Increasing your productivity is a task few of us focus our time on. Learning how and why you need to spend time mastering your time, means increasing your bottom line. I found Thomas’s article to not only be informative but motivational. As a small business person, time management allows you to find more time in both your personal life and business life. Thomas provides a quote from some of the worlds top business people and then provides direction on how you can implement their knowledge. A very good read for all.
10X Your Results, One Tiny Action at a Time (The Power of Incremental Progress)
Peter Drucker once said “People often overestimate what they can accomplish in one year. But they greatly underestimate what they could accomplish in five years.”
Many people can’t follow through on the things they really want to achieve in life because they are obsessed with the big picture, instead of keeping an eye on the crucial, tiny daily actions.
The problem with big goals is that they can be intimidating. The picture can paralyze you into inaction.
But if you start focusing on an incremental system designed to help you take action daily, you can easily make 10x progress over time.
Consistent action coupled with time guarantees lasting progress.
Small improvements add up to massive differences. Compounding works in other areas besides money.
Sea levels are rising. It’s happening every day, and it’s been going on for a while. But nobody notices until it gets worse. Until it causes a flood. And when it does, the impact is huge.
Tom Clancy said, “An overnight success is ten years in the making.”
There are no “overnight successes”. Think of all the great people you truly admire. They didn’t succeed because of one giant move, but rather a series of small and consistent actions over time.
Every incredibly successful person you know today has been through the boring, mundane, time-tested process that eventually brings success. So, stop looking for “quick hacks” that bring faster results.
Your 10x output is hidden in your small consistent actions!
Coordinated, accelerating work makes the most impact.
Seth Godin says “The thing is, incremental daily progress (negative or positive) is what actually causes transformation. A figurative drip, drip, drip. Showing up, every single day, gaining in strength, organizing for the long haul, building connection, laying track — this subtle but difficult work is how culture changes.”
The big picture can be overwhelming, but in little parts, it seems achievable. Every step forward brings you closer to a goal.
Progress is in your control.
Lasting progress is incremental
Many people underestimate the power of incremental progress. They think they have to take massive action to achieve anything significant.
Radical change doesn’t stick.
In “The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success,” author Darren Hardy writes, “It’s not the big things that add up in the end; it’s the hundreds, thousands, or millions of little things that separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.”
Darren says, “Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE”
In order to get what you want, you have to choose one direction and move towards it, constantly improving over a prolonged period of time.
Jim Rohn said “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”
Defining your direction as early as possible is the most important decision in sport, and everybody knows it. But, curiously enough, this is also the most important decision in life in general, but much fewer people realize it.
Robert Collier once said, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” Consistency and a series of purposeful actions will transform the way you work and hone in your chosen craft.
Be consistent. Be relentless.
Instead of focusing on the outcome, concentrate on your small actions.
Narrows your focus to a few minutes or hours of work on your goal, rather than looking at the goal as one big step or achievement.
You can easily write a 50,000-word book in 100 days if you focus on one 500-word piece at a time.
Big goals require momentum. By starting with small, but challenging, action-oriented goals, you spark sustainable momentum.
Sometimes the progress appears nearly invisible, but small, daily investments are the way to produce big changes.
“I’m convinced you can do almost anything if you are willing to clarify your goals and then make the incremental investment over time to achieve them,” says Michael Hyatt.
Whatever you intend to do in the next few months, prioritize your incremental actions.
Don’t wait for a big breakthrough. Choose the “incremental progress” path.
The simplest strategy to achieve larger success is to break down the end goal into management and attainable milestones. Something you can act on daily.
Measurable, sustainable progress over time should be your aim. And when you embrace it, record your progress. Keeping score helps you identify action trends and see what’s working and what’s not.
Regardless of your goal, narrowing down your focus to small manageable tasks that can be done daily is the secret weapon to achievement.
Before you go…
If you enjoyed this post, you will love Postanly Weekly (my free digest of the best best productivity, career and self improvement posts). Subscribe and get a free copy of my new eBook, “The Power of One Percent Better: Small Gains, Maximum Results”. Join 21,000+ readers.
