3D Way to Explode Your Productivity

The 3D Way to Explode Your Productivity
By Noah St. John, Ph.D.

"Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere as long as the policy you've decided upon is being carried out."
— Ronald Reagan

There are three things you can do with the Activities that come across your desk every day: you can DO them, DELETE them or DELEGATE them.

Those are the three D’s — Do, Delete, or Delegate — that we can do with anything that comes into our lives.

When you ask, "What Activities can I DO from my 'want to do LESS' pile (just get them over with)?”, these are what you want to do less of, but that HAVE to be done.
This might include bookkeeping, accounting, your newsletter or any number of other tedious-to-you Activities.

Like swallowing your medicine or going to the dentist, sometimes we just have to DO them and get them over with.

Then: "What Activities can I DELETE my 'want to do LESS' pile (just get rid of them)?" These may be things you've been telling yourself you "have to do". But upon closer inspection, maybe you don't. These are the things you can Delete.

Then: "What Activities can I DELEGATE from my 'want to do LESS' pile - and to whom?"
If you want to truly, dramatically explode your productivity - and your profits - the most important D is to Delegate.

Why? Because it's where you start to multiply your effectiveness and gain LEVERAGE in your life.

This is what happy, rich people do. Happy, rich people gain great leverage by delegating.
Do you think Donald Trump goes around building all those big buildings? Uh, no.
He goes around telling people, "Do this, this, and this," in that weird New York accent. I'm not saying we should act like Donald Trump; maybe for you, you need to delegate the laundry.

Another great question to install your Activities System is: "Who will I be ACCOUNTABLE to for reporting how I use my time, money and energy?"

You may be accountable to your whole group, or just to one other person.
You might say to your spouse or someone on your team: "Starting now, I'm going to Do, Delete and Delegate at higher levels. If you catch me NOT doing this, I want you to call me on it."

Give your Loving Mirrors PERMISSION to hold you accountable for your actions.
This is positive peer pressure: telling everybody that you're going to do something positive. If you fall short, everyone will see that, and you'll be embarrassed.
Since no one wants to be embarrassed (that's one of the world's biggest Why-Not-To), you will FORCE YOURSELF to take action.

Leadership

I read this and it made sense to me :)

You’re NOwhere ready for leadership if…

1. You're nowhere ready for leadership if you can't stand the heat.

2. You're nowhere ready for leadership if at the first sign of controversy you play the victim.

3. You're nowhere ready for leadership if you don't have a core passion for some important, world-changing mission that you're willing to sacrifice your comfort and even your well-being for.

4. You're nowhere ready for leadership if your primary motivator is money. Yeah, it is true that by and large leaders get paid more than followers. But I don't know one significant leader who does it for the money. What I've found is, when you find something you're passionate about that matters and do it with excellence, the money always seems to follow.

5. You're nowhere ready for leadership if you're not a reader.
I heard someone say many years ago that leaders are readers. I've heard men and women proudly proclaim, "I haven't read a book in years." The sad truth is, they didn't have to say it. Everyone around them knew it.

So before you lust after a head-coaching job, a CEO's position, or anything that will require personal responsibility and accountability, ask yourself, "Am I ready for leadership?"

Leaving a Legacy

The Importance of Leaving a Legacy by Jim Rohn

There are four areas concerning Leaving a Legacy that I consider to be fundamental: a Life Well-Lived, Principles to Live By, The Importance of a Spiritual Legacy and an Impact Legacy and a Financial Legacy. Today, I would like to share on a Life Well-Lived.

You know, I have had an amazing life. I have traveled the world. I have shared my heart with so many wonderful people. I have been fortunate enough to make a great living and enjoy the fruit of my work. I have met thousands of people who are dedicated to personal development and self-growth. I have made it my life's pursuit to teach others the philosophies and actions that would help them achieve greatness and personal fulfillment in their own lives. Forty years ago, it felt like it would never end. Today, I still imagine I have many years left, but I also am more aware than ever that there is much less time left than before.

Leaving a legacy for others to follow is part of what drives me. I followed others who had gone before me. They left a legacy for me. Now I am making sure that those who come after me will have a trail to follow as well. You see, leaving a legacy is important.

Think about those who left a legacy for us to follow and for you specifically:
Your parents
Your grandparents
Your aunts and uncles
Your schoolteachers
Your coaches
Your neighbors where you grew up

The Founding Fathers of the United States, who had a dream of a place of self-determination
Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves
FDR, who saw us through the Great Depression
The many men and women who defended our liberties through the wars of the 20th century so we could live in freedom
JFK, who called us to space exploration and set us on course to have a man walk on the moon
Martin Luther King Jr., who left us a legacy to pursue the dream of racial equality

There are literally thousands of men and women who lived in ways that affect our lives today.
Why is leaving a legacy important? Here are a few reasons:

The legacy we leave is part of the ongoing foundations of life. Those who came before leave us the world we live in. Those who will come after will have only what we leave them. We are stewards of this world, and we have a calling to leave it better than how we found it, even if it seems like such a small part.

Legacies have raw power for good and for bad. There are people who have changed the world for good, people who have opened up new worlds for millions of others, people who have spurred others on to new heights. And there are people who have caused massive destruction for countless millions, people who left a wake of pain behind them wherever they went.

