I'm in major preparation mode right now for the biggest Direct Sales event of the year, the No Excuses II Summit, in Las Vegas from April 29th to April 31st. Close to 1,000 people will be in attendance.

I'm one of the featured speakers at the event and I'll be speaking on Time Management & Productivity secrets of the ultra-successful. This is a critical topic right now because Entrepreneurs are WAY over distracted, completely overwhelmed with the new "shiny marketing idea of the month", and as a result, are becoming less and less focused and less and less productive. Not good. 

In fact, I'm one of the few (if not only) who believes that YOU do not need one more marketing tool or idea for the remainder of 2011. That's right. Nothing. There's nothing new under the sun. And there is nothing else you need to own right now except better "work habits." Period. Now... I'm pretty sure there will be a LOT of people unhappy with that last statement because they want to sell you more marketing "how to" tools. You don't need them.

What you DO need, is more tools on "how to" eliminate distraction, reduce overwhelm, and increase focus. Without these, ALL the "how to" marketing courses and books in the world won't matter because you'll never even be able to manage the information in the first place. Without getting a handle on your time and planning your productivity, you're doomed. So this week, I'm gonna give you just a little taste of a few of the Time Management & Productivity secrets of the top producers that I'll be discussing at the Summit.

As one of my all-time favorite speakers, and leadership expert, John Maxwell says:

"You're success is determined by your daily agenda."

Words to live by.

Let me start off here with my signature quote on this subject to set the stage a bit....

"The mark of the leader is one who places EXTREME importance on results. In order to get results, one must make personal productivity their #1 priority."

Read that again.

I know of not one highly successful Entrepreneur that is not obsessed with the clock. Seriously. Every hour of the day is watched and thought about, almost every thing they do is timed, and they often worry more about time than they do about money. Because they know: "time is money."

But.... if "time is money".... then we are broke. Because the majority are struggling yet, we all have the same 24 hours in a day.

The ultra-successful use their 24 hours VERY, very differently than everyone else. In fact, just the thought some of the things they do would make most squirm in their chair. So  today,  a few, and only a few... You need to come see me speak at the No Excuses II Summit in Las Vegas to get them all..  ;)

Here we go:

Revenue Producing Activities First - Every top performer starts their day off with their "highest pay off activities" first. And under no circumstances do they deviate from this. And under almost no circumstances do they allow (or care about) distractions that will undoubtedly interrupt them during these time blocks. No email, no phone call, no text message, no instant message can't wait until they are done. They make a commitment to themselves first.

Sounds selfish right?

It's not. It's "self-centered." There's a difference. Self-centered means you focus on making yourself strong first. By making YOU strong first, you make everyone around you strong. Selfish means you don't care about anyone but yourself. Big difference. We are all self-centered. It's human nature. But there is no need to be selfish.

The late, great Jim Rohn said it best: "I'll make me strong for you, and you make you strong for me."

My point exactly. That's being self-centered to benefit you and others. And that is also called leadership. Anyone who sees it differently is most likely running around reacting to everyone's needs all the time and falling further and further behind in making themselves strong and productive and in turn, weakening everyone else around them.


Batching - Every top performer I know batches certain activities into certain days or times to be more efficient and focused. What I mean by this is, if you write in the morning let's say, like I do, then you bunch all of your writing activities into the morning. You're not running errands one morning, answering emails another morning, reading a book another morning, and writing this morning. That's what I call scattered activity. If your morning is your "strength zone" for writing than that's all you should be doing each morning. Period.

Another example of batching, and maybe the best time-saving example I know of and use, is when you are running personal errands or going to appointments (haircut, doctor, gym, etc).  We all have them. Do you schedule them whenever or do you strategically batch them all together on one afternoon so you can kill two or three birds with one stone? Most look at me like I have ten heads when I suggest this...

As example, If I am driving my car to the gym in South Beach, from downtown Miami where I live (about a 10 minute drive), I rarely just drive there and drive back. What a waste of time. It aggravates me just thinking about it. Along the way I find at least two or three other tasks that  need to be done that can be batched along with my trip to the gym for maximum efficiency - a haircut, bank, grocery store, etc. So all of this stuff gets done in a certain window of time not scattered throughout the week. Too many people are constantly starting and stopping, starting and stopping, because they don't batch their activities. They just do them whenever. This is THE #1 productivity killer of them all.

Here's what most do....

They start working in the morning for a bit, then they run out to the store for something, then they come back to work for a bit, then they run to their haircut appointment, then they work again for a little while, then it's time to go pick up the kids, then it's time to eat dinner...and then the day is over. And they are exhausted. And they're wondering why they got nothing done. I'm exhausted  just writing this. They are in a perpetual state of "start and stop" and "getting nothing done." Is it any wonder why they feel unproductive and overwhelmed??

To give credit where credit is due - I got this term "strength zone" from Marcus Buckingham in the book "NOW, Discover Your Strengths." I've slightly tweaked this philosophy a bit for my teachings on productivity. He uses the term strength zone when it comes to your overall "personal strengths" as an individual. I use the term when it comes to you strongest "productivity periods" of your day. For example, the first two and a half hours of my day, from around 7:30 to 10:30, I consider to be my "productivity strength zone." This is when I get my highest pay off, highest priority tasks done with no distraction. No email is on, no phone, no people.

Find your "productivity strength zone." It'll change your life.


Environment - Every top performer I know of knows where they work best. I'm talking physically. For some, it's in their home office. For others it's at a coffee shop. The problem lies in being in the same environment for everything you do. Most people work on projects, make phone calls, talk on the phone, and read all in the same place. Not good. And certain to invite distractions of all kinds. This is the premier produtivity killer.

How can you be focused and efficient if your phone is ringing to your left, your email is open, your cell phone is next to you, your instant message is on, and your dog is nippin' at your shoe laces to go outside, and oh yeah, you are working on a marketing piece... ? This is how the great majority function today. It's called "multi-tasking" and it's a complete myth. It's a disaster actually.  And then they wonder why the shiny new marketing "how to" tool they just bought doesn't work for them. It's the person who doesn't work! Top performers don't muli-task. They are fully engaged and focused on the task at hand.

The key is to find YOUR "best environment" for YOU for certain activities. For example, you may talk on the phone and handle email in your office (like I do) but you might write and work on marketing at a coffee shop each morning, and you might read and study in your living room or den. You get the point. Different, focused environments for differnent activities. You know you're heading down the wrong path if you're doing ALL of these things in one location everyday. Doing it all in one environment is a "focus killer" and a "distraction breeding ground." Get creative. Move around to find your best environments for maximum concentration and focus. Plus, doing certain things in certain environments keeps things interesting. I couldn't imagine sitting in my home office all day long doing ALL my business activities. How dull. And frustrating. And boring.

Ok, this was just a taste of the EXTREME Productivity Secrets I'll be presenting at the No Excuses II Summit. Hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to post your comments right below. I'd love to hear your thoughts. As I said earlier, there is NOT a more important topic right now in than the topic of strategically managing our time to eliminate overwhelm and to increase your productivity...

So come on down to Vegas in a couple weeks to see the rest LIVE!

And remember:

"The mark of the leader is one who places EXTREME importance on results. In order to get results, one must make personal productivity their #1 priority."

Best,

Andrew J. Cass


P.S.  Stay tuned for the release of my breakthrough new CD program: "PRODUCTIVITY TRIGGERS For Today's High-Performance Network Marketer" due out in May at a theater near you....