First, know where you're going. Know your final destination. If you're a business owner, know where you're working to bring the company. Are you planning to eventually sell it? Or just build it for additional cash flow? Will you have more locations, offices, employees, etc.? And how about personally: what, specifically, will you do with the money you make (there's an old saying that you'll never make a dollar unless you have a plan for where that dollar will go). Why do you need to know these things for the purposes of time management? Good question. Your vision for the future is rarely discussed in the context of time management. But I've found time and again that it's the most important contributing factor to a person being disciplined around the time management process they create. In other words, if you're not clear on WHY you need to get more done in a day, you probably won't get more done in a day. And if you're self-employed, this spells doom because you can always get away with not being disciplined- the only one who suffers is you/your family. But nobody will fire you (other than perhaps your customers/clients!).
Secondly, get in the habit of creating a daily priorities list. Most people who do this already do it poorly. Psychologist have shown time and again that almost no one can accomplish more than about 6 priorities in a day. But most who make priority lists every day tend to create long lists. But ask yourself this question: on any given day, what are the most profitable/productive tasks on your list? Are they the ones that are "easier" or "harder"? More often than not they are the harder tasks. Now what if I ask: Which ones do you usually do first? Most people will admit that they tend to do the "quicker" tasks first and leave the ones that take more time (the most profitable/productive priorities) to do later in the day. The problem is, "later in the day" usually becomes tomorrow. And as we all know, "tomorrow never comes". This process repeats over and over again and in the mean time there are incredible opportunities and profits missed.
Third, once your "List of 6" priorities for the day is created, order them and work the order. As you work through the day, work on your list in the order you've set, and don't let yourself sneak to the easiest ones. Remember, you PRIORitize them so that you'll do the most profitable/productive ones PRIOR to the others. Stick to your plan.
Fourth: Review! Most people fail to improve themselves because they fail to examine on a regular basis the successes and failures. Take time daily to asses your discipline that day. Just a minute or two. This practice will do more for your productivity than almost any other. I recommend purchasing a modestly expensive journal to write your thoughts in as most people will then be more likely to actually utilize it. The key here is to keep it short so it doesn't become a nuisance.
If you make the commitment to follow these simple steps, I assure you that you will find yourself accomplishing more and therefore experiencing more success in your endeavors.
