You often see people who appear to be busy all day long but seem to accomplish very little. This is almost always because they are busy working on tasks that are of low value while they are procrastinating on the one or two activities that, if they completed them quickly and well could make a real difference to their companies and their careers.
The most valuable tasks you can do each day are often the hardest and most complex. But the payoff and rewards for completing these tasks efficiently can be tremendous. For this reason, you must adamantly refuse to work on task in the bottom 80 percent while you still have tasks in the top 20% left to be done.
Before you begin your work, always ask yourself, is this task in the top 20% of my activities or in the bottom 80 Percent? Resist the temptation to clear up the small things first. Remember, whatever you choose to do over and over eventually becomes a habit that is hard to break.
If you develop the habit of working on low value tasks, you will soon develop the habit of always starting and working on low value tasks. This is not the kind of habit you want to develop or keep.
The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you will be naturally motivated to continue. A part of our mind loves to be busy working on significant tasks that can really make a difference. Our job is to continually feed this part of our mind continually. Just thinking about starting and finishing an important task motivates you and helps you to overcome procrastination.
The fact is that the amount of time required to complete an important job is often the same as the time required to do an unimportant job. The difference is that you get a tremendous feeling of pride and satisfaction from the completion of something valuable and significant. However, when you complete a low-value task using the same amount of time and energy, you get little or no satisfaction at all.
Let’s Practice what we just read.
Make a list of all key goals, activities, project, and responsibilities in your life. Which of them could be in the top 10 or 20 % of task represent, or could represent 80 or 90 % of your results?
Resolve today that you are going to spend more and more of your time working in those few areas that can really make a difference in your life and career and less and less time on lower value activities.
