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I
wake up each day and can hardly believe it myself - and
all because I decided to suspend my disbelief and try
something new . I had nothing to lose by trying. Insanity
is, after all, doing the same thing day after day and
expecting different results!
"Will
You Spare Me 7 Minutes To Show YOU How To Copy My Exact
Plan?"
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"Early
morning hath gold in its mouth."
- Benjamin Franklin
Rise
Early and Catch the Golden Worm
By
Michael Masterson
I
zonked out at 10:00 last night and woke up seven hours later.
I got up and stepped into the shower. Forty-five minutes later,
I was in the office. It's 7 o'clock now, and I've already done
16 things.
For
me, going to bed before midnight had always been unthinkable.
It was capitulating (see Word to the Wise, below) to a dull
life. But as someone's mother once told me, nothing good happens
after midnight. And it's true. Ask yourself: Name one thing
that you do and/or enjoy more after midnight that you can't
do/enjoy better the following morning? No ... not even that!
Every
successful businessman I know (or have read about) gets up and
gets to work early. It's such a universal trait of accomplished
individuals, I'm tempted to say it is a secret for success.
"Early to bed and early to rise," Ben Franklin said,
"makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." I used to
think that was propaganda from a Puritan. Now, I think it's
an observation from a very wise man.
Healthy, wealthy, and wise. Today, let's talk about how getting
up and getting to work early helps you achieve those goals -
since my guess is that's the primary reason you read ETR every
day.
In
my experience, there is no better time to collect your thoughts
and plan your day than early in the morning when the office
is quiet. Not only are you undisturbed by phone calls and interruptions,
but ahead of you is the potential of an unopened day. The solitude
promotes a kind of relaxed, contemplative mood. You feel free
to think in an expansive way. Later on, when the place is noisy
and the pressure is on, it's difficult to pay attention to what's
important. You feel your attention drawn in several directions
at once. You feel the pressure of deadlines. And you may be
hit with bad news, which could put you in a bad, unproductive
mood.
A Near-Perfect Morning Routine
Over the years, I've studied hundreds and experimented with
dozens of time-saving techniques and organizational systems.
The simple three-step program that follows is the best of the
best.
Step One: Getting Healthy (6:30 to 7:00)
The
first thing I do every day is run sprints. After a four- or
five-minute warm-up, I run eight 50-yard dashes, with 30 seconds
of rest in between. Then I do a serious 10-minute stretching
routine (yoga moves, mostly). Finally, a cold shower and a fresh
set of clothes.
The
whole routine takes about 30 minutes, but it will completely
renew and invigorate your health. This workout is a condensed
version of everything I've learned about health and fitness
for the past 45 years. (I got interested in the subject when
I was 10!) And it has dramatically improved my health. For example,
I no longer have the back, shoulder, and neck pain that troubled
me for so many years. I am as strong as I was when I was playing
football in college. And I rarely get sick. (You'll learn all
about this program and why it works so well from ETR's health
expert, Jon Herring.)
Step
Two: Planning Your Day (7:00 to 7:30)
I didn't always plan my days. I managed to get rich before I
developed this habit. But since I've learned how to plan, my
productivity has quadrupled. If you use this system, I'll bet
you see the same improvement in your own life. I begin each
day with a list of "to-dos" that I've usually created
the night before. I add to that list by going through my inbox
and selecting any items that are important enough to make it
to my daily list. After my list is completed, I highlight all
tasks that help me accomplish one of my major long-term Life
Goals.
I
used to scan my e-mail for things to do, but found that I couldn't
resist the lure of trying to "knock off" a bunch of
little things that wasted my time and drained my energy. Now,
I scrupulously avoid e-mail in the morning. In fact, I don't
even open it up.
I check phone messages and faxes and add any important items
to my daily task list. Again, I don't respond to anything at
this point. My job is simply to organize it all, to figure out
what I will do today and what I can delegate or do later.
Now,
comes the fun part. I get out a clean sheet of paper - or even
an index card - and write the date on top. Referencing all the
inputs I have just gathered, I select 15 to 20 that I intend
to accomplish before the end of the day.
Be realistic when you do this. There is no way you can do more
than 15 or 20 significant things in a 10-hour day. And you don't
have to work more than 10 hours a day to accomplish everything
you need.
