, it carries both good news and bad news. The good news is, if you are one of those fortunate few with access to unlimited resources, you can get everything done. But that's really the bad news, isn't it. Because among all the people I know - not a single one of them - not one - has access to unlimited resources. Even executives I work with whose budgets run into the hundreds of millions - even they do not have unlimited resources. Even they have to make choices and trade-offs. Earl Nightingale once asked the question, "What one thing would you do if you knew you could not fail?" And Jack Palance's Curly in City Slickers, asked a similar question: "What is the one thing?" Their questions contains seeds of the answer to this quandary. Because all things on your plate are not created equal. They are not all important. They do not all have the same impact, the same dependencies, the same possibility of reward. And even if you think they do, upon close examination you'll find they do not. The trick of course, is to figure out the one thing that matters most... Right now... And focus on that. Of all the ideas I have sifted through in my role as an executive coach and business coach among the most relevant is the concept of sacrifice. My definition is giving up something of value for something of even greater value. Sacrifice is the key. You have to let go of your attachment to most things on your plate, and figure out what things are of greatest value. You don't get everything done, and you can't get everything important done. If you select well, and are willing to sacrifice the rest, you can get the most important things done. By letting go of the rest, everything essential, everything vital, everything earth-shattering can be done. Can you imagine what life would be like if you only worked on things that were earth-shattering? While this seems simple, obvious even, most of us have struggled with it all our lives. You probably have trouble figuring out, from day to day, what is going to make the greatest difference. I'd be willing to bet that if you take a look, you probably can't even figure out what the criteria are. So let's go back to Earl Nightingale's question: What one thing would do if you knew you could not fail? Look at the things on your to-do list this way: What will have the biggest impact? What will yield the greatest revenues and profits? What will open the doors to the future you desire? What has the strongest possibility of success? What has the largest reward to risk ratio? What will give you the finest return on your investment? What will free up the most time? What will free up the most resources? What will help you realize your success strategy? And, what will bring you closest to your goals? If you can first figure out which among these questions are most relevant for you, and answer them for all your projects, you can rank the things on your plate according to what matters most and is absolutely essential. And once you do that, you can figure out which among all the various tasks you have should - no, must - get your attention. THOSE ARE THE ONLY ONES YOU WORK ON. Get those done, and if you have time left over, turn your attention to the next batch. I call it strategic focus. Figuring out what's really going to rock your world. Figuring out what is really going to deliver the goods. And working on those things. Only those things. The rest of it will simply have to wait. Maybe forever. If you can wrap your mind around this one simple idea, figuring out what to do next becomes pretty easy. And because you are focusing your energies on few things instead of many, things get done.
To make it easier for you to figure out what matters most in your business and help you build systems to take care of the things that are, I've developed a new, comprehensive and first-of-its-kind program. The Turnkey Your Business Home Study and Mentoring Program is a twelve month hands-on course, containing step-by-step how-to manuals, audio CDs, CD-ROMs, monthly conference calls and personal mentoring. It helps entrepreneurs and executives create detailed systems and processes to "turnkey" their businesses. One of the most important elements of the program is the Critical Factors Process which helps you rank every aspect of your business, along with every task associated with it, in the order of importance for your company. That way you can create duplicable business processes for those things that matter most, and then optimize those same things getting the greatest return on your efforts and your time. You can find out more about the Turnkey Your Business Home Study Program by linking to http://www.turnkeycoach.com. Best regards, Paul Lemberg Paul Lemberg is the President of Quantum Growth Coaching, the world's only business coaching franchise system built from the ground up to rapidly create more profits and more life for entrepreneurs. (http://qgcf.com) Paul is also Executive Director of the Stratamax Research Institute specializing in helping entrepreneurial companies quickly increase short term profits for sustainable long term growth. Of course, he is available for keynote speeches and workshops and can be reached via http://lemberg.com
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Managing Dickheads "We are so different and individualistic that we can't work together." Subroto Bag chi, a senior executive in wipro technologies and Indian Technology MNC, said to his chairman in a straight talk. How to Dodge Distribution Difficulties It happened again. I ran into an old friend while registering for the World Masters Games last month and as we were catching up, she complemented me on a necklace I was wearing. Time Management - How to Have Productive Meetings One of the greatest time wasters of all are unnecessary or poorly run meetings. If you want to dramatically improve your time management skills, then learn how to have productive meetings. Human Resources: The Misidentified Subject Interest in the field of human resources has exploded in recent years due to the promises it offers for a better understanding of human beings at work. The term is now as ubiquitous as it has once been obscure. Project Management - Its Just A Button I once worked with a developer who showed up at every product demo and constantly suggested improvements for the product. Don't get me wrong. Small Business Checking Accounts ACCOUNTING AND BILLINGCHECK BOOKSWe recommend that you maintain a business checking account in addition to a small business credit card merchant account so that you can take credit cards from purchasers. This way you will know exactly how much is going into your merchant account and how much of your volume percentage is being done through credit card usage. You Cant Afford the Luxury of Disengaged Employees In today's business environment with increases in staff reductions and rapidly changing roles and responsibilities, it is crucial that all of your team members be fully engaged in the tasks at hand. According to a Gallup survey, 350 billion dollars are lost each year in American companies due to disengaged employees. Paretos Law- Your Formula For Success A 'dirt-world' retail business I used to manage had a large turnover, a very high profit, and less than 100 lines. Early in 2001, I was contracted to manage another business. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Employee Ideas Achieve Work Life Balance This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency. Great Employees = Passionate Consumers Companies spend millions of dollars each year identifying their brand, and then communicating their brand promise through various media.Employees are the primary "media" in the majority of brand contacts. Problem-Solving Success Tip: Dont Leave Your Key Stakeholders Guessing Communicate! Don't leave you key stakeholders guessing.We are generally not very good about keeping others informed about the progress we're making, especially if there isn't much. Take the Easy Route - Delegate It was 2.30 am. What 80% of Businesses Don't Know: Tips for Improving Your Working Capital Management What is the number one way to prevent failure in business? Take a minute to really think about your answer. What comes to mind? Increasing patients or customers served? ? Effective marketing? ? Location, location, location? ? Improving patient or customer care? ? Being the best in your industry?Although these are all essential aspects of business, the answer isn't any of the above. How to Hold Effective Staff Meetings Many people believe that they conduct effective meetings, when all they really do is host a party. Or worse, they deliver a monologue. A Man and His Razor It is vain to do with more what can be done with less. William of Ockham This is Ockham's famed Razor. Future Business Success - What Does Good Look Like? When you know you need to shift up a gear, in any area of your business (or your life for that matter), it's really important to have a vivid representation of what you are seeking.Some call these "Goals", others "Visions" and yet more describe it as a "Mission". Improving Patient Sensitivity in Doctors and Hospital Staff COMPANY/ORGANIZATIONA South Florida hospital. The CEO of the hospital saw the need to provide exceptional customer service to differentiate itself from the competition and avoid being acquired. Why Training Fails Sometimes when I conduct my workshop on Effective Meetings, one of the participants will ask, "Where's my boss?"And I say, "Your boss claimed to be an expert on holding effective meetings."Then the person laughs. PR Still a Mystery to Some Unfortunately, there are managers who define public relations by its applications. Which explains neither its underlying strengths nor what PR is all about. Minimising Conflict With Effective Communication Did you know there are 5 types of communication that lead to conflict? Let's look at them.. |
home | site map | contact us |