"While I never intended to be a productivity expert, people who attend my presentations and seminars have asked me to expand on this topic of productivity. Perhaps one of the reasons why my message is appealing is the simplicity of my approach."
- The Daily Edge, page 1
"Excellence is efficient; perfection is not. At some point, you have to stop. I have seen many perfectionist business people get very little done… Part of achieving excellence is doing great work. Another part is doing it on time."- The Daily Edge, page 39
David is not encouraging sloppy work but is encouraging understanding the difference between efforts that improve work and those that don’t. And since part of excellence is making deadlines, knowing the difference—and when to stop—is crucial.
He recommends the following four techniques to help you overcome this hurdle:
"Understanding yourself can boost your productivity significantly. The key is completing the right tasks at the right time. When do you feel at your best? We all have a time of day when we feel most creative and productive."- The Daily Edge, page 31
Now that you understand to aim for excellence and not perfection, the next step is to figure out the right time of the day for given tasks. Since we all have different natural rhythms, figuring out when you are at your most energized and when at your most sluggish can make a huge impact on your productivity if you schedule accordingly, by allowing you to accomplish more in a shorter period of time.
For example, if you are at your most energetic in the morning, that’s when you should be doing the work that requires most focus and effort. That’s when you should implement the “power hour” David suggests: one hour when everyone knows that no calls, e-mails, or any interruptions at all are allowed. During this hour, turn everything off and just do you most important work.
And save the more brainless tasks for when you’re not your best and the energizing tasks for when you’re most sluggish. Since David is an extrovert and enjoys meeting people, he does that in the afternoon when his energy is starting to slump.
"Though an old idea, this is one of the most valuable. It’s hard to get a running start on the day without a plan. An old aphorism says, ‘He who fails to plan, plans to fail.’ You don’t want to waste your creative morning time wondering what you should do today."- The Daily Edge, page 43
Since most people are at their best in the morning, it makes sense not to waste that time on making a plan for the day; instead, spend the last part of every day looking ahead and deciding what needs to get done.
David suggests making a to-do list. One of the types he recommends in the book is the DMA (difference-making actions). Basically, on a sticky note, list your most important goal then underneath it, the five actions in descending order of importance that you can take to accomplish this goal. He suggests DMAs be focused, clear, realistic, and committed.
Whether you prefer a DMA or a regular to-do list, it’s still important to prioritize them. A good way to do this is to first number them by importance (with the most important getting the highest value), then by urgency (again, with the highest value going to what’s most urgent). When you’re done, add up both values and this will clearly indicate which tasks are both most important and urgent and therefore the ones you should tackle first the next day.
David provides many more useful tips on being more effective and efficient and I’ve listed a few more great ones below:
David Horsager is a business strategist, keynote speaker and author of the #2 Wall Street Journal bestselling book The Trust Edge: How Top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line. Through his book and programs he shares the secrets of using trust to impact the bottom line. Combining humor, illustrations, and memorable stories with research and insight, Dave sheds light on the confusion and misconceptions surrounding the cornerstone of personal and professional success.