Of
the 15 or 20 items, highlight four or five of them. These should
all be "important-but-not-urgent" tasks. (The urgent
tasks you have to do. The important-but-not-urgent tasks are
the ones that will advance your Life Goals. They are critical
to your success, but you will almost certainly fail to do them
unless you make them a priority. That's why you are highlighting
them.)
To
the right of each item, you might want to indicate how much
time you think it will take. (I run a subtotal of the accumulating
times to the right of that so there is some relationship between
what I want to do and how much time I have to do it.)
As a general rule, it's a good idea to structure all of your
tasks so that none lasts more than an hour. 15-minute and 30-minute
tasks are best. If you have something that takes several hours
to do, break it up into pieces and do it over a few days. It
will be better for the extra time you give it ... and you won't
get crushed on any one day.
This whole process takes less than 30 minutes, yet it saves
me hours of wasted time every day. More importantly ... it helps
me focus on what is truly important to my career. (At the beginning
of the week, when I'm creating a weekly task list in addition
to a daily one, I allocate an extra half-hour. Once a month,
I create a monthly list that takes another additional half-hour.)
If
you adopt this simple organizing and planning system every morning,
you will see how well it works. Before your colleagues, competitors,
and coworkers are even sipping their first cup of coffee, you'll
have figured out everything you need to do that day to make
you healthier, wealthier, and wiser. You will know what to do,
you will know what your priorities are, and you will already
be thinking about some of them. You will not have to worry about
forgetting something important. And you will have a strong sense
of energy and excitement, knowing that your day is going to
be a productive one.
Step Three: Giving Your Day a Boost (7:30 to 8:30)
Here's the best step. Select the single most important task
of the day - the one, highlighted task that will best help you
accomplish your most cherished Life Goal - and get to work on
that.
Don't
worry if something else is more pressing. Don't pay any attention
to what everyone else wants you to do. Heck, it's not even 9:00
a.m. yet. It's your time, so spend it on yourself!
If
you are having trouble figuring out what your most important
task is, ask yourself this question: "If I knew I was going
to die in a week, which task would be most important to me now?"
Start
with that task. Chances are, it will be something that moves
you toward a goal that you have been putting off for many years.
There is something in your mind that has so far made it difficult
for you to accomplish it.
Don't
worry about the negatives. As I said, this time is for you.
If
you spend the first working hour of every day on something you
deeply care about, it will give you more energy and a better
feeling than you can possibly imagine. How do I know this is
true? Because it's how I feel every time I do it.
This
little three-step program is a truly health-giving, wealth-making,
life-changing routine. It has totally transformed my life. I
am sure it can do the same for you.
Remember,
the entire three steps will take you only two hours. If you
start working at 6:30 (and you should!), you'll have done more
by 8:30 than your friends, colleagues, and competitors do all
day!
Try
it tomorrow and tell me if it doesn't work wonders for you!
A
Clever Way to Keep Track ...
This
system can be complemented by a file-indexing system that a
famously organized newspaper publisher showed me several years
ago. It requires two accordion folders - one with a pocket for
each month and another with pockets for 31 days.
As you go through your e-mail or read correspondence and memos,
put aside anything you want to follow up on. Place it in the
first accordion folder - in the pocket of the month in which
you intend to address it. When that month arrives, there will
probably be 30 or 40 sheets of paper stuffed inside. You sort
through them and place them in some kind of manageable order
in the second accordion file - in each of the days of the month.
Then, as each day arrives, you simply extract from that day's
pocket the material you've filed there. This is a very easy
way to keep track of all your vital data and correspondence
without resorting to large, messy stacks of paper.
Success
Is What Happens When You Do a Little Bit Extra Each Day
I suppose it's possible for success to come in a single windfall,
but most often it arrives bit by bit. My three-step morning
routine is a way for you to make yourself super-healthy and
give yourself a significant advantage over the people you compete
with.
It actually gives you four advantages. You are smarter, fresher,
and more enthusiastic - which makes you feel better and enjoy
your work. You get a whole lot more accomplished than you would
otherwise. You drastically reduce or (some days) eliminate emergencies
that interrupt you and drain your energy. And, most important,
you spend a much greater percentage of your time doing things
that move you along toward the goals you desire.
