First Things First!
The story is often told about the time that Charles Schwab, as president of Bethlehem Steel, asked management consultant Ivy Lee to help him become more productive. Lee recommended the following:
- Write down the things you have to do the following day.
- Number these tasks in the order of their real importance.
- Start your day by working on the first item on your list and stick with it until it’s completed (or until you’ve done as much with it as you can), then go on to the next one, and so on.
After trying it out, Schwab found this advice so beneficial that he gladly paid Lee $25,000 (equivalent to $400,000 in today’s world)!
The main principle here is that by following this strategy on a daily basis, you will always know that your most important priorities are not being overlooked or put aside.
Last night I started a telecourse, a follow-up to the Turbocharge Your Business program I took last fall, and we discussed this story and what action we could take every day to help grow our businesses. Since one of my goals is to establish more linkages within the VA community, I decided to visit the Virtual Assistant Networking Association Forum on a daily basis. Although I’ve been a member since 2003, I haven’t really been taking advantage of this excellent opportunity to learn from and share ideas with other VA’s from around the world.
