Your Best Just Got Better (2012) outlines effective techniques for setting goals and managing time to reach them. This book will tell you what factors in your life are causing you to lose motivation. And of course, along with that is how to raise aspiration to a completely different level.
About the author
Jason W. Womack is hailed as a speaker, master of many CEOs, managers, entrepreneurs and many employees at all levels. He has organized more than 1200 productivity seminars around the world, where he shares the experiences of an expert: how to solve problems smarter, be more productive.
Target audience
The book is for those who are in charge of training managers, administrators. Besides, it gives you useful knowledge about time management and self-development.
Set goals, manage them and act now
“Just do it” – you are probably familiar with this catchy Nike tagline. But have you ever thought that those three words mean more than an advertising campaign? “Just do it” up to now is the short but most suitable saying for those who want to achieve any kind of goal. Read the tagline again – think – what comes to mind first?
Identify what you most want to do to create momentum for your process improvement journey. Set a simple but realistic goal. Every morning you wake up, stand in front of the mirror, and that's when you ask yourself, "If I could do one thing better, what would it be?"
Then at the end of the day, when you get home, stand in front of the mirror again and ask yourself, “What did I do today to get one step closer to my goal?” For example, with the goal of becoming a marathon runner. Have you done running yet? Have you followed a healthy diet?
This question leads us to a more important aspect of goal setting: breaking it down. What if the goal of becoming a marathon runner is too far away? Why don't you try splitting them up? Start with 5km then 7km then 10km? That way, getting into action will be much easier.
Keep a steady pace, value your time
What are you not doing today? Each of us procrastinates some of the tasks on our to-do list , promises ourselves we'll get back to them as soon as possible (when we have free time) and so on the to-do list grows longer and longer. than. This is a prime example of an obstacle between you and your target, to deal with it, keep a steady pace.
So how to find the right, stable speed? It's a matter of balance: you shouldn't run so fast that you'll lose your breath when the day isn't over, nor should you go too slow and lose momentum. If in the middle, you find a tempo that works for you, that's your steady pace.
But more difficult, is how to always maintain that speed. The true story of the author himself will give you a better look at this. At the triathlon, Jason ran the first mile in just six minutes, much faster than his expected pace – 8 minutes/mile. Obviously, at mile five, Jason suddenly lost his breath and had to decelerate immediately. This wouldn't have happened if he had stuck to the early expected speed.
Keeping up with the pace is one way to end a productive, productive day. Besides, there are still other ways such as: cherish the time you have
Think about it: 15 minutes make up about 1% of a day. Even so, with that little time, a lot can be accomplished. When the author has to wait 15 minutes before a meeting, he can finish writing a thank-you note, check his schedule for the next three weeks, book a hotel and hire a car for the next trip, reconsider. meeting content and mental preparation. Next time you have 15 minutes to spare, don't waste it, that's when you get the little things done on your to-do list .
Get closer to the finish line by eliminating even human tasks… that distract you
Do you know the feeling when you are reading a book, your mind is thinking about something else and then suddenly realize you have read the entire page but don't understand what you just read? Distractions always seem to be present. So if you want to fully grasp the book, you have to deal with distractions.
Once, a management intern asked Jason, “Where do we start?”. He immediately placed a stack of 500 sheets of paper on the table. He asked her to write the first thing she thought of on the first sheet of paper, the second thing on the second, and so on with the following sheets. Almost everything she writes down is something she has to do, including hiring staff to organize summer camps for her daughter. After more than an hour, she listed 500 tasks that needed her supervision.
From there, it is easy for you to see that there are countless unfinished tasks that drain your strength, pulling you further and further away from your goal. Removing all of that from your to-do list is a big step closer to your destination.
But it's not just the little things that distract us. Others can too. How much time do you spend with people who limit your train of thought? Try setting up a daily assessment with the people you spend the most time with during the day, to see how they affect your productivity? After a few days, you will really know who inspires you. Those are the people you should spend at least an hour or two a week communicating with to keep yourself motivated.
Track your productivity and remember why you do what you do
We can do our best to complete the top items on our to-do list, but there is still a backlog of things that waste our time. For example, how many times have you had to interrupt work to chat with a colleague? It sounds small, but over time, they accumulate to become big.
One of the author's clients records how many times a coworker interrupts his work in two days: 27 times! Do you know how much impact that number 27 has on his productivity? Try to sum up the number of minutes that you spend not on work, you will be surprised at that number.
But tracking productivity every day is not enough, you have to know why you do what you are doing? Always ask yourself what do you want, what is your real purpose? Honest answers are the light that guides you to success.
A simpler way to always stay on top of your goals is to use the “…to…” sentence pattern. For example "I work to have money to send my children to college". Every time you do something, say something, you need to define a goal to always inspire yourself to keep going.
Seek feedback, listen and keep improving
No matter what you think, no one can change themselves. You are surrounded by people with different personalities and perspectives that you can learn from. But first, try to recall the last time you received criticism. Is it from your boss? Your spouse? What exactly did they say?
If you don't remember, that's a sign that you need to listen more carefully. One way to listen and understand better is to always seek feedback proactively. Don't wait for others to talk about you.
In some organizations, they use the mentor/mentee model (teacher and student). Think of someone you could see every week for the next two months. Every time you meet, explain to the person what you are doing and get feedback from them. Then you listen to what they are doing and give them your feedback.
Once you're satisfied with a job or doing something for too long, you'll feel good about yourself and assume you know the best way to get it done. But if you want to go further, never be satisfied with yourself – practice something new instead.
A few words of advice to readers
Make your goals clear on paper, eliminate distractions, and appreciate the time you have. If you do the above three things, your work productivity will be much higher. Desire will never get out of hand once you know how to focus.
