Have you noticed how some people are good at getting things finished, arriving on time, and following through and some just aren’t?
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out if you stick with one project to completion you will be much much more successful than if you are constantly chasing the next “bright shiny object”. It’s a habit that robs most entrepreneur of not only their time, their money and ultimately their future its also just down right annoying!
The reason this is such a huge problem is that whether we like to admit it or not our emotions play a big part of out lives and making a new decision to work on a new project is so much more exciting than beating that old dead horse you have sitting in the dust bin.
“The man who chases two rabbits catches none” – Buddha
Here are a few techniques you can use to avoid some of the traps which will lead you into a life of quite desperation and set you on the path of real, measurable progress
1. Focus Only On Your Highest Leverage Opportunities
If you look at your life hard enough for a second you will quickly realise that there are a handful of activities that make a massive difference than others. There is a simple model you can used known as the Pareto principle or more commonly, the 80/20 rule which basically states that 20% of the things you do account for 80% of your results, so focus on them and stop doing the rest.
2. Only Have 3 Projects On At Once
This is so important I will say it again, only have three (3) projects on at any one time. I would say only 1 but that didn’t work for me and 3 what a number that has been working for months now. If you give yourself anymore that 3 projects you start to do stupid things like forget that you have a worthwhile project that is receiving no love.
An awesome tip here is to get some virtual assistants to help you outsource some current projects but remember you can not put another project onto your list of 3 until you are fully complete and plan on spending no more time on it.
3. Every Morning Say To Yourself What Your 3 Projects Are
Build it into your morning ritual, say to yourself every morning that you are doing work, “I focus only on my highest leverage opportunities, they are x, y and z”. This will force your powerful mind to work out what the next best course of action is for x, then once you need a break or there is nothing more that can be done work on y and so on.
Use these powerful stratagies to maximise your daily effectiveness and beat those distracting “bright shiny objects” once and for all.
Mike McMahon
