15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management pdfdrive com

Entrepreneur: Would overcoming procrastination help you to work on the
things that feel outside of your comfort zone?
Executive: Would overcoming procrastination make you more effective at
having those difficult constructive feedback conversations with your direct
reports?
Freelancer: Would overcoming procrastination help you to achieve more
billable hours each day?
Student: Would overcoming procrastination help you to complete class
projects sooner?
Stay-at-Home Parent: Would overcoming procrastination help you to
finally organize the rooms in your house—thus making your mind more
peaceful?
S
ECRET #
4
Procrastination can be overcome when you figure out how to
beat your future self, who cannot be trusted to do the right thing.
You know what needs to get done this week; how will you ensure that you
don’t put it off?
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CHAPTER #5
How to Leave the Office at
5:00—Without Guilt
How can the world’s most important people always seem so calm, stress
free, and fully present in the moment?
Republican political strategist Karl Rove wrote a fascinating op-ed in the
Wall Street Journal.
It all started on New Year's Eve in 2005. President Bush asked what my New
Year's resolutions were. I told him that as a regular reader who'd gotten out of
the habit, my goal was to read a book a week in 2006. Three days later, we
were in the Oval Office when he fixed me in his sights and said, "I'm on my
second. Where are you?" Mr. Bush had turned my resolution into a contest.
And the outcome of the bet?
At year's end, I defeated the president, 110 books to 95. My trophy looks
suspiciously like those given out at junior bowling finals. The president lamely
insisted he'd lost because he'd been busy as leader of the free world.
The leader of the free world has time to read 95 books in one year?
Sheryl Sandberg Makes It Home for Dinner
Look at the habits of these highly successful business leaders: •
Facebook
COO Sheryl Sandberg leaves work at 5:30 p.m. every day so she can have
dinner with her kids at 6:00 p.m.
•
Former Intel president Andy Grove would arrive at 8:00 a.m.
and leave work at 6:00 p.m. consistently.
•
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has over 400 companies
in his conglomerate, yet he always seems to be hanging out on his

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private island or breaking some crazy world record as an adventurer.
Don’t you find this shocking? How can they do that?
When I first read about President Bush, I was blown away. You just know the
president of the United States of America has a million things to do, right? At
the end of the day, there are still more foreign leaders to call and influence, more
CIA briefings to read, more campaign contributors to suck up to, more wounded
veterans to visit, more voters to rally, more, more, more—and time until the end
of his term was ticking away. He had a limited number of days to create his
legacy! And yet President Bush “found” time to read 95 books in one year.
Doug Conant, who was the CEO of Campbell’s Soup for a decade, used to
send out 20 handwritten thank you notes a day. Can you imagine all the
responsibilities of being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company? There are always
more emails to read, more calls to return, more reports to scan, more meetings to
attend, more thinking about the future, and yet…Doug would calmly end his day
by hand writing 20 notes.
Back when I was young and dumb, I was running a company that was part of
a larger conglomerate. My company was doubling in size every year, and there
were never enough hours in the day. I can remember literally jogging through
the hallways trying to get back to my office as quickly as possible.
Yet my business partner and boss, Neil, who oversaw my company and 11
other divisions, always moved at a leisurely pace, always had time to tell a funny
joke or story, and spent lots of time at the local golf club.
Who has time to play golf? I used to wonder.
The Secret to Guilt-Free Balance
Andy Grove revealed this ultimate secret in his book High Output Management.
My day ends when I’m tired and ready to go home, not when I’m done. I
am never done. Like a housewife’s, a manager’s work is never done.
There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more
than can be done.
And that is the secret.
There will always be more to do, and always more than can be done.
This is another one of those simple concepts that, once it truly sinks in, can

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dramatically change your life.
I can remember the very moment I read Grove’s book. It hit me like a ton of
bricks.
For too long, I let my to-do list master me. “Sorry, I can’t make it home for
dinner because I still have that report to do.”
I never exercised, I skipped most meals, and then I would gorge on fast food.
My life was one dimensional, and even in that dimension (business), my around-
the-clock pace kept me down in the weeds instead of above the trees.
Super successful people don’t just burn hour after hour trying to cross more
items off their task list. Instead, they think through their priorities, schedule time
for each, and then enough is enough.
George Bush probably valued reading two books a week because it was a
way to relieve stress, get smarter, or was just plain fun. He knew that learning
and recharging are valuable tasks, and he wasn’t going to let them get blocked
out by “urgent” items.
Sheryl Sandberg clearly puts a high value on dinner with the family and
keeps it scheduled. Yes, she wants to maximize the success of Facebook, but the
“success” of her relationship with her children is even more important.
Richard Branson places a high value on fun and adventure and calendars it
accordingly. And he smartly crafts his adventures into brand building for Virgin.