stop adding, start eliminating (2/2)

“Success is no longer related to the volume of tasks you complete but rather the significance of them. As Peter Drucker once said, ‘There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.’”

― Rory Vaden, Procrastinate on Purpose

Multipliers — the most productive amongst us — focus single-mindedly on the essential, needle-moving tasks and constantly ask themselves what things they can eliminate. They are motivated by results, not activities. They know that success is not about the number of tasks you complete, but about how important those tasks truly are. If they’re not making meaningful progress, they know they’re not winning. 

You must think like the top-performers and work towards multiplying your time by putting everything you do in the course of a day under the microscope and eliminating the pointless activities. A good starting point would be to get rid of these two notorious time wasters: television and meetings. 

Television (including online streaming platforms) is a major everyday distraction. The average American watches over 34 hours of TV every week. That’s almost as much time as a regular full-time job! And if you zoom out and add up all those hours, you’ll quickly realize that people on average spend a full nine years of their lives in front of the idiot box. That’s insane! So, if you find yourself glued to TV every single day and still complain that you don’t have enough time to get important work done, then you know it’s time to get rid of this unnecessary intrusion.

Secondly, eliminate whatever meetings you can from your schedule. According to a salary.com survey, a huge 47 percent of respondents revealed that meetings are their largest time-drainer. So next time when you receive a meeting invite, ask yourself two significant questions: (1) Do I really have to know what will be discussed in this meeting? And (2) Will I be called on to make any decisions in this meeting? If your answer to both of them is no, then eliminate that annoying time-waster from your calendar. 

Every single day, countless individuals and organizations are wasting their precious time, resulting in enormous financial and productivity costs. If this applies to you, you can still change your approach and regain control of your schedule. All you have to do is carefully evaluate your daily activities and eliminate all the trivial ones so that you’re able to multiply your time at work.

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