Daily Edge (n): The advantage or edge gained when priorities are clear and there is a daily effort to act on those priorities. [Daily Edge = Clear Priorities + Daily Effort]
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90-Day Quick Plan
90 days . . . a short enough time frame to stay absolutely focused, and yet it is long enough to get more done than most people get done in a whole year. You can change many things you want in 90 days.
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Instead of an annual planning session, try making a 90-Day Quick Plan. It gives you an actionable framework that provides clarity and leads to tangible results.
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6 Questions:
- Where am I?
- Where am I going in 90 days?
- Why am I going?
- How are we going to get there?
- How are we going to get there?
- How are we going to get there?
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How? Keep asking how? until you get enough clarity, and can come up with a specific action you can take starting today.
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“The most pathetic person in the world is someone
who has sight but no vision.”
~ Helen Keller
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“However beautiful the strategy, you should
occasionally look at the results.”
~ Winston Churchill
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DMA: Difference-Making Actions
DMA is simply give focus and intentionality to do the most important things every day. [Wisening: Do things that make a difference. Everyday!]
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DMA should be FUN
- F = First Priority First
- U = They must come under your main vision and help accomplish your most important and current priorities
- N = Attach a Number, i.e. Quantifiable
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DMA should be
- Focused
- Clear
- Realistic
- Committed
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“Never mistake motion for action.”
~ Ernest Hemingway
[Wisening: Never mistake Activity for Productivity]
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“Simplicity boils down to two steps:
Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.”
~ Leo Babauta
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Power Hour | Focus
“All things are ready, if our minds be so.”
~ William Shakespeare
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You can do five things better and faster by doing them one at a time.
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Write things down (take note). The act of writing should clear it from your mind.
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“Live by the moment; after all, life is a series of moments.”
~ Trent Woodard
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Decide Now
“Decide now” to enjoy less stress, greater clarity and productivity.
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Do it, use it, throw it, or complete it now. [Wisening: Handle it now. Handle it once.]
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“Clutter is a result of delayed decisions.”
~ Andrey Thomas
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“Indecision is the thief of opportunity.”
~ Jim Rohn
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SEEDS
Get yourself ready physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is hard to accomplish a big goal if you are sick and tired.
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Before tackling a big goal, take care of your SEEDS:
- S = Sleep
- E = Exercise
- E = Eat Right
- D = Drink Water
- S = Source of Strength
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“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”
~ Henry Ford
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Manage Your Energy
The key is completing the right tasks at the right time.
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We all have a time of day when we feel most creative and productive. Work with your natural rhythms:
- Do your most demanding work at your most energized time of day
- Plan activities that energize you during your energy slump
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“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day,
a fresh day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic
waiting somewhere behind the morning.”
~ J.B. Priestly
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“Do you want to be a prisoner of the past
or a pioneer of the future?”
~ Deepak Chopra
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Excellence, Not Perfection
Excellence is efficient; perfectionism is not. At some point, you have to stop. Many perfectionist business people get very little done.
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Part of achieving excellence is doing great work. Another part is doing it on time.
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Deliver excellent work without giving in to perfectionism:
- Do it right the first time
- Give yourself a time limit
- Know when to stop
- Get feedback
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More changes are not making things better; they are just making them different.
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“Done is better than perfect.”
~ Mark LeBlanc
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Great results speak infinitely louder than perfect ideas.
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Plan Tomorrow Today
He who fails to plan, plans to fail.
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“Every minute you spend planning saves you an average of approximately 10 minutes in execution.”
~ Brian Tracy
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“You only live once, but if you work it right, once in enough.”
~ Joe E. Lewis
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Energize
If you aren’t excited about what you do, your lack of enthusiasm is going to slow you down.
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Excited people move faster, and with more purpose.
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Here are a few ways to get fired up:
- Think of the bigger picture. Catch the big vision. Envision the difference you are making to your family, your employer, and you will be motivated to do good work.
- Act excited. When you feel a lack of enthusiasm, try putting on a smile and see if your mood catches up.
- Move on. If you can’t find a way to be excited about what you are doing, that’s probably a sure sign that you need to move on.
- Celebrate little things. Keep saying, “That was great!” “Can’t wait to see . . .” or “Thanks for getting that done.” Everything we say can either help someone stay afloat or make them sink further. Excitement is contagious and it keeps people going.
