Do You Have the Time to Improve?

 

“Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug.” – Jon Lithgow

It takes only five minutes to read ETR. Ten minutes if you do so “in depth.” Everybody has the same number of hours each day: 24. Five or 10 minutes out of 1,440 minutes each day is a smidgen. You have the time. What you mean is you don’t believe ETR is worth your time every day.

What can I tell you? You are wrong. Does that help?

Or should I say this: Some of the most successful people I know (guys who are making millions) tell me they never miss a message. They don’t put to use every idea, technique, and tip, but they get something useful out of ETR every day.

It takes me about 60 minutes (sometimes more) to write and edit each message. I don’t do it because I have to. I am still writing ETR because it helps me with everything else I do. It helps me stay focused on what’s important in my business. It reminds me to stay organized. It gives me specific ideas on how to manage better, network more effectively, negotiate more skillfully, etc.

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t benefit from ETR in some substantial way.

I don’t want to read too much into this subscriber’s letter — but based on the little she said about herself, I’d be willing to bet she is spending way too much time struggling with small but urgent problems. She may be overwhelmed at work, swamped in debt, and leading a life that’s stressful and unrewarding. She reads ETR when she can and gets hope from it.

That’s great. But it’s not enough. If I could spend some personal time with her, I could watch what she does every day and analyze how she is spending her time. I could talk to her about her goals in life and then help her compare her habits to her desires. Somewhere along the line, we’d come up with a better plan … a new way for her to approach each day … a detailed and specific task list of things she should do and things she must avoid.

If I could spend an hour a day with her, I’d follow up on her task lists. I’d find out where she’s sticking to them and where she’s falling behind. I’d bluntly point out her mistakes and praise her for her progress. I’d suggest alternatives for habits that weren’t working for her and keep pushing her till she never again felt like her raft was deflating.

I hope you don’t often feel like she does, but if you do I’ve got three recommendations for you:

1. Give ETR its due. Devote at least five minutes every day to reading it in a focused way.

2. Take at least one idea from ETR and transfer it to your monthly list of objectives. If you can complete that action the same day you assign it to yourself, so much the better. If not, make sure you get it done within the allotted time.

3. Check out our new Goal-Setting program.