Today's
Action Plan
There
is something about getting to work earlier that seems wiser,
nobler, smarter, or just plain more industrious than working
late. Getting to work earlier says something about being energetic,
organized, and in control. Staying late leaves the opposite
impression: that you are diligent but disorganized, earnest
but erratic, hardworking but a drudge.
In
How
to Become CEO, Jeffrey J. Fox puts it
this way:
"If
you are going to be first in your corporation, start practicing
by being first on the job. People who arrive at work late
don't like their jobs - at least that's what senior management
thinks. ... And don't stay at the office until 10 o'clock
every night. You are sending a signal that you can't keep
up or your personal life is poor."
So
here's your Action Plan for today. I want you to figure out
what time, on the average, you have been getting to work each
day. And I want you to promise yourself that you'll get there
at least 30 minutes earlier from now on. An hour earlier is
better
Don't fool yourself. If you've been trying to get to work by
8:00 but get there at that time only two days a week, admit
that your starting time is 8:15 or 8:30. Then fix your new objective.
Thirty minutes a day multiplied by 50 weeks is 125 hours of
extra work. That gives you more than a two-week advantage over
those you are competing against. You can accomplish a lot in
two weeks, so don't underestimate what this will do for you.
It's not just about doing extra stuff. It's about getting a
jump on things. Getting in early makes you better prepared,
more thoughtful, better organized, and more effective in every
area of your life.
Early to bed, early to rise. It will make you healthier this
year ... and wealthier and wiser too.
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Get
Super-Healthy With Omega-3 Fats
It's
highly likely that you have a nutritional deficiency. How do
I know that? Statistics tell me. Almost everyone today is deficient
in omega-3 fats.
This
deficiency is one of the most common - and also one of the most
detrimental - to your health. But it's also very easy to fix.
Polyunsaturated
fats are classified into omega-3s and omega-6s. They are called
"essential" fatty acids (EFAs) because your body must
have them - in the right ratio.
Our
bodies can't produce EFAs, so we get them from food. And for
most of our time on earth, the human race has consumed these
fats in the ideal ratio: 2 omega-6s for every 1 omega-3. However,
in the last 50 years, our diets - and that perfect ratio - have
changed.
Because
omega-6 fats are over-abundant and omega-3 fats are scarce in
the modern diet, most Americans now consume 10 to 20 times as
many omega-6 fats as they do omega-3s. This imbalance is linked
to an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity,
arthritis, allergies, depression, infertility, Alzheimer's,
and multiple sclerosis. It also weakens immunity, accelerates
aging, and increases inflammation in the body.
The
solution is very simple. All you have to do is strictly limit
your consumption of omega-6 fats. This means laying off the
fried foods, processed foods, and conventionally raised meats,
and avoiding vegetable oils and seed oils. At the same time,
increase your consumption of omega-3 fats. The very best source
of omega-3s is fish oil (not flax oil), followed by walnuts,
walnut oil, and freshly ground flax seeds.
-
Jon Herring
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One
Way to Get Money for Your New Venture
One
way to get money for your new venture is to pitch your good
idea, in the form of a sales presentation, to a prime prospective
customer. If he goes for it, tell him you will start supplying
him as soon as you get money to start your business.
That's
basically what Scott Mitchell did to launch Learning Productions
in Tempe, Arizona. According to Newsweek, Mitchell pitched his
learning software to Avnet, a Fortune 500 company that had a
need for the kind of product Mitchell wanted to produce. They
liked his presentation so well, they not only gave him a big
order but also more than a million dollars worth of financial
and other support needed to get the company up and running.
You
can't do this with every new business ... but I spent a few
minutes thinking about it and was surprised by how many types
of businesses I could come up with that could be started this
way.
-
Michael Masterson
It's
Good to Know: The Way You Sleep
The
furniture store IKEA has done the world a great service by conducting
a customer survey in which they determined that couples whose
beds are placed in the middle of the bedroom enjoy a more active
love life.
Other
interesting finds:
-
15% of those surveyed sleep naked.
-
40% consider their bedroom a sanctuary.
-
55% would prefer a fireplace to a TV set in their bedrooms.
-
59% prefer curtains to blinds or shutters on their bedroom
windows.
Word
to the Wise: Capitulate
To
"capitulate" (kuh-PICH-uh-late) is
to give up and accept defeat.
Example
(as I used it today): "For me, going to bed before midnight
had always been unthinkable. It was capitulating to a dull life."
