Tools for Working Smarter

"The goal of a more effective and efficient life is to provide you with enough time to enjoy some of it."

Here are some practical guidelines for organizing your life and working smarter.

• On one hand resist the temptation to become so organized that you kill your effectiveness but not so disorganized that you never get your important work done.

• Acquire the best tools for doing each job or hire someone who has the best tools. Tools can be defined as anything used to help you reach your goals. It has been said that the difference between wise men and fools is their choice of tools.

• Organizing your workspace will help you get more results in less time. Also, in addition to efficient, make sure your workspace is comfortable.

• Work on improving you ability to concentrate. Remember when you discovered the power of sunlight focused through a magnifying glass? Our focused time and energy are much like that. When we focus our time and energy on something it brings about powerful results.

• Improve your thinking by using the tools of pen & paper or electronic mind-mapping. When you define and document a problem it's already halfway solved.

• One of our best tools is our memory. Without our memory everything we learn would be forgotten. The 3 stages of our memory are 1) remembering, 2) recording, and 3) retrieving. Improve these areas by memorizing when rested, break things down into smaller units, write down the information, and learn in stages with each stage building upon the previous.

• Understand the difference between urgent and important! It's like the difference between just being busy or actually being productive. Things seldom elevate to a crisis level and become urgent matters without some warning. Try to focus on the important and minimize the urgent.

This week, with your increased effectiveness and efficiency, enjoy some free time to do what you love!

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Post inspired by the Ultimate Success Program and Og Mandino's University of Success.

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