The Law of Increasing Returns

"When you truly understand this lesson you will be as close as you can possibly get to a single universal law of success."

It really does pay to do more than than you are paid to do. There are two reasons why this is true.

First, when you establish yourself as someone who gives more and better service, you stand apart and above others who do not.

Second, with resistance comes strength and with strength comes greater value and durability.

Sprengben [why not get a friend] / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

In nature, the farmer who plants and nurtures the seed he plants benefits from the law of increasing returns by not only getting more seed but also getting the harvest of his crop.

Henry Ford demonstrated this principle by paying more wages than average and thereby receiving better service than average.

Here is the crux of this lesson: Doing more and better service than you are paid for is a privilege and will help you become someone who others cannot get along without.

Are you ready to apply this law in your life? If so, during the next 6 months change your attitude from one of only doing what you are paid to do to one where you do something for someone each day without the expectation or acceptance of payment.

"Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, cannot be severed, for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed." ~ Emerson

When the law of increasing returns is applied in your life you will soon discover that the world is willingly paying you for more than you do.

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

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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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A Simple Plan Guaranteed to Increase Your Productivity

"Can there possibly be a system for handling your work in such a manner that you would never have to suffer the ordeal of seeing tasks pile up on you?"

The simple secret to getting things done is to have a daily TO-DO list, but NOT just the list. You must make the list daily, arrange the items in priority order, and mark each task as completed when it is done.

That's it:

1) make a list each day,

2) assign each item an A, B or C priority, and

3) get busy working on your A priorities and marking them complete!

The "80/20 Rule" helps us get more results from less time invested. 80% of your results are achieved through 20% of your efforts.

Will you commit now to using a daily TO-DO list to accomplish those things that are important to you?

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

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