7 Secrets of Extremely Productive People

If you want to be successful, you must produce at a high level.

Personally, my team can get a lot done in a short period of time. It puts us ahead of our competition and allows us to reach millions of people.

Time-management secrets aren't the same as we once knew. This era has allowed us to accomplish tasks at an instantaneous rate. Almost every billion-dollar company is now a software company: Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and so much more. Technology changes everything.

This means that our time values have dramatically altered. Because of automation and social reach, we're able to get our message out into the world without even leaving our homes. I've found that there are 7 Secrets of Extremely Productive People. Heed these lessons if you want to get more done:

1. Decide What's Important: Because of modern innovations, there are more distractions than ever before. With everything competing for our attention, we must firmly decide what's important and what's not. Many people fall into the trap of participating in urgent, but less important tasks, which keeps them from being productive.

Prioritizing is doing first what matters most. For instance, I only like to focus on two things: writing and speaking. If there's something that doesn't align with these two goals, I'm off track. Instead of putting out 'small fires' like fixing the printer, checking the mail, or wiping the countertops, I'm able to gain momentum because I'm constantly working on my gifts, which will allow me to add maximum value to masses of people that I serve.

Ask yourself, "What's the best use of my time right now?"

- Daniel Ally

2. Evaluate Timeframes: How long does it take to do a certain task? Two hours? Two days? Two weeks? Many people fail to hold themselves accountable because they don’t know how long their tasks may take. If you want control of your time, you must understand the clock. Assign every task a timeframe.

An article like this takes about one hour to compose. However, this is just a rough draft. There are many more things to do: proofreading, editing, formatting, creating headlines, selecting images, adding links, posting and sharing, and checking analytics. All of this takes at least one week. Because I know how long each part takes within the entire production of the article, I’m able to control the time it takes to give you such a wonderful piece.

To master your life, you must master your time. –Daniel Ally

3. Budget the Hours: Some people might know how long a certain task may take, but they haven’t devised the time in their schedule. For instance, they know they need to go the gym, which takes one hour, but they haven’t considered it within their schedule because it isn’t classified as a task. They forget to add driving time, chatter, shower, etc. One hour at the gym has now become three hours. Where did the time go?!?

When you budget time, you must consider the emotional energy within the task. For instance, your meeting might only be 60 minutes, but if you need to relieve stress by chatting or relaxing during your time, you might as well call it three hours. Why set yourself up for failure by believing the task will be one hour when you really need three hours? Take off the extra pressure and give yourself a chance to be human.

The hours you aren’t paid can be the hours that pay you the most.

–Daniel Ally

4. Group Your Activities: Many tasks can be done in conjunction with others. If there are five tasks to be done on the computer, get them all done in one sitting, if possible. There’s no point in signing in multiple times to get each task done. It can be stressful to ‘stop and go’ all the time. Plus, I can verify that it takes a lot of energy to get on and off an office chair, especially a comfortable one.

Which of your tasks can be grouped together? Perhaps you may even need to delay a bigger goal to get a group of smaller tasks out of the way. For instance, you might want to do that big project, but there are twenty things to do. In this case, it may be wise to create a list and knock them out individually before you take on the major goal.

Work your schedule, don’t let your schedule work you. –Daniel Ally

5. Say “No”: The more successful you become, the more responsibilities you will face. However, keep in mind that you must say ‘no’ more often as you continue to grow. Because you will be faced with an infinite number of tasks, you must be able to reject many of them. Even though it will sound like you are saying ‘no’ most of the time, the truth is that you’re protecting your most precious asset: your time.

It’s not rude to say no to a task. In fact, it’s a sign of great strength. What you’re really saying is, “I have bigger fish to fry. Why don’t you take on the smaller ones?” If you have this approach, everyone will have a feast, which is the goal for an extremely productive person. In short, I’ve learned that the more you grow, the more you must say ‘no’.

The more you grow, the more you must say ‘no’. –Daniel Ally

6. Delegate Small Chores: Let’s say that you’re a champion at saying ‘no.’ Now what? Obviously, the tasks cannot be neglected. The key is to find someone else to do them. For instance, big executives would never take on trivial tasks when they could be focusing on what they do best. Why force your attention on tasks that drain your time and energy when someone else can do it for you?

In the future, I believe that employers will let their employees hire helpers out of their own pockets to get more tasks done. In other words, the $150,000 per year man will be able to take a pay cut of $50,000 to create a salary for another person. This will allow the employee to gain substantial increases in pay, even doubling or tripling their salary in the process.

5P’s of Time: Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. –Daniel Ally

7. Do It: A great majority of productive people could be even more productive if they stopped micro-managing and over-planning. Some people take a whole day to plan two days of work. In other cases, they end up delegating tasks to others and end up watching them complete the tasks while they could have done it by themselves.

Action will not only get the job done, but it will also cancel out your fears. Sometimes, you don’t know what can be done until you actually do it. Despite the heavy demand on my schedule, I’m able to write at least 5,000 words per day. It’s not because I have more than 24 hours. It’s because it takes action by putting the pen on the paper and letting the words flow. Action is the key to being a highly productive person.

The world doesn’t need excuses, it needs execution. –Daniel Ally

Summary:

These seven secrets can help you to maximize your productivity like never before. If you want to become a superior player in the marketplace, focus on what you do best. Delegate the rest and understand the value of time. Time is on your side, so set your goals incredibly high and find the people, places, and resources to help you get it all done.

Daniel Ally

www.danielally.com