This ensures when you do sit down and think about the future your ideas are not lost and disappear into the ether, lost to you until you curse your bad luck when a similar idea is carried out by someone else.
3. Embrace the power of three
By now you’re thinking it’s easy saying make time for ideas and success but how do I create this time?
Well, a useful tool is used by many successful entrepreneurs and I call it the power of three.
This is a simple but impactful technique which, if used regularly, can become part of your planning DNA and help you get more done and save time for the things you enjoy doing.
Get yourself a pen and paper and every morning write down the three most important things you need to achieve that day. It can be business or personal.
Take ten minutes and reflect on what really must be done. Write down what it is as a descriptive sentence not just a word or phrase. Make it real in your own words using plain English.
Then write down why you have to do this. If it can wait or does not need to be done then relegate it from today’s top three.
When you have your top three you have your plan for the day, and it’s time for action.
Try it, and you will see that it works; you will even find that if you are focused on achieving the top three things that really matter each day you get more done. Because you know why they are important you can manage your stress and focus on what really matters.
4. Don’t attend meetings that have no purpose
According to research businesses waste up to 20 per cent of their payroll costs on bad meetings. The Dutch even have a word for it - vergaderziekte - which means ‘meeting sickness’.
How many meetings do you attend that have no clear purpose, are badly chaired and decide nothing?
Attending bad meetings means you are haemorrhaging energy and time as you sit through dull, rudderless sessions just because you feel you have to be there or someone wants you to attend.
If you want to claim back your precious time to focus on the future and to develop your ideas then challenge yourself and anyone who asks you to attend a meeting.
Ask yourself, why am I attending, what will I gain, and what can I contribute? If the answers are negative then politely decline and focus on what really matters.
