

Despite the fact that I get over 200 emails a day, on most days, I end at zero in my inbox. I too process my email only three times a day (mid-morning, early afternoon, late afternoon), for only 21 minutes each time, and strive to get to inbox zero using the 4D methodology (Delete, Delegate, Defer, Do). I’ve shared my personal 321Zero Email Management System with many CEOs and entrepreneurs. Instead, they schedule deliberate times to “process” their email, just as they would schedule any other task. Highly successful people don’t “check” their email throughout the day they don’t respond to every buzz of their smartphone to see what landed in their inbox. Richard Branson shared in a blog post, “It’s very rare that a meeting on a single topic should need to last more than five to 10 minutes.” Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey are all known for conducting walking meetings, and others swear by the method of holding standing meetings. Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Advertising Week New York If you lead a team, call for meetings as a last resort and consider a ban on meetings during certain times, like a certain day of the week, or before noon each day. Mark Cuban’s advice to me was short and direct, “Never do meetings unless someone is writing a check.” Highly successful people know that meetings are inefficient time wasters, and time is our most valuable resource. They Eliminate Meetings (Or Keep Them As Short As Possible)

Stop multitasking!” During your MIT work session, make sure to close your office door, activate airplane mode on your mobile phone, and turn off email or any other notifications on your computer.Ĥ. As Atlassian co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, told me, “Do one thing at once.

If we could salvage those precious hours, most of us would be much more successful in accomplishing what we truly want.”Īdditionally, highly successful people focus on their MIT without any interruptions. “One of the saddest mistakes in time management is the propensity of people to spend the two most productive hours of their day on things that don't require high cognitive capacity (like social media). In a Redditt AMA, behavioral psychologist Dan Ariely put it this way: They know they are cognitively at their best in the morning, and that our willpower, decision making, attention and focus all deplete throughout the day. Highly successful people schedule one to two hours every morning to focus on their MIT. They Work On Their MIT Early In The Morning Without Interruptions Sign up here to get top career advice delivered straight to your inbox every week.ģ.

Subscribe To The Forbes Careers Newsletter They ask, “What’s the one thing I can do today that will get me closer to my goal?” They know specifically the single daily task that is most likely to advance them to their primary goal.
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The people I interviewed also knew how to break down an annual goal into bite-size tasks that could be actioned on a daily basis. If family is truly a priority, they schedule and protect time for date nights, kids’ soccer games, birthdays and other events. If health is truly a high priority, they make sure they’ve scheduled time for it during the day. The millionaires I interviewed were crystal clear on their values and their life goals they were clear on them long before they became wealthy. They Identify Their Most Import Task (MIT), Based On Their Values And Goals I’m not as disciplined as most I interviewed but my own morning routine includes 20-minutes of HIIT on the treadmill and yoga stretches while I complete a simple gratitude meditation, mission reflection, and intentions around my goals.Ģ. It is counter-intuitive but I’ve personally discovered that I’m more productive on the days that I practice my own hour of power.