There are parents who have blessed their children with greatness and other parents who have ruined their children's fragile minds and hearts. What we do affects others. Our lives have the power to create good or to purvey evil. It is important that we choose to do good.

It is an act of responsibility to leave a legacy. Because of the power of our lives and the legacies we leave, it is a great responsibility to choose to leave a positive legacy. All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine. I truly believe that part of what makes us good and honorable people is to have a foundational part of our lives based on the goal of leaving a legacy.


Purposefully leaving a legacy for others breaks the downward pull of selfishness that can be inherent in us. When we strive to leave a legacy, we are acting with a selflessness that can only be good for us. Yes, I suppose someone could work hard to earn money so that when he or she dies, a building is named after them, but that is not the kind of legacy we are talking about. We are talking about legacies that make life better for those who come after us, not about our own fame or recognition, but about helping others. After all, we won't be around to watch our legacy. To build that which will last beyond us is selfless, and living with that in mind breaks the power of selfishness that tries so desperately to engrain itself in our lives.

It also keeps us focused on the big picture. Legacy building is "big picture." It keeps us focused on the long term and gives us values by which we can judge our actions. When we act based on selfishness, personal expediency and the like, we are "small picture"—whatever is pragmatic right now. When we build a life that will give for many years, we are "big picture." Ask yourself: How does this action affect my overall goals? How will this affect people in the years to come?

Yes, your legacy is very important. Reflect today on how you are going to build a life that leaves a tremendous legacy!

Earning More Money

I read this article from Success Magazine publisher Darren Hardy.

Money, Money, Money… We want more of it; we love it and all that it affords. Yet it can be the root of some of life’s most devastating experiences—divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure and destitution.

However, money isn’t the problem.

Just like guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people, the same misplaced blame is applied to money. Money isn’t your problem; your relationship with money and what you do (or don’t do) with it is the problem.

Your relationship with money and what you do (or don’t do) with it is the problem.
Last month I showed you how you can take something that scares you and fear it no more by simply changing your perspective about it. Just in case you don’t recall, the subject was selling, and I had you take the four letter word S-E-L-L, cross it out and replace it with H-E-L-P. Focusing on helping rather than selling not only makes the entire experience far more comfortable and enjoyable, but it’s actually the key to being successful at it.

This month, I want to alter your mindset about this all-important force in our lives, now formerly known as M-O-N-E-Y. Take this five letter word money and cross it out. Now replace it with V-A-L-U-E. Stop thinking about money as money, and start understanding it as value.

That’s all money is: paper that denotes value. How do you get more money? Create more value. Period. That’s it.

If you are employed, why does the company you work for pay you money? Mistakenly, most people say, “for my time.” That’s incorrect. If that were true, you could just come in and sleep. No, they pay you for the value you deliver during the time you are working. If you deliver lots more value than is expected during that time, they will want to pay you even more money—in bonuses, raises and promotions—to keep you and the value you bring. If you deliver less value during the time you are working for them, they will stop paying you money. Or as our friend Donald Trump likes to say, “You’re fired!”
This is not simply a semantics issue; this is a completely different philosophy, mindset and way of operating in the world in relationship to money.

Instead of asking… How can we increase our revenue? Ask, How can we create and deliver more value? Instead of asking, How can we expand our business? Ask, How can we expand our value? Rather than asking, How can I become wealthier? Ask instead, How can I become more valuable?

Therein lies the secret to money. Money is just a tool to exchange value. The only way to obtain tons of money is to create tons of value.

And tons of value is what we have in store for you in this issue of SUCCESS Magazine. While the cover price might read $5.95, the information and advice you will discover to further increase your value (thus, your wealth) is, well, priceless.

Watch What You Say!

Watch what you say!

By Angela Sontheimer

I’d like to have you think about words.

No matter what language you speak, words are one of the many ways we communicate our thoughts, ideas, biases, and beliefs. They help us get our point across, help us express our emotions and, ultimately, help us get our way.

It’s probably not a surprise that men and women communicate very differently. Research shows that the average man utters about 14,000 words a day, while the average woman speaks between 21,000 and 24,000 words per day. That’s a lot of words.

But the quality of one’s words is what differentiates a leader from someone who is just talking a lot.

I think back to November 19, 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln came to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and delivered some of the most powerful words ever spoken.
In just 272 words, he gave us one of the most precious public documents that I know of—the Gettysburg Address.

Lincoln chose his words carefully, and revised and finished his seminal speech here in the Wills House, where I am privileged to work each day.

Working internationally

What fascinates me is that even if someone communicates in English, their thoughts, ideas, and cultures are often quite different from ours. This makes me take a step back and think even more intently about the power of my words.
Am I communicating effectively? Am I offending without knowing it? Am I being thoughtful and purposeful? Am I being respectful?
As someone who works daily with leaders, I understand the importance of taking the time to consider what we say—before we say it. After all, communicating clearly is the goal of anyone in a leadership position.

Do you choose your words carefully?
Do you rewrite and revise—even if it is just an email message? Do you think about what you mean before you say it? Do you consider the impact of your words—or do you just blurt out whatever is on your mind without considering how it will be heard, understood, and responded to by others?

I suggest that we all follow Lincoln’s example and try to create concise, powerful documents. I encourage you to revise and refine until you have created a statement that truly gets your point across.

Try it. It’s harder to do than you may think. But if you want to be an effective leader it is critical.