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“Where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways.
Where it is unwilling, it will find a thousand excuses.”
~ Arlen Price
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Go Ready and Efficient
“What you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple.
Whether you are willing to do it, that’s another matter.”
~ Peter F. Drucker
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Only use email for information sharing. Email is not for emotional messages.
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Your IQ falls 10 points when you’re taking constant calls, emails and text messages – the same amount as if you’d lost an entire night’s sleep, or more than double the loss that came with smoking marijuana.
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“It’s not enough to be busy. The question is:
What are we busy about?”
~ Henry David Thoreau
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“Habit and routine have an unbelievable power
to waste and destroy.”
~ Henri De Lubac
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Maximise Meetings
Long, pointless meetings waste time and kill morale.
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Make your meetings shorter and more worthwhile:
- Hold fewer meetings.
- Start them off on the right foot. Be clear about what you want to accomplish.
- Set shorter agenda.
- Schedule them back to back.
- Go public.
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Wake Up
“The one who claims that it cannot be done
should not interrupt the one who is doing it.”
~ Unknown
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“It’s the constant and determined effort that breaks down resistance,
sweeps away all obstacles.”
~ Claude M. Bristo
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Those in the military “did more before breakfast than most people did all day.”
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A vast number of the world’s highest achievers, in nearly every field, credit their success to “showing up early.” The most effective people I have worked with have been early risers.
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“You get twice as much done in the morning than in the afternoon.”
~ A grandma
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Get Organised
A clear desk leads to a clear mind, which leads to high productivity and laser focus. A messy desk invites your mind to wander.
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“You either get organised or you get crushed.”
~ Donald J. Trump
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“Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
~ Samuel Beckett
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“Good things happen when you get your priorities straight.”
~ Scott Caan
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“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
~ Mark Twain
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Master Faster
“The mind can be trained to relieve itself on paper.”
~ Poet Billy Collins
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“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past
have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.”
~ George S. Patton
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“What you don’t know may not hurt you,
but what you don’t remember always does.”
~ Gerald M. Weinberg
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Don’t Get Hooked
“Men have become the tools of their tools.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
[Wisening: What we own own us.]
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Spending too much time with the television makes people more passive. Living life yourself is better than watching others.
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“The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set.
Almost anything else uses more energy than watching TV.”
~ Dr. William H. Deitz
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“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go into the other room and read a book.”
~ Groucho Marx
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“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
~ Seneca
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“Efficiency is intelligent laziness.”
~ David Dunham
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Get Un-stuck
Getting stuck doesn’t have to mean staying stuck.
- Don’t procrastinate
- Start anywhere
- Do small pieces
- Use momentum
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Not only is procrastination on the rise, it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.
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“Momentum builds momentum.”
~ Stacy Stoldorf Guethling
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“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
~ John F. Kennedy
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Say No
Say Yes to the best and No to the rest. By saying no to one thing, you’re freeing yourself to say yes to something better.
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Quick polite explanations are best.
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Remember, when you say Yes to someone else, you may be saying No to your family or to yourself.
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“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the non-essentials.”
~ Lin Yutang
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Reflect
Great thinkers did their best work on a break or sabbatical.
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Taking time to reflect on how to solve a problem or how to improve a system often leads to fresh ideas and renewed motivation.
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Some ideas for making the most of your vacation and reflection time:
- Leave with an empty desk.
- Get away and be away. Take little or no work with you.
- Take time to walk, think, pray, be still, relax, reflect, write journal, read good books, into nature.
- Give yourself enough time to relax and unwind.
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The really big answers won’t always be buried in a memo. Sometimes it takes some fresh air and a few nights rest to find them.
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“Only when the clamor of the outside world is silenced
will you be able to hear the deeper vibration. Listen carefully.”
~ Sarah Ban Breathnach
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Habit Change
“We are all destined by our own habits.”
~ Aristotle
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“A nail is driven out by another nail. Habit is overcome by habit.”
~ Desiderius Erasmus
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People First
Life is about relationship.
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“Remember, your time is a most valuable resource. Spend it wisely. Spend it doing good, productive work. Spend it serving others. When you become efficient and effective on a daily basis, while still valuing relationships, you have an edge.”
~ The Daily Edge
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“Lost time is never found again.”
~ Ben Franklin
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It is the little things, done consistently, that make the biggest difference.
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