The number of hours you work is nowhere near as important as what you do while you are working. There are countless people who spend a lot of time at their desk but get less done than others who work a fraction of that time.Most-Important

“Hours worked” and “outcomes achieved” are two very different metrics.

Fewer, Bigger Priorities

The primary difference in results is found in one’s intentions.

Some people show up to work and wait passively in front of their computer with their email open, sitting in reactive mode to respond to whatever comes their way. These people start work with the intention of doing whatever is required of them. Others direct their work.

People who get more work done in half the time start work with different intentions. They close their web browser and their email program, and they work on the projects and tasks that will produce the results they need to produce right now. They direct their own work.

Productivity is making progress on your biggest priorities. Productivity doesn’t have anything to do with the number of hours you are at work.

Saying No to Small Things

To clear space for your biggest priorities, you have to prevent small things from creeping in and crowding out what’s most important. You have to say “no” to things that won’t help you produce the outcomes you really need.

Email is full of thousands of small things that could command your time. The Internet is a never-ending source of new distractions and the deepest rabbit hole in which you can easily lose yourself—and lose your focus on what’s important.

When you say “yes” to small things, you are saying “no” what’s important.

Less in a Day, More in Week

You can get less done in a single day than you believe you can, but you can get far more done in a week than you think possible.

Blocking three hours a day for your most important projects will transform your results. Those three, highly-focused, undistracted hours will allow you to make progress on the outcomes you need, regardless of what that outcome may be.

That’s fifteen hours a week on your most important projects. For me, that would be five hours each on my three biggest projects over the course of a week.

Less in a Week, More in a Month

You can get less done in a week than you wish were possible, even if you block time for your most important projects. But you can make exponential progress on your most important projects over the course of a month.

Blocking three hours a day for four weeks is sixty hours. You are unlikely to have any outcome that couldn’t be achieved in sixty hours. If what’s most important to you can’t be achieved in sixty hours, those hours will have moved you much, much closer to the finish line.

For me, those sixty hours end up being invested in many different projects. I tend to overestimate the time it takes me to complete projects by underestimating how much work I can do in short bursts of focused, uninterrupted time.

  • What three projects deserve your attention this week?
  • What small things and distractions do you need to avoid be productive when it comes to the most important things you need to do?

Comment to send me your thoughts, ideas, and stories. Hit forward to send this newsletter to someone who may be mistaking hours for outcomes. They can join us here each Sunday by stopping by www.thesalesblog.com/newsletter.

The Only Sales Guide Launch UpdateThank you for preordering by book over the last two weeks! We have a little less than ten weeks left to launch, and we put a big dent in my goal.

If you haven’t yet seen the bonus packages, or preordered your copy, visit the preorder page at preorder.theonlysalesguide.com. If what you need isn’t listed there, send me a note, and we will take care of you.

Do good work this week, and I’ll see you back here next Sunday.

 

Anthony Iannarino

www.iannarino.com

preorder.theonlysalesguide.com

 

P.S. It’s likely that you have never heard of Ken Wilber. He is a philosopher of sorts. Ken has a very unique lens through which to view the world called Integral Theory. This is one of the longest and most interesting podcasts I have ever published. You can find it here.

 

 

 

Contributor Anthony Lannarino is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and consultant. He writes daily at www.thesalesblog.com and you can subscribe to his newsletter at www.thesalesblog.com/newsletter.